Tequila Kitchen

******Cue Mexican Soap Opera Music******
In a very interesting turn of events, Tequila Kitchen is now open again. The owner has announced online, «So what I am trying to do is to relocate in a more reasonable area, probably Cambie, Main or anywhere best suited for my concept and way more affordable. While I manage to sell this space (huge problem) and due to a lease clause, I will remain open from Wednesday to Saturday. We are OPEN AGAIN for a bit and for sure I will keep you posted on whatever I manage to do in the hopefully near future. Thank you all very much and please come and visit us soon.»
This really is like a Mexican soap opera!

I also recently went to Tequila Kitchen and loved everything about it. I’m a vegetarian and although the menu items were primarily meat-​based, the waiter was nice enough to make me the BEST veggie tacos. This place isn’t traditional, typical Mexican, but it does have old classes such as carne asada and mole. You won’t feel ripped off or unsatisfied.
Check it out :)

I had to get over the fact that this wasn’t the type of Mexican food I was expecting. So after sobbing over the idea of no cheese enchiladas with rice and beans for dinner, I sucked it up and looked at the menu. Now, I’d like to be clear– there’s nothing wrong with the menu. It just doesn’t include the basic Tex-​Mex classics with which I have a long running passionate love affair.
Back to the menu, lots of plates for sharing– essentially Mexican tapas. My friend did all the ordering. I think that the food here is well prepared and I think the dishes are well chosen. My friend LOVES this place. And I have a feeling that two of my closest out of town friends would love this place to. It’s just not my thing though. For instance the carne asada of the tacos had a good flavor by itself, but I didn’t care for the taco all together. The mole sauce was good, but I actually prefer one with a simpler taste. I found this one distracting.
I’m going to assume that I am the odd man out when it comes to Tequila Kitchen. I’m probably too picky an eater for this place, where as those of you with a refined pallet will love this place.

A Mexican restaurant that doesn’t serve burritos or quesadillas!!! I was aghast… and so frightfully naïve to have ever thought that those two dishes epitomized Mexican cuisine. Tequila Kitchen reinvents Mexican food, introducing authentic flavours and spices to Tex-​Mex-​tainted palettes.
The tapas-​style menu is modest but offers a varied look at Mexican cuisine. Soups, salads, seafood, meats and vege matter. The five or so dishes that I tried all had a distinct taste, each one infused with its own specific medley of flavour to prevent it from falling into the trap that so Mexican places have – where the cheese, bean and salsa sameness drowns any potential for variation.
The guacamole totopos was the best I’ve ever had, as was the sopa de tortillas. Both had a good level of heat without letting the chilies dominate the taste. Had a margerita but didn’t feel brave enough to do a proper shot of tequila – too many ill-​begotten tequila-​infused hangovers prevented me from going down that vein. They also carry a nice selection of beer, including Negro Medelo.
FYI, brunch is only served on Saturdays.

If you like civiche, this place has some of the best i’ve had. When you step inside the rastaraunt, you feel the air of mexico immediately. The brick walls and the nuetral colors makes it feel like you’re right in the heart of a mexican village. The civiche is the only thing i ate there. They make it with some crazy fish that I’ll attempt to spell… boquinette. It’s a fish from mexico that seems to work well with the dish. They served the meal with tequila and i felt like i was down in Los Mochis Sinaloa once again.

We randomly were strolling Yaletown, looking for a nice place to get some tapas.
We happened upon Tequila Kitchen and were not disappointed.
It’s a pretty intimate restaurant, considering how big the other «trendy» restaurants in Yaletown can be. Very comfy, romantic booth seats.
Also thankfully, unlike certain other restaurants in Yaletown, the music wasn’t so loud you could barely talk. I enjoyed the light Mexican sounds.
Whenever I think of Mexican food, I think giant platters, refried beans and greasy nachos. But this was far from that.
Artfullu, but not pretentiously plated traditional Mexican tapas are what we got. The ceviche was absolutely delish. Juicy, tender, marinated to perfection. The «Salsa Flight», which was a trio of salsas, was nice, served with cucumbers (a first for me) and home made torilla chips.
We also had torilla soup, which was dark, rich and filled with spices without being too salty. I very much appreciated that even though we only ordered 1 soup to share, they took the time to split it up into two bowls for us.
The only lack lustre thing for me, was the guacamole, but that may have been our fault because the menu said «as hot as you want», and we neglected to even ask for it hot at all.
Overall, 6 tapas, a virgin «acupulco» (read: piña colada), a corona came to about $ 60 and we were stuffed. Pretty decent for Yaletown.