Calexico

Made my first visit here this afternoon and won’t be returning.
Ambience is great and the water on the table is a perk, but everything else was lacking.
My pork nachos were below average, largely due to a (presumably canned) «cheese sauce» that tastes as good as it sounds. Adding insult to injury, the dish ran $ 15.
Service was friendly but slow and inattentive.
While there isn’t much great Mexican (or Calexican) in the neighborhood, there are plenty of other restaurants nearby that are far more worthy of your appetite.

Loved the lighting & booth seating. Went there on a date, had some yummy margaritas, guacamole & chips & a bowl of yumminess that included fish, black beans, cabbage & a delicious spicy sauce.

The food is good, but the delivery portions are getting noticeably smaller. And ordering a salad is always a gamble-​sometimes it’s delicious and fresh, other times it is missing avocado and has brown tipped lettuce. Sad face.

My place of employment invited interviewees here for dinner.
After reading some reviews, I was excited to give it a go! I love good mexican food.
I was a little under the weather so I didn’t order any drinks but the selection seemed good.
Upon arrival, I was greeted by a hostess and seated immediately, despite that the rest of my party wasn’t present, which was nice.
Unfortunately, the restaurant was sub-​zero (season=winter) and every time the door opened a chilling breeze swept through the restaurant. I ended up wearing my poofy jacket throughout dinner… no bueno… and I even ordered hot tea!
We ordered guacamole and nachos as appetizers. These were both very standard fare. The guac, was not tableside and was only average at best. I felt that I would prepare better nachos and guac at home.
For my entrée, I had requested a fajita, though it wasn’t on the menu. They did have this:
VEGGIE Rolled quesadilla
roasted peppers, caramelized onions, grilled corn.
So I asked, if I could just have this fajita style. The server’s answer was «no we can’t do that as the grill gets too hot and would burn the tortilla». This made less than zero sense to me as the soft tortillas are served separately from the grilled food. IN any event, I let it go and ordered MONTEREY FISH: roasted fish with grilled pineapple salsa and tomatillo sauce on a toasted flour tortilla. At best, it was only average but sounds a lot better than it is lol. I also ordered a side of rice and beans which I regretted because I did not enjoy it all and only took a few bites of.
There are several locations of Calexico within Brooklyn so I am not sure if they all lack the luster that I would like in my Mexican food but I certainly will not be revisiting this venue.

Tasty Mexican.

Um… this is one of the best spots in NYC. Love coming here, just can’t often because its not healthy to lol. I was introduced to the Greenpoint location years ago. Although it took a ling time for them to get their liquor licence when they first opened; the food was spot on. If its your first time, you gotta try the the fries. Better if you’re with someone to share it with.
For me anything with their fish is a good idea to try as well. I’ve even brought my friend who originally lives in North Carolina but is staying here for school to this place. She says this is an option for now on whenever she wants Mexican food.

Brilliant fish tacos (Both kind) and Sangria. Love the atmosphere and staff is super friendly and price is ok. Lunchtime specials are great

One of my absolute favorite Mexican food restaurants! Fantastic tacos and drool worthy rolled quesadillas. The Baja fish taco and Baja fish burrito are some of the best taste combinations I’ve ever had. The drinks are also fantastic with a unique twist on classics like the Jalapeño Mint Margarita. Highly recommended!

The food was okay. Not amazing but nothing to complain about. The service was so incredibly slow. They forgot out drinks, took 15 minutes to bring a ginger ale. Didn’t check in on the table and am currently waiting over 20 minutes for them to ask if we want our leftovers to go and a check. Not worth it.

I prefer this location to the other Brooklyn location since they have a full bar and sit down service. It feels a lil more like you are out to eat vs. the grab n go situation on Union street.
They have my favorite cocktail (spicy margarita) and NACHOs. Their nachos look kind of basic but have immense flavor. I love nachos… needless to say I have tried them just about everywhere as I am always in the mood for a big plate of nachos, and I can tell you that these are perfect. Nachos are all about ratios… you need enough toppings for each chip, and this serving delivered not only the perfect nacho-​ratio but a great cheesy spicy flavor.
Also the crack sauce as it is so aptly named is one of the best condiments. I wish everything I ate came with crack sauce.

The place is located in a very nice neighborhood and surrounded by others cool places like pubs, bars with live music etc.
When we got there there was a line to get in and after about ten minutes we were sitting at the table. The waitress was very nice and considerate. The place itself is pretty small but has good vibes.
Food is not legit Mexican food but is more like a texmex. We had quesadillas, tacos with fish and meat, and a burrito, which was humongous. Overall very good food but a little bit expensive. I think for a dinner for two with only two beers I paid around $ 70 :(

Great ambiance. Great for kids. Menu is flexible. Food is spot on. Try the crack sauce.

First time the Elote was amazing! Next time they served it cold n the corn looked malnutrish, maybe it was a off day.
Love the fish tacos and mushroom quesadilla!

The only good thing about my experience here was the chips, and seeing an old friend who works here. Other than that I’m extremely disappointed. I’ve heard great things about this place and I love Mexican food so I decided to give it a try. I ordered the pollo Asada burrito. The chicken was flavorful but I think maybe four chopped up pieces came in each half which was pretty lame. Other than that it tasted like cardboard. It was like eating nothing. It was very weird. I will not be back.

Not impressed with this place, and I really used to be a fan.
I hadn’t been here for about six or seven months before giving the place another chance this past week. I stopped by on a Sunday for brunch. My friend and I enjoyed our food, but felt as if we were rushed out as our check was brought to us without even being given the chance to order another drink. I get it, brunch tends to get really busy, however the restaurant was only half full. What’s up with that?
I then brought my mother here because she loves the burrito bowl. I ordered the Union Street Salad with chicken, and found it to be subpar. The chicken was rather salty, and I wished I had the option of having the dressing on the side because my salad was drenched in dressing.
Maybe I’ll return in another six months in hopes that they get their stuff together and go back to what they used be.

Given that Park Slope shares a border with Mexico, it shouldn’t be a surprise that there are a few awesome options for tacos, burritos, and other treats, but I was still always impressed with the quality I got from Calexico.
I’d love to say that there were some menu items I liked, but that would imply there were some menu items I DIDN’T like, and I’m not here to lie. I went here for night one of my many-​night birthday /​moving out celebration this summer, and my table got the chips and salsa, chips and guac, several types of tacos, some quesadillas, and a burrito, and I tried everything, and it was all great. I ran into the usual issue with tacos in that I have no idea which one was which, so I can’t say which was my favorite, but none of them were below an ⁸⁄₁₀. The burrito was also really good, as were the margaritas. All around great start to my weekend.
I’ve also gotten a more casual takeout burrito bowl in the past, and it’s similar to Chipotle except you can tell it’s a little less fast-​food-​y. So whether you’re dining in or taking out, you can’t go wrong.

Great Taco joint.
The fish tacos were a little busy and pretty small.
However, the second time I went there and got a chicken burrito I was very impressed.
MUCH better than Chipotle

Super hot tattooed waitress with a sexy accent!
Foods awesome
A bit forgetful of what was ordered twice … But I forgive her — she’s gorgeous and reminded me of ruby rose :)
I’ll come again

Some good. Some not so much. Still a fine place to hit in greenpoint especially after a drink.
First, the good. I enjoyed the burrito. Ordered the chipotle pork. The meat was moist and tender. The tortilla has this slight but wonderful crisp to it. Underestimated its size, but it at least gave the opportunity to try the other menu items. The burrito is nice and large, more than enough to fill you for the night.
Had a few of the tacos, but favorites were the carne asada and the gringo. General point: I loved their beef and pork options. They were the highlight of the dinner.
On to the not so good: the chicken options. Had the pollo tocino taco and chicken enchilada. Just found the meat treatments bland which the additional sauces and bacon on top of bacon didn’t help much. Their tortilla chips had a stale quality to them.
Overall, one huge positive that Calexico offers that most Mex-​American joints don’t is just a bit of subtlety, especially with their meat seasoning. Even with cuisine heavy in sauce, spice and flavor, Calexico menu isn’t inundated with the salt, grease and cilantro that you find in other independent restaurants that serve the same. Again, their pork and beef options were very good. Their servings are on the bigger side, so take this into account when you’re ordering a platter of tacos thinking you are getting the typical tiny cart size.
The place does get packed, even late on a weekday so you may have to wait to be seated. It also gets very very loud making it difficult to hold a convo across a small table. Because it gets so crowded, our service was slowed. Started with one waiter who seemingly forgot about us to help others until we got another waiter to take our order.

So I came back to visit and I was really happy with dinner and drinks. To our surprise we came in during happy hour. Score! I ordered a speciality margarita with cucumber and thyme which was really tasty and the bf got a beer and a free round. For apps we ordered the carne fries and wings. The fries were a huge portion. They were delicious full of flavor a little spicy but not over whelming. The wings were tangy super crispy. I was super happy.
For dinner we went for the tacos two carne asada with avocado crema, Baja fish fried tilapia with mango I opted for the crack sauce on the side, and chipolte pork which was spicy but good and rice and beans the tacos were really authentic and great. The spice level was def at a normal level this time. I’m glad I came back and gave this restaurant another try. Wait staff was pleasant and very helpful. A must visit if your looking for great Mexican food.