Caliente Cab Co

We went there on a Friday night, and thought the food looked positive while standing in line to get a table. We took our seats and ordered — the chips and guacamole arrived and was tasty. Yay! Then our beer and margarita arrived. My margarita was so small, but potent — no salt. Then our food came. I ordered chicken tacos, which consisted of burnt chicken bits, and a small amount of cheese and cilantro. They were incredibly dry, and I had to spit out charred chicken that was unchewable. My boyfriend ordered the enchiladas Chiapas which were inedible. They were garnished with a stack of lettuce, tomato, and onion (?) and the cheese was solid, like a pizza topping. The waiter was nice, so I’m giving one star, but the food was horrible and we won’t be going back — outrageously overpriced for what is served.

Caliente cab didn’t impress me much as far as food. I think the big cab outside of the restaurant is more of a novelty that’s attracting the customers. I went with friends and the highlight of this place was probably the frozen drinks. They comes in these big glasses. There’s quite a selection as well. We ordered the sample platter. The food was mediocre at best. Nothing stood out to me on the platter. The mini tacos were not memorable at all. The garlic shrimp is not bad but I’ve had better. I mean for such a prominent Mexican restaurant in the west village I really expected better.
I’d say, come here for a quick drink after work with friends or coworkers. Nothing more.

In one word — amazing! Stumbled upon here with a friend on Cinco de Mayo because every other place was stating that they had at least a 1 hour wait. We were on line to eat at Caliente Cab for what seemed like only 15 minutes, but it was well worth the wait! Try the fundido, it’s the most delicious concoction I’ve been ever tried! Bring your appetite to Caliente Cab! Trust me, you will not be disappointed!

Good service! Guacamole is amazing. Overall on the pricy side. Some food is small so be careful with what you order. Shrimp quesadilla is great. Tacos, not so much.

This is the one of the worse service experience I have had. Tuesday evening looking for a place to get dinner and a good drink. Came across caliente cab. I’ve never eaten at this location before. Other times that I’ve been in the area the restaurant was crowded with a long wait so I usually went elsewhere. This time there wasn’t crowded. We were seated in the outside area after a few minutes and given menus.
We sit read the entire menu, talk about it, review the drink menu and talk about it and then we wait and wait. Where is the wait staff? Nowhere to be found. Not only did no one come to our table but no one came to the area at all and there were other customers sitting outside. We finally get fed up after a half hour and trying to wave the host down. As we left my bf told the host why we were leaving and how he felt about the shitty service. Right behind us another customer wants to know where their food is because they have been waiting so long. The host, who could have been the manager just looked upset and turned around and went back inside without saying a word. We left and we won’t be back.

Very good nice sitting outside the watermelon margarita was perfect. did the guacamole and the salsa. would be back

Had lunch at Caliente Cab Co today… here are my thoughts:
Ambiance: Very casual. Love the outdoor seating.
Service: Our waiter was quiet but friendly enough. Food came out remarkably quickly!
Food: Just okay. I had a Chipotle-​style bowl with veggie, black beans, and rice. It was fine… nothing I couldn’t get at Chipotle for half the price. My daughter had the steak fajitas and they too were fine but VERY chewy. She was literally chewing for hours.
Overall: I doubt we’ll return… prices are just too high for Chipotle-​quality Mexican food.
(Side Note: I love living in NYC, and wouldn’t move back to LA in a million years, but I have to say that Mexican food in LA is 50X better than here.)

This restaurant is in a neighborhood that has a bit of everything. We originally came to this part of town to eat at the craft beer bar directly across the street, but ended up coming here since there was no wait.
The drink menu is what you might expect from a Mexican restaurant– margaritas, mojitos, pina coladas, sangria, Corona, and more. Problem is they’re all substantially overpriced. The mojito I got was $ 18 (though admittedly, it was large). However, the bar was apparently significantly understaffed as it took 20 minutes for the drinks to come out. Believe it or not, our entrees came out before the drinks.
As far as the food, there wasn’t really anything special about it, other than the fact that they do seem to prepare the guacamole fresh. I got the al pastor burrito, and unfortunately they did two things that I absolutely HATE when Mexican restaurants do… They cut it in half, and they sauced it for decorative purposes. The do charge for chips and salsa, and the mild salsa we got was pretty lackluster.
My review would have been three stars, except that the service here was so bad that it took 20 minutes to flag down our waiter to get a check and leave.
I would come here for a drink again if someone else is paying, but there’s so many other restaurants in the neighborhood I would try first before eating here again.

Just had awful overpriced food on cinco de mayo. Terrible way to celebrate the holiday

I came here for dinner on a Friday night and there was a 30 – 40 minute wait. The manager kept insisting that we sat down and had some drinks because it was probably was going to be a longer wait. He insisted and said he would give us some guacamole on the house. That was very nice of him. This is how you keep customers and have them return to your business. Once we sat he brought us our delicious guac and shortly we were seated at an actual table. Everyone I was with ordered the taco and burrito combo. Some with shrimp, some with chicken, and some with steak. I like his combo because you get a little bit of each and it’s a great deal for all the food. I always come to caliente cab. They are good for food and drinks.

I went there as part of a group and I couldn’t say no, but I would have if I knew.
This place has nothing of a Mexican restaurant. The food is bland and boring, colorless and tasteless.
It started with a homemade delicious guacamole, so I thought it was promising. Until I got my eggplant burrito special of the day. For special it was special, but for all the wrong reasons. I’ve been to Mexico and one of the signature is spices. My burrito was a boring mix of things that were not seasoned. Even the one slice of fried eggplant for decoration tasted of nothing.
At first I thought that it was just me but even my meat eating friends complained about the lack of flavor in their dishes.
The fajitas looks good and smelled delicious but according to my friend were not good at all and over all we were left with a feeling of never returning there, even though we were given free drinks coupons for the next visit as long as we left and release the table.
The check however was very spicy and left a hole in my pocket.

As far as restaurants go in West Village, you’re bound to find something overpriced. Caliente is no exception.
We decided to to go for lunch on a Sunday afternoon for drinks and light meals. The chicken nachos were pretty good, and the tortilla soup was just okay in my opinion. Very tomato-​based. The margaritas ($ 11) were small, and mine was full of pineapple pulp which wasn’t great to sip on. If you want a bigger one, you need to shovel out $ 17 dollars.
On top of that, the service was very, very slow. If a customer has to turn around and stare at the waiter to get his attention, management, you’re doing it wrong.
Will say brunch looks like a GREAT deal though amidst all the high pricing. $ 12.95 for two boozy drinks and an entrée. That’s pretty unheard of in this city.

I enjoy coming to this place. Only
Downfall is there frozen margaritas could be stronger. Although there guacamole is great!

Apparently, this place is a chain, and I generally prefer to go to independent establishments over chains, but I do love me some chipotle, so I figured I’d make another exception for another Mexican chain.
I wanted a quick and easy snack, as we were having an early dinner and didn’t want to get too full. My friend ordered the breakfast quesadilla which came with two cocktails for a total of $ 12.95. We felt such a deal was almost too good to be true for the west village, and it was. Her breakfast quesadilla was dry and lacking in flavor. She said her Bloody Mary tasted like peppery dish water. She didn’t drink more than three sips of her first cocktail, let alone order a second.
My boyfriend and I split the guac for two ($ 14). It came with a small bowl of chips that ran out pretty quickly. My boyfriend tends to be a spice wimp (I still like him), so he ordered mild when asked if he wanted mild, medium, or hot. I wish we went with medium. We were served a decent amount of guac, which was mixed with tomato (I hate tomatoes in guac, so ate around them the best I could), but there was not much of a lime or cilantro flavor. It tasted fine, but didn’t have the fresh zing of truly well-​made guacamole. Also, it was made with white onions, which I think is just wrong.
There’s a limited beer menu (about 5 or 6 Mexican beers). Boy got a draft corona (gross), and I got a tecate (can only). The drinks were cold, and cost $ 7 each, though beer prices are not listed on the menu ($ 7 seems to be the expected price for the area, though I was a little sad there was no happy hour deal — we were there at about 2:30pm).
The biggest issue was the service. We saw our waitress sparingly, at best. I think they may have been short staffed, which is not our waitress’ fault, but it added frustration to our lunch. I had to flag her over (after finding her) for extra chips, for the check, etc., and, although my friend didn’t want her second (included) cocktail, the waitress never asked if she wanted it and didn’t ask why my friend barely touched her first drink. Generally, she seemed disinterested in our experience there. Every time we needed something, we needed to find her.
There are plenty of other fine dining options in the area, I suggest you find one of those before stopping at Caliente Cab.

I’d say my experience was near 4.0 stars, and here’s are 6 reasons why:
#1 — I sat on the patio, lots of people watching action and great energy
#2 — I ordered quac, it was a large portion, and went lovely with the chips & salsa
#3 — I got a monster-​size mango margarita, which was really frothy and delish
#4 — The combo I ordered was actually quite good. Carnitas Soft taco and a chicken burrito, both 4.0+ stars), served with a side of rice & beans.
#5 — Service was efficient and accommodating
#6 — Prices were fair
While I’ve certainly had better food, it was really enjoyable.

They have some decent sized margaritas worth the price! They give you one little bowl of salsa and when you and your group are done with that they try to push you to pay like 7 $ for the same size salsa you just got. In my opinion as a Mexican restaurant I think it should be unlimited chips and salsa. Other than that everything else is okay. The food isn’t to die for. I’ve had better.

Definitely worthy of more than 2 and a half stars…
However, I was expecting authentic Mexican food with larger portions. I was pretty satisfied at the end with the quesadilla I ordered. Taste wise I would give it a 3. (note– not a quesadilla, more like a flat wrap with added cheese). Our waiter was accommodating and the outside seating was quite pleasant.
If you come here, I’d seriously just stick to ordering the drinks and guac (which was amazing) unless you’re starving and can’t find a place to eat in the city like usual…

Caleinte Cab has been one of my favorite bars for drinks for over 20 years in
NY CITY VILLAGE. I have over 50 of the glasses they give you once you buy the pina coladas or daiquiris.. Drinks are strong and good. The food is very good. I had. Cheeseburger, good flavor good burger with fries. The tacos are great also. My server wasn’t the best though, unfortunately he didn’t speak great English. He was nice though. My gf who speaks Spanish told him the order and he still didn’t have my food until 30 min after my gf? He said he didn’t know we both ordered the same thing? Omg! I was so hungry. We spent 3 hours there which Ioved, I just wished my order would have been understood. Hope this guy gets better this Resturant is fasted paced. He was too slow. I’ll stay at the bar next time ! Cheers’

Lovely place, great location in the heart of the West Village, one of my absolute favorite neighborhoods in NYC. There’s outdoor seating but we opted to sit inside so we didn’t have to wait. However, it was only a 15 minute wait for outdoor seating so that’s pretty good.
They provide complimentary mini tortilla rolled up with a little red bow wrapped around it, and salsa. Cute. Tasted just okay though. I preferred the complimentary chips though.
I was interested in the Burrito/​Taco/​Enchilada combo (pick 2) but I didn’t want the rice and beans (asked for fries with it instead) but they don’t do substitutes which is fine– many restaurants have that policy. So I went for the panko-​crusted chicken sandwich with melted oaxaca cheese (hold the spicy black beans, avocado & jalapeños lol) which came with spicy fries. The sandwich was pretty good, with chipotle mayo, fluffy bread and the spicy fries were delicious. They were not spicy at all (and I would know because I don’t like spicy food/can’t handle spiciness).
The service was decent as well.

Came here for a birthday dinner this past weekend and was underwhelmed. While waiting for the rest of the party, we sat at the bar and had some margaritas. Supposedly have over 100 flavors or something like that, but they weren’t being served the time we were there? I don’t know either. When the bartender actually made the drinks, they weren’t even that good :(Maybe since they were on the rocks?
The rest of our party shows up and we start perusing the menu. Nothing really stood out to me, so I played it safe and got a chicken quesadilla, nice and simple. The table ordered the 24oz frozen margaritas, which I will say was better than on the rocks. My friend ordered one that has spicy tequila, which she had to return. It had a really woodsy aftertaste, almost as if you were inhaling a fire. Not what we were looking for.