Mexicali Cocina Cantina

I found a new favorite spot! Their happy hour is awesome, I’m obsessed with the queso dip, it’s a must have! And the margaritas were so refreshing especially on a hot summer day. Kirin and Madi were our servers and they were so sweet and very accommodating. I highly recommend this place to fulfill those Margarita and taco cravings. Enjoy!

Love this place! We got happy hour at 11pm on a Monday! (Honestly, where can you get food and drinks anywhere after 11pm in LA?!)
Madi was our server and she was great! She brought us everything in a timely manner, was friendly sweet and funny. Great chicken taquitos! And great guacamole. The margaritas could have been better for sure but all in all it was good.

Love the food and the service is great. Speedy and I had a great time. I love Mexicali!!!

My family took our grandmother here for her birthday. And the end of our dinner the waiter «MIKE» brought the bill in hand and started singing happy birthday, we were like NO please get a candle it’s her birthday! So he went back and literally came back with a single candle burning his poor little fingers and attempting to once again to sing, we again said NO this is not OKAY, so finally «Nate» the manager came and saved my grandmothers birthday with a cake and a candle. I’d give one star for customer service but food is good so 2 stars for that. Get new Staff!

Everytime I’m in studio city I make a trip to Mexicali! Stopped by earlier this week and had my usual. I love their Americano Burrito. I wash that down with a watermelon Don Julio Margarita! The chips and salsa is great and i love hanging at the bar with their great bartenders!
If you haven’t tried this place you should!
#goodtimes

Mexicali is an absolute staple of the valley! If you want fantastic, fresh squeezed craft cocktails and margaritas, delicious food and amazing service, this is the place to go. My server, Tyler greeted us as soon as we sat down and was personable and friendly immediately. He made some great recommendations as well– the chicken taquitos and the nachos with carnitas are to die for. We were going to get their house margarita but Tyler told us that although they are great, we should give the slim a shot and I honestly have never had a better margarita! My boyfriend added fresh jalapeño to his (per Tyler’s recommendation as well) and if you like spicy, I highly recommend that too! Overall we had an awesome experience and can’t wait to continue making Mexicali one of our regular spots!

My friend and I came her after work on a Monday and were looking to unwind and destress.
Service:
Our server Martin (a.k.a. Marty a.k.a. Badass Watch Guy a.k.a. Server with heat resistant hands) was amazing! He was friendly, knowledgeable about the menu, informative on specials, had great taste in watches, actually engaged in conversation, and didn’t have eyes of judgement when the margaritas we were consuming were glazing our eyes and slurring our speech.
Drinks:
It was a margarita Monday kind of night and the drinks came out fast, strong, and delicious. There was no aftertaste of regret in the following morning, unlike most drinks that I’ve encountered involving tequila.
Food:
Free chips and salsa were great! Martin was kind enough to keep it stocked during our whole dinner. The shrimp/​fish enchiladas came with a red sauce, beans, and rice. Good size portion, delicious, and came on a super hot plate. Friend had a steak burrito. Judging by the quickness of consumption, he seemed to really like it.
*Good prices on drinks and food during happy hour btw.
New Management:
The manager came by the table and was super friendly and accommodating while asking us how we were doing and if we needed anything else. He seemed to really care about the customers, his employees, and restaurant which was refreshing compared to other managers who couldn’t care less and look like they’re in a constant state of constipation.
Overall:
I enjoyed coming here. I will probably come here again sometime soon. And I would definitely recommend this place to friends and family (The ones I like. Not the ones I’m forced to like).

Is a good place. You can Also sit outside.
The service Was great, chips And salsa are delicious… I had a drink and ask for LOBSTER QUESADILLA… But I never really got to taste the lobster in it.
It was full of onion and cheese to make it big… Don’t recommend to eat that …
Feel sad about it I was craving for lobster and still are…

I just re-​found Mexicali now that I moved back to the Valley and I’ve been enjoying it way more than I remembered. The drinks are decent, definitely not the best but they’ll totally do and the food is pretty good, old school Mexican food. Nothing fancy but when you want enchiladas covered in cheese or a good guacamole, this is your spot.

This place is awesome. Always a good time. Good vibes. Our server Marty was EXCELLENT. top notch. he made sure we were taken care of and everything. Absolutely recommend this place 1000%

This was my first time at Mexicali, Marty helped us out and definitely took care of us. Made sure all our food and drinks were exactly how we wanted! Definitely going to come back!

Marty was our server tonight which also happened to be our first experience at the Resturant.
Marty recommended both the food and the margarita, which were both excellent and fulfilling.
Great Friday night spot to end the week and reset for the weekend!
Thanks Marty, for helping our first experience to be a great one!

I love coming to Mexicali. I usually sit at the bar, shoot the sh*t with the bartenders. Sandi, Quinn, and Mark are all great company. Real men’s men. But like gentlemen. Like they’ll arm wrestle you and shake your hand after, win or lose. But they always win. Strong forearms, solid vascularity. Just the way you want your bartender’s arms to be. These guys could squeeze a walnut into a pulpy residue. Good hair, too. On their forearms.
Anyway, I recommend Chicken Supremo enchiladas if you’re looking for some good Mexican food, the southern fried chicken salad if you’re looking to tell yourself you ate healthy today, and the Margatini to wash it all down. Say it with me. Marg-​a-​tini.

I’ve been here a few times, so 3 – 3.5 stars would be my rating if I average all my experiences.
Their margarita pitchers are great, and there are a lot of options in that department. I’ve gone for drinks a few times and been happy.
On the other hand, I recently went there for a late brunch, ordered the tamale hash with no mixed cheese (I’m lactose intolerant), but it came out with tons of mixed cheese. I had to send it back, and it seemed to take a really long time for them to do the recook. No big deal, but during that time, our server never came by to check on my boyfriend’s food or refill our drinks. When I finally got my food, the chicken was really dry, and I could only eat a bit of it.
My boyfriend and I both felt kinda sick later. Not like a food poisoning situation, just like we’d consumed a lot more grease than I thought, given how little we ate.
So, all in all, drinks: yes, food: probably skip it.

I just ate here with one of my friends! I’ll definitely be back another time.
They bring chips and salsa right away– WIN.
We shared fajitas for one which was plenty for us! Delish
Would love to try drinks here, we only had water to drink this time.
Didn’t get five stars just because the service was slow and our server was $.50 off when splitting the bill between the two of us. Not a huge deal

Fantastic! The food is so fresh and yummy. Their happy hour pitcher of margarita is super strong, You’ll only need one pitcher and it’s perfectly mixed. The staff at this establishment are very accommodating and friendly. I would recommend so many things on the menu– let’s see, braised beef tacos, carnitas tacos, roasted chicken anything, fundido rotisserie chicken, or with steak,
Etc
Chicken or steak salad. Kobe burritos. The list goes on and on and on. Love it!

Do you like Mexican food? Do you like really good Mexican food? Are you the kind of person that reps Cali so hard you have it tattood on your skin? Well this is the place for you! Strangely enough, as an LA raised native I felt a sense of pride just eating at a place that has Cali I the name, but let’s get down to the real review here.
If you’re looking for authentic, this is obviously a little Americanized but truthfully it has a very fresh appeal and menu. I personally love this establishment due to the fact that I love the location, environment, and most importantly because I absolutely love the food. From the second you pop that meat in your mouth your taste buds will surely not forget the explosion of flavor. (Also this just in, if you’re laughing because that sounded sexual then you are right. because this food will make you mouthgasm). But all jokes aside I highly recommend this spot for a great date spot, hangout with friends or even the Unilocaler that just loves to try new great foods. They have deals all the time here and you can even walk around this fantastic area and explore or shop or go to Starbucks to decide which coffee you want to buy the waiters for being so hospitable or whatever you’re into.
Tip: come around sunset and eat outside. There’s an incredible view that serves justice to the Cali vibe

I’ve been avoiding this place because of its mediocre reviews, but my friend wanted to try the place so I ended up coming here on a Saturday night. For a party of three, we waited 20 minutes to be seated. The ambience is nice, however the place is really dark. I’m used to dark restaurants but this place is darker than average!
As soon as we were seated, they brought us complimentary chips and salsa, which was nice to munch on while we waited for our entrees to come out.
I ordered the crab and shrimp burrito ($~16) which comes with a side of rice and beans, but I substituted the beans for mashed potatoes for no extra charge :) We also asked for a side of habanero sauce ($ 0.75) and that was SUPER spicy, but really complemented the dishes well. The rice was really dry, so I had to knock off a star for that. But the burrito was really good! It was huge and they dont skimp out on the amount of seafood they put in the burrito. My friend got the steak fajitas for one and that was also delicious!
The service was also pretty good and the food came out pretty quickly especially for a busy night.
There’s also a bar her which looked really packed, but also festive. Since this place is open till 2AM on weekends, I might come back here for a drink or two :)
Overall I’m not entirely sure why the reviews for this place are so low. I’d totally come back here again!

They had me at the cute puppy pics they posted in their photos! You have to hunt for them, but the first 5 are hilarious:)
The food was good.
Batter fried lobster taco plate came with beans and rice and was yummy (I tried a few bites) and supper filling.
I got the «Small» Queso Fundito (because how can you say no to Queso Fundito??)with the addition of steak. It comes with guacamole and salsa. Mucho Bueno. However, if that was the small order, I’m afraid to find out what the large would be! I could only finish half and it was my dinner, plus I had help. Amazingly affordable considering what you get.
But it’s not all Bueno…
My double marg with jalapeños wasn’t spicy at all and I didn’t feel the slightest buzz upon finishing it, so why wast my $ to order another?
I would return, but only with a prefunk;)

One of the very first thing we do as Unilocalers is check in. Sometimes there are special deals depending upon where you check in. In this case, this was one of the luck restaurants that promoted. It was a free adult drink with any purchase. We show the waiter the deal and he came up with an excuse not give us the deal. He stated that the deal was only for a specific day, however the check in deal says nothing about it. So we didn’t argue and just continued ordering our food.
We experienced more than just one waiter/​waitress with no notice that there was going to be a change in the wait staff. Before the food came out, someone else came to the table asking if we needed anything else. She did not introduce herself nor explain what has happened to the previous person that greeted us. I was curious and i showed her the Unilocal check in. She said sorry we don’t honor that deal, but let me check with the manager. Even before she left to get her manager, i explained to her that no where on the deal that it says it is for a particular day.
When she left, the manager/​owner came to explain the deal to us and we showed him the deal. The restaurant finally honored the check in, but by this time i didn’t want it. It took such a long time for the restaurant to honor the check in and excuse after excuse.
The check in deal finally arrived at the table, but it was not worth the wait. The bartender had a very heavy lifted elbow pouring. This may seem nice, but the alcohol was too overwhelming that the drink was not enjoyable even for a sip. It took me several attempts and breath holds to finish the drink.
With a bad experience comes a bad review. The extra star was only because the food wasn’t that bad… just the service.

I’ve added a star because the vegetarian tamales are getting better each time I order them. The bartenders are extremely nice, by the way.