Chile & Agave Mexican Grill — Restaurant in St. Catharines

Prefacing this review off with two things.

We did not order any alcohol. I am not a purveyor of Mexican cuisine often.

Those being said this place is a must avoid unless you genuinely plan on just getting drunk. The food is mildly flavored at best, and in our case, downright cold, stale, congealed and re-heated at worst.

To start off, the place is barely big enough to house the amount of tables it does have, the entry way is completely cramped and you almost bump into at least 20 staff on your way to the table, my mother and I were sat at the tiniest of tables, barely able to fit BOTH our plates vertically aligned, width wise we resorted to putting our drinks, the desert menu and our belongings on the nearby shelf which is quite a telling start for a 1-1 dinner. The ceiling was filthy as well as the shelf we were beside and the stuff on the shelf was collecting dust. The art work was fantastic across the back wall, there's effort here, but it still spells "someone's living room renovated to hold a few more people" rather than a restaurant that can handle the volume it does.

We were served complimentary water, which was quickly shown to be lukewarm and metallic tap water which is a stark contrast seeing as the Mexican Coke's we ordered were $5 a bottle themselves. When I later asked for ice, i was given a hot glass with ice cubes already melting in it to put my drink in so.. kind of defeated the point of that.

The chips we were provided were stale and barely warm, both batches we received actually were stale, which is a shame cause they were salted well, and the 1-2 chips that WERE fresh actually tasted great but stale, gross chips coupled with the watery salsa provided was a 2/5 at BEST.

Our appetizer was the Chorizoqueso which came out served on a small sizzling plater with a constantly burning butane torch underneath. The cheese was 99% mozzarella and so whenever the cheese was pulled away from the plate, it instantly turned into gel, congealed snot that you can lay bricks with. The chorizo part of it tasted excellent however. While I see the necessity for the butane torch, it reeks of butane the entire appetizer. The plates that were provided to myself had dust/dirt on it, as well as my napkins too. Another thing, the appetizer listed as "your choice of chips or corn tortilla's". We were not asked EITHER of them, we were just left with the chips we were given for the salsa they gave for free, so fix that on your menu cause that's just false advertising.

The main entree was Carne Asada Tacos for myself, and my mother got Tropic Shrimp Tacos herself. Each dish came with a side of refried beans as well as "Mexican rice". Again, I will preface this by saying that I am not the biggest "bean" person, however the beans looked like legit concreate smeared across the plate and I could probably hold my plate upside down and they'd stick. The rice was very bland and tastes exactly like Uncle Ben's microwaved rice, so either it was old rice, bland rice, or microwaved rice, regardless it was a waste of a side. Both of us avoided the beans and only ate 1-2 forkfuls of the rice they provided. The freshest part of the tacos were the tortilla's as they tasted delicious. The Shrimp was battered and fried to perfection on the Shrimp Taco's as well, that is as far as the compliments go. The Carne Asada taco's came with a congealed slab of fake, grocery store Marble Cheese and cold, dry Carne Asada, which is a shame as real Carne Asada is delicious. If you're going to get either of these, stick with the shrimps, but you're paying basically 20$ for 3 medium size tacos (medium is stretching it) at best. You can spend that money elsewhere, probably on liquor.

We avoided desert as this ran us 75$ for sub-par food. I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone unless you wanted to get drunk with a few friends and go somewhere else to eat down the street, you'd get more bang for your buck and probably have more fun. The staff were genuinely fantastic, our waitress being one of them.

The manager barely checked...

Came in to dine for dinner tonight. This was our absolute favourite Mexican restaurant in the region. It was a full house tonight both n the patio and inside. We knew coming in there would be a longer wait than usual most likely for food and we weren’t in a rush, so we’re ok with that. The server took quite some time to come to our table to take our drink order. I noticed many other tables waiting too, looking around, trying to track down their server etc so we continued to patiently wait. Our drink orders were taken and we waited quite some time for them to arrive. When they arrived one of the drinks wasn’t what my partner ordered but wasn’t given any other option. I would’ve appreciated the server coming back and asking if she wanted a different drink rather than just giving an alternative. The server took our food order and asked if we wanted chips and salsa. No chips and salsa arrived. We sat and waited and waited and waited. Finally our food arrived. Before sitting my plate in front of me the server told me my order wasn’t as I had ordered. I was annoyed by this point and said after waiting an hour I would’ve really appreciated being served what I ordered. She was frustrated and started a long wind explanation stating she was really swamped and was trying her best. I understand that however when you pick up my Plate of food from the kitchen and you know it’s not correct, why are you serving it me??? She was angry but took the plate back and came out with a fresh plate. I’ve ordered the chicken suzia at least 5 times here. When I ask for it not spicy and with grilled chicken it’s always delivered that way and is absolutely delicious! Tonight it was so spicy I couldn’t eat it. When we complained I was met with so many excuses and not one offer to make it right. I simply Asked for the bill at this point as I’m irritated, I’m hungry and I’ve now been sitting here for an hour and 15 mins. A different person comes along, charges me for everything…$76. Absolutely wild. Never again and so sad. Honestly- if you’re extremely busy so the point you cannot provide even BASIC customer service just say so when we come in and ask to be seated to save everyone a lot of grief. We would’ve appreciated the honestly and we wouldn’t...

Date of Visit: Saturday October 21, 2023

We had driven past Chile & Agave many times when we were not ready to eat, and thought, “we should go there one day”. Well, when a friend from Niagara wanted to meet for dinner, we decided this was a perfect time to check out Chile & Agave. We made reservations online to ensure we could be seated when we arrived. This was a good choice as when we arrived – it was super busy and packed. We got seated immediately and were immediately greeted by our waiter.

We ordered margaritas – lime, mango, and peach. We ordered guac and chips appetizer – and the guac was perfectly prepared and full of flavour. For dinner, we had Chicken Tinga Chimichanga and the carne asada Steak

The meals are beautifully prepared, full of flavour, and plentiful. Everything was delicious.

The only issue I have with the menu is that the menu can be misleading on many items – not all items indicate what they come with – but let it be clear that everything comes with salads, rice, beans, etc (you definitely won't go hungry).

Our server was very attentive and engaging, frequently came to check on us to see if we needed anything, and was very friendly. The restaurant has a very authentic Mexican vibe with authentic decorations and atmosphere.

The restaurant is clearly very popular, as it was packed the entire time we were there. This is also a very popular place for birthdays and celebrations – if you are celebrating a birthday – be sure to let them know. Because it is so busy – parking can be a challenge – the lot fills up fast. The restaurant can be very loud as a result of it being very busy, this can make it challenging to have a conversation.

They do have a large outdoor patio that would be amazing to sit on -during better weather. The prices are very reasonable. Each entrée is approx. 17-20 per person.

This is a beautiful restaurant with many amazing meal items to choose from. Roguetrippers will be back many times...