Cada Vez Cocina Mexicana — Restaurant in Amarillo

Easily the best Mexican food in SW Amarillo, if not the entire city, hands down. November 2023

Atmosphere is welcoming and sincerely friendly, and the restaurant was not too loud or pretentious. There seemed to be plenty of room and space between tables. The industrially-inspired brick and natural wood interior design choices struck me as warm, but without being too imposing, too austere, or too rustic.

The lighting was not over or under-stated. Just, a nice place and experience overall.

The food:

Starting with the chips, they were seasoned perfectly and evenly and had the perfect crisp texture. Salsa is also well seasoned, and a good texture. Not watered down, not too spicy, but what seemed to be too be the perfect balance.

I had the #8 combination plate with relleno & stuffed avocado. I had chicken on the relleno, with sour cream sauce, and gladly accepted the $2 upcharge to make it crispy. The shredded chicken was juicy, again perfectly seasoned and had a satisfying flavor from start to finish. We believe it is smoked. Crispy Relleno texture and cheese filling choice were amazing.

Stuffed avocado, which I ordered with beef, with queso sauce was also notably good. The cheese choices on it were perfectly balanced and nothing seemed overdone.

Barbacoa - This is what really shines. Foodie date ❤️ said they'd never had such good shredded beef. It truly did melt in the mouth. In fact, it may ruin all other shredded beef barbacoa for you, forever. Think of the best shredded beef you've ever had. Ours we got was better.

Sides: Papas had a constant, great flavor throughout. Best in town.

Mexican street corn is as good as you'd expect. Equally every bit as good as from a food truck.

Mexican rice - the only thing that didn't absolutely surprise me on how good it was. But definitely not bad. I prefer a slight firm rice texture. Not over-seasoned with cumin like many places. Substantive and not too fluffy or mushy.

Fried ice cream: great flavor, fun crispy texture, with natural whipped cream with what seemed like a chocolate mousse sauce drizzle, likely made in-house.

Prices excellent, affordable and fair. Currently truly around $15 a dinner plate, even for combinations.

Service was attentive and friendly. We never felt forgotten or under attended.

Eat here. You won't regret it if your experience is anything...

I go here only for happy hour because the food isn't good and the wait is usually long. I will say the restaurant is always clean inside. The host station is always full of chit-chatting wait staff. You have to wait to be seated in the bar area instead of open seating like every other restaurant. No matter if their signage says the patio is open or not, they never have chairs set up outside and the patio is dirty, it's obvious the staff doesn't want to wait tables outside. Last time i was there we asked to be sat outside and the hostess said "Oh theres no chairs set up, I'd have to get some and wipe them down but I can't" even though the sign said Patio Open and the weather was about as perfect as panhandle weather can get. Overall this place could really be great if they'd try out some of the practices that work so well at their Georgia and Coulter street sister locations. I'll continue to go for the cheap drinks but I really wish they'd make the experience easier and the...

There were gnats everywhere, I sat down and got at least 4 landing on and around me it was an endless barrage of small bugs. My girlfriend and I were trying to celebrate our anniversary and thankfully the food was decent I didn’t realize birria meat was supposed to be flavorless and relentlessly fatty but maybe that’s on me, thankfully I didn’t have to worry about the food nearly as much as playing gnat whack a mole in the middle of the restaurant. I watched a group of women get up and move tables because of the gnats and then get swarmed once again. Maybe this is a regular thing, maybe it was just today but either way I know I will never be back and will recommend that no other living human enters this forever swarm of a “restaurant”. Our server was wonderful thankfully but we were only there for maybe 20-30 minutes before leaving specifically because of the small bugs trying to burrow themselves into all food...