Bitol Mexican Handcrafted Cantina — Restaurant in Clifton

If I could give this place negative five stars that would have been better. I will try to summarize the most horrible restaurant experience of my life, quickly. It was my one of my best friend's birthday and it was 5 of us girls going out we are in our early 30's, she chose this place because 1 it was close to home, and 2 we all love Mexican and why not find new spot and support new local small business. She made a reservation for this past Saturday at 7:30pm. The hostesses were very sweet when arriving they said hello and welcomed us brought us to our seats. We were seated in the back at the end towards the kitchen. The place we beautifully decorated like most Mexican restaurants and seemed like such a cute vibe, although very small in the inside, very cute. So after a few minutes our waitress arrives, asked us what we would like to drink, if she could start us off with drink, we all put in our drink order, music was a little loud so we kind of had to shout a bit but it was too much of a big deal. So when our drink finally came, my friend asked her is we can get a straws for the table, because we all did not feel comfortable to place our mouths directly on the glass, we waited and we waited 5 minutes pass by no straws, we tried to get her attention, still nothing at this point we asked another random waitress if she could get straws for the table, because our waitress forgot and hasn't come back, and if she knew who our waitress was if she could please get her for us that we were ready to order. (RED FLAG 1) she was so sweet she came right back with with the straws and said that the waitress was on her way. A few minutes later finally out waitress shows up, we tell her that were ready to order we all take our turn placing our orders. One of us pics and appetizer as an appetizer but however it never came out as an appetizer it came out together with her meal (RED FLAG 2). Then when our meal finally comes out I was shocked!!!! to the point I had to revisit the menu to make sure I did not order off the appetizer/ maybe tapas sections. I ordered Tacos al pastor one of my girlfriends the beef tacos my other girl friend chicken tacos, our mouths dropped, while they looked good 1. they were too small and not filled enough very skimpy and 2 THERE WAS ONLY 2 TACOS! Never in my life have I ever been served ONLY 2 TACOS! (RED FLAG 3) Rule of thumb in every Mexican restaurants is 3 to 4 tacos! Okay so after the shocked left, The Taste, Decent/Good Had Wayyyy Better, but it wasn't bad lacked a little in flavor and all of the other girls stated the same about there meals. Rewind to the Drinks, so one of my girlfriends orders this flaming skull drink she saw on Instagram, when it came out so cool she thought, or so we thought, she said the taste was absolutely horrible it was like a sweet bowl of sugar, My other girlfriend ordered a drink that came in a little birdie glass and when I say little birdie glass little like two small sips and your DONE, like are you kidding me the drink was $13-$14 for 2 small sips I kid you not this drink was TINY! (RED FLAG 4). My 5 year old also came with us and when I asked if they had a kid menu they said no(okayyyyy) that's fine weird but that's fine is what I thought to myself. She ordered to make my daughter a quesadilla, I told her that would be great I ordered it with chicken and cheese. Ready for RED FLAG 5!) when you think of a quesadilla don't you think of a flat round disc cut into 4 well now knowing that they only gave 2 SMALL TACOS NOT EVEN FILLED. There was no quesadilla, what they did was they took a blue corn tortilla of the same size of out tiny taco and they stuffed it with chicken and cheese they did not really flatten it and that's it it was no round disc cut into 4 it was 1 taco they called a quesadilla so technically half the size of what a quesadilla is suppose to be but get this KIDS "QUEDDILLIA FOR DOUBLE THE PRICE OF MY 2 BABY NO FILLED TACOS! I KID YOU NOT I WISH IS WAS...

Update: Yesterday, I went back to Bitol. I was there at 4:15 pm on a Sunday (Jun 6th) afternoon. The overall experience was great again. For appetizers, I had the Palomitas de Coliflor and the Corn Truffle Tortitas, both of them were tasty and had rich flavors. My friend ordered two of the Tostaditas: Guava-Cabra and Tuna Tartare. The Guava-Cabra ones were my favorite, you should definitely try them. The Tuna Tartare was also fine. By the time we ordered our main dishes, we were getting full so we decided to continue with more appetizers. My friend ordered the Ceviche de Pez, which I didn't try but she said it was good. I ordered Birria Tacos, which by the way, for the people complaining about the Tacos being not enough, it's because the Tacos aren't supposed to be the main dish. If you want the Tacos to be your main dish, you should order two orders of tacos (you get in total 4) or you could add some of the side dishes (maybe some rice, beans, or fries). That being said, the Birria Tacos, which I hadn't tried before, was a bit under-seasoned compared to the other dishes we tried. We also had Guacamole to share which was also tasty. To finish, we both had Cappuccinos and for dessert, we tried the Nicuatole which looks like a Crème brûlée. I loved the sweet corn flavor it has but, maybe, they could use less sugar on top. It was a bit too sweet for my taste. Finally, for drinks we had Margaritas, I tried the Guava one, which was good, it tasted like real Guava juice, not like something coming out from a bottled juice and my friend had the Smoky Pineapple one which I want to try next time I visit them.

I wanted to visit this place since they announced they were opening on April 1st and I finally got to visit them last Friday (April 2nd). The handcrafted cocktails are amazing, you can tell that they invested time and effort to create something special and unique. The presentation of the cocktails is exciting and once you get into the details of the ingredients you realized that you're getting what you're paying for. The food is amazing too. I recommend the Ceviche de Pez and the Sikil P’ak. The servers and hostess are attentive and they constantly make sure if you're having a nice experience. If you're in Clifton and want to try something different you should...

I never write negative reviews but my experience last night is mind blowing! If I can give zero stars, I would. I have been wanting to visit Bitol Restaurant for a while and what a horrible experience. My friend and I sat by the bar to have drinks and tapas. We ordered 5 house margaritas and 2 tapas (portions were very small) which totaled to $165! When we ordered the margaritas the waiter asked which tequila we’d like- we pointed to the menu in which said $13 for a house margarita then said whatever you recommend. We were charged $17 a margarita. We were confused because the bartender never said which tequila he’d use or that there would be an up charge. The male bartender called the manager over. When we spoke to the owner, he was extremely rude and disrespectful. The owner said he wouldn’t tell his customers that there’s an up charge because it’s an insult to them. I’ve been to all kinds of restaurants and the waiters/bartenders ALWAYS warn their customers about a price change. He said “this is an upscale restaurant and we should know the better the tequila the more expensive the margarita would be” which I truly understand but the problem was that the bartender never mentioned an up charge nor did he mention which tequila he would use. I don’t care about the price as long as I’m made aware. It’s the right thing to do. It did not end there. A lady bartender chimed in with an attitude and said if you wanted cheap alcohol you could have ordered that then continued to say we should know when we go out we’re going to spend money. She continued with an attitude and continued to say rude things to us. Making it seem as if we didn’t have money. We were trying to get them to understand that it’s important to let people know that the price will change from the menu prices. I have never experienced this type of treatment in my life. I will never step foot in there and I’ll be sure to...