Mexicali Cantina Grill — Restaurant in Danvers

From the moment I called to order i should've known this was going to be unpleasant. I ordered 2 carne asadas WELL DONE rare meat makes me sick. I asked the girl if they had horchata (basic Mexican drink) she did not know what it was, she asked someone else, she then came back on the phone and said yes. I asked the sizes, she said regular and a very small one so I ordered 2 regular and I said NO ICE PLEASE she said yes no problem, I asked how long and she said 15-20 mins. 20 minutes later I go inside to pick up and she says "it's not ready MAYBE 10 more minutes " I asked how if they said 15-20 mins, she said well we are backed up but maybe is just 5 mins (without even confirming) I asked can she please check on time. She checks and comes back and says you're order is next. Finally my order comes out and I noticed she gave me 2 cups full of ice and not enough horchata. I then said to her "I dont mean to be a pain but I ordered no ice" she took the drinks and 5 minutes later another lady comes and gives me 2 small cups I then mentioned I had paid for 2 REGULAR SIZE DRINKS NOT MINI she says to me very nasty " WE DON'T HAVE REGULAR THIS IS THE SIZE FOR NO ICE DRINKS" like wth I had no idea there is such thing as no ice size cups (beyond me) so at this point I'm frustrated because we are not from here we are on a business one day stay, so I said you just took 2 regular cups so very rudely she answers and says fine we will void it. We finally get to the hotel to eat and the amount of rice in the plate was a joke it was less then 1/4 of a cup we open the tortillas and to our surprise we had flour tortillas after the girl had asked if we wanted corn or flour we obviously said corn but nope we got flour. We cut into our meat and yup you guessed it "IT WAS FREAKING PINK" food had barely any flavor and beans tasted canned. Worst experience and customer service ever. If you're craving Mexican food you're better off going somewhere else. Unless the experience is...

We ordered takeout from Mexicali Cantina Grill after going to the AMC theater. They are open late and located near the theater so that is a plus for people who want to have a decent meal after a movie. We ordered at the theater, drove 5 minutes and the food was ready when we got there so it was quick. We ordered the shredded chicken flautas and the chicken burrito bowl. Starting with the flautas they gave a great portion and the shredded chicken had a great flavor, kind of smokey, sweet, and spicy. The downside was that the lettuce and tomato and cheese were put on top of the flautas, now for dine in this would be perfectly fine and a nice presentation, but for take-out it was an issue because it made the flautas kind of soggy. Paired with rice and beans there was enough for two meals, and I would order it again but if it was take-out I would have to specify not to put the lettuce and tomato on the flautas. Also the salsa pair with this was standard in taste (maybe a bit more cilantro than I prefer but I gladly ate it) while the guacamole had a consistency that was a little off and it seemed a bit too salty (not sure if it's made in house.) Next was the burrito bowl. The chicken (the main event) was completely devoid of seasoning, the only flavor it had was the grill marks. The rest of the items in the burrito bowl couldn't compensate for the flavor of the chicken and overall it was a bit disappointing. It was also enough to eat for 2 meals and the price was totally reasonable, but I definitely wouldn't recommend the burrito bowl. Also the atmosphere there seemed like it could be a fun place to hang out, but it kind of had a bit of an odd smell walking in. Overall the convenience of it being near the movie theater and open late could only compensate so much for the quality of the food. I think we are open to trying it again, but we'd only go there if we were coming out of the movies late and even then we'll probably try some other...

Best mexican (/cali) food north of boston and maybe eastern mass.

Service was really fast and really pleasant. Our waitress was awesome and had a great sense of humor and put up with my horrible jokes. She made the whole experience great from the start even before the food came out. Drinks took all of maybe three minutes to arrive at the table.

One thing to mention though..... We'd passed by here a bunch of times because it always looked empty (because I'm watching the road and not scanning the property and there's no parking in front of the place like most other places on this stretch of road) and we kinda took that as a bad sign, but we were driving by there recently with my kid in the car and he mentioned that it looked like there was a huge parking lot behind the place with a bunch of cars and sure enough when we doubled back and pulled in there were at least 30 cars mid-afternoon on a saturday, and it was pretty full when we went in..... no wait whatsoever but I was kinda pleasantly surprised how many people were in there at 3:00pm on a saturday, so definitely don't be scared off if it looks empty.

I got the Birria Tacos and they were easily among the best, if not THE best tacos I've had around here in forever. The dip was incredible, the homemade hot sauce is a must try - ask for it, and the guac is probably the best I've had in decades.

Couldn't be happier and can't wait to...