Kalaka Mexican Kitchen - Berkeley — Restaurant in Denver

We had three items, Unfortunately they were not on the easy to select items for Google ratings, I suggest these are added. If not, the Average Joe/Jose would stop there and maybe not leave a rating, but I'm not your average Jose/Joe... I have pictures of two of the three items we ordered, unfortunately my POS phone decided to fool me when it took pictures of the third item, which I will describe what it was first. It was a chicken and spinach quesadilla that was 2/3 of the size of the plate, it had green chile for dipping, my wife loved it and scarfed it up in no time. The second item which is the first picture, are chicken flautas covered with Pico de gallo, with a side of their red salsa, again very yummy. My item was the second and third pictures which were the Kalaka's burrito with carne asada and smothered in green chili, very large as you can see. It was fully packed from the second image. The only drag about this item was the Sparing of the cilantro, one very little sprig, it was cute, though I suggest more cilantro, it rules! We came early afternoon on a Saturday and they had a brunch menu that went until 2:00 or 2:30 that had some nice items on it including some drink items, but we went for the main menu instead, we had already decided before arriving of what we wanted. For handicap folks there are two doors for the restrooms at the back of the restaurant. I would suggest the door on the right or South side of the restaurant, it has more clearance to get to than the door on the left which is the north side of the restaurant with a clearance of about 31" to 32" with tables and chairs, it was pretty packed over there. I do encourage folks to try this place even though parking is a bit difficult, the food is outstanding! We'll be...

We had gone in on Saturday, 1/20, for a small birthday brunch. There were only 4 of us, and the restaurant was pretty empty besides one other table of 3 people. The experience started out fine, but unfortunately, the service fell way below expectations throughout our experience. Our server just wasn’t attentive in the slightest and was nowhere to be found. We had run out of water and probably sat there for about 10 minutes. After asking our server for refills, we decided to just go ask the bartender if they could grab us water. In which they gave us a water pitcher (other tables that sat after us were seated with a water pitcher appropriate for the size of the party). As stated above, we had a birthday within our party, and we were hoping to ask the server for a dessert of some sort, but again, he was nowhere to be found, so we again had to go find another employee to help us get some sort of dessert for the birthday boy. I’m not sure if our server had just forgotten about us or if he was just preoccupied with other things, but other employees had brought us two different drinks that we didn’t ask for, and we saw that they were charged to the table. Again, we didn’t ask for it. I had also seen that other tables that were in the same section were being offered appetizers, which we weren’t informed or told about. The food was great, but it felt like we practically served ourselves the whole time or had to burden other employees to help serve us. I’ll definitely give Kalaka another try because the vibe of the restaurant and the food were great; it’s just unfortunate that we got the short end...

Kalakas is a bright, vibrant space with a welcoming atmosphere and friendly service. We arrived around 5 pm and were seated right away. Water came quickly, and while it took about ten minutes for our drink order to be taken, the Michelada was generous in size and the Baja Margarita was excellent, refreshing, balanced, and not overly sweet.

For happy hour, we tried the esquites elote and the green chili queso. The esquites had a nice flavor but the corn was unfortunately chewy. The queso tasted good but arrived broken (gritty in texture). This has now happened on both of our visits, which suggests the cheese may be overheating or reacting poorly when the green chili is added. A small technical adjustment could easily elevate this dish, as the flavors are otherwise spot-on.

We shared the chili rellenos entrée, which leaned heavily into smoky and sweet notes, a bit over the top for our taste. The standout, however, was the side of beans and rice, which were absolutely excellent and the highlight of the meal. Truly, the rice alone could keep us coming back.

Service was decent, prices were fair, and the environment was enjoyable for an early dinner for two. Overall, the experience felt like a 3/5, with the beans and rice earning a solid 5/5. Kalakas has the foundation for something great, dialing back to the basics of simple, well-executed Mexican cuisine could make this place shine.

We’ll consider giving it another try, but consistency...