Mezcal Mexican Bar & Kitchen — Restaurant in Ferndale

My son turned the big 1-6 and with the way gas prices are at the moment he didn't get a car that's for sure, so he settled for the next best thing was to go out for Mexican for his birthday!

Sidebar: the comment about the car is only 46% true, he still working on his license, I'm not a monster!

Anyway, his choice in restaurant was fantastic. It was actually our first time here so we really didn't know what to expect. Often times it is not easy to distinguish a good versus great [cause really, is there any bad Mexican restaurants?] Well I can unequivocally say this one is great.

We ordered a California burrito, a Mezcal burrito, a traditional burrito, and some street tacos, all to split. I wish I could say I could pick a favorite, I would say they were all equally delicious, but gun to my head I would choose them in this order: Mezcal, California and then traditional. Referring to the tacos, I know birria tacos are all the rage, but I personally can't seem to get into them. Now the shrimp tacos on the other hand was absolutely brilliant, although I do wish they added a touch of cilantro to it.

sidebar #2: I love cilantro and to be fair to the restaurant I think cilantro should be added to everything.

Finally, we also tried the alambre taco for he first time. It was very good. We chose chicken as the meat and the combination of that and chorizo was surprisingly compatible. It was wonderful to be able to try something new for a very reasonable price.

I know what you're all thinking, you're the fat one Sunil, you obviously ordered most of that for yourself, but no. The Teean Age food vacuum known as my son finished the vast majority of the food but wait there was also dessert. So much dessert as we ordered one of each. So as much as I loved the entrees, I have to say I was less impressed with their dessert options. The flan was very simple and basic, the churros with cajeta was flavorless and disappointing and the three milk cake was unimpressive.

Now besides the entrees where they did excel was the tequila list. So I would suggest skipping the dessert and enjoying an extra Maestro Dobbel Anejo. Yum!

Overall this was a wonderful dining experience. The staff was great. The restaurant was clean and efficient. I can't...

I visited Mezcal on April 2nd with a party of 2. Being that we are avid Mezcal and Tequila lovers, we had really been excited about checking out the restaurant. We cleared our Saturday evening schedule. Unfortunately the excitement we had left as soon as we entered the door.

Walking in the restaurant, there was another couple at the door waiting ahead of us. They were waiting for a table. We noticed a few spots at the bar open and asked the couple if they were planning on sitting at the bar. They told us that the restaurant told them the bar had been reserved and they could not sit there. The bar is normally open to first come/first serve seating.

This was also odd to me because I called the restaurant prior to visiting and was told they did not take reservations, only walk-ins. When someone finally came over to greet us, the first thing they said was “the kitchen is backed up so you can’t order food”. A “hello, welcome to Mezcal” would have been nice. We told her that we would just have drinks and she walked away.

When we finally were seated, we were given drink menus and told again that we could not order food. We asked again if it would be possible to sit at the bar since we were not eating but the woman confirmed that the bar seats had been reserved.

We ended up ordering two house margaritas and leaving afterward. We felt the margaritas were a bit small, but they were good. Also, our server was very nice and very upbeat.

I gave 2 stars because of the overall customer experience we received. Maybe we expected too much, but our first impression was really a let down. I have seen other reviews where people said they had a great time, so maybe we just went at the wrong time. But I would also expect that a restaurant would be more prepared on a Saturday evening during opening week, especially when advertising on Facebook and Instagram to come out over the weekend.

Based on my first impression, I would not...

I've been wanting to try this place for a while now. I went there in the early evening. It was just starting to get dark outside. The interior of the restaurant had some special lighting, and it really made for a cozy ambiance. It has a modern, hip decor. The first thing I smelled when I walked in was a pleasant cleanser. The place looked spotless. I started with the chips and salsa flight. I don't think they make their own chips, and if they do, mine were cold. They did have a good, fresh, high-quality flavor. Every couple of chips, you get one that has bold seasoning on it. Yum. Their salsa was good but really mild. The guacamole was very flavorful. The guacamole veggies had a very fine chop. My favorite was the warm queso dip! It didn't have that overly processed taste that some cheese dips have. Next, I tried their Mezcal soup. It arrived just a touch less than hot. Not cold enough to send back to reheat, but I know it would have been so much more enjoyable if it were a little hotter. The flavors were very good. If I don't get food poisoning tonight, I am definitely going to order that soup again. I also tried one of their street tacos. I stuffed mine with pork carnitas. The meat had an interesting spice. It had an underlying sweet essence. The taco was loaded with meat. Overall, it was very good and hearty. I wrapped things up with an order of their churros. Im not a churros expert, but I thought these were great! You get a nice portion of warm churros, dusted in cinnamon and sugar. They are dense, crispy and filled with a warm, sweet creamy filling. It comes with a fluffy carmel sauce to dip them in, and I also got a fluffy strawberry sauce to try as well. The sauce reminded me of flavored whip cream. They were very tasty! The waiter did a nice job of explaining the menu and making recommendations this evening. I appreciated that. I will...