Carajillo's Mexican Kitchen — Restaurant in Garner

This is an OK Mexican food place. It is more for Americans who have no idea what Mexican food really is. I will give the a 100 plus for creativity! Their dishes are not the traditional and dish descriptions are fabulous. It makes you have every single item in their menu! We got chips and salsa right away. Their salsa is not fresh, they probably use tomatoes pure or canned tomatoes, you can taste the difference right away. I asked for the house hot sauce and I was really disappointed. It was NOT hot/ spicy. I had the Birria Ramen with Quesadilla. The quesadilla was really good, but then again it is hard to mess up a quesadilla. The Birria itself was ok, nothing special the peachicks/garbanzos were a nice addition to make the flavor more realistic, but they fall short. The meat lacked seasoning. On the other hand ramen noodles are proof that ramen goes well with almost everything. If you have never had Birria before I would recommend you to get it, but if you had tried Birria before, it'll be better for you to skip it, so you won't get disappointed too. We also tried the steak fajita nachos, they also were ok. We would let others try this place. As for us, this will not be our go to place. Lack of seasoning, my guess is that the cooks are not true Mexicans or everything is pre-made or they just reheat items cooked somewhere else or use ingredients that are processed already. I'm short I would say not a bad place, big portions, but not for our taste buds. The service was really good, our server kept checking on us and brought our food to the table fast. We ask for a recommendation on their specialty, and she wouldn't provide any suggestions. The check came right away. They have very nice art on the walls and a nice ambiance. I can tell they put a lot of money into this place. New booths, nice ironwork, nice bar. I wish...

I decided to treat my parents to lunch/dinner after church today. We stopped by Carajillos. We had never tried this restaurant before, but I stopped in to take a look at the menu and saw a variety of choices to my liking, so we decided to eat there. They opened at 11:30 AM, and we had gotten there about 20 minutes after they had opened.

We did not need to have reservations. We were seated right away. The restaurant has nice decor, and the ambience is intriguing. The Mexican music playing in the background was very soothing and appropriate for the atmosphere.

Our server, Letty, greeted us with a smile, and brought chips and dip for the table within about five minutes after we sat down. She then took our drink order. After she brought our drinks, I told her that we needed a little more time since this was our very first time at this restaurant. She was very cordial and said she would come back.

After she took our orders, our entrées came out within a reasonable period of time. Letty came back to check on us periodically which was appreciated.

I ordered the new PA CHUPARSE LOS DEDOS (MEXICAN BOIL POT). My parents ordered SALMON SANTA CLARA and STEAK A LA MEXICANA. Everyone enjoyed their dish. Everything was seasoned nicely and had good texture and moistness. The portions were also adequate.

There were two things missing when my food was brought out, a bowl to hold the shells from the crab legs and the shrimp and also a utensil to crack open the crab legs. I used the empty basket from the chips to hold the shells, and I asked for a utensil for the crab legs. Other than that, we had good service. Letty was personable and professional.

We enjoyed our visit and...

I’m not normally one to write reviews, However, I have never been treated or talked to at any Mexican restaurant in the manner I was at this one so feels like it needs to be said. It all started by trying something different. I wanted to go to a place that had better cocktails than the average Mexican restaurant and went this place because it seemed like they offered that. I couldn’t be more far off, Ordered one of their strawberry house margaritas, Mind you they are $10 so I’m not expecting the world, However, The “margarita” Was strawberry syrup and simple syrup, Felt like drinking syrup through a straw. Thought originally no big deal, I’ll get a floater to go on top, When my waitress came back I started to ask her “hey can I get a floater for on top of this?” “Doesn’t feel like there’s much tequila in it”. She proceeds to tell me that the house margaritas have 1 ounce of tequila in them, Mind you, I am A-OK with a business making their money and doing their thing, however, this is a 12 to 14 ounce margarita glass and she openly admitted to me that there was only 1 ounce of tequila in it and told me that if I wanted a better drink, I would have to buy a more expensive specialty drink. Long story short, I ended up going to the bar and a bartender was able to give me a more tequila in my drink. I say this all with saying, Be prepared for overwhelmingly, unprofessional, waitresses, and staff. I totally think if I would’ve gotten someone else they would’ve handled the situation better However, there’s some top to bottom training that needs to be improved for anyone to ever think about telling that to one of their paying customers the things I was told. Thumbs...