Mexicali Fresh — Restaurant in Georgia

I'm from out of town and staying on the island. My neighbor suggested that I pick up Mexican food for us. I got the steak tacos. The staff was really friendly on the phone taking my order. They were very specific in asking me if I wanted onion on the tacos. That's very thoughtful. I wanted the food exactly the way they prepare it so I got the onions and the tacos were very much like Baja tacos, The way you would get them if you lived in Southern California / San Diego. It was wonderful. Plenty of meat. A side of crema and salsa, rice and beans and a big bag of chips. As I was waiting for my food, I sat at the bar and I really liked the restaurant. It's like a typical cafe, not decorated inside with a Hispanic theme, but it's okay Because it was highly air conditioned which is needed in this heat and humidity in August. The guest looked very happy and their plates were filled with food. You get really good value here. I talked to the two bartenders in my broken Spanish. They were so friendly. They really knew how to ask open-ended questions and we talked about food and where I have lived around the world, in Spanish when possible. Very very nice young men. I will frequent this Mexican restaurant multiple times while I stay here for 2 months just because they're friendly, The restaurant is clean, and the food was delicious and good value. My friend got the crazy chicken plate. It look like chicken that was grilled with onions and mushrooms. I really didn't pay much attention to it because I was consuming my tacos, and get them with corn tortillas. That's really the way to eat any taco. The corn tortillas were very good, not dry. I think this would be a perfect place for happy hour and just to get a good plate of Mexican food and enjoy...

Our experience at Cilantro’s was interesting to say the least. First the hostess told us there was a 20 min waiting list hoping that we would turn around and walk out. We could clearly see many tables open and after hearing the wait times at other restaurants we decided we would wait. Surprisingly we didn’t wait at all. They sat us right after she put our name down on “the list”. 😏 Next, our server came and took our order. She was pretty efficient, however half way through my daughter’s drink she saw a DEAD FLY squished between some ice in her cup. 😏 They didn’t seem too concerned, but replaced her drink anyway. Then our dinner came out. Again, fairly quick and efficient even though super pricey for a Mexican restaurant. Both of my kids ordered grilled chicken quesadillas. The menu quoted $5 +change for one and $10+change for two. My daughter wanted one, my son wanted 2. They failed to tell us that because they ordered “grilled” chicken that their order was upgraded to a fajita quesadilla with nothing on it but chicken and cheese. This upped the price to nearly $3 more per quesadilla. Now, in our hometown I probably wouldn’t complain about this only because the amount and quality is amazing... But this place, literally gave my kids a tiny tortilla with like 8 small strips of burnt grilled chicken and a smidge of white cheese on them and charged us $9 per quesadilla. And the worst part… we spoke to the manager and he proudly supported his fly in the drink and his overpriced quesadillas. So… if you are looking for unexpected extra protein and seriously over priced poor quality food you might give this...

We travel to SSI numerous times each year and always eat at Cilantros during our stay. Unfortunately, this will be the last time. Our server was kind but she seemed to be clueless about everything. Our chips were burnt (when we asked for non-burnt chips, she told us “we only have one bucket of chips”). The Pibb Xtra/Dr.Pepper had no syrup…she said “it must be out”, there was no offer to fix it. The cheese dip was cold and was the consistency of sour cream. My daughter ordered steak and cheese nachos, but they came out without cheese. When I asked about the cheese, she said “it comes on the side”. They then brought out a tiny side of cheese dip (again, the consistency of sour cream). We asked for more cheese, but we never got it. This was the biggest disappointment. Cilantros used to be an excellent place to eat…I don’t know what happened. The food was awful. I would NEVER...