Te'Kila — Restaurant in Los Angeles

This is hands-down my favorite bar in Los Angeles.

First off, a couple years back they adopted the Seahawks, thanks to efforts by several of the employees and several of us regulars who are Seattle transplants who just wanted a place to watch our team and scream our heads off. Well, we've got it—just in time for Seahawks to start really winning (I like to think it's because we started this!), and if you're a 12th Man looking for a place to watch with fellow fans, you gotta come in. In fact, just search YouTube for In Hollywood TV's Seahawks videos and you can see how loud and fun this place is during games. The bar has outside tables and indoor tables that are kid-friendly too, so if you're in town visiting L.A. and thinking about taking a tour with City Safari Hollywood, you can hang out and eat something while waiting for the tourbus (get tickets right outside, the bus picks up right in front).

However, that isn't all. Their food is really good. No microwave in back! Everything is made fresh that day, from the fajitas to the horchada. Happy hour has some great deals—my favorite is the steak tacos, I ask for them to add guac and cheese and bam I'm done.

And the drinks... these bartenders make amazing margaritas. They've got a pretty creative margarita menu. I prefer mine with jalapeño for a little kick. Or, if you want to venture into the world of premium tequila, they have a huge selection of some really great tequilas! My go-to is now Fortaleza Reposado, but occasionally I'll treat myself to a Clase Azul. Just ask the bartenders for a recommendation and give them a price range and you won't be disappointed.

I can't not mention how amazing the staff is. Super friendly, really fun people. One of the owners said to me at one point, "these people are like my family. I like them to feel like this is their place too." And you get that sense—I've been in for evenings when it happens to be one of the servers' birthdays and all the staff and regulars and anyone that happens to walk in join in for cake. I never see that anywhere else. Really fun.

That reminds me, the last thursday of every month they do a tequila tasting. It's usually around $25-$30, and they do three or four seatings. You probably have to call the bar to reserve a spot, but I've also found tickets by searching Event Brite. The owner, Kevin, walks you through the differences between highlands and lowland tequila, gives tastes of 5-6 premium tequilas. They include chips and salsa. Some of these shots are $15-20 shots on their own, so it's pretty unbeatable.

There's also a couple DJs that rotate through through the week. These guys do a great job of busting out music. I've seen impromptu dance floors pop up several times as people get down.

And then from Te'Kila, you can head back to Secret to smoke a hookah, or next door to 504 for a New Orleans style hurricane. No Vacancy, Dirty Laundry, and Butchers and Barbers are all within about 50 feet. Right up the block are a couple clubs, and a bunch of other great bars like Jamesons, Rusty Mullet, Loaded, etc. I've found it's fun to start my night getting some food and a couple drinks in me at Te'kila, then roaming up and down the street bar-hopping, and then ending the evening smoking a hookah... fun stuff.

The light rail stops are at Vine and at Hollywood—Te'Kila is probably right smack in between—and there's taxis everywhere, so it's pretty easy to drink and not drive and get...

I think it's fair I start by saying that I am Mexican. I have eaten Mexican food all my life from street tacos to fine dinning. Te'kila like its choice of spelling tequila is a restaurant that doesn't really know what it is. Is it a sport bar, or a family restaurant or a cantina, who knows. But that soulless translates into the food as well. It took 15 minutes after we sat for a server to take our drink order, after they took our order it took another 25 minutes for appetizers to arrive, mind you nobody came in the interim to refill our drinks. We ordered their Te'kila wings and ceviche. We had to ask for utensils because there was only one set on the table and our server did not provide us with another set or extra plates. The ceviche was average, fish, cucumber, mango, onion, cilantro, tomatoes and avocado diced served with plantain chips (not seasoned). The wings were truly disappointing, they were very small and drowned in a truly offensive sauce that tasted like honey, lime and a whole lot of chili powder (not seasoned either). When they finally took our entree order, the waiter forgot my husband's order and by the time they brought one part of the order my husband had to wait to get his entree. But hey we finally got a drink refill. We ordered enchiladas with mole, and with salsa verde and an order of carne asada tacos (two small tacos per order $8). The tacos were sad and cold and the meat had a preservative taste. The enchiladas were also very disappointing, both the mole and salsa verde tasted out of a can. While the staff was nice, it was a very poor service, had the food been good one could've forgive the lapses in basic waiter etiquette, however both were lacking. There are tons of restaurants in the Valley, I don't think we will try Te'Kila again. I think this is more of a place to have drinks and get wasted enough you won't notice the poor quality...

Warning: DO NOT COME HERE! They stole from me by changing my tip amount after providing horrible service, then refused to correct it, claiming I had "no way to prove it."

On Saturday, Jan 20th I came here for a friend's birthday. I ordered a drink at the bar and asked to close out, but for the next 25 minutes our bartender held on to both mine and my friends cards. It wasn't until I had finished my drink that she returned my card with the receipt, and I realized she had given me/charged me for a more expensive drink that I hadn't ordered that was $32. I was upset, but at that point it would have been difficult to argue and ask for the correct, cheaper version because I had already consumed the entire drink. So, after much debate I decided to leave her only a $2 tip because I felt cheated.

Several days later, I noticed while paying my bills that I had been charged $37 for that one drink. I knew something was up because I specifically remember adding up a total of $34 (my boyfriend and I literally had a debate about it because we are usually generous tippers so we clearly remembered the amount). After 5 different phone calls talking to various people who seemed to be covering for each other, I finally got one of the managers - Emil - to send me a copy of the receipt which I attached here. As you can see, someone clearly tried to change my tip amount from a 2 to a 3, and the total from 34 to 39. Instead of apologizing and doing to the right thing (fixing the amount of the charge), all Emil offered was a free shot if we came in again while he was working. He said he wouldn't do anything else because apparently this clearly altered receipt isn't enough "proof."Obviously, I'm never coming to Tekila again. I'm sure that this isn't the first time they've taken advantage of customers who were out drinking, so wanted to warn you all...