Camacho Garage — Restaurant in New Haven

1st time here. Walked in & immediately felt the place had a fun, lively atmosphere. Music was authentic to the restaurant. Great vibe! Came during happy hour (HH). Tried the HH chicken tinga tostada & street corn (off cob). Tostada had a nice depth of flavor, chicken was tender, but the tostada itself was extremely crisp/hard (to the point of being overdone? - not burnt though). The street corn was a letdown. Portion was very small. The corn was still in sheets, not kernels, from cutting it off the cob, great, so you know it's fresh, but hard to eat & the corn to seasoning ratio was off, with the seasoning taking the spotlight and oddly, it tasted & looked like there were bacon bits in it! Weird!! You have to try the guacamole when you go to a Mexican restaurant...right!!? Theirs came in a cool looking bowl w/6 large round chips. A+ on presentation. Guac was super creamy, but lacked seasoning, even after a squeeze of lime. Had high hopes too - what a bummer. Entrees were the Al Pastor & fish tacos. I recommend the al pastor. They had a nice, mildly sweet flavor w/a little heat. An abundance of meat, which was tender, juicy & flavorful. The fish taco was the opposite. It had no flavor whatsoever. The slaw added a little flavor, but not enough to make the taco memorable - only saving grace was that the fish was cooked well, but was still very boring/lacking any taste/flavor. The rice & beans were just ok, but again, no flavor. Their plantains were excellent! Perfectly cooked & caramelized nuggets of sweet goodness. They didn't even need the crema & queso fresco. All the food we ate came out hot & fresh tasting. Onto drinks...try a mojito!!! You won't be disappointed - they're delish! Sweet, not too minty. Skip the margarita. It was super basic & tasted like a mix. Also, the size of the drinks vs. the cost is absurd. $13 for what looks like a 4oz glass is ludacris. Our server was Maddie. She was friendly & super quick w/apps & drinks, but after that, she sort of disappeared. It felt like we were forgotten...like since we weren't buying anymore drinks, we weren't a priority. We waited a VERY long time for our entrees, although, I have to say, the food was hot when it came out, which was great. The long wait put a slight damper on the night. I dislike being rushed, but hate being forgotten. Total cost =$120 w/tip With the price tag & lack of flavor, nothing wowed us enough to want...

In general, the food was very good. The menu is a bit fashionable. No enchiladas, tamales, flour tortillas or chile rellenos. I had six oysters to begin with. Three of them were dirty with shell bits. They were tiny oysters! The fancy orange-habanero mignonetta was very tasty. I ordered the Mexican street corn and while it was very tasty the waitress had the corn cut off the cob without asking us. Perhaps it was because I said we were going to share it... I had carnitas tacos and the wife had breaded cod tacos. They don't let you choose a mix of two tacos. You have to order two of a kind. I ordered salsas and crispy tortillas once I realized that no salsa was provided with anything and the carnitas tacos were a bit dry and they were quite salty, with an actual salt crunch. The corn tortillas are made there and are on the small side, thus fairly small tacos. The salsas and whole, crisp tortillas were excellent. Two of the salsas were borderline of having any significant heat. The salsa Morita was super tasty and reminded me of Ancho peppers. The salsa Verde was also great and paired well with my carnitas tacos. It was odd that they pile the tortillas on the three bowls of salsa. You have to take the pile of tortillas off and put them somewhere and the bottom one got wet. Not cool nor cute. The rice and beans were extra cost, too. Rather bland and plain, the pintos needed salsa! The rice could have used a touch more chile powder. The meal was $50 without drinks. A bit higher than the average/better Mexican joints or all taco trucks. Service was slow at first, but improved to a normal level. They seemed well-staffed. I want to go again and try some of the other menu items. The food was good enough that I definitely want to go again. Update: We have been back a number of times since. Service can be mediocre. Usually it’s the speed of the service. Usually the food and drinks are very good. Sometimes the taco filling is over cooked. Still, I go back for the taste and...

a real gem! this spot does a very stylish take on mexican food that tastes great and gets the fundamentals right. prices are moderate but not outrageous, especially compared to similar spots like geronimo's downtown (btw this place is WAY better than geronimo's lol). we came here on a monday night so it wasn't very busy and we got good service. here's what we had:

totopo kit: each of the three salsas this came with were so good and different from each other! the salsa verde was a standout for being so bright and fresh. the others were properly spicy too, which i appreciated. a very strong start!

tacos: we had the pulpo+chorizo, salmon, and al pastor. each kind was packed with flavor and done so well! i was skeptical that octopus and chorizo would go so well together, but the textures made for a delightful experience with the right amount of chew. pineapple slices in the al pastor were browned on the outside, juicy on the inside. all ingredients seasoned perfectly. incredible.

sides: rice and beans, fried plantains. basics done as well as you could ask for! possibly the only items that we felt were a tad overpriced, but still worth it for us.

dulce de leche lava cake (a special) + tres leches. good god. the hot dulce de leche flowing out the cake was divine, and no sweeter than needed for such an intense flavor. paired nicely with the mild coffee ice cream it came with. tres leches with banana ice cream was a joy; the berries mixed with shredded mint took it to the next level.

hibiscus aguas frescas were bright and tasty! exactly what we wanted to go with everything.

tl;dr: this is our new favorite taco spot. everything from salsa to dessert to drinks knocked it out of the park. it's clear that whoever designed the recipes did so with an attention to detail that's rare to find in restaurants below the fine dining price point. we'll be coming here more...