Kalaveras — Restaurant in Orange

One of the most miserable nights of my life! First: EPISLEPSY ALERT! Strobes are a thing there. Second: MISOPHONIA ALERT! It's miserably loud. The sad thing is that there is coolness and good stuff there, but it's totally not worth it! The good stuff included delicious chicken and unique decor of florescent spray painted skulls on the walls.

However, the music was EDM that was several decibels louder than any club I've ever been to! It was more like the sound level of a punk rock concert directly in front of the speaker, loud and distorted. The teens thought it was to loud as well. There were outbursts of whistles and loud obnoxious noises like when you go to bars just over the border in Mexico for 2-3 minutes every time there was a birthday & there were a lot of birthdays!

We met with friends, some we only see once a year for a holiday dinner & this was it. While happy to see them, I've been home for about 2 hours & my jaw is still tense, the base of my head aches & my ears are still ringing in spite of having torn chunks of napkin & putting them in my ears. My teen, who is sensitive to strobes & loud sounds, left as soon as they ate & waited in the car. I wish I had joined them or the other 3 people who left early due to this misery! In all, 4 out of 9 left early.

Honestly, I wish I had left right away & told my husband I'd take the kid & go for fast food nearby, just call when done. I think once the other people saw us leaving someone might have spoken up & said, yeah, this is bad. We were just all too polite to be the one that walked out before eating & we all suffered for it.

Additionally, they left the doors propped open the entire time. I'm very hot natured & wore a long sleeve shirt, yet I was cold the whole meal. The food took over an hour from when we sat down. We had to ask for our check long after eating when we could catch them. Of course, the 18% tip was included, so the it's not like they had to be sure to provide the good service to earn it!

While the chicken in our fajita was delicious, there was hardly any onion or pepper in it. As I requested them not to put the pasilla pepper or the mushrooms in it, this meant very little was there to put in my tortilla other than the chicken. They gave us three Tortillas for an entire order of fajitas. My teen would later tell me their food was not good.

My kid also told me they didn't even get all of their food. They said, a waiter talked to them at one point, but they miscommunicated & the kid thought they were talking about someone else's side dish. I chalk this up to the noise levels that made communication impossible as well. Yeah, I talked to the kid about speaking up, but this is the quiet one. Still, on top of everything else, we paid for food we didn't receive!

The bill was 240.00 for nine people, three of us teens having small meals. At least five of us drank water. My friend's drink was awful, so she sent it back and asked for something else. They didn't get it to us until nearly an hour later. By then it was too close to when she would have to drive, so she turned it down and they took it off the bill. This was a Thursday night & the restaurant was not full. It is a bit expensive.

Update: it is now the next day My head is still aching and ringing. I will never set foot in that place again! It was a horrible experience, a miserable night! No food is that good.

TLDR? Visually: edgy and cool Sound level: ear splitting Service: spotty to poor Food quality: hit or miss with a small quantity of extras. I. E. A full order of fajitas that's mainly chicken(good), but minimal onions & peppers(meh), only 3 Tortillas. Temperature: front door left open all night in December for a cold evening Cost: bit pricey for a nice evening, exorbitant for a miserable one with missing food we were...

Been to a kalveras before in La Puente , so decided to try this one in OC. Didn't order any food since I ate before getting there , i just ordered the drinks 😁🍹💯!!! Our bartender Teresa was very kind and very helpful she was actually very honest as well about the drinks and wasn't just saying whatever to make us buy stuff which I really appreciated. I paid total $116.00 with tip included but had a great time! They have music playing on the speakers which is good because it's not boring so good vibes makes u wanna party! 🥳 && The place is decorated so nicely! When you enter they have a hallway of flowers 🌺🌸🌼 it's just so beautiful, and the walls have like graffiti skeletons 💀💀💀 it's super dope! I ordered 2 🍉🍭🇲🇽 Watermelon Mexican Candy Shots! $10 each! Bomb! 💣 Had chamoy rim with tajin , watermelon candy lollipop and I think vodka or tequila can't remember, but very very good! Nothing super crazy of a shot! I was actually able to drink it whole and not feel like I was gonna Vomit! Next was the Margarita flight 🍹🍹🍹🍹 ! 😍 So good! They have actual fresh fruit and ingredients in the drinks nothing artificial about the taste! I believe the flight was around $22? It came with 4 mini but strong margaritas, I got Cucumber 🥒, Pineapple 🍍, Chamoyada 🥭 , and Tamarindo 🤤😍 she was able two switch two flavors for me since im not a big fan of guava and I already tried a Jamaica drink. I didn't drink all these alone I had my bf with me so we were both feeling pretty lit and he also really loved the drinks! And then I ordered El Chupacabra it's tequila, lime, agave, orange liquor and Hibiscus 🌺 (Jamaica) 🩷! This drink was so good! It had a salt and pepper rim mix it was so great it paired very well with the drink! 🌺🍹 And real fresh fruit guys! It had real pieces of Jamaica like a real drink! 👌👌👌 My bf ordered the Pepinos con Chile drink came with the same ingredients as El Chupacabra but just with Chile Jalapenos & Pepinos 🥒 , he likes that one as well wasn't anything sweet , only thing he can say it that it tasted healthy 😅 but he still enjoyed it. He also ordered Mi Novia Fresa 🍓 it was very good sweet but not too sweet still fresh and not drowning in tequila! And I also had ordered a Mi Cucu, 😍🤤😍 omg this drink was amazzing!! Tequila and sparkling wine omg what a great mix! Wasn't anything too strong but not weak either , flavor was great fruitty, sweet, a bit sour! Great combination and couldn't have been done without a great bartender. She didn't over serve with alcohol and drinks were well made. Definitely somewhere I would go back! They also have brunch on the weekends I believe . To be honest we were feeling pretty good when we left! 🥴🍹💯 They were so good the drinks they they got me full due to how fast I was drinking them. Totally recommend! They also have a Taco Tuesday, if I knew about that I would of ate there but next time! 😁🌮 They also sing if it's ur birthday 🥳 and have like this crazy cool sparkle candle 🕯️💥, hella extra, i love it! ✨ I did try the tostada ceviche at the La Puente location though so I can say that the ceviche tostadas are good! Really like this place! Not cheap either so keep that in mind if you're on a budget. 💯😙🤌 Good place for a date night 😘 or...

Saw the restaurant advertisement "Reel" on my Instagram feed, I was very excitedto try this new restaurant. 😄 Let me just say with complete honesty, the "Reel" sets an expectation of delicious authentic Mexican food that " Does not translate" into the actual dinning experience, 😔 In other words the delicious food shown in the commercial is not what you receive at the restaurant.😔 I went in for taco Tuesday, ordered 5 tacos and a beer they did not have my beer of choice, so I settled for a secondary choice. Now these tacos are tiny one tortillas street tacos, very small, not much meat given, I mean minimum portions for the $1.49 taco price. The beer was Flat.... not good at all..... When I received the bill, the cost of my 5 street tacos was $7.49, the cost of the Flat beer was $8.00 bucks. The Flat beer cost more than the Tiny street tacos, I couldn't believe it but it was the proper ending to a really disappointing dining experience. Now let me be completely forthcoming, I remember the last restaurant that occupied this location, it too was a Mexican food restaurant. I tried it only once, the food was so crapy that I didn't finish the meal, and made a complaint to the manager regarding the quality of the food which was So bad that I actually asked the manager if he was selling yesterday's leftovers to to that day's customers..... 😦This restaurant seems to have new owners (who have multiple Kalaveras locations) based on the new name and the commercial advertising. Let me give the new owners some advice, if your gunna advertise authentic Mexican food in your commercials you should provide that to your customers when they visit. You can slap a new coat of paint and add the "Day of the Dead" motif inside and out with vibrant colors BUT if the food and beverages are crap and substandard, your new restaurant is going to have the same end as the previous Mexican restaurant, You'll be closing down in a year maybe two maximum. I hope I am wrong, I truly hope you succeed. I hope read this review and realize you desperately need to improve your food and beverage quality..... And if not, "Oh well, Too Bad, So So Sad.... As for me I won't be going back.... like the the other people who live in The City of Orange and the people who live in Orange County I expect high quality in the food and beverages I order when I spend my hard earned dollars at your restaurant, remember I can always stay home and cook myself a high quality meal with a tasty beverage, saving the money I would spend in a restaurant. But good luck to you in your efforts to establish yourselves in the City of Orange restaurant space.... It's a very competitive space filled with many quality restaurant offering high quality food and beverages to it's...