Cantina "Calaca" Feliz — Restaurant in Philadelphia

Cozy restaurant located at a walking distance from the art museum. I opted for the chef’s tasting menu ($30 pp) which contained the following for the table:

Guacamole chips and salsa: Loved the smoked chili salsa. The guac was served on a massive stone mortar and tasted good too.

Ensalada con esparragos: oh god this was amazing. I am not a salad person but this one was so good. Loved the jalapeño and lime dressing. It’s a treat for people who love brussel sprouts but I am just not a big fan.

Heirloom tomato tlayuda: I did not like it as much because there was hardly any flavor. Very weak considering I had two great dishes before this. Can be easily skipped.

Cauliflower tacos: Absolutely enjoyed eating that perfectly marinated and grilled cauliflower. Beautiful flavors overall and should definitely be tried here. Also liked that the taco had pineapple pieces inside.

Mushroom tacos: this too was great and I especially loved the truffle oil and potato puree inside.

Enchilada con granos: My friend found this okay but I just could not eat it after a bite. The mole tasted medicinal and the enchilada filling was very dry and weak. I am not sure the sauce was made correctly but I doubt many people would like this.

Elote: juicy, tasty and absolutely comforting taste. You can never go wrong with an elote.

Apart from the aforementioned items which were all served as a part of the tasting menu, we ordered the blueberry and buttermilk tres leches. This was served with a candied corn icecream. The elements individually may not be too strong but coming together as one dish made this worth eating. I liked the mouthfeel as well as the taste. Very well thought dish.

Our server was quite helpful and accommodated our dietary restrictions. The service was somewhat slow but it was expected since it was a Friday night. It is a little expensive but worth trying because the food is quite good. I’ll certainly recommend this to my friends...

Visiting from out of town. We came to this cute restaurant with high hopes. Started off pretty well…. But after an hour we were still waiting for our food.. a taco.. two burgers.. some rice and beans.. soup and Brussel sprouts. They said it was taking long because of how it was entered in the system… yet tables that got seated after us were receiving their food…..? We were offered free chips and salsa after over 45 min of waiting ..but declined as we were hungry for the food we ordered not something to hold us over… our drinks were barely filled, coffee was Luke warm.. and once we got the food from a different server who apologized for the wait .. our waitress finally came over to see if we needed napkins AFTER we were finishing up . Our waitress never came over first to take any responsibility for what was going on with the long wait for our food… she came over after the other employee apologized first for the wait. Also not to mention we had to finally ask the hostess for our check and a box to get going after 2 hours spent here for a “quick lunch” … when receiving the bill nothing was comped … Charged for all the food… you’d think they would try to apologize in some way and perhaps comp something like one of the burgers .. something…the free chips and salsa offered isn’t anything special.. especially when 95% of Mexican restaurants give that for free to begin with. Our food was a 5/10. Won’t be recommending to anyone visiting.. Food wasn’t even that hot when we got it… . *If you have a new system you’d think employees would be trained properly before waiting on your customers so it wouldn’t result in the terrible service we had at your place. Very disappointed. Hopefully this review will only help to prevent this for other customers...

We grabbed one of the few outside tables since it was a great night to sit out. I took a quick trip to the restroom so I got to see the restaurant inside which looks nice. There's a back patio which we heard was enjoyable spot.

We started off with some great drinks...

1. traditional margarita (very good);

2. 'tropical' margarita with mango, pineapple, strawberry infused tequila, lime, orange liqueur (very tasty and drinkable and thankfully just the right amount of sweet but not too much);

3. a 'mango agua fresca' with vodka, mango, fresno chile, lime, ginger. It was OK.

The guacamole was great, although perhaps a little pricey for the amount. One in our party was vegan so I didn't get to try the one with bacon. Next time!

Watermelon gazpacho was delicious. Would have loved another bowl!

I got the panko crusted Shrimp Tacos. Plump & crispy shrimp. The habanero honey was a nice sweet and spicy touch. The pineapple salsa featured chunks of fresh pineapple. I was very impressed with and thoroughly enjoyed the whole combination.

My vegan friend got the Enchilada con Granos (grains). First off it was a very amber color, although the sun was setting so it was hard to tell exactly. Filled with farro, red quinoa, yams, mole amarillo. Seriously, I didn't miss the meat. I wished I'd got that myself.

Other friend got a quesadilla. He enjoyed it but I forgot to ask about it.

I really look forward to going back as the drinks, food and general experience...