Mexicali Cantina Grill — Restaurant in South Windsor

Dined at this establishment last Saturday with a friend. Had a horrible experience. Ordered a margarita and a glass of wine. Both glasses had multiple chips on the bottom which were very sharp. Moving on to ordering our food. My friend and I wanted to share a salad. The server asked what kind of protein we would like. I said we don’t want any protein as we were planning on ordering the fajitas for 2. She said oh well I have to charge you for a protein. Huh?? Every other place in the universe offers salad and then at the bottom it gives you an option to add a protein for an additional charge. Nope. No option we had to pay for the protein or not get the salad. The server said “you can get the Cesar salad! It doesn’t come with protein!” Umm we don’t want that. So we ended up ordering chicken and told her to put it on the side so we could take it home. Fast forward to the steak fajitas. The steak was cut so thin and so overcooked it tasted like beef jerky. We had one small fajita each and left the rest on the plate. We nicely told the server and she asked if we wanted more steak but we did not. This should have been taken off the check. Or at least addressed by a manager. Also the place was so smoky you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. Something must have been wrong with the exhaust fans. I know other customers were complaining about that too because they started opening doors which made it freezing in there. Pretty sure this doesn’t comply with health codes but I’m going to make sure. I’m not hiding behind my computer. We called today and the owner was extremely rude and not concerned at all that we had a bad experience. He did not offer anything. Not even an apology. Shame on...

I was excited to try this Mexican Restaurant with good reviews and based on how packed the restaurant was.

This was the place I decide to get take-out on my birthday.

Before I review my experience with the food. I do want to say the staff upfront and I wish I had gotten their names were extraordinary friendly. The wrote Happy Birthday on a bag of chips.

So my experience may have been impacted by missing one (1) item from my $77 order as this resulted in additional waiting and my food had been sitting there done before I got there. With a 30 minute drive the experience of course would change. Because of this my food was not hot and I had to heat up.

The tostada was not crisped up personally I make better tostada.

The chimichangas were small and slightly disappointed.

The appetizer platter was not worth it.

Now the kids meal burrito was very much liked by my son. Applause.

The desserts were alright. Again I think it would been a better experience if I didn’t have to wait or if I ordered the food on my travels there or even when I got there.

Overall my $77 order was not worth it for take-out. The price for the portions and quality is not worth it. Again the staff is really friendly. This is 1st time I tried it on my Birthday and likely the last time. I have been to some other Mexican restaurants that have exceptionally better food in the area. I was quite disappointed. I would rather gotten like Taco-bell and saved myself $50.00.

Now from point of view with the amount of people eating there and the packed parking lot that the true experience is eating in.

My recommendation if you’re going to eat here you’ll likely have a much better experience...

I have been there twice in the past few weeks. The food is great, the restaurant is spotless and the wait-staff and bartenders are very friendly. Can't ask for more than that. Will be going there next week with about 4 other people. I will be interested to see what they have to say. I will report back after my visit with them.

OK. Here is my update. I know, I know I gave it 5 stars before, but now it's 2 stars. Four of us went for dinner last Saturday. The food was very, very good. Here comes the big BUT. The service was somewhere between God-awful and non-existent. The waitress could have cared less about us, or anyone else for that matter. The food was very slow coming out of the kitchen. It took over two hours to eat and get out of there. Just to note that there were no appetizers ordered nor did anyone get coffee or desert (that probably would have added another hour to the ordeal). I know the word ordeal sounds harsh, but that's what it felt like - an ordeal, not an enjoyable dining experience and in the end, we could not wait to get out of there.

My recommendation if you want to go there would be to sit at the bar and order take-out (it's going to take 45 minutes for the food to come out anyway). That's what I did the first time when I gave it such high praise.

I just want to be clear - the food is really, really good. If the kitchen and the wait staff could get their act together and turn the table quicker, it would be much better. Sorry, but it's just not worth sitting there for the better part of two and a half hours. Also, don't expect your drink glass to refreshed...