Kalaveras — Restaurant in Whittier

The food is great and the drinks are ok. The salmon with bbq was good and filling, the a la diabla pasta de camarones was delicious, my friend said her fajitas were good and her husband said the burrito was ok, he liked the one in Pasadena better. The music is very loud inside, probably could not have a conversation in there... good thing we got seated in the patio. Everyone was friendly but were not in sync. We were here on a Friday night. When we arrived we were greeted and treated nicely. My friend and I were celebrating our birthdays, it was a party of 4. We checked in and we had to wait 25 min. for a table so they got my friend's husband's number and he was told he would receive a message when our table was ready. So we went for a walk and came back 15 min later. We were waiting to be called but never happened and my friend noticed other people that were just arriving were being seated before us and we saw a few empty tables. So my friend asked if there were any tables available because we had been waiting for almost an hour. They asked if we had signed in and we give them the name; and they said that he was not on the list. My friend showed them the text he got at the moment he was put on the list and they insisted that he was not on the list but got us a table right away. My husband's friend ordered a wet burrito with just beans and cheese because he doesn't eat meat. Well when he got his order he got a burrito with meat. He told our server that they got it wrong and that he didn't want it anymore. The server was very friendly and she got him another burrito anyways the way he ordered it. Then my friend asked for flour tortillas and they gave her corn, so she asked for flour tortillas and still brought corn again. Finally they gave the right ones. The person that brought the food was not our server so we don't know whos fault was it that the order was messed up. Then I asked for the same drink my friend had and my friend asked for a second one. Well both of her drinks were good and had the same color but mine was darker and when I tried it, it was very sweet! Usually I would not say anything but I don't think I would've been able to drink it like that so I asked to get it fixed. I don't know what was going on that night but they were unorganized. Probably had new employees. They did sing happy birthday to us at the end of our dinner and they put on a good show, we were very happy with that. Our server Cindy was very friendly, made good suggestions and stayed calm with a good attitude through the whole situation. Honestly I don't think my husband and I will ever go back there and neither our friends. Maybe we'll give them another chance since they did respond nicely to the mess ups and try to fix them right away and didn't give...

We visited on a Friday night and were surprisingly very pleased with the detail to service and speed at which we received everything on a busy night. We had Oscar helping us and I went with his suggestion to order pasta a la diabla. For my drink I wanted to try something like an old fashion and went with his recommendation of la Vieja and it was great!

Taquitos ($12) - 5 colorful corn tortillas with your choice of potato or chicken. It's topped with arugula, dip, cheese, and salsa on the side. The tortillas was crunchy and fried to perfection. A great appetizer to share!

Molcajete ($40) - Steak, chicken, shrimped, chorizo, cactus, and cheese served in a molten rock topped with jalapeno and salsa. This is the featured item on their entree! Everything was flavorful and delicious. It comes with tortilla, rice, and beans. This was BOMB! A must get.

Paloma Negra ($13) - This classic cocktail is very popular here! It's dark due to the grapefruit. I really liked this cocktail, but it wasn't strong.

Jarrito Loko ($12) - The cutest cocktail ever! The cocktail was sweet and enjoyable.

Margarita Flight ($35) - It's a good flight of margarita if you want to try different kinds. The margaritas are stronger than their classic drinks. But kind of pricey for 4 mini margaritas.

The service here was outstanding! So many staff checking up on you and the food came out extremely fast. Our server was attentive and always available. The restaurant was spacious with lots of table. I can't wait to come back. Don't walk, run to Kalaveras when you get a chance!

2nd visit:

This past weekend my boyfriend and I stopped in for a drink and appetizers. The mojito was one of the best I've had- definitely recommend! For appetizers, we had the chicken empanadas and queso fundido. The empanadas were hot and flaky, and the chicken filling was flavorful, moist, and had a good amount of spice. The queso fundido was sooo good! I've never tried it before, and I feel like I've been missing out. It has melted cheese, mushrooms, and chorizo paired with tortillas... ooey-gooey goodness.

I've also had the Pasta a la diabla and it quickly became one of my favorite dishes from any restaurant. The pasta is always cooked perfectly, the sauce is creamy and flavorful, and they give you a very good amount of shrimp.

If you like brunch it's also a great spot. Very tasty breakfast / brunch options as well as bottomless mimosas.

Also! We visited on my birthday a couple months back and they do a birthday dessert and sing as well, super fun spot for celebrations!

I think it's clear I love Kalaveras any time day or night, and if you haven't tried them out yet you are definitely...

Unhappily, this restaurant dropped from 5 to 1 star.

Second review: I can no longer recommend this location of Kalaveras. So many things went wrong on this visit:

One food item was served with wrong and missing ingredients.

Time: two hours for three tacos, one of which we sent back.

Several service requests were heard and ignored.

Finally, the staff was clear that we were unhappy. The proper response would be to explain the situation (they didn't), bring out a senior staffer to discuss it with us (they didn't), offer some compensation (they didn't), offer some incentive for us to come back (they didn't). Any one or more would be appropriate, and appreciated.

There were multiple instances of "sorry" with less than convincing sincerity. Even if it had been heartfelt, see above.

There was a definite whiff of "we don't really care that much about your visit tonight" in the air.

I paid good money to treat a friend and we both left feeling bad.

There are plenty of other places with much the same food and drink. We will go patronize them in the future.

First review: The food was very good. The drinks were excellent.

But the best thing about our visit was the top notch, grade a, skillful service. Everything she did was perfection: Too early for the afternoon menu? She checked with the kitchen anyway, and made a suggestion from the brunch menu. Something not available but listed on the menu? She was sweet and funny about it. Water never empty. Silverware appears when...