That Little Mexican Cafe

When I walked in and got to the host stand, the hostess was talking to another employee. They continued to have a conversation even though I was clearly standing and waiting to be seated. When I worked at a hostess, I was taught to drop all conversations as soon as a customer enters the restaurant and that’s what I expect from restaurants. So I started off with a not-​so-​great impression.
Once seated, the service was much better. We were served chips and salsa immediately and it was refilled before our entrees came. I ordered a salad with skirt steak and asked for no beans. It came with the beans so I had to remove them myself, which was annoying but fine. The price was higher than I’m used to paying for Mexican food but the general atmosphere and interior design of the place was nice.

It looks like a nice place to have some food. I went with some friends to have brunch on a Sunday and it wasn’t busy at all. It did start to pick up around 2pm.
The food was decent considering it was a brunch buffet. The best item on the buffet was the steak fajitas. The steak was nicely flavored and tender mixed with green peppers and onions.
The rest of the food it what you would expect from a typical Mexican restaurant. Nothing really special about the food but atmosphere is pretty good. The service wasn’t really that great but understandable since I only saw 2 servers waiting the entire restaurant.

Had the chicken and shrimp fajitas. The food was very good, as well as the service.
One downside, no casa

Came with two others and while two of our plates were good, one actually had a bug crawl out of the food which was unacceptable. They also serve flour tortillos which are inferior to corn.
They were also missing the staple painting of the man holding a dying woman on a mountain.

This place is really great, especially if you love fresh guacamole! Tacos are fantastic, as is the salsas. I wish they’d work on perfecting their margaritas (maybe a touch more citrus?), but they’re still pretty good and they give you a nice healthy pour! That’s enough to keep me coming back.
Fun place for groups too!

Came here for the first time tonight for a friend’s 21^st birthday. Everyone’s food & drinks looked yummy, so we were excited to dig in! I ordered the Shrimp Chipotle dish and after reading Unilocal reviews, chose to splurge a little for guac on the side. The char-​broiled shrimp and rice combo tasted great, but the papaya side salad wasn’t what at all what I expected. There were a few greens, and plenty of medium-​sized papaya chunks; there were so few greens that I wished they’d just left them out entirely. It was more a side of papaya than a side salad. The guac was spectacular! That said, the (complimentary? not sure… I arrived a little late to the party) tortilla chips & salsa weren’t too great. Service was friendly!
4 stars instead of 5 because though the food was yummy, it definitely could have been a little better.

The Little Mexican Café has really good Mexican food. Pricey when you compare it to the Mexican food in California, but the food taste is pretty authentic. I came here with drinks with two friends. Their drinks are very reasonable for the price. We were all surprised by how large our drinks were.
The food is great and the plates are large enough to share between two people if you aren’t starving. We ordered the guacamole and it was great to see it created right at the table. We ordered steak fajitas and it was a fairly large portion. Between the two of us, we were able to have three fajitas each filled with rice, beans and all the toppings. The servers were really attentive as well.
I’m not giving this place a 5 star review as I’ve definitely had better Mexican food in my life, but for IL, I’m definitely impressed.

What a lovely discovery!
The gaucomole is one of the top recipes we’ve had!
Reasonably priced, nice décor pleasant staff. Our new favorite neighborhood Mexican restaurant.
Not fancy or pricey; just right.

This is the best Mexican food available in the suburbs. While not the best in Chicagoland, this is my go to place when I am craving some Mexican food. That Little Mexican Café is also one of the most upscale Mexican restaurants in the area. Their portion sizes are just right, not too large and not too small. I recommend their chicken enchiladas verdes. They also have good delivery service.

Great place for Mexican. In this busy area in Evanston you’ll find a roomy, bustling restaurant with a lot to offer. Food is tasty and service is fast and friendly. Try the table-​side guacamole bar made to your taste, a beer from their large selection of Mexican, domestic, and craft, or any of the entrees. I would highly recommend the veggie enchiladas with mole sauce — it’s perfect. Sweet, spicy, and filling. I would also recommend the steak tacos. Servings are large and ingredients seems to be really fresh. Would come here again.
P. S. They also offer micheladas — which are beer cocktails made with clomato, lime juice, salt, and your choice of Mexican beers. Delicious.

This place has changed in the 10 years since I last stopped in. Unfortunately, not for the better. Bottom line is he good us lost its flare. I stopped for lunch and was not interested in the Buffett they had set up. Server assured me I could order off the menu. My fajitas were very obviously not cooked to order and just pulled from the warming pan of Buffet and placed in searing skillet with some water for effect. Dry chicken doesn’t suddenly refresh itself. Scoop of salsa in a cup with chips and most of the sides were also repurposed. Too bad. Maybe options are few in Evanston for Mexican, but the drive elsewhere is worth the effort.

This is a review for their lunch buffet.
Came here on a Friday with a large group of coworkers for lunch. The restaurant was not very busy at all and we had our choice of places to sit, even with a group of 8. Our server was very attentive and did a nice job providing soda and water refills throughout the meal. They also gave us a heads up before the buffet line closed in case we wanted to get one more plate of food which was very thoughtful.
Food was just okay. Nothing special about the rice or beans. The meats didn’t look the best either. The steak fajitas was probably my favorite part of the buffet. Not nearly enough chips out on the line and they ran out of guac for quite some time. If I come back I will probably just order off of the menu…

This review is a little late but…
The food is great! The service could be a little better. Their tortilla soup is spicy and delicious. We also had their nachos and they were great as well. Came here for their table side made guacamole!

As a die-​hard margarita fan, I had such high hopes for this restaurant. Here’s a pro/​con:
PRO: Food was good. Not amazing, but good. My boyfriend really liked his meal a lot, while my salad was pleasant but not something I’d order again.
PRO: Ambiance is pretty nice. We sat in the bar area at a high-​top.
CON: How do they justify these prices? In my mind, a place like this (based on décor, menu, ambiance, quality of margarita) should be priced at $ 6 – 7 per margarita with a good pitcher deal and entrees around $ 12. Instead, margs were way overpriced (and good but not excellent) and the food prices were just way too high (we’re talking $ 16 for a salad, $ 1 for a fajita).
We probably won’t be back — there are much cheaper gems all over Evanston. Save your money and order a margarita from Rick at the Cellar.

It’s fine, it’s just fine. The service is lackluster at best, and the vast majority of items such as the salsa, chips, enchiladas, burritos, tacos, fried ice cream, flan are just ok. They’re edible and not bad, but I can do better at home.
There are, to be fair, a few things I think are great — their skirt steak is perfectly done, the salmon in a banana leaf is quite tasty, and I’ve had two of their salads (one a seasonal special with chimichurri) that were excellent. None of these items are particularly different from what you might expect, they are all just well seasoned and done the way they should be. The fundito is also great, but really, it’s hard to go wrong with fundito.
Oh, and I do like their margaritas. I find them much less sweet than others. I also enjoy the festive ambiance/​colors and it’s a good choice for a Friday with friends (who like it better than I do) when no one wants to cook or leave the Evanston/​Skokie area.

In short: mediocre food and so-​so service with a high price tag. Until the return of Taco Diablo and Aguas Tortas, I’d recommend heading to Rogers Park for Mexican food.

Service okay. The food requires a ton of salt to give it some taste. Had the tacos de barbacoa. Tasted like a dry pile of beef. Salt required. The wife had cheese enchiladas that also tasted like nothing. They required salsa to make them have taste. The beans and rice sides also managed to be tasteless.
the tasteless Mexican seems to be a Chicago/​midwest problem. I haven’t seen that elsewhere.

Such HUGE portions! For those who know me, know that I take pride in finishing everything on my plate, and so far both time I’ve been here, I was unable to finish my burrito. But before I go into the food, location-​wise– This place is location just west of the Davis station. I don’t think this place has its own parking, so if you’re thinking about driving, prepare to park in parking structures or street parking. Once you enter, there is always someone to greet you with a smile. The place is pretty big with the entrance dividing the place into a bar on the left and the dining area on the right of the entrance. I was there on a Saturday night, and the place was pretty busy. It always helps to have a smaller group because we got seated right away without any reservation. On that note– I’m not sure if they do reservations. The server was pretty quick to attend to us and drop of the chips and salsa. Both weren’t that great and honestly, I stopped eating them after few tries. I’ve had their burrito before, and so I went ahead and ordered their skirt steak burrito. The burrito came with refried beans and rice. Just a side note– the refried bean is vegetarian! I had to ask for sour cream as it doesn’t come with the order of burrito. I am definitely sold on the burritos from here. The taste and the side, along with the cost, all won me over. The table next to mine ordered the guacamole which they role a cart to the table and make fresh guacamole for the table. Trust me– my next visit, I’m ordering guacamole for sure!
I do agree with the other review regarding this place not really being a romantic place. Unless you want to cozy up at the bar, this place is often busy with a lot of foot traffic around the dining area. They have a lot of family-​size tables which makes it a perfect place for a big group or families.

Located very near the Davis El stop, we had some time to kill while we waiting to pick people up so we stopped in for some drinks. It was after 10 on Saturday night but the place was quite slow. We do appreciate that they were open and let us order not only drinks but some thing from the kitchen. They ended up locking the doors before we even left just about 10:30 or so.
We sat at the bar and ordered two margaritas, some chips and salsa and the husband ordered two tacos. The bartender was not overly friendly but neither was she rude. The drinks were fine but nothing to rave about. We did appreciate that she poured what was left in the shaker into our glasses when they were empty and not just throw it out.
The chips and salsa were not good. I didn’t care for either the chip or the salsa. And they were super expensive to boot.
Husband said the tacos were dry.

I had to drop a star after the lunch we had the other day. I had the enchiladas and Christopher had the taco dinner. I ordered mine with mole sauce and was very disappointed. The seasoning was very bland. There was heat to it, but it isn’t all about being hot. Christopher also felt his tacos were very bland.
I ate one of the three enchiladas and took the rest home. To be honest, I ended up tossing it out because it just turned me off.
We will return, but not for a while because our enthusiasm has ebbed a bit.