Mexi-Cali Grill

My family and I have been to this place 3 times now and I figured they deserve a review from us! This is place a amazing. The food and service are awesome. My wife gets the chimichanga every time and I tried it last time — unbelievable! The sauce he puts on there is so good. They are very accommodating with our two kids and let’s you adjust your entrée. For example, I wanted carne asada instead of ground beef in my chimi and he said no prob and didn’t even charge me more!
He takes your order then goes to the back and cooks it for you. Fresh, flavorful, authentic, and personal!
If you like good mexican check it out. You won’t regret it!

Don’t go here. The guac looked like it came out of a tube

Yes, there’s a new owner, and the food is great! My wife and I were visiting from Modesto, and ate there two days in a row. Where else could you find a Mexican food menu listing Cajun blackened snapper topped with cashew butter? Entrees are attractively presented, and served in a pleasant environment. We were told that the name of the restaurant will soon change to El Zarape.

This place was scary. The food did not taste good. It actually tasted odd! Friendly service, but this must be a front business, because they cannot be staying in business by their food.
Probably some of the worst food I’ve had in years.
Save the belly ache. Don’t eat here.

Service: Friendly, always checked on us, could use improvement on speed.
Atmosphere: Small restaurant feel, tables situated to allow for semi-​privacy, latino music adds to ambience, if not on — can be requested.
Food: Basic selection, tasty fish tacos, carnitas in big chunks with crispy skin, tangy dressing — I suspect not Mexican, salsa is fresh — I saw it being made, carne asada was good, shrimp had unique breading-​which means it was fried — which means it was fully cooked.
Prices: Seems right for Monterey. Not SF expensive, but not Salinas cheap either.
Overall: As a «Mom and Pop», this place is good. You enter such an establishment to feel the «smallness». Good job on that.
Future goal: To taste the «fake-​yellow-​cheese» and store bought guacamole. In fact, I’ll challenge the young owner to show me how he makes his guac… stay tuned!

I was surprised to see that this restaurant had been open for several years, because based on the service we received, it should have gone under long ago. First, this is a family business, and generally I love patronizing family businesses since I’m bored to death with franchises. But this place simply doesn’t have its act together. The young woman who served us had a manner so unfocused that I thought it was her first day. We were the only customers, yet it took several requests to get basic items, like a knife. My carne asada plate came without any queso, so I asked for some. She brought me a small bowl of grated cheese! When I questioned why it wasn’t melted, she said it normally was melted and put on the beans and maybe the steak but that the cook had forgotten. I asked her to melt it. It took almost 10 minutes for her to return. When another group came in, a mom and her two sons, they received the same lackadaisical service. They didn’t even get their utensils until after the meal was served.
To be fair, she did ask, «Do you need anything else?» several times, but when we did ask for something, it took forever for her to return. She was simply untrained in the skill of good service. The service is so poor that it overshadows the quality of the food, which was about three stars.

By far THE WORST Mexican food I have ever had the misfortune to eat.
1. AWFUL taste (used the same fake-​yellow-​processed-​nacho cheese from Taco Bell, store-​bought pureed guacamole, carne asada burnt to beef jerky)
2. Poor, slow service
3. Strangely Overpriced
Do yourself a huge favor: NEVER EAT HERE.

This place is right across the street from my work. So whenever I’m too busy to grab lunch I will call this place and they come and deliver the food. The only thing I order are basic stuff like chicken tacos or a bean and cheese burrito. The prices are also never consistent. One day 2 tacos will be $ 5.00.next week $ 7.00. I think the prices are too high for the food that is being served.

AWFUL!!! I wont give any stars to this restaurant just cuz I had to choose one but in reality they dont deserve it. This restaurant has been the WORST restaurant I’ve ever been to. I went there with my boyfriend for the first time and both of us thought the food was Nasty! All the food was really Bad even the Drinks! So we ended up leaving all the food there. I wouldn’t recommend anybody to go eat there.

Sort of pedestrian Mexican food. Nothing special, not likely to return. Shrimp were overcooked (as usual in CA), carnitas weren’t really shredded, more big chunks.

This place has THE BEST FISH TACOs I’ve ever eaten! (The waiter said they get that a lot.) Two decent-​sized portions of sauteed, not fried, fish, tender, flaky, moist and firm, richly seasoned, on cabbage dressed ever so lightly with a sun-​dried tomato aioli. I wanted only one, but ate both without hesitation. The not-​iceberg (yay!) salad was nicely dressed with a raspberry vinagrette — very tasty!
On the other hand, the guacamole wasn’t so good — too thin, and the beans and rice were pretty standard. Still, I’d come back to try other things, since it’s clean, nice-​enough, and has a gently upscaled traditional menu and décor. Also, friendly staff and a killer sound system!
Check it out.

Has anyone ever actually eaten here?
This place is like a block from my house (where I’ve lived for a year and a half now!), yet I’m too afraid to go into it because everytime I walk or drive by it’s absolutely empty. Okay, I take that back, every once in a blue moon there is someone there eating, but I seriously can’t imagine how they stay open with so little business? Maybe they’re great for lunch or something?
A couple of months ago, I talked myself into giving it a try just to find that even though it said they were supposed to be open for dinner at 5pm, the sign on the door said closed even though it was 5:15. After that I gave up…