Taco Mexicali

Great restaurant! Atmosphere is light, food is great. Staying at the Great Wold lodge and wanted a reasonably price place to eat lunch. Needless to say, we were not disappointed. It’s definitely a great place to relax, converse and hear some great, traditional Hispanic music.

Really good beef and chicken flautas. The salsa bar was really good. The staff was very nice and accommodating. Nice place for the family.

I really enjoy Taco Mexicali, and I’ll begin by echoing Gretchen H.‘s review. Read it. She’s right on.
I’ve been here three times now. The food is always very, very good, and the service is excellent. All three of my waiters have straddled the fence between being attentive and allowing customers to enjoy their meals perfectly. I really love the way they season their steak. The burrito Chicago I enjoyed yesterday was served with a white cheese sauce, and it was delightful. Their salsa is excellent, and they keep the drinks flowing. Furthermore, it’s inexpensive. My daughters shared an adult meal (and ate part of mine!) and my sweetheart and I each had our own meals, and we were out of there for $ 40, which included a 20%+ tip for the high quality service.

Such a disappointment. Didn’t get a waitress/​waiter and we sat there about 15 minutes. Chips and salsa at least was good. The restaurant wasn’t busy.

Dined here on a very busy Saturday night and had to write a review since I strongly feel that the one star reviews are unfounded. As a chef and owner of a restaurant I am NOT easy to please nor do I give a pass for bad service. The food was good but the service was far superior to anything described in the reviews. We sat down and chips and salsa were on the table along with water immediately, beer followed in minutes our appetizers and entrées we’re out almost immediately after ordering. Everything was fresh and obviously not preplated. Our children were checked on frequently to make sure they were happy and when one of them spilled enchilada sauce the waitress ran and got club soda and napkins. This was in a FULL restaurant, not one that was empty. The meal was extremely inexpensive and all in all a good value. Rating this restaurant with one star is simply ridiculous and bitchy. Ratings should be an accurate reflection of an experience and not simply a backlash reaction because someone’s in a bad mood or ‘hangry.’ If you are dining in a restaurant that is less than $ 60 for four people, including drinks, then you REALLY shouldn’t be expecting a five star Michelin dining experience. As a chef from Southern California who spent a lot of my life in Mexico it would be ridiculous to compare this little restaurant in a strip mall to my culinary experiences. So I, like other reviewers before me, should enjoy it for what it is and not give it a one star because of some absurdly idealistic expectations. It IS a fun little bodega with nice people and decent food. And I KNOW they are nice because they were speaking Spanish and didn’t think anyone understood them… so I am being nice too because they deserve it.

Great servers, consistently good food, and the salsa bar always adds to the experience. We wish they did a table side guacamole, but otherwise we have never been disappointed.

So. Well i hate to say it but this place is horrible. Probably the worst mexican in williamsburg. The only saving grace about this restaurant is the drinks are cheap. I accidentily orded the seafood nachos.(crab and shrimp) it was clam and shrimp. So bad! Only come here for drinks! Trust me stay away unkess youre looking to get messed up on 2.99 margaritas

Quick recap of our Sunday, late lunch:
Waited an extended time to be seated and should have known service was going to be an issue… and it was.
We both ordered salads (Fajita Taco and ground beef Taco Salad). While waiting we enjoyed the warm chips and pleasantly thick and tasty salsa. Our entrees arrived in good time. We found those salads to be fresh and tasty and the portion good for a lunch time salad, Unfortunately the arrival of the entrée marked the last time we saw our waiter until we completed our meal… no check back on food, beverage, etc. but he did remove food/​plates, etc. without asking and before we were done munching on the remaining chips/​taco salad shell and salsa. By the way, the restaurant was only about 20% occupied.
The restaurant was clean and the limited salsa bar was OK. This would possibly «4 Star» lunch but the poor service dragged it to a typical «3:» I’d advise passing on Taco Mexicali if the parking area indicates the place might be busy. In any case I’ll keep my fingers crossed that your service is anything close to attentive.

Great food and service, also Law Enforcement friendly. I’ve had multiple kinds of tacos and loved all of them. Great salsa bar too.

Extremely bland food. Horrible service. 1 star.
I actually don’t know how this place has 4 stars. The salsa was mild and only 1 kind other than tomatillo which was quite bland as well. Mexican rice has chicken stock. Host messed up on our order 3 times or forgot to bring things. The «salsa bar» or lack there of isn’t really one and the wait staff stares you down if you go more than once. Friend said chicken flautas was dry. They added items on our bill when they didn’t even bring it out. They even added a queso when we didn’t order one so.
Taco Bell is a lot better with more variety and better service. Don’t waste your money here.

Poor service, poor food quality, and not clean. waited 26 minutes before deciding to leave after the chicken on our nachos appetizer was raw. as an added bonus, I ordered non-​alcoholic daiquiris for my kids and they served them alcohol. the kids are 6, 8, and 9!
Not only am I staying away, but I am debating reporting them as unsanitary.

The carnitas is perfect today. Thanks so much for the extra effort for me to get a carnitas taco. It was especially delicious today. Muy bueno!

Some of the best latin food I’ve ever had in the States. I got the Brochetta and the cheese sauce was amazing. Produce was fresh and salsa was great! the Tierra was also really good.
Only docked a star because the service was pretty slow and unattentive, but that seems to be a common theme here (so don’t come if you’re in a hurry).

the service wasn’t great, almost like they didnt want to talk to us. Once we got our texas burrito‘s the gf had uncooked oinions she had to pick through, then she found a weird cooked thing in the burrito, later found a hair, she ate only 25% of the burrito. they took the plate and gave her a gift certificate for later return. look forward if they can change my veiws when & if I return.

The absolute worst! CHECK YOUR BANK STATEMENTS. THIS place will add to your bill. I ate there for lunch one day. Looked at my account and they added 10 $ EXTRA .I called to ask them to correct the issue, they said they would fix it. THEY DIDN’T. I called again and I STILL HAVEN’T GOTTEN MY MONEY BACK.
For a lunch fajita $ 7. my brother got fajitas $ 14. Added sour creem. (I’m assuming this was $ 2). total bill= $ 24.33. I left a $ 5 CASH tip. THEY CHARGED ME AN EXTRA $ 10. I’M ASSUMING THEY ADDED TO THERE ALREADY GOOD TIP FOR THE POOR SERVICE.

The food and service were excellent! We were welcomed by numerous staff members upon entry. Our server was Ricky. He was friendly, attentive and polite. Every meal was delicious and the salsa bar was fantastic! Great food on Richmond Road, without the crowds, but full of happy customers.

Probably the best overall Mexican restaurant on the peninsula. Service is soooo fast. You will have chips & salsa before your butt settles into a booth. Our food was ready within minutes of placing the order. Be sure to czek out the fresh salsa bar and the generous liquor bar!

Fantastic service, excellent California fajita special on Monday! Loved the salsa bar and everything came out hot and fast to the table.
Tacos, fajitas, seafood Nachos, and birthday dessert were spot on! Thank you for a wonderful dinner!

No bueno. Had lunch here today and the best part of the meal was the chips. I had forgotten that I bookmarked it, but the other place we were headed to was closed on Mondays but this place was close, had four stars so we decided to go for it. Perhaps it was an off day or the four star days are in the rear view, not sure what was going on.
When we walked in I had high hopes, the booths are super cute, brightly decorated wood and it gives the place a cheerful feel. Our server though NEVER cracked a smile, not once. It made lunch a totally somber affair.
Initially I ordered carnitas, our server returned to say they were out, but did not bring back the menu. I asked him what he recommended and took his recommendation. What I was presented with was basically some meat in a tortilla smothered in melted cheese. The beans were so runny it was hard to eat them with a fork. The rice, I guess it was Spanish because it had a pink tint to it.
There are many more options in the burg, I suggest you find another one.

Sigh, I wanted and expected more from Taco Mexicali. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad at all, it’s just that there’s nothing too special that sets it apart from anywhere else.
My dad had actually recommended this place to me as it’s somewhere he and my stepmom have visitted several times when shopping at the outlets. I mentioned it to the crew that I go to Taco Tuesday with and everyone was on board.
The lighting inside is a little dim and the furnishings could use some modernization, but all in all it’s a clean and welcoming atmosphere. There was certainly more space than I was expecting. The menu is a tad on the confusing side. As with most Mexican restaurants, they have a separate lunch and dinner section. I spent about 5 minutes searching through the dinner section before I realized the taco list was actually on the first page of the menu book under the appetizers.
I ended up ordering the fish tacos (an order comes with 2 for $ 4), a standard hard shell beef taco, which was a little under $ 2, and a side of rice and beans. The fish tacos were the best part. The tilapia was fresh and the meat was tender and flavorful. The presentation was lacking, however. They basically just placed the fish atop two tortiallas without separating them out. The plain taco was just that– nothing special (not that it was expected). When I ordered rice and beans, I expected them to be served together on a plate as a single side dish, however they ended up coming out in two separate large bowls. I would have only ordered one of the two had I known. The refried beans were actually quite delish, the rice was pretty dry.
Everyone else also ordered tacos and I don’t think anyone was blown away, while there were also no comlaints. The HH specials included $ 2 bottled domestic beers, $ 2.50 bottled imports, and $ 3 16 oz margaritas. These were pretty good deals (though I didn’t have a marg to give an opinion on the strength).
I’ll note that all of the tacos are served plain, with only meat, so that you can dress them yourself at the salsa bar, which includes a few different types of salsa, peppers, fresh onions, cilantro, pico and lettuce. This was kind of nice. I didn’t realize it was even there until after we were on our second basket of chips.
The service was pretty good all-​around. Our server was prompt in refilling our chips.
All in all, I think our group prefers the tacos at El Sabroson and the regular items at El Tapatio better. The prices for tacos and beer here are a bit cheaper, but the other dinner entrees are about the same (mostly in the $ 10-​$ 12 range).