Mexicali Bar & Grill

This place is great! Great food, great prices, and great service!!! They even have happy hour on Friday nights from 6−10pm. No where else provides that! Im coming back with friends, and it’s even 30 minutes from where I live. But its totally worth it!!!

Came in for dinner/​drinks on a Thursday night. Not knowing what to expect since we were new in the area, we were pleasantly surprised with the food we ordered. There was happy hour going on in the bar area, but we asked to be seated away from the noise and had great service from the waitress. The drinks came quickly and the food (mainly appetizers) were incredibly good and fresh! We ordered the Mexican sampler and every sample was great. I also ordered the shrimp nopales salad and that was great too! The prices are very reasonable. The location is kinda hidden and not very busy, but that’s what we liked ;-)

Hector the owner is a great guy and make your experience even better. I had a chicken burrito a La Diabla with beans, cheeses sour cream with a side of corn which is not on there menu. No problem, that’s the kind of service I look for.

I’ve eaten there four times at lunch and one time at dinner. And their food is ALWAYS good. I grew up in a Mexican household and I know good Mexican food, and their food is really great. Lots of flavor, reasonable prices, creative dishes, nice/​clean/​professional atmosphere, and most importantly, it’s consistently good. I often have business meetings there because it’s one of the closest restaurants to UCR that are presentable to my clients.
The only constructive criticism I have for them is that their table service can be slow at times. Otherwise four stars!

The music is loud if you like that sort of thing. The first time we went, the waitress had an attitude immediately after we asked for our first items, which were water & chips etc. Older lady, must have just been in a bad mood, but after a hard day at work, that’s the last thing I want to deal with. The food, service & drinks were mediocre. I’ve had better Mexican food for less.
The second time we went to eat here the same waitress grabbed my moms shot glass & smelled it?! Like, WTFreak?! That’s real sanitary. And-​she seemed still as sociable as the time before. Glad she didn’t wait on us this time. Mom agreed that he food was mediocre. For a local spot, close to home, it’ll have to do. The best thing going was the spicy salsa served with our chips! Even my peach-​illada was not cold. Who likes warm drinks?! Anyone?!

This place has some of the best Mexican food. Elote is delicious. Flautas too. You can’t go wrong unless you don’t like the food. This is not a gluten free friendly place though since they use flour tortillas.