Mexicali and Mexicali West makes the best Chili Con Queso and Refried/Refried Beans. Jess W

I have been going to the Mexicali since I was 12 years old...I am now 75. I have tried most of their competitors and understand that taste is personal to the individual so I will overlook the negative comments. However, their is no question that the Mexicali's two locations will serve more people on a given night than any of their competitors. Being consistent in the quality of the food from visit to visit in my main concern. It is also nice to order a custom Martguerita that is made by hand and not by a machine. How many restaurants can say they have a U.S. patent for their salsa? Going again today. Larry "O" read more

as a fan of the former southwest mexicali location its quite a step down to visit the downtown restaurant. the facility is old, tired and poorly maintained, management spends all of their time leaning on the front register. the staff has an attitude of indifference toward their customers, this place has a very short future ! read more

Disgusting!!!!! Guacamole is NOT FRESH. You can tell right away its out of a can, and it smells awful. Salsa SUCKS, its also not fresh homemade salsa, tastes more like ketchup. You have to ask the waiter for the other kind of salsa thats actually hot. Otherwise you get the ketchup. I ordered a chicken quesadilla. It looked and tasted like the smothered it in butter and then stuck it in the microwave. It also came with a dab of sour cream and a little bit of shredded lettuce. Thats it. I asked for a side of guacamole and he brought me a small dish of the canned guacamole sauce. You can tell right off the bat its out of a container because theres no avocado chunks, tomatoes, onions, or cilantro mixed into it. Its just a creamy, Hulk green, sauce. And they charged me 2.50 for the Hulk sauce. I don't know why people say this place is great. Its awful! No wonder the one on California Ave. shut down. There are so many other choices for good, fresh mexican food. I recommend La Mina on District, Camino Real on Stine, or Iguanas on White Lane, or Jacalitos in Rosedale but idk if they are still there. But our first choice is always La Mina on District. The only reason we came to Mexicali was for a work luncheon. Yuck! I would give them zero stars if I could. read more

Yesterday for dinner, I took my son's mother in law, who is from back east, and still learning about Mexican food. I thought that this would be a nice to introduce, Mexican food, Mexicali, had been around a long time, my 90 year old mother and 85 yr. old aunt, worked with the Gamez, family in early 1950's. Mexicali has a great Spanish themed environment, and the waitress are always great, and I like some of their classic queso and chiles, and their margaritas!! I had chili Colorado, meat was very tender, and very flavorful, even though it lacked a spicey taste. My son's mother in law had the enchilada, and she said that it was good, but not being used to Mexican food, not sure she can appreciate the spicy red sauce. One thing that did impress me was the buttered tortillas, many, many, years ago in the past this was a standard way of serving tortillas. We in Bakersfield, say that Mexicali caters more to Anglo taste, but that doesn't mean that the food is any less, but it all depends on what taste you cater your food to. I recommend, Mexicali, for a change, and something a little different. Gracias read more

I've probably eaten here over 100 times from the time I was born until present day. I have received consistently excellent service (even during the busiest of times and with the largest of groups) and delicious food. A few favorites are the mexican pizza, the tostada, and the chimichanga. I started out as a small child getting the child's plate and have changed my usual as I have grown up. While it's not always the most authentic, it is definitely the most delicious I've had in Bakersfield. read more

Strike 3 your out!!!! My taco turned into a taco salad, and I think they forgot the tomato sauce in the rice no flavor at all. Beans taste like they been a few days old. After 3 times, don't think I'll be returning. Sorry guys. read more

I have been coming to Mexicali down town every Friday night for 20 years. They have the best Margarita in town and HAD one of the beat steaks and one of the best bowls of menudo in town. I got a margarita as usual and it was perfection. Thanks George. However for the first time ever the menudo was NASTY. the tripe had not been properly cleaned and it was obvious. The entire table could smell it. My friend got the New York steak as usual. Instead of the 1.5" restaurant cut New York steak was replaced by a run of the mill Cisco 1/2" generic sizzler steak. I'm so upset I can't explain. I raised children on this food and now that Mexicali west has closed this place is so busy that the quality has suffered badly. I will only return for margaritas. (Thanks George). Sony I'm so disappointed. I miss the old Mexicali. I sure hope they figure it out. If they do I'll eat crow and change this review my friend. read more

Great food great service and not expensive. Owner is an amazing person carrying for this place and people. We had the best evening here in hour 2 week holidays in states. read more

Last trip ever. Usually we are a party of five or more and get placed in the "back room" purgatory area where service is non existent. They rarely refill and don't offer larger drink glasses as elsewhere. We moved to Mexicali from another local, long time restaurant for a change. We will be going back to our usual place. Additionally, if you are a small group or couple, there is a waitress that's a total grouch and the service is not really better. read more

Once a week without fail. Cadillac margaritas are beyond discription. (use uber or lyft).

I would never come back the old man for a bartender was extremely rude, I could tell he had been drinking would not walk over and hand me a cranberry juice but instead yelled at the cocktail served from across the room the whole night! I bought 4 tacos that costed me 20$ which I couldn't eat because the meat was so chewy it would take 7min to finish a bite. We ordered nachos and asked for no tomato or onion they put extra, and then said the kitchen was closed. The servers were rude it was a very uncomfortable environment no I would never waste my money again!!!! read more

Wow, their dishes are not recommended at all, not tasty. Overall low quality Mexican food. La Villa is much better with cheaper price.

Thanks to our server Halley for great service! We had a great experience because of her. Even though it was extremely busy she still took great care of us! read more

11/13/12-In an effort to convince me that the Secret Bar Menu at Mexicali downtown had some amazing dishes on it, my best foodie friend, Randy proclaimed I'd "throw rocks at any other Clam Chowder" after I try this one... so to take him up on his challenge... I met him along with friends at the Mexicali (a MEXICAN restaurant with mexican food I throw rocks at...lol) downtown for some "clam chowder"... go figure... We started with the fresh guacamole and (my fav) chicken wings... click on pictures at https://www.facebook.com/TatyanasTastes for details about each dish... then Clam Chowder came accompanied with garlic toast... turns out Randy was correct... & no one at the table argued that the Clam Chowder was absolutely outta this world amazing... for once I didn't need to add pepper, tabasco or anything... truly it was delish!... Great call Randy!... No more drives to beach for Clam Chowder cravings for me!... It's just too bad Mexicali doesn't have sand and the ocean in/next to it... otherwise I'd be set for life! read more

I really like Mexicali restaurant. Very good food, fast service. It's got a very nice authentic look to it. Nice strong drinks. The waiter we had was very friendly read more

Not sure what to say about the food. Do know it is not as tasty as it once was years ago. The enchilada sauce lacks in color and spice. The refried beans were just okay, a bit saucy. Please bring back the original flavors of yesterday. Old recipes work and word of mouth and other reviews will crowd this once fine, classy restaurant. No need to improve on service because it is great. I live out of state but will be curious to see what happens. May even return when passing through. read more

Had to come to Bakersfield CA for a dental procedure so we stayed at the Best Western Hill House on Truxtun Ave....right across the way was a Mexicali Restaurant. Didn't expect much, so were surprised and pleased when we bit into very tasty chicken fajitas and carnitas burrito. We did take out so don't know about the in house service, but the girls at the front were sweethearts. read more

well first of all my wife picked mexicali for my 62nd birthday dinner...and that was the biggest mistake we ever made and we....and our friends and families....and our church group goes there we wont go there ever again well about 620 pm on march 18th 2020 we entered restaurant it was not busy either so we where seated right towards the back table took almost 15 mins get anybody to our table finally a waiter brought chips and salsa....so when he ask us what drinks he can get us my wife replied...said 2 waters please... then she ask him for a booth to go he said they where keeping people apart because of vid-19 virus there was 2 poeple next to us real close....about 5 minutes these 2 younger ladies sat down at a table near us then about 10 seconds later they gotup and sat in booth we already ask for really??????? so we got up and left...and went to eat at rice bowl... service was 100% better then mexicali....the next day i call and ask for owner of resturant she says well will have to talk with staff....really she said we are all humans... well i said so are we... and was not treated like it....so i told her nothin after she hung up on me....we where discrimated....will never be back.... no sorries from owner...hope you have great bussiness life too..now i see why the california ave closed down.. read more

Not bad Mexican food but on the gringo side (no heat). Service was good. Pricing was reasonable.

Very disappointed.....have been going to Mexicali Restaurant downtown for several years. Tonight I placed a to go order....when I asked the guy to check order he seemed bothered and replied it is all there without checking.... I walked to car and checked myself to only see I was missing some items!!! I went back in to ask and the son of Sunny bigger guy wearing glasses became very defensive and argumentative... The family has always been very appreciative of our business until tonight?! I hope they can teach their next of kin to treat their customers with respect or plan to be out of business! The son was so Rude! I need a break from visiting their restaurant. Sunny you may want to talk to your family and remind them where their lively hood comes from......your customers! Bad service tonight!!! read more

This was so hard to do but this past Father's Day, my family actually had to walk away from our table due to the very poor service! My family has been coming to Mexicali for numerous years and love the food and usually the service but this Father's Day was absolutely unacceptable. We had a table of 11 and it took the staff over 15 minutes to get our beverages. At one point we not only finished our drinks but ate all the ice prior to getting these refilled. Our order was not taken for over 30 minutes which was already way too long. Some orders came with a salad and let me tell you, it took over 30 more minutes for that to even arrive. To make matters worst, the table behind us which arrived much later than us had already received their soups & salads. We were the forgotten table for sure and so disappointed! Our kids could not bare any longer and we simply had to leave prior to our food arriving because it was not getting better! The management of the service on Sunday was so terrible and it just truly ruined the Father's Day celebration for the 3 dads we were honoring! read more

This is a local landmark restaurant for Bakersfield. As a child my mother would take me here all the time. Tonight, it had been a year since I came here from my last birthday the year before. We wanted to eat something different but Nuestro Mexican Restaurant was packed. So, we just went around the corner to Mexicali, which was dead for a Saturday night. We were seated among the rest of the customers, and I hate using the race card but we were the only non white table. We were also one of the youngest. My wife, daughter and I were at the table. Our waitress barely would talk to us and was in a hurry up mood with only us. The other tables she was happy, talkative, and so on. My food, well I ordered a combination fajitas with chicken, steak, and shrimp. She said it would be extra, which I expected and agreed to. My wife had their cheese enchiladas and tamal. When our food came out, I noticed my beans were burnt and hard from being under a lamp sitting their. I also noticed I didn't get any shrimp, so I assumed she forgot. I ate what I had. Then I tried eating the last cheese enchilada from my wife's food, but their sauce was just too pasty. I noticed the tomato sauce/paste flavor in their salsa, but it seems a lack of flavor is being used throughout. When the bill came, I simply asked if I had been charged for shrimp? She looked at me and said of course. I explained to her that I didn't get any, and she just stood their with a dumb look at me and kept repeating herself "You didn't get any" and rolled her eyes and walked away. She didn't even have the respect to come back with our card and ticket paid, she had another waitress do it for her. I did leave a tip but I didn't want to. I definitely will never come back to this restaurant. It has changed over the years. Go local, try more authentic Mexican food places around the area that will treat EVERYONE with respect. read more