los chilitos taco and tequila house

not authentic at all. i've traveled so many spots in mexico and this mediocre at best. the guac was not made in house. i reconogized the taste from a guac i buy at safeway. the rice tased like it was from a packet. the peas, carrots and corn in the rice were clearly dehydrated. and the tequila tiger prawns were over cooked and chewy. the onlygoodthing at this restaurant is their patio.

mexican fare, the mexican way. authentic mexican fare is hard to find in this city, but los chilitos can do it right.

this place can be very busy - so i would recommend reservations well ahead.

the saturday night we were there, we had reservations, but the table of people that were expected to leave in a reasonable amount of time to free up a table for us kept ordering rounds of drinks. so we waited about 35-40 minutes and there isn't much room to wait...just a few chairs in a narrow hallway outside of the kitchen doors. we felt that we were constantly in the way of the waitstaff that had to pick their way around our feet that we had nowhere else to place.

we were compensated for our unexpected long wait by a small discount on our overall bill, which was appreciated.

it was obviously party night - the place was incredibly loud with 2 or more large groups commandeering most of the small restaurant's seating space. there is a patio - which will be great in warmer weather, but this wasn't one of those nights.

while we waited, we ordered drinks and i for one was amused to see the large size margaritas arrive in goldfish bowls. the rim was nicely salted - i didn't, but was sorely tempted to forgo the straw and drink directly from the bowl. maybe if i had ordered a second one this would have happened.

the menu is nice and simple, predominately tacos (their specialty), burritos and the various sides.

i was a little disappointed to learn that they weren't preparing their own tortillas in house, but was told that they were considering doing so in the near future. as it was, the tortillas that came with the meal seemed to be fresh and of a reasonable quality for commercially prepared ones.

it was nice to see a couple of speciality soups - birria and pozole on the menu. i tried the birria and it may have been my favorite dish of the evening.

the tacos weregoodbut not among the greatest that i have had. this was a verygood"for calgary" taco. again, the tortillas should have been warm and i found the carnitas to be too dry. sure, i could (and did) douse it with salsa and guacamole ...but i shouldn't have to.

i also felt the portions of salsa were on the small side. we ran out of salsa before we ran out of the main dish. i didn't ask for more - so maybe that would have been an option. i note that a portion of salsa can be had for $1.95 each. that would have certainly been an option. i think enough salsa to eat with the main dish, should come with the main and not be an extra charge.

the service was friendly but not easy to access because of the extremely busy restaurant.

i was also happy to see a flan on the dessert menu. as full as i was, i had to try it. it had the right flavor, but the bottom was a little too leathery (meaning it wasn't as fresh as it could have been) . i didn't finish it.

i liked los chilitos enough to come back for another visit and to try their other dishes. it's nice to see these dishes so authentically prepared.

i hope they have fresh made tortillas next time i visit!

best mexican restaurant i've been to in the city. the place is pretty small inside but has agoodvibe and they have a patio for the summer.

great experiencce. had mother's day late lunch at los chilitos. we've travelled to mexico many times and always eat more with the locals then on the tourist side. we definately enjoyed the atmosphere, music and food was delicious. higly recommend the enmoladas with a chalada!! one recomendation is to ask for some chips and salsa to munch on as the food took a bit to prepare. we weren't in a hurry but a snack would have been agoodidea.

muy delicioso. tried this place recently because of a groupon. at first, pumped about going but then dreading it as we read more and more negative reviews.

we were shocked in agoodway; authentic mexican food and much better than tu tierra which was a huge disappointment for us. we spend a lot of time in a lot of off-the-beaten-path parts of mexico and so we know mexican food.

our faves were the yummy green rice and the chorizo quesidillas, plus the tacos pastor were sublime. the only thing that would make it perfect would be mexican coke to drink! they do have plenty of flavours of mexican sodas though. service was knowledgeable, efficient, and pleasant.

i am thinking they have a new chef or owners now and that's why previous reviews have been so negative. great food and we'll be back!

the service here was so bad. just be aware that they add a mandatory 15% tip if your bill is over a 100 dollars. i have never heard of such bs and the waitress doesn't even give you a heads up that they did that. she was such a bad waitress she didn't even deserve a 5% tip and we were only 5 people there. the food wasgoodbut the drinks were just ok. i wouldn't go back

delicious! one of the best meals i've had in a while. we went at an odd time, just before 5 ish on a thursday so it was pretty empty. the happy hour deal is amazing! had some great nachos libres, which aren't like normal, melted cheese nachos (i'm not familiar with nachos libres style nachos and have never had anything like it before). it was so good! we also had veggie enchiladas and churros for dessert. i just really enjoyed it so much it was sogoodand i'm just dreaming of the churros now.... yumm.


-----01 may, 2015-----

nachos libres. so amazing. a bed of fresh tortilla chips, refried beans and then salsa. not the "melted cheese" nachos that people normally think of. perfect for me because i don't eat dairy. i loved them si much

we went there on monday for their all day happy hour! nachos were half off and tacos were $3. not bad at all. we also got some margaritas! food tastedgoodbut the cheese on their nachos wasn't meant for nachos. it was pretty hard and had no pull.

i have been trying to get a hold of a manager for over 2 weeks, have left three messages and have had no returned call. i called the restaurant on either dec. 29 or 30 and spoke to an individual to whom i made a reservation for january 2 with. i asked him twice if they were open, and he said yes. this reservation was for a group of 5 people, one who was visiting from out of town. when we arrived on jan 2, the restaurant was closed. i called the number and the message stated you were closed from jan 1, 2 and 3. although frustrated, we went to 3 other restaurants close to you, and everyone was full and unable to accommodate us. we had to drive to 4th street and eventually found a table at a restaurant. this whole process took us about 1 hour, and as a result, the night was cut short because it was a tuesday night and many places close early. i have called numerous times to speak to a manager to understand how a reservation would be taken when the restaurant would be closed. i have yet to hear back. with each left unanswered message, i am growing more frustrated. please help me understand how this isgoodcustomer service?

this place has a very cool feel to it and a nice patio that is great to sit at to people watch on 17th ave , if your into that kind of thing i noticed the patio was packed on this nice day, so we elected to sit indoors, the decor is certainly latin and really nice colourful paint and pictures on the walls, the menu was simple and had a nice variety, we were seated in a corner right under one of the speakers , which was blaring latin music, which i normally like, but on this night i found it way to loud, to the point we moved to another table, however that turned out to be not much better as a table of patrons next to us had to practically shout to converse, so on that note, they need to tone down the music a bit, i think you need to have it loud enough to hear well but not so loud you have to raise your voice a lot, it is part of the ambience but needs to be controlled.

when we ordered they were out of 3 of the 4 items we ordered, the server while friendly was inept and not very efficient, i got the distinct impression, she would rather have been elsewhere, the food when we got it, and  took awhile was verygood, hot flavorful and tastefully arranged, if not for the racket,the poor service and the fact they were out of a lot of items, i would certainly have rated them higher as the food was good.i will give them another try some other time

great place to casually pop in for somegoodmexican food.  the environment is authentic enough to make you want forget you are in calgary with great ambient music that believe it or not other places overlook or don't pay attention to.

i don't normally drink beer at lunch, but heck, they got me feeling weird if i didn't.

we had all the casual tacos on special as tuesdays they have them at half price.  we tried the pork, beef, fish, there was even one with cactus in it.  in the end, they all tasted pretty similar and adding our own hot sauce makes you just eat for texture if everything is spicy or saucy.  

i'd come back to try other things on the menu as our server was great, and i feel like i didn't dive in deep enough on this visit.

came here with friends one night since the patio was full and it looked like people were having agoodtime.

sat on the patio which is nice. the server was pleasant. their cocktails are pretty lacklustre though, the bulldog is ok but for $14 is notgoodat all. their fishbowls, while quirky that they are served in an actual fishbowl, are so strong you've got to choke the freaking thing down.

food was average, nothing special and we were really looking forward to some great tasting mexican.

haven't been back and probably won't be either.

this is our new favourite mexican place in calgary. it's set in an old house, so we would recommend making a reservation, as there is limited seating. it's pretty cool inside, but a little bit loud and squishy. however, the food tastes amazing and authentic. there was so much flavour in our burrito and shrimp tacos. if you're looking for somewhere that makesgoodmexican food, this is the place to go. the patio looks like it would unreal in summer, we can't wait to have some tacos and tequila here out there soon!

so amazing! yum yum yum! seriouslygoodauthentic mexican food!

some good, some bad.. i have been here about half a dozen times. its a great place to sit out on the patio and have a few drinks. last time i was there i had the sangria. it tasted like store bought juice mixed with 7-up. i didn't like it. kinda sad for an "authentic" mexican place. most times i get the meat taco sampler. its a variety of meats with corn tortillas and salsas. itsgoodbut a little pricey. the service can be a little slow and inattentive.