los chilitos taco and tequila house

really enjoyed!! we went for cinco de mayo- i had the gringas, so delicious!! the tequila selection isgreattoo!! i am a big fan of this place and the friendly staff!!

the service wasgreatand we loved the patio. the fish tacos are quite good. it was not amazing, but a pretty solid bet we’ll go back again when we are in the neighbourhood.

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 begreatin 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 were good but not among the greatest that i have had. this was a very good "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!

salsa sampler?. yes please!great'authentic' mexican tacos. call ahead, it is tiny and very tasty.

this is just wrong...... talk about a new and underhanded way to make outrageous prices appear less offensive. last night my husband sister and i went to los cholitos to give it a try, based on all thegreatreviews. i don't know what your standards are, but waiting 45 minutes for food, getting food that was barely warm puts this firmly on my 'don't waste your time' and 'never going back' list. what really did it for us, was to find out that you actually pay an additional $3.0 on top of $16 just to get meat in your burrito. that's just crazy.
waaay overrated.

30 minutes of my life will never get back-you don't need to go there the food is not thatgreatanyways.. i have always been aware of the bad service at this restaurant and the ok food, some friends and i however decided to give it a try again as we walked by and were tempted to sit on the patio on a nice sunday afternoon, this time was worst that in previous visits. the server was' nice' to acknowledge us after 10 minutes...and never came back again to check what we wanted for drinks.there were some other servers taking care of the patio section but i guess our table was not part of their responsibilities because they did not even care to look towards our table, when we finally got one of the other staff members attention we asked him if he could please call our server as we had not even been asked what were we ordering for drinks, of course he did not offered to get us any...i guess that would had been a nice thing to do to keep us at least happy while waiting.....and we waited and waited ...oh yes and as we walked away this other server said i am sorry your server is caught up....i know you can get bus,y but i guess that is when common sense comes handy and who is not that busy can jump in and help the rest of the members in the team. i think we will not miss going back, the food and place is mediocre anyways.

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 a good way; 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.greatfood and we'll be 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 somegreatnachos 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 so good and 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

this place has a very cool feel to it and a nice patio that isgreatto 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 very good , 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

the food is tasty, its agreatplace to spend a nice afternoon on the patio, the dining room is a bit crowded. but go for the patio and stay for the drinks and food.  the food is fresh, fun and full. by full i mean you will not go hungry, i have never had a dish i could even come close to finishing. i remember when this place was a thrift store. this is a much better use of the building.   part of my regular patio tour.

great place to casually pop in for some good mexican food.  the environment is authentic enough to make you want forget you are in calgary withgreatambient 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.

the food and service has always beengreatwhenever we have been there. it looks small when the patio is closed in winter but they can accommodate quite a few.

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

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 not good at 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 somegreattasting mexican.

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

we'd heardgreatthings and stopped by for lunch today. we totally enjoyed the lunch tacos, each choosing three different; cochinita, mixiote chicken and barbacoa. the pork just edged out the others for itsgreatflavours. all were very good. service was friendly and quick. i'm a big fan of second floor restaurants so really enjoyed the patio, watching the world go by on a sunny afternoon. next time we visit we plan to go when we can enjoy a beverage or two. many thanks los chilitos.

it was 32c so we sat on the outside patio and watched life go by on 17th ave while listening togreatmexican music.
as many of the reviews state, the service was barely ok. not super friendly, just bearable. however our food and drinks were quick so can't complain.
what is it with canada mexican restaurants that you hsve to pay for chips and salsa? every mexican and us restaurant brings them for free as a welcome. they were $6 on this occasion. really; $6 for a few chips and they didn't refill them either.
a bottle of dos equis is $6.50 which is quite pricey.
our 3 meals were excellent though. i had the 4 tacos, each with a different meat, and the 4 flavours were delicious. see pic.
i would go again for the patio and i would have the same meal!