los chilitos taco and tequila house

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 apatio- 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 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!

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

30 minutes of my life will never get back-you don't need to go there the food is not that great anyways.. 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 thepatioon 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 thepatiosection 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.

not a fan. i really wanted to try this place as it's a colourful, authentic looking mexican restaurant with an awesomepatioright on 17ave. first off the service was horrible. unfriendly and it seemed like our waitress couldn't care less. almost every single table in thepatiowas filthy and loaded with dirty dishes from lunch. when we got there she only had two tables! we had to send our order back as she got it wrong...we ordered nachos lol! the margarita was fine but served in a water glass. i liked the selection of hot sauces but that's about it. the nachos were disgusting. normally i think most nachos need more toppings but these need less! just loaded with junk. the chicken was gross, there were no onions, loads of tomatoes and way too much sour cream and guacamole. yeah...waste of time.

this place has a very cool feel to it and a nicepatiothat is great to sit at to people watch on 17th ave , if your into that kind of thing i noticed thepatiowas 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 a great place to spend a nice afternoon on the patio, the dining room is a bit crowded. but go for thepatioand 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 regularpatiotour.

i've gone here a few times, but only duringpatioseason. i've tried their beergaritas, nachos, ceviche, guacamole and enchiladas and burritos. the food is fine, but nothing spectacular. the service is friendly but can be a bit slow if they are busy.

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

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

sat on thepatiowhich 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 some great tasting mexican.

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

i love the variety of both food and drinks on the menu! the food is so flavourful and delicious and the portions are generous. i like that there's apatiooutside and that it has a dim and comfortable ambience inside.

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 makes good mexican food, this is the place to go. thepatiolooks like it would unreal in summer, we can't wait to have some tacos and tequila here out there soon!

it was 32c so we sat on the outsidepatioand watched life go by on 17th ave while listening to great mexican 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 thepatioand i would have the same meal!

terrible!. i wasn't going to even waste my time writing a review of this place but to perhaps save some others from terrible service i decided i would. we were initially to be seated at a nice spot on thepatiobut then some other people took it- jumped from a table they already had to this one- when i asked the waitress/hostess to ask them to move given we were literally right there she indicated there was "nothing i can do about it"- whatever- so we had to sit in a different crappy spot. the guy server we had was clearly not even interested in being there, he only came around to take our order, didn't bother asking if we wanted more drinks, and we had to flag him down to tell him we wanted the bill- no tip for you! i definitely will never be going back here.

worst mexican... i can't even call it "food". this is a bar... not a restaurant!!! this place is a joke!!! avoid it at all costs!!! the wendy's across the street has apatioand much more edible food and i hate fast food. if you want to drink overpriced tequila and eat sub par food this is the place to be! seems to be busy all the time but the food here is the worst food i have ever eaten period. not just mexican, but all food, ever! (technically never really eaten but it was tasted and left to rot) i have never made a food review before but the utter disgust in this meal compelled me to write this. after paying over $70 for 19 tacos my friends and i were disgusted by the meal we received. not only was our order wrong but the chicken was dry the pork was mushy and the beef was chewy and the flavour was lacking! after calling the management to inform them of their failure in producing edible food i i would have been happy to just let things be but the owner of the "restaurant" decided to call me back only the patronize me buy offering to buy me a round and a discount on some food the next time i wanna go back there and dine in only. thanks bro but why do i wanna go back there when this with the worst most inedible food i've ever tasted in my life!!! please do not go here! it is the worst! that is all :)

for the patio. this is my favoritepatiothat i've been to in calgary. and for a guy who doesn't know a ton about great authentic mexican food, what i do know is the food taste pretty solid to me. big servings, and delicious flavor.