Mexicali Rosa’s

Sometimes restaurants deserve a second chance. Not this one. It will never cease to disappoint you time after time. Do yourself a favor, save your money and don’t torture your taste buds.
Staff is generally very friendly and service is great. It’s the food and flavors are always the letdown.
To start, the ginger ale we ordered was watery and flat.
When the waiter brought the food to our table he warned us that the plates were very hot… Great! Spicy Hot Mexican Food — Exactly what we wanted. Wrong! Sure the plates where hot, but without exaggeration the rice and beans where cold.
We ordered two entrees:
Enchilada del Norte with Texas Red Hot.
Usually restaurants don’t list everything that’s inside their dishes, but this one was to a T. A flour tortilla with nothing by cheese. Texas Red Hot was mild to say the least. The meat was chewy and tasteless.
Two hard shelled Tacos with chicken.
Again, mildly flavored chicken with cut iceberg lettuce and tomatoes with a hint of cheese.
The rice was al-​dante (not my first preference) and the beans were mush.
Never again!

I came here in during the May 2 – 4 weekend with a friend for a late dinner. It is located right on Dow’s Lake, above Lago Bar, Grill, & Nightclub/​Lounge. We sat in the patio area outside and the view was fantastic! This area was pretty packed, awhile the inside area was completely empty. The tables were very close to each other with barely any elbow room. The chairs are plastic and our table was very wobbly, but at least the service was fast and friendly.
They gave us complimentary chips and salsa while we decided what to order. They were crispy and salted just right, and even though they gave us enough, we managed to finish them and they gave us more. I ordered their «Outrageous Chimi» with a side of guacamole. The plate of food was extremely large, extremely messy, and extremely delicious. I’ve been to a few other Mexicali Rosa’s, and this one’s food was no more greasy than it should have been. The guacamole was fresh, with a distinct lime flavour. Their menu items may seem a bit pricier, but for the amount of food you get, you’re guaranteed to be full. We also had a couple of their lime margaritas — very refreshing, and only $ 5 on Margarita Mondays! I had a great experience here, as opposed to their other locations, so you may want to give it a try, especially on a nice summer day/​night.

I have been here twice and both times left me with the same impression. Good drinks, Great service but unfortunately the food was not great. The first time I had the Burrito and the second time the chimichanga and both times I had 1 or 2 margaritas. The drinks are strong and tasty but the food, well, its like they are trying to be overly fancy and just making things that require lots of drinking to consume.
I don’t think I am alone in thinking this as both times I have been were at dinner time and they are usually slow.

Mexicali Rosa’s has made a big push to be a chain restaurant in the past few years, but the Dow’s Lake location hails back to its simpler days when they had only a handful of locations.
Sadly, that isn’t a good thing. While their more modern locations have a certain standard to live up to, the Dow’s Lake location doesn’t seem to be up to par.
It’s a fairly average sized restaurant on the inside. There is a small bar area, but the majority of it is dining. One side is entirely windows, so on a nice day there is a decent view.
The big pull of this location is of course the big patio. It fits a lot of tables, but they jam them in so tight it is hard to get around. There is a small bar on the patio which looks pretty shabby and run-​down. That can be said for the whole patio really.
The food is good, but not great. For a Mexican restaurant it is pretty mediocre food. The drinks are just as mediocre.
There is a lot of hype over this place for nothing. It’s a tourist attraction because of the location, but there is a lot better places to show off good Mexican food.