Mamacita’s Restaurant

Really fresh Mexican — a less heavy, but equally tasty option, as compared with South-​of-​the-​Border neighbor Tarasca’s.
They claim they are healthy, and I concur. You definitely feel like you aren’t getting a plate of fried corn tortillas with a side of lard. The inside looks like a real place you’d find in native Mexico, which leads me to believe the cooks/​owners are pretty authentic.
I had a taco combo platter — really great guac, flavorful refriend beans, and juicy chicken.
Not to bad on the prices either, and food came out quick.
One thing to avoid: The Sangria. It’s pre-​bottled and carbonated. I was really expecting homemade goodness just like everything else they serve. That was a huge disappointment and the only reason I won’t give them 5 stars.
I can’t wait to go back and try many of their other menu items. Enjoy!

I’m sorry but the food here just isn’t that great. The salsa is tasty but way to watery. the fajitas was decent, but nothing to get again. The only plus about this place is that its good for groups and it is BYOB!
Don’t come for the food, come with booze and friends you can still enjoy yourself.

I have eaten here many times but always forget to review it. I love that they don’t really seem to have hours. I have been here for breakfast before and sometimes they let us in before 10am and sometimes not. I swear their door is always open so I just assume I can walk right in. Either way it is worth eating here for both breakfast and lunch/​dinner.
A Unilocaler described their salsa as a ‘weird soupy mix’ and I have to agree. But it still tastes good, and I love their chips, they are salted just perfectly.
For breakfast I have had: Mexican Omelette, Huevos Rancheros, and Huevos a La Mexicana. I would recommend all three to anyone.
I have also had probably almost everything else on the menu too and never disliked anything. the Homemade Guacamole is great because they serve it in the tortilla so then you can eat it when you’re done.
All in all a decent place for a cheap Mexican meal with BYOB.

If I could give it a 3.5, I would.
I ordered a lunch enchilada and it was yummy. Very filling, even though it’s a lunch portion. They don’t skimp on the meat at all.
The only downfall is that I found a piece of chicken bone and other pieces that I couldn’t really chew on in there and I didn’t so much like that.
I will most likely return here in the future.

Right, so this place — what’s key is to be a little drunk, and then its totally three stars, maybe four if you are buzzing it proper and with some good friends. Other than that though, its true — there is better Mexican food in Chicago, maybe even in the same neighborhood, and there is undoubtedly better service. Our waitress was nice, but she messed up the order a bit (which I overlooked because I would have eaten just about anything, but if I were sober that would have been a big problem.
All in all, if your drunk and wandering around Clark St. hungry, this place will be pretty good!

What’s the best part of this restaurant? It’s BYOB. That’s about the only thing they do well…
If you’re looking for mediocrity, this is your restaurant. This place was mediocre in every sense. Poor service, bland food, weird décor. And, they have one of those towel machines in the bathroom where it’s an actual towel on a spool that cycles through. I hate those things.
Anyways, I had the Fajitas Rojas. Don’t let them trick you, the addition of the word Rojas adds $ 2 to your bill and negligible flavor. In terms of food, the only good item were the chips. Even the salsa was simply flavored water. I never knew you could screw up salsa so badly.
Overall, this place is a good time, as long as you bring enough booze to blind you to the fact that the restaurant is decent at best.

So I went to this place at 2:45PM for lunch and it was empty — as in I was the only customer. They show me the menu, take their time and serve me right after 3PM — then charge me $ 6 extra (dinner entrée rate) for the exact same meal– because the menu said lunch up to 3PM.
What else — the chips were cold i.e. it was obvious they’d been made at least 2 hours earlier, the salsa was cold (i.e. had been pulled out of a refrigerator). There were 3 waitresses standing around and having a chat and I was like — «I’m the only customer, there’s 3 of you and even one of you can’t ask the cook to fry some fresh chips?».
The last straw (after I got to pay $ 12 for what was a $ 6.99 lunch meal) — when the check came– they had 3 «listings» of tip:
15% $value, 20% $value and 30% $value — what? So I can feel guilty if I’m tipping less than 15%?! :)
Finally, the food was about 2 levels above Taco Bell. I didn’t come here expecting Frontera Grill but I’ve eaten enough mexican to know that the insipid rice the heavy flavorless overcheesed quesedilla was not worth $ 6.99 let alone the $ 12 dinner entrée value they charged me.
I never used to post reviews before but do so now, esp. if I’ve had a bad experience as I believe, hopefully, someone else reads this will stay away from this place.

BYOB + Mexican Pizza = this gal is in Lurve!
Call me dense, call me uncultured, but I had no idea that there was such a thing as Mexican pizza. I mean, short of ordering the «Southwestern» pizza at CPK, I was unaware of the tastebud bliss that is Mamacita’s Mexican pizza. Using Chihuahua cheese instead of mozzarella, and adding a black bean sauce as opposed to traditional tomato sauce, this pizza could rival any of Chicago’s finest pizzas.
The service at Mamacita’s is great; prompt and friendly and really accomodating. The menu is quite large, but please don’t bother getting anything beyond the Mexican pizzas. There are 5 to choose from!
None of my Mexican restaurant reviews are complete without a mention of the chips and salsa… and here’s where Mamacita’s get’s knocked down a star. The salsa was runny and the chips were hard… FAIL.
Also, I’m unsure if there is air conditioning at Mamacitas, which created a bit of a hot environment in there, especially once everyone starts knocking back some of those spicy foods.
I’m just really glad Mamacita’s is in my ‘hood, and that they have BYOB, and that Mexican pizza!!!

We stumbled across Mamacitas in an effort to find some place to grab some breakfast after beach volleyball was cancelled due to the weather :(So that’s right, I needed comfort food :)
We came across this place and when looking in the window at their menu — they had me at «breakfast burrito» :) Went in (10:15am), we were the ONLY ONES in the place! Hostess/​waitress was super helpful and would even give us updates of the Germany/​England world cup game! :)
After hearing my hesitation on the breakfast burrito because i saw broccoli and carrots as part of it’s ingredients — she assured me it was really good! So what the hell, i tried it!
Oh-​My-​God. It was SOOOOO good and was huge too! I ended up taking ½ of it home and had it for lunch that day! My friend had the breakfast quesadillas that looked good too! Came with Rice, beans and potatoes! Super good — friendly staff! Recommended!

I stumbled upon Mamacita’s in need of a quick lunch with a friend this week. I didn’t expect much from a taco place in Lincoln park, i even secretly thought it might not be that great. but i was wrong. it was delicious. we started with the free chips and salsa, a must in my opinion for any mexican place. the salsa had good flavor, it could have been chunkier so that it was easier to scoop, and maybe a degree or two more of heat. we also had the guacamole — it was sooo creamy, like they had whipped butter into it.
by this time i was practically full, but i had to eat my veggie taco and tostada, with a side of beans and rice. at first glance i thought i had made a bad choice — the taco had broccoli and carrots on it. something that i doubted. but honestly it worked, the seasoning was great, and i was happy to get a few extra veggies in me. the rice and beans were eeeh, they were refried rather than my favorite slow cooked black beans. i left stuffed and happy despite it though :)

The «fresh and healthy Mexican food» sign brought me into the restaurant and they delivered. The food was fresh and they say they cook everything in vegetable oil. The portions were generous and the meat was spiced perfectly. I ended up having some tasty chicken and beef tacos (although this is not what I ordered) with refried beans and rice (also not ordered). We also seemed to overwhelm the wait staff with our request for silverware (never delivered). I ate with my coat on because the second of the two doors wasn’t closed, and every time someone came in, the cold and wind came in too. My hair was blowin’ all over the place! There were other places we could have been seated…
Unfortunately the good food didn’t quite cancel out the bad service.

I had the pleasure last week of getting an earful of an extremely loud yuppie on the bus (what were you doing on the bus, Yuppie?). During her 25 minute dribble, I overheard her discussing a «dirt cheap healthy Mexican restaurant that just opened on Clark» and was BYOB. Thanks, Yuppie! Except I don’t think it just opened…
So my friend and I adventure on that crazy bus to Mamacita’s intent on getting some «dirt cheap» healthy mexican food. We plop down into the all-​wooden booth and start perusing the lunch menu, since it was 1 p.m. After 10 minutes and both knowing exactly what we want, the waitress informs us the lunch menu is void on the weekends. Huh? Couldn’t you have told us that when you seated us? Cue another 15 minutes later, we again know exactly what we want and both order the chicken burrito, sans sour cream.
I really loved this burrito! It’s ginormous, I could only eat half,. It was very saucy, with tender chicken. I didn’t even need to drizzle the house salsa all over it like I usually do at other mexican joints. The rice however… well I’ve have better from Rice-​A-​Roni. A lot better actually.
Overall, a decent experience and I’ll probably go back with a six pack and opt for a more comfortable chair.

I’m torn with Mamacita’s. On one hand, they are really close to my office, which is nice for a lunch option. On the other hand, the food always gives me the tummy-rumbles.a little upset is all, not all out sick.
On one hand, the staff is really nice and they get our orders together quickly and never complain when we make subsitutions. On the other hand, the food is sort of bland in general.
On one hand the portions are huge and you get all the extras like tortillas and free chips and salsa with a minimum purchase. On the other hand, I can never eat it all so whats the point.
I like the idea and atmosphere. The staff are efficient and friendly as previously stated. But, there is something left to be desired.

Ooohh mamacita! You know how to make it work girlfriend.
BYOB Mexican… good mexican at that!
Good location, friendly service, BYO, nice selection. I’m a fan!
I’ve been here once before but hadn’t returned til Saturday night for a nice lil mexi dinner n pregame.
I must say, like every review I write about Mexican places – the chips n salsa make it or break it. They are both excellent here! Just great, loved em, could make a meal out of it! Their guac is excellent too.
I split the steak fajitas… awesome. They also service tilapia and duck fajitas here too! Amazing…
Goat cheese is on the menu several times which really excites me, I will def come back!
Mamacita…yes-a-pleeza

Not bad for mexican food. The chips were good and the salsa had a kick but not too hot, and both were refilled generously.
I had the steak burrito dinner for $ 9.99 and it was good, but nothing spectacular. You have your choice of mild, hot, or sweet salsa on top of it. I tried sweet and it wasn’t really salsa, more like bbq sauce.
All in all, not a bad place

An extremely unimpressive plate is served with an astonishingly forgettable burrito, a small quantity of mexican rice, and a tiny pyramid of shredded lettuce with sour cream on it.
This burrito was really weak. The ratio of tortilla shell to burrito contents was way too high. The chicken was dry and seemed to be of low quality. In many bites, all I could taste was diced tomato. The guacamole I added to my burrito was barely even present in the one or two bites where I noticed it. This is going to sound extremely ignorant/​american/​commercialized of me, but I cannot ever imagine going back to this place as long as there is a Chipotle around.
To top it all off, when I ordered, I asked for an order of chicken fajitas to go, to take back to my lady friend who was feeling under the weather. When I had finished eating, the waitress came over and asked if I still wanted the fajitas. Only then did she put the order in. I had to sit there like a sap, full of a not-​so-​delicious burrito waiting for another 10+ minutes for the order to go that I no longer even really wanted but hadn’t had the nerve to cancel.
Life’s too short to eat at Mamacita’s.

I had to give this place 5 stars for how great the food is. Mexican food is among my favorite due to the wide variety of vegetarian options and Mamacita’s really has it going on in that department.
Although I am not a vegan I am very picky about my dairy intake and the baked cheese enchiladas really hit the spot. I have also had their breakfast quesadillas which are served with rice and beans and potatoes for around $ 5. Are you serious?
Much love goes out to the chips and salsa!

Um, what’s that green stuff in my burrito?
I had some time to kill before my Walgreen’s prescriptions were ready and I was starving. I wandered up the street for a late lunch/​early dinner and stumbled upon Mamacita’s, a place I’ve been meaning to try for years. Had it not been an odd time of day (too late for lunch/​too early for dinner) I would’ve have been concerned that I was the only one there.
The place isn’t very big, but I took a table by the window so I could people watch while I ate. Funnily, Jerry M. walked by and spotted me, she stopped in and we chatted for a few minutes.
I ordered a veggie burrito without sour cream or guacamole. I know, I know, try not to hate me because I’m a guac hater! While I waited I helped myself to the chips and salsa. For a place that bills itself as healthy Mexican the chips didn’t seem that healthy; I’m not complaining, I’m just saying… The salsa was pretty good, it had a nice heat to it; but the texture was thin and watery; I prefer mine chunkier.
My food was ready in a jif and my burrito was huge! As soon as I cut into it I spotted green, and it wasn’t lettuce. The menu description said burritos came with lettuce, tomato, cheese and sour cream so I was a bit confused. Turns out the green stuff was broccoli; it also had shredded carrots inside, I’m still on the fence about how I feel about that.
Service was friendly, but meh. No one really checked on me while I dined, but when I held up my empty glass of water the hostess/​server dispatched someone to fill it quickly.
Bottom line: The portions were generous, the prices were reasonable, but the food didn’t blow me away. I’d visit again, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to come again.

A very solid 3 stars.
Healthy Mexican breakfast until 3pm? SOLD.
The Mexican omelette with red and green peppers, chihuahua cheese and cilantro hit the spot. Accompanying refried beans for breakfast, YES PLEASE!
Very fast, prompt service. Interior is a little dingy… a bit dark and dank, with some hints of wear and tear. Guess it proves they’ve survived on this strip of Lincoln Park inundated with restaurants in the same price range.
I’d def go back, I mean… they boast «healthy» Mexican fare, can’t beat that right?

I am a big fan of their taco salad.
If you put their chips and salsa in front of me, you’d be the only one talking because I can’t stop eating them. The salsa is a little watery, but it’s perfectly mild and delicious.
I also really like the vegetarian burrito.