El Molcajete

The customer service at this restaurant was absolutely horrible!!! First off, depending on how the tables are arranged there are only about 8 tables in the restaurant. My husband and I were seated in the corner booth nearest the front door and were essentially forgotten about after getting our drinks. My husband had to get a waitress’ attention when seating a table near us to ask for a refill (which had been empty for a while) and I figured it’d be a smart time to ask for a refill, too. I also asked for more chips and salsa which we never received. If it weren’t for reaching out to her we wouldn’t have had an interaction with any of the servers until our food was ready to be served. Oh yeah, they also messed up my husband’s side.
Compared to all of the Mexican restaurants I’ve been to in my life, El Molcajete has the smallest portions I’ve ever seen. My husband and I left still hungry because we just wanted to leave after being completely ignored during our time here. The food wasn’t horrible which is the only reason why I’m giving them 2 stars and not one. The servers were absolutely horrible in being attentive and completely forgot we existed in one of the tiniest restaurants I’ve ever eaten at. Don’t waste your time or money here!

I still can’t believe that El Molcajete is in Geneva. I’ve been to Mexican restaurants throughout the Western burbs and Chicago — but El Molcajete remains my favorite. The staff is helpful, friendly, and very knowledgeable about the menu, while the food is fresh, full of flavor, and even surprisingly well-​plated. The portions are pretty hearty, but this isn’t just about getting a plate overflowing with burritos (obviously, there’s a time and place for that as well). We typically spend about $ 30-​$ 40 for two and walk away feeling stuffed but on top of the world.
It’s pretty small inside (about ten or so two-​tops), but there’s usually an open table on weeknights or during lunch. Even on weekend nights, we’ve never waited longer than 15 or 20 minutes. If you’ve ever been to Geneva on a Saturday night, you’ll know how ridiculous that is.
After we’ve gorged ourselves on continuous chips and salsa, I usually stick with my standby order of tacos and poblano rice (rice with poblano peppers, sour cream, and chihuahua cheese, where have you been all my life?), but everything that I’ve ever ordered here has been incredible. My friends and family switch things up a little more often, usually with some help from our waitress, and I haven’t heard a single complaint yet (which is rare in itself). If you’re a guacamole lover, do yourself a favor and order the guacamole trio (Traditional, Habanero and Pineapple). You’ll never go back to boring old regular guacamole again.
The margaritas will also rock your world, but I’m sure I didn’t need to tell you that. My personal favorite is the blackberry (muddled lime, blackberry, orange liquor, organic agave nector, El Mayor reposado, and sugar), and I like it twice as much when it’s half-​price on Thursdays.
All in all, this little downtown gem delivers great food at great prices, and has even better people. Keep it up, El Molcajete!

Zee best of zee best. Perfection on the CHILES RELLENOS
2 chiles poblanos stuffed with Chihuahua cheese breaded and deep fried. Topped with chipotle adobo and sour cream. Served iwht rice, beans, and flour tortillas…
NOBODY CAN DO IT LIKE THEY CAN!!!

We went at the last minute with a party of 11 people. They were very accommodating and the wait staff was friendly. Our party selected many different entrees from the menu and everyone enjoyed their food.
Good food and good service.

Tex Mexican at best. They charge for extra salsa. Much better options around. Try Taco Bell.

Nice spot in downtown Geneva. Chips were homemade and the guacamole and salsa were fantastic. The guacamole had chunks of avocado, which I like, and the salsa had great flavor without being too hot. My wife and I each ordered tacos, which are the now trendy smallish version, sometimes known as street tacos. Notwithstanding my preference for regular sized tacos, they were excellent. Service was a little slow, but very friendly. We will definitely make a return visit.

Flavor was good, but that’s about it. Ordered a steak burrito and side of rice, for a total of $ 13.
Burrito was VERY small for the price, and got literally two forkfuls of rice for $ 3.50
Unreal

okay, so my husband and i are fairly new to Geneva, and we know we should try as many of the restaurants around here as we can, but i love this place. basically, i just want to eat here. hands-​down, the best mexican i’ve ever eaten. so fresh and delicious! my husband had the taco sampler platter, and i cannot even begin to describe how flavorful each one of them was. i recommend ordering that for a first visit here.
i love cheese enchiladas, and these are probably my favorite. i’ve also had the SINCRONIZADAS, which is basically a quesadilla with pork, pineapple and other flavors– seriously, one of the most delicious things i’ve ever eaten
their chips & dip are so good too. We had the nachos as an appetizer but be warned, they are nothing like nachos you get a chain restaurant like chilis (i.e. gooey cheddar cheese and chips). these are authentic and seem to be baked — i highly recommend, but i could see some people not liking it.
For dessert, we had the dulche de leche chimi, which is a deep fried crêpe. i can just say that you need to save room for dessert because this was amazing.
oh, i also had the horcata — not quite as good as Los Burritos Mexicanos, but up there. however, this one is REALLY sweet — my husband wasn’t a fan, since he doesn’t like really sweet drinks, but i enjoyed it!

Yum yum yum. This is upscale Mexican food, so do not expect taqueria prices, but it wasn’t too expensive either. Try the esquites– that was most memorable for me. They also had great horchata and steak tacos. Cute, small restaurant with friendly servers.

My husband and I have come here several times as a recommendation from a friend and we are lucky to find this place. It’s a small restaurant with probably around 15 or so tables. They have excellent mojitos and the food is amazing. Even though we live about 30 minutes away I still will come here for authentic mexican food.

Great food. The shrimp tacos are very fresh and they had a vegetarian selection which was excellent. The guacamole comes in different levels of spices. I would return again in the future!

This is our go-​to favorite for Mexican food! I’ve lived in the area for less than two years, and have tried just about every Mexican restaurant within 10 miles. This place is charming, family-​owned and has great food overall.
I love their chips, homemade guacamole, and I’m a big fan of their steak tacos. For a side, go for the esquites — it does not disappoint!
Aside from the good food, I love the people. They are all so kind and attentive — they make you feel like you’re part of the family!

The restaurant would have gotten a much better rating if the service was better. The food was good but everything else was really lacking. We were seated quickly, but it went downhill quickly.
We sat with menus for 15 minutes, watching new seated tables get water and greeted before us. The food was served randomly to every table. Our main course meals were served in multiple drops with no reasoning. My steak came out well before my wife’s tacos. We think they gave her tacos to a large party behind us. The service in general was a mess. People were running around trying to serve food to wrong tables and running back to figure out where it goes. It was really a mess. Maybe we will try it again to see if it was just an off night.

We actually ate at the restaurant on Third street, but they didn’t have a separate Unilocal page. We ate outdoors on the rooftop patio, which was quiet (soft music playing… thank you, El Molcajete for that… nothing worse than blaring music when the patrons can’t even talk to each other) and had a good view of the town. Anyway… first time here and the three of us *loved* the food. I had the pork tacos with grilled pineapple and the corn as a side. My mom and aunt had the chicken tacos on top of guacamole… all as good as it gets. We also had guacamole and chips on the side. The guacamole was amazing and the chips were homemade, but greasy. They also gave us a small bowl of salsa, which was too mild. No kick at all. So that’s my only complaint on the food (greasy chips and meh salsa).
Our waitress was excellent — friendly, sweet, attentive, very compliant with separate checks, making sure my mom and aunt didn’t have any dairy in their corn due to food allergies. She must’ve picked up on my mom talking to me about my birthday, so at the end of our meal, she came out with a tres de leche cake with three forks for sharing. And the cake was absolutely delicious. My no-​sugar eating plan, be damned! That cake was worth it.
I can’t wait to go back and try the enchiladas with mole sauce — and a margarita. Cheers!

I think this place should have been better…
My husband and I came here and both he and I had the fish tacos, tilapia I think, as well as the guacamole, salsa and chips appetizer. He had a Corona and I had two of the horchata drinks, which were delicious, by the way. The appetizer was great; the chips were homemade, the guacamole smooth and tasty, I wish it had more heat but whatever. Next, the fish tacos came out, after quite a while, and the fish itself was good but the sauce ruined them for me, completely. The sauce literally tasted like ketchup from a bottle you get at a Wal-​Mart; overly sweet, fake and with absolutely no spice. What kind of Mexican food has no spice? This meal was ruined by the main course and I really thought that this place had potential. Maybe, I’ll come back.
Hint: Geneva «spicy» should never be the norm for any food, let alone Mexican food.

I went here a few weeks ago for my friend’s birthday dinner. There were about 15 of us, and we ended up taking up a long table along the back part of the room, when you turn the corner. Despite having a huge party, our food came pretty quickly and the servers were very attentive and polite.
Some friends and I shared a guacamole and chips plate and a salsa and chips plate, which were pretty typical. I ordered the taco sampler plate, which comes with 5 different tacos and a mini cup of lime pieces. The moment the waitress set my plate in front of me, my mouth started watering. I personally thought I could down 5 tacos with no problem at all, but around the 3^rd taco, I was stuffed! They were so good though, so I ended up finishing them.
I think my bill came out to be around $ 13, so I handed my waitress a $ 20, thinking I would get change back. Unfortunately, I didn’t get anything back. My party was in a rush to go somewhere else, so I didn’t have time to as for my change, but I a 50% tip is just crazy…
I’ll be back here again, but I’ll be sure that I get correct change back.

Ok, food amazing!!!
Drinks. Delicious!
Service, there was a glitch to say the least, but they handled us with such respect. Our order didn’t get put in, so our wait was kinda crazy… but, with that said, without prompting, they comped our meal. That deserves a 5 star in our book.
They were gracious, owned the mistake, and the food, to say the least was fresh and yummy.
We will be back. Absolutely.

Geneva is fast becoming a hot spot for great tacos. Bien Trucha is a well-​known destination, but El Molcajete deserves as much renown and acclaim. Unlike BT though, you won’t mistake this for a trendy spot. It’s just an excellent place to eat some really delicious food with fast and friendly service.
Of course, it all starts with the food. On our visit, the chips looked like they were just fried, and the salsa was tasty with a little kick. We were thrilled to try as many of the tacos as possible and ended up going with three: compechanos (carne asada, chorizo, and melted Chihuahua cheese), cabos (beer battered fish), and the pork belly tacos. All were delicious with the pork belly tacos as my favorite for its taste, though the pieces could have been crispier. The fish in the cabos were huge and balanced well by the red cabbage slaw. The compechanos were less filled but nonetheless tasty. Each order of tacos comes with a side, and I recommend the esquites, poblano rice, and the drunken beans. The drinks are great here also. The La Tomasita is a standout margarita so make sure you try it.
We really enjoyed the service as well. Our server was very friendly and accommodating. The prices here are very reasonable though you could easily rack up a sizable bill by ordering so much of the delicious food. I look forward to coming back!

Molcajete is like the «non-​trendy» version of Bien Trucha. You won’t find lines out the door. You won’t find modern-​Mexican décor. You won’t find yourself waiting for 45 minutes for 3 tacos.
What you will find, is glorious. I went with my brother to try out this place and I am so sad I have not been there since. The chips and salsa were fantastic and they kept them coming til we got our food. I had the taco platter and therefore had like 8 different kinds of tacos. They were smaller tacos, ok? It’s totally fine. don’t judge. My brother had some sort of burrito and really enjoyed it. We both had horchata of course (I mean why would you not have it). I would like to return to try their guac and margaritas. However, I hear they are fantastic.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAS ME ENCANTA EL MOLCAJETE
Husband and I have been here… oh man I dunno… eighty times since we moved to the area a few months ago and it’s our favourite place to go. Everything is delicious — LITERALLY EVERYTHING. I always get the taco platter because it’s a great variety and I am a glutton. Guayaba margarita? Si, ponla en mi boca pronto. The staff there are so friendly and are always happy to help us out and get us more chips, always more chips.
Seriously. The chips.