Mextiza

Mextiza is str8 ballin, if you know what I’m saying. Staff is always cool and the specials tend to be very special indeed. I want to describe to you the octopus I’m about to eat, but frankly, I don’t have the eloquence to describe the art before me. I’m yet to have the poor service issues others reference, and in fact, I’ve only ever experienced the opposite. It’s worthy of a 5 star, but I’m a cheap SOB and want this high rolling cuisine on the cheap. I see it’s now closed? This is terrible news. I certainly hope for a revival.

So a party of 7 of us came to this restaurant for drinks and appetizers yesterday. We were excited about the menu and tequila options, as there was a glowing review in a in a recent newspaper. Where do I start? We were all disappointed with food and service from the time of arrival. I will just break this down very simply…
1. Hostess lacked hospitality (isn’t that the primary job function?)
2. Waitress never demonstrated a personality or a smile, lacked knowledge about the menu and a brush for one side of her head. Additionally appetizers never made it to the table and drinks were overlooked.
3. The «manager» lacked concern that there were issues with the food and service… never an apology or even acknowledgement of mistakes.
4. Food was lackluster and could be obtained from a fast food taqueria.
The whole experience gave us an appreciation for other restaurants that appreciate their customers. We were welcomed warmly at 2 other restaurants/​bars last night. One being The Old Gold next to this one.
This is a harsh review, however I have never been treated so poorly by a restaurant staff… The dining scene in Portland is a special one and a restaurant such as this does not deserve to be a player.

My family and I went in yesterday afternoon and were very displeased with the customer service. The hostess was rude from the start and just wasn’t friendly. Our server wasn’t very informative and seemed like she didn’t know how to do her job at all. She got our drink orders wrong and never brought out our calamari. We left early. Never going back again. The bar next door was awesome though !

For $ 15 per plate you think we would get silverware with our meal.
Our server barely said two words to us. She brought us our menus without saying a word and when she returned to take our order she said, «so whatcha think?» She had zero personality. Excuse me for being harsh, but I thought that was a requirement for a waitressing job.
The food was average. Same food I could get at a Taqueria but with fancy names and a little bit of parsley on the side.
The outdoor seating is nice, but if you want good food and service go to The Old Gold next door.

7:00 dinner reservations.
7:35 the drinks arrive. (Other people seated after us already have drinks)
8:15 still waiting for entre. (Other people seated after us are done)
Never coming back.

This review is for their brunch — which I had heard good things about and was eager to try for myself. Delicious options, good service. The menu we ate from was not the same menu that is on their website right now for brunch, but it was similar.
My friend loved her Mexican style French Toast. I had a delicious dish with shredded chicken wrapped in tortillas smothered in black bean purée and topped with avocado and cilantro (I don’t remember the name of the dish). My bf got the huevos and chorizo verde and thought it was tasty. We also ordered the guacamole, which was pretty good and came with two salsas and a bunch of chips that appeared to be made in house (very delicious). If you’re looking for a different kind of brunch experience other than beaterville & the other breakfast joints in Overlook, give this place a try.
We did not need to wait for a table, and service was good but not extremely fast — I wouldn’t recommend this place if you are in a rush, but definitely worth the wait for quality food in a nice restaurant.

Sorry, but as much as i was looking forward to trying this place, I’m immediately disappointed by the fact that I went in for some take out and apparently they don’t do that on the weekend. Really?! Your not busy, what makes a Saturday any different then a Wednesday. You don’t want new business even though your slow on a Saturday night and the next door business, Old Gold is slammed? Well, I guess that’s that. First impressions really do mean something. Customers obviously don’t mean anything. Sorry guys, Old gold it definitely is!

Not in the mood to cook tonight and not wanting to travel far we choose Mextiza for our evening meal. This rare occasion we made it in time for happy hour, which is 5– 6 (Monday thru Saturday).
Having tried their food a few times we knew what we wanted. We had:
Tostadita:
Crispy tortilla topped with shredded pork & potatoes, simmered in a dry chile sauce, topped with lettuce & Oaxacan cream
Calamar En Chileajo:
Sautéed calamari in a dry chile garlic sauce, served with bread chunks
Morisqueta:
Corn Masa dumpling stuffed with spicy chicken and black beans, topped with Oaxacan cream, cotija cheese & guacamole
This is a solid group of food to try if you haven’t been here. The food was excellent. Only reason for the 4 was the service initially started off on the wrong foot. Just an off day as it got better thru the meal. $ 31.00 dollars for these items and 3 Margaritas. What’s not to like?

Awesome happy hour! Food is great and authentic tasting. Excellent value.
Have gone many times to this. It has become our go to spot in the neighborhood. I think we have had everything on the happy hour menu and we love it all. Great chips and salsas!

5 stars for Sunday brunch. First time we went here for dinner, and it was tasty but kind of a strange crowd. But once we discovered brunch (only on Sunday sadly, not Saturday), it’s hard not to come back every week.
Everything on the brunch menu is spectacular. I originally fell in love with the bizcocho (a take on biscuits and gravy with an amazing sauce and delicious bacon), but everything else we’ve tried is great too.
And the Sangria is the best I’ve ever had, hands down. Can’t drink just one.
Everyone standing in line for Beaterville is a sucker. (I mean, that place is cheap and ok, but not worth lining up for.) Old Gold next door has it’s merits, but also just ok as far as brunch goes (better for happy hour).
Mextiza is totally original, and artfully crafted, delicious food for brunch. And somehow it hasn’t been discovered, it’s rarely more than half full whenever we show up on Sunday morning (or afternoon). Try it, you won’t regret it.

Curses and praise for this neighborhood brunch discovery. Praise because it’s absolutely delicious and very affordable, but curses because it’s so close to my apartment and I can’t afford to come here every single meal of the day. Sigh. But then praises again because it’s crawling distance home in case brunch gets out of hand.
The space is large enough that it’s pretty easy to meet up with a group, the portions are very, very substantial, the flavors are powerful, the drinks are imaginative and intoxicating… the only downside I found was the wait staff. I think they may have been shorthanded, but we definitely had to wait quite awhile to put in our orders and then receive our food. Granted, we were a large group, so I’ve taken that into consideration, but it would have been nice to be checked on more frequently.
Regardless, I’ll be back for a spicy margarita and breakfast enchiladas pronto.

It was okay. Got there and were the first people in and the patio was really hot (no shade) as was the side of the restaurant near the bar so we picked the spot in the corner to stay cool (There was also no apparent air conditioning or fans), but the person who seated us said we wouldn’t get happy hour prices unless we sat in those areas. We were the ONLY people inside, give us an effing break. Restaurants who do this are so lame — so we just said fine, we’ll eat off the dinner menu as we didn’t want to sit there and sweat in the direct sun).
The waitress came over and something just was off. She kept calling us — two grown women — «girls» (I’m not 12, please don’t call me a girl) and sat on the other table while talking to us, and just seemed like she had her mind on other things when she was waiting on us. Didn’t really try to sell anything on the menu, and when I asked how they made their sangria, she said it was vodka and wine. Hmm (no fruit?). When we ordered the cocktails, we weren’t quite sure what we wanted to eat so asked for a couple minutes and she said we should «flag her down» when we were ready. I’m sorry there were hardly any customers there and we have to «flag her down» rather than her come back?
The food was passable. Entrees are very expensive, $ 17 for roast pork with black beans and a few small –cold– tortillas. The pork was just so-​so, a lot of tough spots to chew on. The menu LOOKED great but altogether I just wouldn’t return based on this underwhelming food and service. Too bad as this is a great spot to put a restaurant.

Tried to go here for Sunday brunch. Checked online what the brunch hours were which were 10 AM to 2PM, Sundays. Showed up at 11:30 AM with the place closed up tight. No signs, no explanation, nothing. Oh but they did manage to post they would be closed on their Facebook page we later found out. Big help for us who don’t live vicariously through social networking.
Would be a great help to customers to give a better heads up if you plan on not being open.

Good. And unusual.
I was worried when I sat down and started to peruse the menu. Where are the tacos, enchiladas, fajitas?! This is a Mexican joint, right? It took some serious reading to find our entrees. There were a lot of unusual combinations.
Also, a lot of meat. We talked to the waitress about veggie/​fish options for my guy, and she pointed out the 4 items that we could try. I was a little disappointed she didn’t give the option of making to order by substituting fish/​shrimp into another dish. But alas.
We ended up ordering all 4 non-​meat options and did it up tapas style. I was pretty impressed with the surprising flavors. Definitely not your standard Mexican fare. I was glad I went, but can’t say for sure if I’ll be back. I wish they would either expand their menu, or open up to some substitutions.
SN: Wicked cocktails ;)

Revising rating because of the silly hours. Only open a few nights a week is not cool, it’s lame. When you get the urge you want to go.

This place isn’t bad, necessarily, just super over-​priced. The $ 12 ceviche likely cost them 79 cents to make. It was mostly celery with a few morsels of fish.
The huarchitos was better, though the carne asada was tough and fatty, not really worth $ 15.
The margaritas were great, though!

I came here for brunch, not knowing what to expect Mexican would be like for breakfast. All I could think was breakfast burritos, but I ended up getting some amazing hot cakes soaked in carmel sauce!!! I can’t stop thinking about it in fact! Can’t wait to try some of the sandwiches next time!

Yo comí los chipanecos (tamales) y empanadas con relleno de chocolate. ¡Riquísimos! El mezcal «Vida Organica» era perfectísmo. Me sientí como estaba en Coyoacan sola o con amigos. Era un momento Zen.
To wrap up in English, I lived in Mexico for several years, and I’ve travelled all over the country – rural and urban. The meal I had reminded me of home. It was of course three times as much in price as it would have been in México, but Portland is VERY lucky. They have mezcal, which is hard to find in the US. Win!

Let’s state up front. I’m an Oswaldo Bibiano fan. I’ve been out of PDX for a while and hadn’t had a chance to try his (no longer) new place. I wasn’t looking for awesome carnitas or carne asado from a truck or a bucket full of Coronas and a basket of chips and salsa or a plate of beans, rice and cheese glop on enchiladas. If you are, go somewhere else and spend $ 5 instead of $ 8.50 for lunch.
S.U. and I were back for for a couple of days to take care of some business, attend a birthday party and fill up on the awesomeness of eating in Portland. We managed to time this days lunch to meet some Seattle friends driving through PDX on their way south and Mextiza, being a few blocks off an I-​5 exit, was perfect.
We sat on the patio. I had the Calentanas, (Chicken enchiladas fried with guajillo sauce, topped with cabbage, cotija cheese and cream). The colors were gorgeous, the flavors intense. Two others had Zuisas, Green chile and tomatillo sauce enchiladas with chicken, oaxacan melting chese and cream. They wouldn’t even let me taste theirs. They even serve Negra Modello ON TAP!
If you love quality, creative and beautifully prepared Mexican food, go here for lunch. We were all blown away. You will be too.

We just got back from celebrating a friend’s birthday dinner at Mextiza and we were all blown away by such an amazing, very authentic Mexican dinner. A few of my friends there were Mexican and they all concurred that this was really close to being authentic Mexican food, which is hard to come by in Portland! I loved the fact that they served dishes from various regions of Mexico.
The molotes, fried dumplings stuffed with beans, cheese, spicy chicken, and other goodies, were tasty. The house chips and guacamole was decent. The guacamole was creamy (Oaxacan style) and different than what I normally have, but still good.
Dinner was where things went from just plain good to EXCELLENT. The garnachas veracruzanas conga tinga were amazing! A wonderful mix of flavors and just the right amount of spicyness. My husband ordered the tacos de costilla and he gave it high marks considering how picky he is about tacos. I ordered the huarachitos, a dish from Mexico City, and the carne asada was seasoned and cooked just perfectly. Best carne asada I’ve ever had PERIOD in my lifetime eating Mexican food in the Pacific Northwest. My husband said it tasted just like how his grandpa used to make it. The special was a mahi mahi served in a jalapeño cream sauce. Such a unique way to cook fish (at least to me) but what a taste bud titillating combination! Delicious!
Service was wonderful. Our server was friendly and attentive. I brought in cupcakes and she brought out plates for them. She even offered to throw out our box! Our waters were constantly being refilled.
AMAZING place to dine! This restaurant is relatively new so I really hope more people start to check out and enjoy this place as much as we did!

This place has immediately entered my PDX Top 5.
Perhaps it’s the nostalgia of Nopalito, one of the few places I miss after moving from SF. But that aside, this place is damn good.
The two of us shared totopos ($ 7) to start with a house margarita to wash things down. Yum and yum.
The menu felt family style/​shared plates-​ish so we ordered the Cabrito ($ 18) which is slow-​roasted goat and also the Hurachitos ($ 15) which felt sort of like hearty flatbread topped with carne asada, avocado and other deliciousness. Both were hearty in proportions and we had plenty of food to take home. Probably could have polished it off it we didn’t want to save room for churros ($ 7)! They came out looking like French fries (not the kind you see at Costco), about 7 of them delicately sprinkled with chocolate with a vanilla dipping sauce. Perfect finish to the meal.
We ordered the more expensive of the items on the menu so it’s very possible to walk away for a lot less. Everything I saw come out of the kitchen looked positively delectable.
Great space, service was on point. Hoping they’ll open up the garage door and have some outdoor seating come summertime. There’s a sweet looking bar next door which would make for a lovely way to spend a warm, sunny afternoon.
Looks like lunches are a flat $ 8.50 for all the options. Can’t wait to try that out!