We went to the Meican Cafe today after a movie for an early dinner, after realising Mai Thai a few doors down was closed. It had been my first time dining there, and I didn’t know what to expect. We were greeted by a cheerful lady who immediately showed us to a table and gave us a complimentary bowl of corn chips to start. Good start.

The great first impression soon went away as the waitress we had seemed to push us too order really quickly. She seemed quite adamant that we hurry and we we’re hungry so we didn’t think much of it.Service here is slightly slow and very casual. We felt that the staff as they were all dressed to casually, and didnt behave very professionally. It really decreased the value of the average $20 main. We also found that everything on the menu seemed to be almost the same as everything else on the menu.

We settled on the steak and chicken enchiladas. My steak which was supposed to be medium rare came more rare than medium but i was too hungry to bother. There was also a lot of fat on it and a bit too much salsa on top. The enchiladas were quite nice, but still not amazing.

Sarah had the chocolate cake for dessert, and I just had a beer as the dessert menu didn’t really appeal to me. Once again the waitress screwed up with my enquiry about the lagers they had, and gave me an answer i completely couldn’t make sense of. The beer was good though, and the cake was very rich and chocolatey.

Back came the waitress, to hurry us away even before i had finished my beer. We got the message and asked for the bill. The price was expected for any restaurant in town, but I didnt think it was reasonable for what it was. Its a good casual place for a few drinks and a quick munch, but it doesnt suit if you want a place to relax and chat, and take your time to enjoy your meal.

Not sure if i will be heading back, not for dinner anyway.

been numerous times here for lunches and always come away happy. Ive been a couple of times at night but it was far too crowded and noisy so never been back at night.

Went Saturday evening with a group of friends (six of us). Atmosphere relaxed, with usual bustle. Service was good and food okay. For your $24 odd, you get a filling burrito, beans etc. Nothing spectacular, but I think most people usually go to the Mexican cafe for the mix of a relaxed night out with very simple food and a few drinks. Sadly,some of the drinks pricing ran pretty much contrary to the whole cheap, cheerful night out that the decor, service and menu should dictate for this resturant. Sol in a bucket, limited time special- $25 for four is not at all special. Jug of margarita, $20 and more like a coffee mug with a handle. True, it did say 490ml in small print on the menu, but how much of the 490 was ice slurry,I’m not prepared to say. I guess we could have had the local tap beer, but that kind of goes against the whole ‘mex experience’ in my book.
So, go for the okay food and the vibe, but drink your Sol at home.

The Mexican Cafe has a nice relaxed, unpretentious atmosphere about it but the quality of the food and drink lets it down.

There is a nice balcony section but all the tables there were full when we arrived. The staff asked if we wanted to be moved outside when a table became available and I was impressed when they followed up this later on.

My friend’s taco salad was nicely presented and she was pleased with it. I thought my vegetarian enchilada looked a bit limp and unexciting but it tasted ok, though nothing special. It did however seem like the salsa dip was watered down and the guacamole was so bland!

To go with our meal, we ordered a jug of pineapple margherita as it was happy hour and cost only $15. Alas we couldn’t taste the pineapple or the tequila – this too seemed to have been watered down. Most disappointing.

The food quality really didn’t meet my expectations and I’m not sure I would eat there again. It wasn’t awful but it really wasn’t good value for money either. A few more smiles from the bored looking staff might have helped too.

I went in for lunch today and ummmmmmmmm yum yum yum. An absolute experience to remember. Whats more the staff were friendly, polite, very funny and made me feel like coming back soon. Would highly recommend this restaurant. What a great way to waste a friday afternoon…. Thanks Trish…..

Terrible,absolutely terrible customer service skills… nearly every staff member was rude and looked like they just didnt want to be there at all…
A bunch of 12 or so of us friends went there for a birthday dinner tonight(so obviously spent a lot of money) and and we were all literally shocked at how rudely we were spoken to and not one of them had a smile on there face… we all left feeling really disappointed(including the birthday girl!) I notice from previous reviews most of the bad ones are about the customer service, so maybe its time they looked at this issue seriously!!!

the worst food i have ever paid money for.. dont even consider dining here. the food is dry, tasteless, and the worst part is I kept burping up the fowl taste for hours after.

This must be surely the worst place for mexican food anywhere. I really like this place for all other things i.e. drinks are good, atmosphere is mostly nice and pleasant and staff is generally friendly and helpful but the food is near inedible. I have good taste buds but 4 different mains all tasted the same; like lumpy, hot, tasteless brown sauce. And how can someone mess up rice that much. Maybe a one off experience but I couldn’t go there again until they have sorted out the kitchen.

Went to this cute little place this arvo and loved it!! the guy who took our order was very polite and relaxed.

i will be going back and will take my american friend with me as she dragged us there in the first place!

Probably the worst ‘Mexican’ food I’ve ever been served – anywhere. It was all very bland. The chicken tasted as if it had been boiled with no seasoning at all. The ‘enchilada’ was leathery. The cheese was cheddar. Chips came out of a bag. Lettuce was limp. Tomatoes were hard and pink. All in our table of four felt poorly the rest of the evening after attempting to eat here.

The service was definitely substandard for Auckland. It appeared that customers are a nuisance to be endured. It was not busy, but it was difficult to get refills.

The only way this place could be the best Mexican restaurant in the southern hemisphere is if there were no others. Fortunately, there are others and a few of them are pretty good.

Nathan

Great food, fantastic margaritas, friendly, happy service and awesome ambiance – really could you ask for more?
ooh and happy hour every day!

We had a meal here and thought it was awesome! A great atmosphere, seemed very authentic. We ordered drinks and had a complimentary snack. Meals came at a good time and were great. Can’t wait to go back when up north again.

I have been to the Mexican cafe a couple of times, and same as others that have commented on the restaurant the service has gotten worse.
The last time i went there with my bf i was very excited about going since I’m Hispanic myself and was looking forward to a nice Mexican meal. Once we got there we waited for few minutes to be seated which was alright. We ordered, i asked if i could change something from my plate and she responded no, they couldn’t since it was premade, which i found upsetting since you would expect to have a fresh meal when you are paying $20+ for a meal. My bf had to get up from the table to ask if we could get a refill on our drink since our waitress hardly ever came around to made sure if everything was OK. Both of our meals were warm to cold instead of hot. We even found it hard to find our waitress since none of them wore a standard uniform.

Once i got home i emailed the Manager to complain about the poor service that we received. i used to work at a Mexican Restaurant that holds more than 150 and may i add every meal that they did was made to order. When i finally heard back from the Manager, sadly i must say he was nice enough to call me back but he was a little bit rude. He even told me that since they do get busy they do have to make all their meals beforehand, so thats why most of the food you will receive will be cold instead of hot.

I personally will recommend a fantastic little Mexican restaurant in Parnell called Hola!! The waitresses are very friendly and all refills are free! so next time you want to try a good Mexican meal with great service i would say go there and check it our for yourself.


UPDATE:
~~~~~~~

firstly, i want to point out that i did make one small mistake on what i wrote

“that since they do get busy they do have to make all their meals beforehand, so thats why most of the food you will receive will be cold instead of hot.”


Where i made the mistake in that sentence was “so thats why most of the food you will receive will be cold instead of hot.”

The manager did not say that and i can at least be honest enough to admit that. as to the rest about making meals before hand he did say that.

Now my question to the manager is… You can come one here and correct me from my small mistake in that sentence, but what about the other stuff that i wrote. about service you didnt bother much to clear that up on here. Im not trying to trash your restaurant. Its just my point of view as we do have freedom of speech in this country.

Great food. Long waiting times.

I found this restaurant quite disturbing after i noticed a cockroach on my arm. the service was really bad and i ended up leaving the restaurant in frustration and the fact that a cockroach had been on me.

Reccomendation : Dont go to this resturant unless u like cockroaches

I’ve been here a couple of times. The first time was for dinner and I received terrible service. I phoned to make a reservation for 6 people. they don’t take reservations but they told us to arrive and we’d be seated. I thought that this was fair enough. My dinner group were coming from different areas of akl and I was one of the first to arrive. I asked for a table for 6 but the waitress told me and my friend that they couldn’t do this until other people started arriving. I was seated at a table for 2 and when the rest of the group arrived we changed tables about 3 times. This would’ve been sorted if they just gave me the table I asked for in the beginning. I went their for lunch recently, it was much better… the food was pretty average but at least they sat me where I wanted to be seated. You’d be much better going to the midnight express, which has better service and much better food.

We went to the Mexican cafe on a Saturday night with a group. Not one person at the table enjoyed their meal. The brown sauce over the meals was dried up and crumbly (this appeared on 3 plates)and the rice which was served with every meal was served in clumps, ineatable and very very dry. My meal which was a ’sepcial’ was very tasty with alot of flavour, but it was almost cold when it arrived. Out of all the meals mine looked and tasted the nicest but fundamental errors such as serving near cold and dried up food made us all swear we would not be returing.

On a plus, the atmosphere is good for a Saturday night eatery and our Waitresses were very nice.

Just as a response to the previous reviews about service:

The Mexican Cafe is a busy restaurant and on most nights has a waitlist – often up to 45mins/1hr for patrons waiting for a table. The reason behind the tables for diners only is that the bar is cantina stlye and easily accomodates those wanting to have a drink and share snacks.
With a waitlist so long, policies such as these are in place so that everyone can have a place to eat and enjoy the experience.

None of the food is “pre made and popped in the microwave” – yes some of the dishes are prepared at lunch time so some ingredients can not be taken out, but any dish can be altered to suit the spicyness the customer wants.

Although the Mex gets very busy, the wait staff are very friendly and enjoy looking after the customers.

For those that were unhappy I would definately suggest giving it another try

Great food but will agree to all the comments below regarding service. They need to look after customers more.

wonderful. i can only think of one word.

Good food, nice drinks but patchy service. Very hard to catch a waitperson to get refills.

Great food and really fantastic ambience.

but a little over-priced if you’re feeling hungry!