My Last Meals at Mexicali Restaurant (Relocated)

Located in between the Midtown Wing and Pedro Gil Wing of Robinson's Place is Mexicali Restaurant.   As the name Mexicali implies, they serve California Burritos and more.  California Burritos are a sort of fusion food derived from the Mexican Burritos.  There are two kinds of California Burrito.  One originated from San Diego California and the other is from San Francisco California.  Mexicali serves San Francisco California Burritos characterized by having rice, sour cream and guacamole and usually wrapped in foil.

Mexicali Restaurant's ambiance projects a happy Mexican feel with its colored wooden chairs and Mexican inspired wall designs.

Food

I will be sharing with you the my last two visits at Mexicali Restaurant.  I hope you don't mind if I make one review for both.

First Visit
During our first visit, we actually intended to claim our El Gourdo Burrito deal from 500PesoDeals.com but the female manager was insisting that the five vouchers we bought worth 1,000 php (200 php x 5) was only claimable for El Gourdo Burrito meal (worth 345 php).  Naturally, we didn't want to be at a loss and ordered something else instead and decided to clarify the matter over at 500PesoDeals.com first.  You can check my entry "Food Trauma from Mexicali Restaurant and 500PesoDeals.Com" for full details (see separate entry)


Soups

Sopa de Ajo cup (garlic soup) (45php)

The Sopa de Ajo is a clear soup with garlic bits.  We ordered five of this since everyone in the family except for me ordered this.  They just love the aromatic natural taste of garlic.

Bisque de Camaron Cup (shrimp bisque) (55 php)

I ordered the Bisque de Camaron Cup.  It was rich and creamy in flavor.  In fact, the shrimp flavor is so strong that it is best eaten with the Nachos.  I personally, enjoy dipping it into the soup while munching on it.


Burritos

Pollo al Carbon California (225 php)

The Pollo al Carbon is grilled chicken bits with vegetables, beans, Mexican rice, salsa and sour cream wrapped in large soft flour tortilla.  My little sister ordered this.   This was her favorite and usual order.

Grilled Shrimp California (355 php)

The Grilled Shrimp is grilled shrimp bits with vegetables, beans, Mexican rice, salsa and sour cream wrapped in large soft flour tortilla.  My family says this is the best Burrito variant so we had four orders of this.


Combos

Combo 7: Enchilada & Burrito (359 php) 

I always order Combo 7: Enchilada & Burrito whenever dining at Mexicali Restaurant because I have a huge appetite and I could choose the type of Enchilada and Burrito I want.  I chose Grilled Vegetables Enchilada and Grilled Steak Burrito.  I always try to balance my meal with meat and vegetables.  The Grilled Vegetables Enchilada is soft tortilla filled with vegetables topped with their secret ranchera sauce and sour cream.  I used to love their enchiladas.  It was really good.

Grilled Steak Burrito 

The Grilled Steak Burrito is tasty tender steak strips with vegetables, beans, Mexican rice, salsa and sour cream wrapped in large soft flour tortilla.  I loved the texture of their large soft flour tortilla.

Second Visit

My family was disappointed on how the manager of Mexicali Restaurant handled the situation previously and how we were ignored and neglected by 500PesoDeals.com.  I had to force my family to come back to Mexicali with me because I could never finish 5 El Gourdo Meals all by myself.  I apologize for the lack of photos since I didn't bother to bring a camera because I'm sure everyone was not in the mood for it.  After a series of email exchanges with 500PesoDeals.com, I was optimistic that everything will go along smoothly.  I even promised my family that.  so when we went to Mexicali, I handed the vouchers to the staff.  They looked puzzled and no one seems to know about it.  I was looking for the manager who apparently was absent.  We had to search the internet for the Mexicali Head Office contact and after a long process we had our five orders of Grilled Chicken El Gourdo Burritos.  The staffs looked unhappy as if forced to serve our orders.  We had four for dine-in and one for take-out.  The take out was also for me since my two little sisters did not want to eat at Mexicali again.  We were waiting for the 16 oz Iced Tea as stated in our vouchers but when we asked for it, the servers were also unaware of it.  To convince them, we surfed the internet and show them the deal through our tablets.  After a while, they agreed to serve our 16 oz Iced Tea.  Despite the good food, my family went home tired and disappointed with Mexicali Restaurant. 

White Hair on my El Gourdo Burrito
(*pardon the crappy photo taken by mobile phone)

As we went home, I decided to watch a movie as I ate my take home Grilled Chicken El Gourdo Burrito.  As I was eating my Grilled Chicken El Gourdo Burrito, I suddenly felt a hair dangle around my tooth.  I observed that some parts of the white hair was still inside  my Grilled Chicken El Gourdo Burrito so I pulled it out with both hands one hand pulling after the other since it seemed to be stuck with all the ingredients.  I was so disgusted, I felt like I could cry. 


Update (January 2014): This branch is now closed.  Check out its other branches instead.



Tsinoy Foodies Verdict
Mexicali Restaurant serves flavorful food with generous amounts of ingredients.  We've dined at Mexicali Restaurant at Robinson's place and Mall of Asia many times before.  However, due to our sad experience twice as cited here, we got so disappointment in terms of customer handling, lack of restaurant management and communication and unhygienic food, I don't think we can ever come back to Mexicali Restaurant ever again.  Dining out for us is for fun and convenience but our last meals at Mexicali Restaurant was not.

Tsinoy Foodies Review Rating
Ambiance	★★★
Taste	★★★
Service	★
Price	★★★
♥=Favorites or Recommended

Mexicali Restaurant Robinson's Place Menu Menu 1 | Menu 2 | Menu 3 | Colombian Coffee | Complete Menu 

Mexicali Restaurant Robinson's Place
Business Address	2nd Lvl., Robsinon's Place Padre Faura Wing, M. Adriatico St., Ermita Manila, Metro Manila
Business Hours	10am-9pm (mall hours)
Payment Options	Cash
Service Charge
Budget/Person	150-360
Contact
Other	Facebook Fan Page