Tecalitlan Restaurant

03/07/10

I Absolutely Love this Restaurant

by AMuniz at Citysearch

I have been coming to this restaurant since I was at least 7 years old. Our family would eat here after church every other Sunday and frequently throughout the year whenever we get a craving for some. This restaurant has not changed anything about their food since then. Their chicken or Steak Tostadas are the most unique of all Chicago. I can't find another place like it. The ceiling is painted of beautiful bright clouds on one side of the dining area and painted as midnight on the other. The jukebox is wonderful. And I love their fresh horchatas, salsa, and the burritos are as big as 6 to 7 inches. I'm actually traveling from North Carolina to Chicago just to get a taste of some and to enjoy with family.

• Pros: Best Tostadas

09/23/09

Premium Priced, Econo Size!

by Simpleman008 at Citysearch

It seems that in these tough economic time, even the succesful businesses are cutting down. $8 for a burrito the size of a flauta is just not a good deal for your buck. I would recommend La Pasadita, which is only a few minutes away. For the same amount of money, you will get twice the amount of food. I've been a long time customer of Tecalitlan but seems that lately the size of their tacos and burritos has shrunk drastically. You gotta spend more in order to be satisfied. You call in to make a complaint with the manager, good luck getting in touch with him/her! They take down your number and promise to call you back, it's been 5 hours since I called in and I'm yet to receive a call from the manager... Go somewhere else if you don't want to be frustrated. For them to get an award for best of Citysearch, it's an absolute joke.

• Pros: Good Parking
• Cons: Not worth your dollar.

02/08/09

good service, atmosphere and the BEST al pastor

by chicagomunoz at Citysearch

My husband and I live in Pilsen and eat a lot of Mexican food. We love tacos. We wanted to take his mom and our 18 month old to a restaurant for dinner and picked Tecalitlan. We loved the bustling room on a Sunday night. Big family dinners going on all around us was nice. Our server promptly got a high chair for our son and called him "champion" which made me happy :). The guac was delish, the salsa was fresh and spicy. Between us we had carne asada, al pastor, tilapia tacos. I didn't like the tilapia taco but the al pastor was so flavorful. The server told us that they cook the pork like gyro meat on a big rotisserie and carve it off (instead of cooking it on the grill) which imparted a unique flavor. My MIL had a sampler platter with cheese enchilladas, picadillo tostada and everything was perfect. They have desserts, a bar, a juke box and the atmosphere is a cut above most other mexican places in this price range. We will make the trip out of our neighborhood to visit this restaurant again.

• Pros: variety, authenticity, ambience, service
• Cons: nada

11/27/08

Everyone Left Sick

by tommyhearts at Citysearch

The food here is horrible. The rice was bland, the guacamole was of hersey squirt consistency, the pico de gallo was nasty, the steak was overcooked, and the service was horrible. I will never go here again. Everyone at our table got sick; one of us threw it up right after eating. We left almost all the food on the plates. Horrible, there's way better Mexican.

• Pros: The parking lot
• Cons: The drinks, even with ice were still hot. The food was horrible.

10/19/08

Better food at Cemitas

by peanuttyxxx at Citysearch

I've eaten here a ton, and it's good. But a better bet is Cemitas Puebla in Humboldt Park

"I blog for Diners Drive ins and Dives, and figured I'd check out Cemita Puebla myself. It was the best Mexican food I've ever had. Even better than the food I ate in real Mexico. Here's my review of it for delish dot com

On this week's "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives," Guy Fieri visited Cemitas Puebla, a Mexican joint about a mile from my house. I'd never heard of it, but I'm always up for good Mexican food, so I decided to see for myself if it was as great as Guy claimed it was.

So Friday night, around 5pm, I called over just to make sure they serve margaritas (they don't serve liquor). But it didn't matter anyway. The owner informed me they had so many customers, they were running out of food. And after reading reviews of Cemitas Puebla on yelp (not one of which was negative by the way), I found out this happens quite often. They're just that popular.

So I stopped by this morning right when they opened, at 11am. I assumed I'd have the place to myself, but was I ever wrong...there was only one free table.

And once I took a bite into their famed cemita sandwich, I understood why. The cemita is a sandwich served only in the Mexican city of Puebla (and obviously, the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago). The toasted homemade sesame bun is layered with avocadoWall at Cemitas spread, chipolte peppers, Mexican cheese and a bitter herb called popolo (the owners of this family run gem grow it in their backyard every summer).

It being only 11am, I wasn't ready for meat, so I ordered the cheese cemita. But most customers order a cemita with meat, anything from carne asada to spicy pork to breaded pork.

But my favorite part of Cemitas Puebla? Their decor. One wall is plastered with photos of Latino heavyweights along with a picture of the owners and Guy.