Mexitlan Grill

Is this place even open? I went there this afternoon and they have a little handwritten sign that says «closed.» There are no business hours posted near the restaurant nor is there any info about their business hours elsewhere.
*Update they closed down, got my money back from groupon*

Where my friend and I escaped to when the total lack of service at Himalayan chased us away.
Service was prompt and friendly. If I recall what my friend had, I’ll add it later. I had the three tacos with chicken and carnitas. I use carnitas as the standard for all Mexican restaurants. The best are like pulled pork or kalua pig. The worst are like mincemeat of unknown meat pieces. Sadly, the carnitas here more closely resembled mincemeat than pulled pork. The tacos were still tasty.
I’d eat here again but not for the carnitas. Just read another review that they closed. Another sign of the bad times.

every time we go to Himalayan Kitchen, i see this little spot under the stairs. finally got around to trying this place, and i have to say, i was not disappointed. there was nothing particularly special about this mexican restaurant over the many others in the kaimuki area. at least nothing i noticed on a first visit. but i will definitely be back to try other things on the menu.
the caporal burrito was pretty tasty. and i tried their mole, which was also very good. though i do have to warn you (which i forgot to do for my friend who came with), mole is an acquired taste. and isnt for a sensitive palate. but if you like mole, or are up to try new things, their mariachi (?) burrito was very good, and is served with a nice covering of mole.
the décor in the restaurant is very comfy. the kind of place you can lounge around for a while after your meal. and i believe it is byob.
Mexitlan… we will meet again.

We’ve been here twice now and loved it both times. Will def be back.
The cocoa-​mole wings appetizer is rich and delicious. Mole wings? YUM! Rich chocolatey type flavor, spicy but not overly so. Filled up on these twice now before dinner arrived and had not enough room to finish both times. The homemade salsa is fantastic, rich and smokey flavor. Love it, chips were just the right amount of salty.
My daughter loves the Lobster Burrito so much she ordered it both times. Now, I don’t care much for seafood with cheese or sauces (I’m def a lobster with drawn butter kinda girl!) but man-​o-​man is this good. Absolutely mouthwatering. I got the Pork Chili Relleno the first time — excellent. Chili Relleno is my fave Mex item and this did not disappoint. Very very good. This last time I tried the Shrimp Burrito (can’t remember the name). It was delicious as well. The shrimp so fresh they «popped» in your mouth, yummy sauce. Ex Husband got the Lobster Chili Relleno. Since he (not surprisingly) did not share a bite with daughter and I (although, natch, we DID), I can’t comment on that dish, but he said he liked it. (Not a man of many words, the EX).
Godzilla portions on Turkey platter sized plates on every dish we saw come out of the kitchen. As I said, we filled up on the chips and wings so took home easily half of each plate for dinner the following night. Including the leftover chips too from the basket since there was lots of beans leftover. Couldn’t wait to eat dinner next night — Mexican leftovers…
Next day, drop off Ex-​Husband at airport. Slightly peeved that he didn’t offer to chip in on the bill at MG the night before… later gator. Don’t let the door hitcher ass on the way home. Do a little shopping therapy at Pearl Ridge Mall (another fave) and run home for dinner… been thinking about that shrimp burrito for hours now.
Daughter pops her Lobster Burrito in the micro, I reach in the fridge and pull out my takeout container and its strangely very light… no heavy delicious burrito weight. I snatch open the top and ITS GONE! Along with the chips, beans and rice and MY SHRIMP BURRITO IS GONE! In its place is an empty, licked clean container. Sonuvabitch ex got up in the middle of the night and polished off my dinner. He sink ate my burrito :(I’m fuming, smoke from my ears. Not only did he not share a bite of his Chili Relleno, didn’t help pay the bill and then he ATE MY DAMN SHRIMP BURRITO… no more welcome mat for ex-husband…remember well now why I left… him.
Lovely daughter of mine shared her lobster burrito to calm very pissed off mother. The only solution is to go back. Which I will, this week. ;D
The reason no 5 stars? Yes, we had a dinner guest with us the first time, Mr. La Cucaracha paid us a visit, but he didn’t stay long after we told the waitress we werent sharing with HIM. No validation on the parking either. But no drama from the chef and the service was very very good. OH! They charged us for every refill on the ice tea… another reason no 5 stars. Stop charging for refills on a water based drink… no bueno MG, no bueno.

Don’t eat here! Worst Mexican on the island and an all around terrible experience. Food zero stars, service zero stars! Chef is creepy and stares you down while you are eating. Dishes can not be modified and they did not seem willing to accommodate me when I said I did not like my meal and didn’t eat it.
As a previous helper mentioned the bad era burrito sauce was covered with chef boyardee sauce! Terrible. The meat looked terrible too. My chicken pablano burrito came with a «delicious white sauce» when I asked if it could be put on the sauce the waitress said she didn’t think so but would ask… When she asked the chef followed her to the table and I said I would try it as described on the menu since the chef seemed adamant that it had to be prepared with the sauce. It was awful! I think the sauce was campbell cream of chicken soup! Ew! I thought the waitress was just clueless but I now see that she is powerless to this not so nice chef/​owner. I hope she can find a better place to work. :(
Save your money and prevent indigestion! Don’t eat here!
Ps– the seating is awkward and I resent the people who were sitting a foot away from us for not telling us to run to another restaurant!

There is some awesome food in Kaimuki. Sandwiched between a barbecue joint and Bella Mia, 11^th Ave Mexitlan Grill is another great example.
Good Mexican food has been hard to come by in Honolulu. A friend and I took advantage of a gr*up*on and decide to take the plunge. What a surprise! The place holds about 40. We got there early and spoke to Chef Francisco. He told us his style was more Mexican than Tex-mex…this pleased two Cali girls tremendously. We started with the spinach dip, which was more a fundito than dip… it significantly improved as it cooled, btw, in both flavor and texture. It was followed by the Supremo Chili Relleno (poblano stuffed with lobster) and the Da Vinci Burrito (shrimp burrito with spicy cream sauce). These entrées were luscious, spicy and flavorful. The sauces were very complementary. Even the rice and beans were tasty. Portions were huge. And the amount of seafood in each dish was considerable. At least half of each plate left in a to-​go box.
I will be going back to try more of Fransisco’s creations!
BYOB Give this place a shot… you won’t be disappointed.

Salsa = awesome
Chips = awful (salty, really salty)
Cleanliness = crusty beans on table
Service = friendly and prompt
Beans = salty too
Enchiladas = okay, not great, maybe a little bland
Salsa = excellent, but I said that already

If you haven’t been to Mexitlan Grill yet, don’t do what I did. Don’t cruise up and down 11^th Avenue in Kaimuki looking for the place. What you need to do is take my word for it, the restaurant IS there. You just need to find the entrance from the large city parking lot behind the building (enter on 12^th Avenue).
It’s nestled in a small arcade called the «11^th Avenue Atrium,» next to Bella Mia Italian Restaurant, and I was anxious to try it out because a nice lady friend who writes restaurant reviews for the local daily newspaper recommended it to me.
The wife and I went there for lunch the other day, early, as soon as they opened at 11 a.m., because I’d heard that lines sometimes form due to their popularity.
I have to warn you that this is NOT a sit-​down equivalent of Taco Bell, or any other quick-​service Mexican food restaurant you’ve been to. It’s a sit-​down restaurant, thank you, and your food is brought to you on real plates at a real table with silverware and real cloth napkins.
There. Now you’re all set to go.
It’s a cozy place and if you’re seated right, you can see the chef at work in the kitchen. Depending on what you order, service is pretty quick or it might take a few minutes. But they give you a nice basket of tortilla chips and a terrific dipping salsa that’s a little spicy, but not terribly — just enough to make you thirsty.
Which brings up a point … Mexitlan Grill is a BYOB place; their beverages are all soft drinks (including Mexican soda — Tamarindo, Guava or Sangria).
The waitress said her personal favorite was the King Lobster Burrito, and it had an easily-​understood name and description, so that’s what the wife ordered. It’s a wet burrito with lobster, Monterrey cheese, salsa, sour cream, a special lobster sauce, and chopped cilantro. The plate was completed with Spanish rice, refried beans, and some pico de gallo.
I tasted some of the Lobster Burrito and it was good, but I thought my entrée was much better.
My selection was Madrazo Fish — Fresh mahimahi on a bed of spinach, covered with red sauce and Monterrey cheese. The sauce was mildly spicy and truly delicious. And although I haven’t put a lot of cheese on fish in my day, it was very tasty and complemented the mild flavor of the mahimahi.
I also had some rice and refried beans; ate some of it but the fish was so good, it almost filled me up to the brim, so I didn’t finish the rice and beans. The rice, by the way, was wonderful when I mixed it with my pico de gallo.
Then, the waitress teased us and asked if we wanted dessert. Just as when I finish an Italian meal, a sweet dessert would soothe the palate tremendously. So I ordered a flan. Well … wouldn’t you know it, she came back, apologized, and said they didn’t have any desserts that day. No flan, no ice cream, nuffin’.
But that’s okay, my brain was saying, «Si, si, si!» but my waistline was saying «No, no, no!»
I’m going back to Mexitlan Grill and have one of their shrimp selections — Diablo Shrimp, Barbecued Shrimp, Garlic Shrimp, Shrimp Tequila, Mexico Shrimp. They’ve also got wraps of all kinds, fajitas, tacos, burritos, quesadillas, enchiladas, salads and appetizers all designed to make you thirsty.
Just remember … it’s BYOB.

When we got there on a Wed, the place was busy and we had to wait about 10 minutes for a table. The décor had a good modern mexican theme, but not cheesy. They brought us chips and salsa for free and it’s BYOB! We ordered the fajitas and enchiladas – the fajitas came out sizzling and the enchiladas were spicy and delicious! The kitchen is open, and it looked like the owner and the chef were the only ones behind the grill – but everything came out in good time! Everything was fresh and tasted delicious! The portions were HUGE! We were stuffed afterward – and brought leftovers home! Next time, we will have to save room for the fried ice cream – a table next to us ordered it and it looked YUM!
For being on an island in the middle of the pacific, this place takes top honors for mex food! :)

Loved it. We had burrito with pastor and the enmoladas. Both were fantastic!
We had made a reservation shortly before showing up for dinner last night, and something went wrong and apparently our reservation became recorded for a day later than we had intended. So, we were first stuck at «the bar,» meaning, right in front of the grill where all the tortillas are warmed. Let’s say that it’s pretty hot over there. But, once a table opened our, the waitress was very nice and invited us to the private booth instead of asking us to remain by the heat.
There is something special about their salsa, which is of course served with the chips while you peruse the menu. I think they put mole in it. As you can see from the picture, it’s a lot darker than normal salsa, and gives it an extra kick.
The burrito w/​pastor also came with sides of rice and beans. The rice is a little dry for my taste, but the burrito itself kicked butt! Albeit the pastor was a little on the salty side, asking for a side of homemade guacamole made it all better! I think the entire dish was only $ 10.95, and for the price, that’s not bad at all! I had to take about ¹⁄₃ of it home for the next day because it was huge.
The enmoladas was basically three folded over tacos smothered with mole. It was to die for. M loved it, although I found the mole to be a little extra sweet for my taste. The presentation was gorgeous.
This restaurant is BYOB, so if you forget, you could always run across the street to 7 – 11 to pick up something cold to quench your thirst if the food is heating it up for you. If you’re interested in more variety than what 7 – 11 has to offer, you can always walk down one more block to Tamura’s, where we picked up a delicious soba beer by Morimoto. Went perfectly with the meal.
We had wanted to try their fried ice cream, but there just wasn’t any room.
Final note, they put this crispy, pickled onion on and inside of everything that they make there. We had it as a topping for the salsa and lettuce that came on the side of each of our dishes, it was inside of my burrito, and it was also on top of the side of guac which I ordered. I think a few was okay, but in my opinion, the amount that they used kind of over powered some of their dishes because they have such a huge «crunch factor,» it takes away from some of the other components of the meal. That is my one piece of constructive criticism. Otherwise, we were all in such a food coma afterwards, it was wonderful and definitely some of the best Mexican food I’ve had on the island.

This little place is hiding in the shops of 11^th Ave in Kaimuki, between Bella Mia and Hog Island BBQ. I went here last week because we bought the Groupon. We used my mom’s groupon so I’ll probably have to eat here once more to use my groupon.
I ordered the chicken enchiladas, which come on a huge plate with rice and beans and two chips. We also ordered chicken quesadillas (for the kids), nachos and some dish with mole sauce. I can’t comment on their food except that it looked incredibly appetizing. The pictures posted by other Unilocalers also makes the food look mouth watering, but my dish fell short.
The food almost tasted too healthy to be Mexican food. Maybe that’s why it’s called Tex-​Mex. I don’t know. I’m not an expert in Mexican food but I prefer Los Chapparos or Toritos… but I’ll come back with an update which will hopefully be better next time.

As soon as my plate hit the table, I WAS SOOOOOO HAPPY! Everything was fresh and delicious and amazing. Even the horchata is made there. And that «earthy aftertaste» complained about in that other guy’s post? CHIPOTLE.
After moving back to Hawaii from California last year, one of the things I missed most was good Mexican food. It’s hard enough to find mole here, but cojita cheese? I don’t even know where I’d look. My meal was perfect, right down to the pickled red onion.
The portions are large and at a reasonable price. I could only finish half my dinner and the plate was about $ 12. They don’t have a liquor license, so it’s BYOB — save a few bucks there
What Mexitlan is not getting that fifth star for is service. The girls were really sweet, but obviously overwhelmed. I guess tonight they were exceptionally busy because they were featured in this morning’s news paper, but management should have anticipated that. It’s a small restaurant. Having a hostess to seat people, help bus, and answer the phone would have sped things up a lot.
The food wasn’t very fast either, but that is more excusable. They have an open kitchen and I did notice that some of the sauces and such were being made to order, not ladled out of a soup well. Tortillas were being warmed on a grill, not microwaved. It makes a difference.

Probably the worst Mexican I’ve eaten on this island, and the most expensive as well.
11^th Ave. Mexitlan Grill is located to the right of Hog Island BBQ (where Sis Kitchen used to be). Parking is plentiful but will be more crowded as you near Happy Days and Big City Diner.
First off, the salsa had a weird «earthy» after taste, something I couldn’t place my finger on, but something I knew I didn’t like. A side order of guacamole here is $ 6.50, really? That can buy you an entire burrito at La Taqueria De Ramiro
Sadly, 11^th Ave. Mexitlan doesn’t have chimiganas, so I opted for the Bandera Burrito (with rib-​eye). For $ 11, I was presented with flat and nearly foot long «burrito» with hardly any meat. It also came with a verde (green) and rojo (red) sauce which covered each half. The rojo sauce tasted like Chef Boyardee with a dash of heat.
I am extremely disappointed because I love eating Mexican food. In my mind Mexican food should have a high quantity/​cost ratio (i.e. great portions for cheap). But for an $ 11 anorexic burrito I think I’d be better of going to Taco Bell and buying $ 11 worth of crunchy tacos.

AWESOME!!! This is traditional mexican food. The owner, is definitely Mexican, and he’s back there cooking and doesn’t speak much English. You can see that he is super traditional.
I LOVE that they make their own fire roasted salsa from scratch. They keep it in a cooler right outside the kitchen. Now you know that’s homemade! It’s SO good! The warm chips (tastes homemade as well!), are just amazing! It’s a good amount of spiciness and the flavor is just right there. Once you pop, you can’t stop!
He also makes his own horchata!!! I LOVE it! It’s very sweet, and I’ve had better ones, but this one is definitely a contender!
My friend had the taco salad which didn’t look very appetizing though.
I asked the waitress what dish was ordered the most, and she said the wet chicken burrito with white sauce. It came out and it was very rich! I don’t know how traditional this was, but the creamy flavor drenched over the burrito was heaven. Cutting into it, making sure to get all parts in one bite… MMMMMM!!! The rice was just ok, the beans were pretty good.
I wouldn’t say this is the best, but definitely would come back! I love that Kaimuki has a good Mexican restaurant now! I must try the guacamole next time!

4 ½ Stars
FInally a contender for Real Mexican Food in Honolulu.
We ordered the Steak, Chile Relleno, Ch Enchilada Plate to try and everything was really good. Also the Fresh Made Guacamole was excellent! BYOB if you like. Their regular water is filtered which is a nice touch.

Simply the best and most authentic Mexican food in Honolulu. Prices are comensurate with the quality. Free BYO too.

We wanted to try this place and support a neighborhood restaurant. I am little picky with Mexican food so I was little suspicious. I wasn’t super hungry when I got there so ended up having «Carne Asada» tacos. It came with 3 tacos and it was SOOOO delicious. Very flavorful and so far the best carne asada taco on the island. It was great! Place is cute and we had great service. Flan was delicious if you overlooked the fact that it wasn’t at all traditional flan. Menu was very interesting and lots to choose from. I will be going back to try more stuff!!!

Stumbled into this place by accident. I ordered the steak fajitas, Chili Rellenos and Pablano Burrito. Excellent. For me just the right amount of everything. Nicely presented even though i had take out. I got there at 4pm. Everything was really fresh. The Rellenos, best I have had in years.
All I could think of was my friend «eat» and waiting for his review! lol
For me it worked. Will be coming back.
As for the other comment about the waitress, lord people, get over it. The young lady that helped me was sweet, helpful and great.

How dare?! Where’s my Sis Kitchen?
I thought the food here was pretty average. Veggies, beware of lard and chicken stock. Our waitress was kind of ditzy too…

Mexitlan Grill has been opened for about a week and taken over the former Sis’ Kitchen restaurant. Even the phone number is the same.
They are hidden away behind Big City Diner in Kaimuki and in the same building as SugarCane, Hog’s Island, Bella Mia and of course, Himalayan Kitchen located upstairs. What a great addition to the many eateries in Kaimuki!
They have chicken mole here! How rare is that in Hawaii?!