The restaurant itself is in a cozy spot on Chestnut. It is a small but warm place, with Moroccan-esque lanterns and photos of Mexico everywhere. The one down-side to the layout of the place is that the bar is right in the middle of the restaurant. Sometimes when you are eating, especially on weekends, it feels like you are eating while a bunch of people drink around you.
Luckily the food and drinks are good enough to make up for the strange layout......
We started with some truly delicious margaritas. Limey and salty, we had a frosty pitcher (on the rocks of course!). This wet our taste buds for the oh-so-delicious meal that was to come.
Our first appetizer was fresh, creamy guacamole. This is one of the best guacamoles I have ever had - and that includes my own, which I think is pretty damn good. Mamacita uses the creamiest, most butter-like avocados. they are smooth but with the right amount of chunks, and a mild garlic flavor. I prefer mine with a little more heat but the flavors in this guac are first rate. It is served with perfect, fresh chips, and a smaller container of salsa. The salsa made the most of the great summer tomatoes - really delicious and fresh tasting. We had to ask for more chips to mop up that yummy stuff!
Our second appetizer was the best thing we had all night. Mamacita's chilaquiles are BY FAR the best I have ever had. More fresh tortilla chips are tossed with chipotle crema, roasted shredded chicken, gypsy pepper rajas and queso fresco. Here was the heat!!! The chips become soggy but still a bit crisp under the extremely tasty creamy sauce. These things were ridiculously good. I could eat these for dinner every night of the week - they were THAT good. If you go here, get these. You will not regret it!
For our entree we split two dishes - the carnitas tacos with grilled corn, salsa verde, crema latina (I think they made this up, but its just crema, which is basically watery sour cream), avocado, and questo cotija. These were good, very good. However I thought the meat itself could have had more flavor and fat. I have had the carne asada tacos here and the meat was VERY flavorful, I would get those next time. But the toppings on the carnitas tacos were great and all in all the taste was really good.
The second dish we split was my second favorite of the night - chicken enchiladas with guajillo chile sauce, crema, cheese, and more of that delicious guac. These were hot hot hot. The sauce was delicious, the chicken tender, the cheese melty and tasty, and the enchiladas were good-sized. Really freaking good. I am looking forward to trying the beef enchiladas next time I am there.
The last thing we had is something I always get here - a side dish of sweet yellow corn sauteed with red mole. Tonight there were fresh tomatoes in the dish as well. It was really good - the corn is never overcooked, and always has a nice crunch to it. The mole sauce is sweet. It is really tasty and every time I eat this I think, I should try making this because I could eat it every day.
I know I have an extreme love for Mexican food, but honestly this is one of the few restaurants of any cuisine where I want to order absolutely everything on the menu. I have tried the fish tacos and ceviche on other trips and they were also great. All of the salads and appetizers look fabulous. It is always hard for me to decide what to get here, so I love the family-style sharing aspect of the restaurant. I could eat everything on this menu. Nothing looks bad to me.
Some things to remember about Mamacita - make a reservation! They keep some tables open for walk-ins but the wait is LONG and the restaurant is small and it is not worth it. Call ahead. Also I would avoid going here on the weekends if you can, because it is literally the loudest restaurant I have ever been in. It is hard to hear yourself think in here on a Wednesday - on a Friday or Saturday it is nearly unbearable. Another thing to remember is that this place, while family style, is ideal for groups of two or in multiples of three. All of their entrees are served in threes - three tacos, three enchiladas, etc. If you have four people you end up cutting things up into little pieces which is annoying. Or you end up having to order way too much food. Maybe this is a marketing tactic - I don't know. But for two or three people, or even five or six where you can get away with ordering more food, it works out ok.
I really love this restaurant. I think the food is excellent. I know I need to try Maya and Mexico-DF to compare the other high-end Mexican options in SF, but for now, for Mexican food made with the highest quality of ingredients, Mamacita takes the.....pastel. Or the torta. Lo que sea!
Food - (4)
Experience - (3.5)
Overall - (3.75)
For an explanation of our ratings system, CLICK HERE!
For yelp reviews of Mamacita, CLICK HERE!
Now I am going to bed with a food coma.....the only thing that puts me to sleep more than a giant meal at mamacita is a giant meal at mamacita followed up by cupcakes from citizen cake!
adios mis amigos!
Emilia
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