Carmelita's Mexican Restaurant

We usually go for margaritas, chips and salsa, and appetizers on the patio. Today we had margaritas, chips and salsa, and lunch on the patio. I'm usually leary of ordering chili verde as it can differ a great deal from restaurant to restaurant. I threw caution to the wind, and ordered a chile verde burrito, mojado style. I was blown away! That was among the best restaurant chili verde I've had.I'll be returning again for more!

January 30, 2025 - Fair Oaks, CABirthday Celebration for my son, and Carmelita's was his suggestion. It is located about halfway between his home and our home, so it seemed like a fine idea. They do not take reservations, so it is first come, first served. But on this Thursday night, we were able to get a table immediately. It was 6:30 pm, and there were a few tables available. We were seated at a table that, really, is located in the walkway between the entrance/hostess stand and the bar/restaurant area. So immediately, as we are taking off our coats and trying to get seated, we get an irritated look from a server with drinks on a tray as she tried to make her way past us to another table. Then, as my husband takes off his jacket, he bumps another server carrying margaritas, which then spilled a bit on the floor and the server. One of the lime wedges landed on the floor, and there it stayed throughout dinner. That pretty much set the tone for the evening.It took a while, but the a server came and took our drink order. My husband ordered a margarita. Then we ordered an appetizer, the "Sweet Corn Tamale Cakes". The server wasn't sure how many servings were included, so we asked him just to make sure there was one for each of us (4). It would have been nice if the menu stated how many tamale cakes in the appetizer. The server came back a while later and said they had to add $4.00 to the price, which was fine with us. And then we waited, and waited and waited. The server came back again later, and stated he would check on our appetizer; and left quickly before we could ask him to take our dinner orders. And then we waited, and waited, and waited some more. Another server eventually walked by, and saw that we still had our menus, and asked if we wanted to order. Well, that would be great, yes, please! And we still hadn't received our appetizer. During this time, another group had been seated, and ordered, and before we were given an opportunity to order, they received their meals. What is the deal??? We speculated that there must be an issue with the appetizer. No word from the server though, that anything was amiss. Finally!, we received our appetizer. I have to say that the sweet corn tamale cakes were really good. When our food FINALLY arrived, it was not hot. The beans and rice were lukewarm. At that point, we just ate what we were served...we had been there over an hour and a half, had filled up on chips, and just wanted to leave. By the way, I ordered the chicken Mole' enchiladas, which I have had once before here. I didn't think they were very good when I had tried them before, but after reading the reviews, I decided to give them another try. I LOVE a good Mole' sauce, but, again, I was disappointed. I am not a fan Carmelita's Mole' sauce. Besides the bland, slightly grainy sauce, the chicken in the enchilada was dry and a bit tough, and again, the enchiladas were lukewarm. I know this restaurant seems to get fairly good reviews, but I never seem to have a good experience here. Each time I have been here, there is always a problem with the food, with the service, or with both.

We come here often, at least twice a month and love the margaritas, crispy chicken tacos and fajitas. Tonight, we had exceptional service from a new face, Carlos! He was eager to make sure we had what we needed and our orders were correct. Our food came out quickly and he was very warm and friendly! We complimented his service and he said his goal was to make sure we had a great meal and experience. My kids in particular commented on how friendly and engaged he was! Of course we will be back, and hope to be seated in Carlos' section again! From my 8 year old: Carlos is a great person and was helping us a bunch if we needed something he would just come right over and say what can I get you in a nice voice and we would like to give him this nice review.

I had the tacos dorados and they were delicious! Best I've had at a Mexican restaurant. My mom had the queso fundido which was also soooooo yummy! The food is def authentic. The service was great, I believe our server was new which is why we waited a little longer but we had the salsa and chips to wait that were also very delicious. We aren't from the area but we will def be coming back when we are in town! I love the way it was decorated & all the Frida pictures. Ambiance was great.

This place is always packed but the restaurant is big, so as long as your party is small you typically don't have to wait. The service is always great, quick, and efficient. The food is good, but not great. I have been here multiple times due to the great service and good quality of food you get.

A wonderful hideaway!Nestled off the main drag, i never expected to find a place like this. I knew the food would be great because i have eaten at the Roseville location, but the atmosphere at this location is very special.

This restaurant is decorated very nice and we were greeted right away. We decided to sit in the bar which is setup a little odd. The tables were right up against the barstools at the bar top. We ordered a Blackberry and Cadillac Margarita which were both excellent!! We shared the Steak Tampiqueno which was really good but pricey. I didn't think it was $28 worth of food. The service started off great but we did have a couple misses on our order preferences and frequency at which our table was checked on. In the end, we had a good experience and would come back.

Food was not good. At all. Service also not good at all. Everything that we ordered the waitress looked at us like we were retarded whenever we did any modification. She acted like we couldn't and then everything just tasted so bad. The water was nasty. How do you have bad water anyway anyways I do not recommend this place was garbage.

First time here, and the food / experience was great! Cassie was friendly and efficient, providing amazing service. She handled our large group of 20 flawlessly. Highly recommend!

Enjoyed their music they had playing. Waiting area is a bit small for customers waiting and customers leaving. Wait was about 40min for two on a Saturday evening not bad I guess. Servers and busers were friendly. Their bar area is a bit small and crowded. The drinks strawberry jalapeño margarita was yummy too bad they don't use margarita glasses. The champagne sangria was served pretty and was very yummy. They are up there in price $15,$16. Black refried beans and chips were yummy so was their spinach enchiladas verde with shredded chicken instead of spinach. Grandmas carnitas were flavorful. The veracruzano rice was yummy also. Will definitely be back hopefully they have happy hour on drinks and we can drink them at the table/booth and not only at bar area.