Cafe Del Sol Mexican Kitchen

Our first time here. We started with the bean dip. Yum and it comes much prettier than I expected. So good we ordered more chips, by the way the chips seem like they must be home made. Crunchy… salty…golden. my guest ordered fish tacos. I had a taste just before he devoured them. I had the beef burrito. Couldnt finish it. Portions are large. We read the reviews and saw some of the complaints about service. That has not been our experience so we are definitely returning. It’s the sort of place I think you’d return to anyway just for the food.

A yai yai ! Mikey likes the burritos. steak burrito is simple and good. place could be a bit cleaner though

My girl friend had bought a groupon for the restaurant and we were excited to try it out as most groupons are really descent. We arrived and found ourselves to be the only one in the restaurant and stayed that way for a good half an hour until more patrons came in for dinner. The lady that greeted us had her shirt unbuttoned with her stomach for everyone to see (and I’m not talking about a hot little young thing…). Not very professional. The service to follow was slow (and I’m being polite by only using the word slow), the food wasn’t that great although edible (I had the enchiladas with the mole sauce and my friend had the chicken quesadillas) and the drinks were crap. I don’t recommend that you try this restaurant as it is not even worth the groupon amount spent for our 2 meals.

Love the food and restaurant! However I’m usually disappointed to drive across town and see that the place is closed for a private event so I end up going home hungry with no margaritas. Wahh

It’s been 8 months since I last visited Café del Sol — only to find that they’ve since changed their name to Mexican Kitchen. It was pretty busy when my boyfriend and I arrived (around 7pm) — all the tables in the front were occupied, and half the tables in the back too. The place has been spruced up somewhat — the same colorful walls exist, but now they’re adorned with kitschy Mexican items like sombreros, dresses, flags, and lights. But it looks better than it did previously.
We each ordered the Sopa de Azteca for $ 7 (since it was a big hit last time), along with some chips & salsa $ 4, and also shared an order of tacos el pastor (pork with pineapple) $ 13. For drinks, I ordered the lime margarita $ 9 (expensive!!) and the boyfriend ordered a beer $ 6.25 (he wanted one on draft — as indicated on the menu — but were told they didn’t have beer on draft).
Highlights: I’m happy to report the soup was still very yummy — I think the portion even got a little larger. It has some good heat to it so be forewarned. The chips were made in house and the salsa also had some kick to it. The tacos we ordered were excellent & executed well! The order came with 4 tacos and a small portion of refried beans & rice. Overall — we were quite happy with our food choices — the prices were a bit expensive though in our opinion.
Downfalls: Service — was adequate but not super pleasant. Our server did her job but was a bit slow but that’s to be expected I guess. Also, my lime margarita was pretty gross — it was definitely made with some sort of artificial lime powder (as I could taste it wasn’t made with fresh lime)… and there was way too much ice so it ended up tasting like a watery artificial lime drink. I only took a couple sips and my boyfriend had to finish it for me. For $ 9 it was very disappointing and very different from the yummy ones we had previously.
Overall, would still go back for some soup & tacos but definitely stay away from their margaritas.

The food is much better than the strip location or the pool table would portend. Any of the pork dishes are worth a try. Mole sauce is pretty good.
The service is friendly, but can be slow. And there is a street vendor sloppiness to the plating, but the taste makes up for that.
A good place for families.

They are only open from 12 – 2 and then 5 – 9. Why? I’m not sure. When you come in it’s hard to get service. You’ll be waiting a while.

We LOVE Café del Sol. We started eating at this restaurant years ago when they were in their first location a few blocks south of Londonderry Mall, and followed them to their new location right on the Yellowhead and 142 St. Cinthia and her husband’s passion IS Café del Sol and it shows in the attention to perfectly done dishes and attentive service they provide customers. We had the four mini-​taco dishes, and the Enchiladas, and they rocked! The only thing I would suggest is bottles of hot sauce on each table, as they purposely don’t over-​spice their food so as not to offend customers who don’t like too much heat.
NOTE: I do NOT know what some people on this site are unhappy about, service-​wise, because we have ALWAYS had good service at Café del Sol. Please come down and let them show you. A new server has been hired and Cinthia is totally dedicated to pleasing everyone. Unfortunately as we all know, you CAN’T please everyone. AND every restaurant is entitled to have an ’ off night’ if a staff member doesn’t show up, but it’s not fair to blow it out of proportion and slam the restaurant the next day on Urban Spoon. What you SHOULD do in any restaurant is let the manager on duty know immediately about anything you are unhappy about– right then and there – so the restaurant has a chance to make it right for you and you leave happy. Don’t you agree?
Please give Café del Sol a chance. Five of us did Friday night, and we went home happy and satisfied. :)

I’ve been a regular of this Mexican resto since it’s close to my working place. It is ranked as the number 1 Mexican resto in Edmonton which has been proven with how most of their food tastes. The price is reasonable, you get what you paid for.

Finally great Mexican food in Edmonton!!! Yum! We were seated as soon as we arrived at 7 pm. Table for 4. A friendly waitress showed us the menu and told us what was popular. The mango margarita was really flavorful. We split the nachos with chorizo. The ample cheese, pico de gallo, and chorizo were a perfect atop crispy tortilla chips. The calamari was lightly breaded and seasoned to perfection. The jalepeno sauce was perfect with it. I wanted to lick every last drop of sauce out of the bowl but I resisted the urge in an attempt to look civilized. I regret that decision. Sauce like that should not be wasted! We had the carnitas, carmerones, and the steak with mushrooms. All three were good, but the camerones and steak had more favour than the carnitas. The rice and beans were both yummy. Service was quick but not rushed.
We will be back! I hear there is a $ 13 lunch buffet in Friday’s. It’s calling my name!

It’s been awhile since I’ve been to Café del Sol. What can I say — new digs but same great food! Bonus points because we no longer have to drive all the way to ghetto east side to get good Mexican!
We went for lunch on a Wednesday afternoon and the place is located right along the Yellowhead, in the strip mall where there is a McDonalds. I’m not sure what the place was before (pool hall maybe?) but it is definitely much more spacious than the old digs. The place is bright and has a bunch of mexican flags and décor set up throughout the space.
Anyways, for food, we may have over ordered (if that’s a thing):
Appetizers
— Calamares ($ 13) — lightly dusted and fried calamari that came with a jalapeño dip (not spicy). It was a bit on the small size but they were just as described.
— Ceviche ($ 13) — red snapper with pico di gallo, lime, a light clamoto broth and totopos. This dish grew on us the more spoonfuls we ate of it. Pretty good ceviche for Edmonton standards. Had a couple peppers mixed in that gave the dish a slight kick to it.
Entrees
— Chipotle chicken quesadilla ($ 14) — polla tinga with sauteed bell peppers and onions. I’ve had their quesadilla before — this one was good but could have used more crunch/​crispiness to it. It came with a side of beans (not pictured).
— Pez tacos ($ 14) — lightly battered fish, shredded cabbage slaw, pico di gallo and jalapeño aioli. We all agreed that the fish needed some sort of spice/​flavour to it. It was very, very plain even with the side of guacamole that we orderded with it. Won’t be getting this one next time.
— El Chancho torta ($ 14) — two chorizo patties with grilled pineapple, jalapeño mayo and cheese. All stuffed into a satisfying ciabatta bun with lettuce and tomato. The chorizo patties were spot on and the spice they put on it was just plain delicious. We ordered a side of fries with it (they were undercooked but it’s a Mexican joint, so they are forgiven).
— Carnitas ($ 16) — this was everyone’s favourite dish of the day! Slow roasted pork served with cilantro and onions. The carnitas looked a bit on the dry side but looks are deceiving. They were tender and jam packed with flavour. Sooooo good. We ordered the sauteed onions as the side (a must!)
The waitress we had was awesome! I’m not sure why but they have limited service for lunch — there’s a buffet on for $ 13/​person but we wanted to order a la carte. The kitchen were out of certain things (we tried to order their nachos but no dice). Hopefully they are as busy as they were at their old digs because this is still my favourite place for Mexican in town.

We’ve been searching for a good Mexican restaurant in Edmonton since we moved here. Having grown up in California and travelled to Mexico we had pretty high standards. The décor and ambiance were nice and colourful, the service was very friendly. The food was authentic and delicious, especially the enchiladas with mole sauce! I ordered the red snapper with mango salsa, but the salsa was more like a few chunks of mango. It didn’t taste bad, but a bit bland and disappointing. Both dishes came with beans and rice, which was especially flavourful. We also had the Jarrito Mexican soda, which was much better than regular pop.

Giving two stars is pushing it. One star would be for how Delicious the food was and the second star is out of pity for them. As they can’t help being understaffed and busy.
Showed up at 6:20pm and did not get seated until 7:20pm. There is a hostess desk although there was no hostess and 5 other groups standing around at the entrance waiting for direction from anyone that works there. When a «hostess» did come around she had to ask each and everyone who was next. Thank you people for being honest.
When we got seated we quickly swarmed the menu and decided on our two appetizers, and four entrees and drinks as per for our Groupon. So when the waitress came around we could order fast.
Got our appetizers at 8pm and our entrees at 9pm. I have not spent this long in a restaurant, three hours since my time in Europe.
On the plus side, nice atmosphere and décor along with friendly staff.

I love the other location and gave it a five star review. We decided to give this one a try, as it is open later in the evening and we wanted a more leisurely meal, And we were disappointed. The nachos were burnt, and my burrito was awkwardly plated (it was in a small tortilla and not wrapped at all) and much too salty. Perhaps I should have just stuck with the tacos, as I usually do.
The menu at this location is a bit simpler. For instance, they don’t have the other location’s great mole sauce. It seems like the purpose of this location is to be more of a bar or club that happens to also serve food, where as the other one is more focused on the food.
I hope that Café Del Sol isn’t spreading itself too thin here.