Chilangos Mexico City Grill

I LUV this place. Actually, it closed and/​or moved so it’s no longer in Hillcrest. I do not know if they opened somewhere else or what. If anyone knows anything about it, definitely let us know.
The food was GREAT! It is Mexican food as it would be served in Mexico City. To some of you it might mean something, to others might not mean a thang. Essentially it is Fusion Mexican food in a sense that they make the food more «gourmet.» The quality was always fresh and the flavors were fantastic.
For example, trozo de puerco with tamarindo sauce. The pork was very soft and the tamarindo sauce was wonderful. I also had the best agua de tamarindo in San Diego and/​or in the US.
For those with more «phisticated» Mexican food palettes you will find this place to be rare in SD. For those of you with Chimichangas and Carne Asada Burritos in your mind, FORGET IT, this is not your place.

I love this place, is it really closed?

Very good and cute place. The food seemed very authentic, but I’m not sure about Mexican food. We had a great time here and it was delicious. Prices are as expected. We’re fans!

The food here is FREAKING good!
I have never tasted anything remotely close to the real thing, until I went to chilangos on Saturday. I had their mole poblano and my wife had the memelas, and let me tell you, it was rite on. Even their aguas frescas are authentic.
I’m sorry that Chilangos has a few bad reviews, the problem is that the taste buds of most Gringos have been tainted by so called Mexican food like Alberto’s, Filiberto’s, and Aliberto’s.
P. S. Don’t expect fancy or pricey, just great food.

Ahhhh… Eating at Chilango’s is like being back home in Mexico.
As a borne and raised Mexican, I can assure you their food truly is authentic. None of the ‘border-​food’, ‘tex-​mex’, ‘Cali-​style’ variation. Just the real deal, and best of all REAL GOOD!!!
This is the kind of food you’d be served by a Mexican mom. Including the second and even third refill of tortillas!
The Limonada & the Jaimaica are fresh made, no ‘mix’ or concentrate here…
If you want real Mexican food, this is the place. Period.

I’ve long had a love/​hate relationship with Mexican restaurants. I love spicy food, complex flavors, and the unique fresh ingredients (nopales anyone?) that make good Mexican food so very good. I am not so much a fan of the over-​cheesed, refried, greasy fare that sometimes represents Mexican food. There is much to love about Chilangos, as it is consistently fresh and inventive and always delicious. The secret is in the sauce… from decadent mole to the spicy pepper sauce… it’s a bit like eating grandma’s home cooking – if your grandma happened to be a gourmet Mexican chef.
I took my friend from Mexico City here once and she verified that this is the real deal… and the prices are almost authentic too!

Went there last night, pretty tasty. Quaint Mexican restaurant. I had the special, 2 fish taco with beans and rice. It was refreshing to have fish tacos with grilled fish and not the usual battered and fried fish stick. Good chips and salsa. Margritas were good too, not like most restaurants with too much mix and not enough tequilla. It was missing margarita salt though, they used regular salt i think. let’s not get too technical… I gave four stars because the seviche is excellent! Super fresh and not skimpy on the goods, lots of avocado and shrimp: d Also liked that they had patio seating.

Tried the fish in green mole sauce. It was good, but a little bland for me. I want my sauces to bite back and though this sauce uses jalapenos, they were pretty mild. I asked Jaime what made this green stuff ‘mole’ and not just ‘Chili Verde.’ I mean: I always thought that the operative component in Mole was Chocolate. ‘Stupid Gringo’ he thought behind that great smile. ‘It’s the seeds,’ he said. ‘Seeds?’ I asked. ‘Yes; sesame and coriander and pumpkin,’ he replied, ‘Seeds.’ «Oh!,’ I responded in recognition, ‘Seeds define mole?’ ‘Si, seeds.’

While the food served at Chilangos is unique enough for someone not familiar with authentic Mexican food, I really didn’t find it to be that satisfying for me.
The restaurant is quite small, with seats for about 36 customers at the most. When I went on a Tuesday night, the restaurant was pretty quiet, as I was their only patron after this other couple left. Service was attentive and friendly. They have specials for as low as $ 7.99 a plate, but I ordered their chipotle fish plate ($ 9.99). It is simply presented with a grilled fish filet drenched in a spicy chipotle sauce, served with small amounts of rice and beans and a few tortillas. I had to supplement the plate with a side salad ($ 3.99) and also a cup of their tortilla soup ($ 1.99) to make it sort of a complete meal. Both the salad and the soup made great use of the very refreshing tasting avocados.
Bottom Line: Chilangos offers something a little different, but it just didn’t appeal to me that much, I guess.

I’m going to give this a 4 star because its the little Mexican Restaurant that could.
They eliminated my favorite salad and replaced it with another yucky salad, but I forgive them. For the most part the atmosphere is cozy, the food is fresh and it has a lighter feel to it. Its also very reasonably priced.

Stellar service and extremely unique dishes. I had a poblano pepper stuffed with sirloin and raisins, topped with a light creamy sauce that included strawberries and walnuts. I know it sounds crazy but the sweet and savory make for one delicioso experience. The guac is fresh and awesome too. (The Taco Hunter has informed me that the unique dish is called Chili en Nogada… thanks!)
Prices are terrific too… there is a $ 7.99 special menu and everything else is very reasonable. The server I’ve had a few times is always nice and helps me work on my spanish (él es MUY paciente!)

Tucked away on one of Hillcrest’s most popular eating blocks, Chilango’s offers San Diego a taste of Mexico, D.F. style (that’s the federal capital to you and me). The flavors offered on the vast menu are a bit more refined and sophisticated than you’re used to tasting at most Mexican restaurants.
The menu, which can be a bit overwhelming, offers dinner specials with burritos, enchiladas and tacos, traditional plates, and create-​your-​own options. There are about 7 distinct sauces from which to choose, such as mole poblano and mole verde.
We ordered guacamole and ceviche as appetizers, both of which were excellent. The chef made our ceviche with fish upon request, even though it’s normally served with camarones (shrimp).
I ordered a michelada, which is a beer of your choice served over a bloody mary-​like spicy cocktail in a salt-​rimmed glass. I was expecting the Baja-​style (ice and lime juice), but apparently that’s how they do micheladas in D.F., and it was quite good (hangover cure? Note to self…)
The sauces were complex and expertly made. I really enjoyed the mole poblano served over chicken enchiladas (neither greasy nor smothered in cheese!), which had a sweet taste (from the cholocate) followed by a subtle but spicy kick after it settled on the tongue.
Portion size was just right, not as big as you might find at other Mexican restaurants. None of us left hungry, but neither did we feel like pigs.
Among our party of five, we tried chicken, fish, and beef dishes. Everyone enjoyed their meal.
Very reasonably priced for the quality of food, great presentation, and great service from a friendly staff.
Highly recommend!

Went here last weekend… it is authentic central Mexican food, so no burritos!
I had a torta that was covered with ranchero sauce… really soggy so I had to eat it with a knife and fork, but sooo good. Chicken Enchiladas with mole Poblano was also really good. They had a 7.99 dinner special, which seemed to be a really good value considering that you’re getting decent food in a nice atmosphere.
I’ll probably come back here again when I happen to be in the area.

What happened to Chilango’s? This place used to be great a couple of years ago. I hear its the same owners. But something must have happened in between when they changed from Chilango’s to the Sushi/​Japanese place and then back to Chilango’s.
Service is now horrible and food is even worse. Yes, the food is cheaper. Good thing. Taste and feels cheaper. Bad Thing.
With so many restaurants on the same block (Ortega’s, The Better Half, Hula’s, etc), they better get their act together fast if they plan on staying open for business!

My girlfriend and I went there a couple of years ago, since we’d never been there before. Not only did we have to suffer the indignity of waiting 45 minutes after ordering with only our drinks to show for it, but when we informed the little waiter that we were leaving, his officious response was, «Well, if you want fast Mexican food, you should go to a taco stand.»
I suppose we should have bowed our heads, mumbled something in the affirmative, and shuffled off to Buffalo. Unfortunately, my girlfriend, who has been a restaurant server for more than twenty years, had the temerity to say something like «If your business was professionally managed, we’d have eaten, paid, and be gone already!»
Therefore I’m giving them as few stars as possible. Incidentally, there were no other customers, and this was lunchtime! Go figure…

I had heard so many good things about this place but was always a little skeptical of how authentic a Mexican restaurant can be when it is sandwiched between an upscale dog store and the ever changing restaurant on the corner. Well, I don’t like to admit it but I was wrong.
This is probably some of the most unique Mexican food, or food in general for that matter, that I have had in San Diego. There were so many items on the menu that sounded tempting that I will have to be back soon. The waitress was helpful in describing the flavor of the dishes. We tried the poblano pepper stuffed with shrimp and chicken with a pear sauce. Sounds weird but tasted good. The shrimp were large and well cooked. There was not much chicken to be found but it didn’t seem to take away too much from the dish. Also had the grilled fish with shrimp in a almond cream sauce. This was not overly heavy and another nice dish. I was not crazy about the sangria – not bad, just not something I would get again.

If I could give this restaurant six stars, I would, and I can only think of a couple other restaurants that deserve this honor.
The food here is simply otherworldly… subtle, complex, perfect. The soups here are so balanced; the broths have a wholesome quality to them… each one is very different from the others and yet they have this common element of somehow warming up your heart and soul. I have tried four different soups and hope to return and try more.
The entrees are always exquisite. My first comment, and this is something that is extraordinarily unusual, is the quality of the meat. I’ve tried pork, chicken, and fish here. The pork especially is very rich in flavor and cooked perfectly. The pork in one dish I had here was easily the best pork I have ever had in my life.
The flavors here were also somehow emotionally charged. I found flavors and aromas emerging from our meal that I had not encountered for years, and they brought back all sorts of memories for me. Eating here turned out to be a strange emotional and spiritual experience too, sparked of course by the complexity of the food. The food, like the soups, was also very wholesome and nourishing. The portions were perfect.
The Flan here is amazing and in my opinion is either the best or second-​best flan I’ve had. (It is not the richest flan.) There were fresh strawberries and canned peaches, both of which had been soaked in something delicious, and there were various syrups dribbled about the plate. The flan itself was extremely rich without being overly heavy. It was darker in color than any flan I had ever eaten, and there was a large amount of variation in texture and flavor from the bottom to the middle to the top.
The service here was also absolutely flawless. The waiters and waitresses I’ve experienced here are always cheerful and have an air of elegance about them, like the food. Service is attentive; they always come out at exactly the right times… and in spite of the food seeming to have had endless care put into it, it did not take unusually long to prepare.
What else can I say? I’m not quite sure how they do it, but this place is amazing. The chef here must be a genius.

YES THEY ARE OPEN!
Wanted to get that out there. Chilango’s is open.
Reopened? I guess so. I never heard of the place. I live down the street and saw a night-​after-​night empty sushi place fizzle. Then a group, what looked like a family, came in and overnight «Chilango’s» was there.
And it makes me smile.
Chilango’s is D.F. cuisine. It pulls classic dishes and ingredients from many regions of Mexico and makes em classy. Classy and yet tasty and filling (y) and good (y).
The menu is in the $ 10 – 16 range for well-​portioned protein and rice/​bean combos. But its not a plate slathered with reheated re-​fried beans, rather an appropriate-​sized serving or the starches. My wife Sarah’s Chicken and Shrimp Chile Relleno (not the name on the menu) came with rice and steamed spinach, which she quite liked, probably due to its hint of garlic (she doesn’t like my steamed spinach though). My chicken in the jalapeño-​cream sauce was fantastic. That subtle spiciness that creeps up on the back of the throat. Rich yet satisfying.
All the dishes looked great. But the best part seems to be the dinner specials. 2 enchiladas, rice and beans for $ 7.99. Your choice of protein and sauce. Want shrimp with the light pink jalapeño-​cream sauce or pork with mole verde or chicken with whatever… have at it.
And their soups sounds good too. We had their appetizer «de la casa» which was a fancified 7 layer bean dip. Well worth it. Fresh avocado and the salsa of your choice, cool sour cream, warm beans… good stuff. I don’t think chips and salsa are complementary… the dip looked too good on all the other tables.
There was one waitress who was very attentive and knowledgeable of the menu. And there actually were people there! A good, steady stream for an early Tuesday evening. My guess is their drink list isn’t fully in place, as they only had two beer choices. And it doesn’t seem likely that they have a full liquor license, but this isn’t the place to get a margarita and tacos. This is a place to enjoy great food. Oh, and did I mention great food that comes with handmade tortillas? Tortillas that our waitress kept forcing more and more upon us? Sarah said I was acting like a kid when more appeared… I was excited to not have to ask or to pay more for extra tortillas!
Anyway, we now have a fancy place to explore more gourmet Mexican food and not pay out the nose. After you’ve exhausted the out of town relatives with taquerias, take them to Chilango’s!

The food was really good. We had the lunch specials. I had the chicken tacos, which had chicken breast meat. They were tasty, and my wife had the pork quesadilla… it was a little greasy but overall… good. We had started off with a ceviche. Served in a bowl, and a little oily. Besides being a departure of how I am usually served ceviche (Tall skinny cocktail glass, where it is like impossible to get the little bit from the very bottom.), and a little more oily than I was used to. With all that being said, the food was really good. The place itself was a little wierd. Dance music was BLARING, like Rosarito style or something. We were the only ones there. Totally annoying. The food was good though. I would consider going back, I would like to try some of their dinner entrees.
+Good food
+Left full
+Not just a taco shop
–Wierd ambiance
–Loud music

I thought they closed. I drove by the other day, because it caught my eye last year, but never made it back ’till recently.
Wonder why they closed so soon.