Such a great little restaurant. The food was good. The staff is very warm and welcoming. Extremely good for celiacs since Mexican food naturally lends itself to being gluten free. It is small so make reservations. Would definitely recommend! read more

Carmelita's is the type of high quality Mexican food that we need in CNY! I ordered takeout and it was made fresh fast. I got gluten free burritos with beans, cheese, and chicken and an order of chips and queso. I've also dined in before and it was a great experience. The service was prompt and kind! The queso was incredible! Soooo much cheese pull with a good spice and texture. Their chips are made in house and they're delicious thick pillows of fried tortilla. Great spot for takeout or if you're looking to eat some delicious cheese dip outside. read more

Carmelita's Mexican Restaurant - Queso dip - Mexican Near Me - Cicero, New York

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This was our first time here we had a party of three. They looked a little hectic when we arrived. Waited about seven minutes to be seated as a table had to be cleaned. I've been to a lot of Mexican restaurants, and this is the first one that has not given chips and salsa as a free appetizer.?? The food was OK,chicken was kind of dry. Two of us ordered entrées that had rice and beans as a side. We were told that they were out of refried beans which we were really looking forward to .The prices were kind of on the expensive side compared to other Mexican restaurants. We may have caught them on a bad night, but probably will be going elsewhere for Mexican.On the bright side, the servers were friendly !! read more

The few times I have gone here I was not super impressed. I give lots of credit for all the made from scratch foods but they are quite bland. Service is not horrible but they were bad mouthing other Mexican restaurants and I found that in poor taste. Everyone is just trying to make a living and putting down others does not lift you up. Nice clean restaurant and the food is ok but not for me. read more

Carmelita's Mexican Restaurant - birria tacos rice and beans - Mexican Near Me - Cicero, New York

Took my friend for Saturday brunch to celebrate her birthday. Everything was wonderful! Our server was so pleasant and attentive. We had breakfast quesadillas that were phenomenal. I am eating my leftovers this morning and loving life because even one day later it is so good. I got chorizo, cheese and onion in mine and you can taste how fresh everything is. I also had a great flight of mimosas and my friend had a spicy margarita that she said had just the right hit of spice. I will definitely be back! read more

Carmelita's Mexican Restaurant - Mimosa flight - Mexican Near Me - Cicero, New York

Stopped in today for our first visit to Carmelita's. Super welcoming Host. We were seated immediately. Waitress was very friendly and attentive. The restaurant smelled AMAZING so I had a feeling we had made the right choice stopping here. We decided on their flight of 3 nachos for our App. One was ground beef, shredded chicken and refried beans. All were covered in perfectly melted cheese on fresh made tortilla chips. All of them were very good but the shredded chicken nachos were the star. Excellent. I chose the 3 Enchiladas meal (no beans). I had a ground beef, steak (extra $2.00) and their chicken. All 3 were excellent. They were roped with their red sauce. The onions inside all were diced perfectly and the entire meal was superbly seasoned. Not overboard on seasoning and just "delicious". All the food was made as ordered and not "assembly line" style. Pricing was fair for what we received and especially for how it tasted. Definitely will be back in the future. read more

Carmelita's Mexican Restaurant - Flight of Nachos. - Mexican Near Me - Cicero, New York

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We went to 2 other places before coming here and we do NOT regret it! We got seated within 5 minutes on a Friday night. The location is easy to find and it's so soo yummy! The salsa is spicy so a warning there! Drinks were SUPER delicious. Staff was SO sweet and always checked up on us. At the end the owner came up and made sure everything was great. Drinks and food was done fast. The place is small but it feels cozy and very family oriented. If you love Mexican - definitely go here!!! read more

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My girlfriend and I love coming to Carmelita's! They have amazing gluten free dishes, and we love the queso and salsa. Food always tastes so fresh and you genuinely can't choose wrong on the menu. The servers are always so kind and the place is efficiently run! We're excited to try the brunch soon. read more

Carmelita's Mexican Restaurant - Chicken tinga nachos - Mexican Near Me - Cicero, New York

Not my favorite Mexican. Small portions. Not a lot of flavor. They do have an outdoor patio but it's right next to the parking lot

Might I just say that this place is small but mighty. We had a Friday night dinner here and it was BUSY! Nevertheless, the staff were quick, efficient and accommodating and sat us right down at a table. The menu had so much to choose from (but not overwhelmingly so), and everything was presented beautifully. The owner came over to ask us how dinner was and we had a lovely conversation with her. This is a very home-cooked with love kind of vibe, and I'm so excited to go back for more! read more

Carmelita's Mexican Restaurant - Tia's Enchiladas - Mexican Near Me - Cicero, New York

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Such good food!! We felt so lucky to find this gem. It's located in a small strip mall. I found it easily with my Waze gps. The food was very authentic. Even my teens enjoyed the food. We started with the app flight - highly suggested! We ordered tostada, tacos, quesadillas and would order them again. Waitstaff was excellent and food is made to order. I suggest an earlier dinner to get a good seat! read more

Waited a long time to get order taken then waited a long time to get our food it was not busy at the time we arrived we only ordered tacos and cheese enchiladas. My enchiladas were covered in salsa it was not good. Tacos were ok was not going to post anything but I forgot to take a pic of food read more

Nice location Fun and friendly staff. Fantastic menu. Great specials. Outstanding and authentic! Worth the trip! read more

So good!! The special is amazing! The chips and salsa are spicy hot and delicious! I am not a fan of queso it tasted like it was heavy with garlic. I think everything else on the menu is a must. Everyone should try everything at least once! read more

We had a great time at Carmelita's! The food was not great, and a bit confusing, but there were lots of GF options (which was important for a few in our group). The chips are unique, fried well and sturdy. The queso appetizer did list yogurt as an ingredient but we were surprised at just how much yogurt there was. It was like a cold bowl of yogurt with shredded cheese on top. Nachos had refried beans, cheese, and jalapenos. Pretty good. A lot of garlic coming from the refried beans but was tamped with addition of sour cream. The tacos were good. The refried beans and rice were very overpowered with garlic, maybe an off batch but difficult to enjoy as stand-alone sides. Tres Leches cake was very tasty. read more

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I think I found my new favorite place! The staff were all very friendly and attentive. The food and margaritas were so good and as an added bonus to me a lot of their menu was gluten free so I had a lot of options. read more

I came on a Saturday which is when they usually serve their birria tacos. I ordered that and it was my favorite thing that we had ordered. It was flavorful, I just wish the consome had been more savory. We also ordered the chicken enchiladas, and they were okay. The main flavor I tasted was citrus rather than the spicy-ness of the salsa or the chicken itself. As a drink I got the agua de limon. This was also good and paired well with my food. Our server was friendly and attentive, no complaints. read more

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My girl friend and I were looking at this place for awhile and finally made the stop since it's right around the corner from the house. We both got the special Birria tacos with beans and rice. There was not a thing we could complain about. The food came out hot and full of flavor and looked incredible. We had the nicest waitress and the atmosphere was quiet and relaxing with out door seating. We seen other Mexican restaurant serve chips and salsa complimentary but that isn't always the case. We have been to some that don't. I personally loved the restaurant and shall be returning to try margaritas and other dishes they have to offer! read more

Carmelita's Mexican Restaurant - 3 Birria tacos w/ beans and rice! - Mexican Near Me - Cicero, New York

We had waited for our 8 month old to wake so we could go to dinner. He finally wakes and we take him here. We came once before and had a good experience, good food. Not this time. Our waitress told us they were short staffed and that was it.. fine. It took them prob 15 min to get us water, ~20 min to take our order. After an hour of being there we decided it was too much for our child (who was being an angel but we had maybe 5 min left of that) and asked them to box our food, which came out just a moment later. So I sent the food back to get boxed, which took another 10 minutes. The staff kept giving us sympathetic looks but didn't offer anything for our experience. I shouldn't have to complain, you know what we've sat through, patiently and kindly, for you to offer literally anything at all to try to rectify the situation. I paid and have a small tip. We finally sit down to eat (I've been fasting and looking forward to this meal for over 24 hours at this point) and literally there is no flavor. Of coarse my corn tortillas are gross (but kind of to be expected). The only flavor it had was some spiciness. I wish we had just left, not at all worth the over $30 meal we got. Over all 0/10. Will never go back here again. Should've just stayed home and made dinner, ended up doing it anyway. read more

Carmelita's Mexican Restaurant - a meal in a styrofoam container - Mexican Near Me - Cicero, New York

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Citrus bend in lieu of spicy. All dishes have garlic; some more than others. Satisfying Mexican meal.

Sometimes there will be a little bit of a wait but they make up for it with the food. All fresh and made to order. Great flavor. The owner is personable. Convenient location. read more

This was delicious. Great meal, fresh ingredients. Delicious guacamole. It's a really cute place. They have outdoor seating. He drink we ordered was delicious also, it had strawberry, mint, lemon, red pepper flakes!!! read more

Carmelita's Mexican Restaurant - Mexican Near Me - Cicero, New York

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This was one of the worst. The salsa was awful. My family loves eating out at and trying different Mexican restaurants. No one liked the salsa and chips which basically was untouched. I ordered the special which was birria tacos. I have these before but these didn't measure up. I also didn't like the consomme which came in such a small portion you needed a microscope to find it. I wouldnt recommend this place. There are much better Mexican restaurants around Syracuse. read more

Carmelita's Mexican Restaurant - birria tacos with consomme - Mexican Near Me - Cicero, New York

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No free chips and salsa. Only had bottled/canned alcoholic beverages. Sadly, the food was good at best. Would not recommend - there are definitely better Mexican restaurants in the Syracuse area. read more

Very average food - not much flavor. The one thing with flavor was the rice and it was an odd spice. Can't figure out what it was. The server was really nice and pleasant. The margaritas were very good. read more

I took my family here for lunch. The staff was great. They really made you feel welcome the entire time. The place was very clean and they did a great job decorating it. Everything is made to order so the food takes a little longer to make which is fine. The taste of the food was not fine. Both of our dishes where very bland. My burito was very watery. The only thing fresh in it was the large amount of cilantro which was mostly all I tasted. I asked for bottled hot sauce and was told they do not not have any. They make it fresh and brought it to me in a small cup. There was no spice to it. It is too bad because the staff was so welcoming. While we waited for our food we talked about how places that make you feel very welcome (like Carmelita's did) you want to come back even if the food is so so; unfortunatly it wasn't. I really did not want to write a bad review of this place. You could tell the owner was a good person just trying to make a living. At the very least maybe the owners read this and make some changes to the food and throw a bottle of Cholula on every table. You may like the food here so maybe you should give it a shot. I see others gave it 4 and 5 star reviews. We have had authentic Mexican food in Texas, Arizona, and Southern California before so maybe our standards are higher than yours. read more

The food is good but if you order to go, the kids meals are tiny. Literally a tablespoon of rice is all you will get for a side. The juice box is half the size of a regular one. read more

Carmelita's Mexican Restaurant - Kids side rice - Mexican Near Me - Cicero, New York

Just discovered this little gem and so glad we did!! We had delicious Mana's nachos and the homemade corn tortilla chips were amazing crunchy and light and the salsa wow! Tia Alicia's dinner offer creamy beans and savory rice but the enchiladas 3 of them, were the star! Moist tender and flavorful. Miguel's burrito plate had delicious guacamole, roc e and 2 beautiful burritos! The owner came out to thank us for our take out and the waitress a lovely local teacher. We felt very welcomed. Great place we'll be back! read more

July 5th for dinner. Seated immediately. Friendly servers. Ordered appetizer of chips, salsa and guacamole. Very good. They have beer, malt beverages and wine, but no liquor--would have liked to have a margarita. Taco shells were crunchy and delicious. Flan was just made that day and delicious! Overall, very good and would go back. read more

Carmelita's Mexican Restaurant - Chicken - Mexican Near Me - Cicero, New York

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First time visiting and we will be back! Everyone was so nice and extremely helpful and attentive. The vibe in the restaurant is so upbeat and fun! Food was absolutely delicious! Cannot wait to go back and try other items on the menu. read more

Very good food! Fast service, probably top three in the area. The sangria is also delicious. I will say my only negative comment would be - this is the only place that does not give you free chips before your dinner. read more

Once again we stopped at Carmelitas. Good service great food. Thanks again. I had the steak sandwich and my wife had fish and chips. read more

What a delightful surprise! We were on a road trip and randomly stopped in Cicero at this restaurant. It was so good! House made guacamole and chips, street tacos (tacos zapatos) and the chicken ensalada, all amazing, fresh and clearly homemade. And for dessert, fresh from the oven flan. We will absolutely stop here the next time we see close. read more

Food, EXCELLENT. salsa was homemade and delicious, margaritas were not pre mix and SO good and last but not least you gotta love a restaurant where the owner/chef comes to chat with you twice. Would highly recommend this restaurant and can't wait to go back! read more

Got take out when Covid pandemic was ending. worse Mexican food I ever had! salsa tasted like tomato paste and the menu options were very strange. Two of us ended up throwing it all in the trash! This clearly is not authentic Mexican food! Carmelita's was awesome but this restaurant doesnt come close. Didnt even have Queso on the menu. read more

We have eaten here several times and never lets down. The food is really, REALLY good. Each dish we've had has been unique and full of flavor. We haven't been to another Mexican restaurant in the area as authentic and delicious as Carmelita's. Prices were extremely reasonable. Finally a place to get great service and excellent food without spending much. We love the tostadas, nachos, Mexican coffee, and the specials have been great as well. Try the Pozole if I'm special! Our Go-To spot! read more

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Food was good, not great. I was craving Mexican one night and this fit the bill. I haven't gone back though read more

We were treated like family as soon as we walked in the door. The prices were reasonable, and the food was great- very fresh ingredients. I had two enchiladas and they were to die for. The corn tortillas were delicious, and the chipotle marinated chicken was out of this world. Check this place out, you won't regret it. Best Mexican in Cicero, in my opinion. read more

Best gluten free option in all of syracuse. We have two daughters with celiac so going out to eat is rarely an option for them. This great little spot was delicious, fast and our new favorite local eat. We had a bit of everything and everyone loved it. I can't wait to bring our family here many more times in the future. read more

Carmelita's Mexican Restaurant - Mexican Near Me - Cicero, New York

The food was amazing! I am gluten free and vegetarian so it is difficult to find places that can accommodate my diet. My husband and I started with nachos that were the best I have ever had! The chips seemed homemade. I had vegetarian tacos and my husband ordered the fish tacos special. For dessert we shared chocolate flourless cake and flan both again the best I've ever had. The owner came out to the table to chat and make sure our food was good. We will certainly be going back even though it is 3 1/2 hours away! read more