Yum! Great place! Great Service! Favorites are the Birria quesadilla and Costra de Queso w/ Pastor. Exceptional flavors in all the food. Make reservations read more

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This place was amazing and great service as well. Very nicely decorated loved the setting it was a little hot in there is the only thing I didn't like but other then that the food was amazing I got a couple of different things to try and I would recommend them all and definitely come back. read more

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The food was tasty! I enjoyed the flavors of the tuna ceviche. The restaurant was very cute inside and the bar area looked like a spot I want to return and hang out at next time. Our waitress was very helpful. I do wish the patio was more enjoyable it was basic and a spicy margarita on the menu would be great. read more

Cocina Chiwas - Tuna ceviche - Mexican Near Me - Tempe, Arizona

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Sat at the bar on a Saturday night Great cocktails - they ran out of the milk punch so that bartender concocted something else for me that was yummy We had the birria quesadilla - delish - spicy - excellent We had the quest with the squash A litter watery but overall it was good One of us had the potato tacos and the other the Korean short rib dish The slaw on the potato tacos was perfect and the potato purée was seasoned really well The short ribs were a little tough and over cooked The rice and beans were good It was a nice atmosphere But there were windows open which meant hotness and bugs so that I could have done without - not a fan of eating hot food while it's hot out and no air circulating We would go back I would just hope the ac was cranked and the windows were closed The service at the bar was good too read more

Fantastic food at a great price and generous portions. Very unique upscale Mexican experience. Service was attentive and excellent. We will definitely be coming back! read more

Lovely food well prepared: look at the daily specials, which don't quite rotate on a daily basis. The roasted sweet potato we ordered from it, for example, was exemplary, and, unless you're starting with firewood, not the sort of thing you're likely to make at home. There's also a light rail stop just across the way, which is convenient. Cocina Chiwas's major downside is the music volume, which makes talking to others hard. Less is more with noise. read more

Cocina Chiwas - Mexican Near Me - Tempe, Arizona

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Have been twice now and love how they update their menu. Favorite drink is a taste of chile. Favorite dish is the chorizo quesadilla read more

Cocina Chiwas - Menu - Mexican Near Me - Tempe, Arizona

The food, service and ambiance make this fabulous locally owned restaurant an instant staple. As a Tacos Chiwas fan, I'm so proud of the owners for the successful opening of Cocina Chiwas and can't wait to be back. read more

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Great food and service! From the owner of Bacanora and Espiritu this restaurant also delivers. Enjoyed everything we got. The Branzino was the highlight imo but everything from the tuna ceviche, Costillas de Res, beef quesadillas, elote. Got the Costillas de Res twice! My least favorite item was the chicken flautas which was bland imo. Were lucky we got to meet the chef and owner who came out to talk to us and ask us about our experience. He pointed out it took him two years and he was excited it opened a month ago. All my kids are foodies and the chef was surprised my eldest had discovered it since we've been to his two other restaurants and Bacanora twice. Large, beautifully decorated restaurant. Will definitely be back! His other two restaurants Bacanora and Espiritu are top notch too! read more

Mole on your enchiladas? You bet. Chili oil in your ceviche? Don't you doubt it. Generously diced jalapeño in your melted cheese? This is your spot. Do you want to enjoy your dinner? Cocina Chiwas. read more

Really wanted to love this place. Went for a friend's birthday and found it to be overpriced and underwhelming. Service was spotty and not overly friendly. Server seemed out out by our questions about portion sizes, etc. Maybe just an off night, but likely won't go out of our way to try again with so many other options. Ordered the elote, which had way too much mayo, tuna ceviche, which was 92% veggies and 8% tuna for whopping $18. Roasted beet salad was delicious. read more

Came in last night for my birthday and had the most disappointing experience. The food is amazing, but our server was neglectful: after our appetizers we sat at the table for 20 minutes waiting for him to come back and by the time our entrees came out it was 9:45 (what if I wanted dessert or for someone to sing to me like they did at the table behind us?) and we were told the kitchen was closing. We sat and ate our dinner while the restaurant was closing around us and he didn't even come back to check that everything came out okay. I sat sawing through my short ribs with a butter knife. Only after I cried at the table did he offer to send out a dessert on the house. This did not feel like a special experience and despite how good the food was I can't say it was worth it for the price point. Such a bummer. read more

Beautiful new restaurant to culdesac, great food & great drinks. They also have a spacious patio! read more

Cocina Chiwas - Quesadillas - Mexican Near Me - Tempe, Arizona

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The food & service was awesome possum!!! Highly recommend going to this restaurant. The beet salad was marvelous! I ain't never had a better beet salad anywhere. The food was amazingly delicious read more

This was easily the best meal my hubby and I have had in awhile. If this were based solely on food I would give it 5 stars. We had the Chile con Queso as an appetizer. He ordered the Flautas (a special) and I ordered the Wagyu Asado. My hubby said the soup that came with the flautas was like grandma's. My 2 "complaints" are that his flautas came out about 30 minutes before my Wagyu Asado. We would have liked to eat together. He delayed as long as possible, but in the spirit of not eating cold food I told him to go ahead and eat. The waiter was very communicative letting us know things were taking longer and informing us when my Wagyu ticket was next. The other topic that others should be aware of are the market prices on the menu. Prices on the menu range from $14-$22. The Fish and Wagyu Asado were listed as "market." We expected the price to be a little more than double the most expensive dish on the menu. However, the Wagyu Asado was $140. Yes, it is our fault for not asking upfront, but there was an element of sticker shock when we got our bill. Summary - food is excellent, kitchen still seems to be working out some kinks, market prices may shock you. read more

Cocina Chiwas - Mexican Near Me - Tempe, Arizona

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This is probably one of the WORST restaurant I have ever been to, from START TO FINISH! 1. We had 3 or even 4 different servers right away since the first half an hour! Impossible to keep track! Got my drink order twice at the same time one server after the other bringing it, because the servers apparently couldn't communicate. 2. One of the server should seriously think about changing career. He was the opposite of Hospitality. 3. Servers should actually WRITE the order because they messed up twice! My husband had to eat his food alone when we were all done. No apologies, nothing. And we were only 4 people at our table. 4. The table and chair outside to actually EAT?! Wtf. The table height was up to my knees no one should be allowed to eat on those! Most awkward position to ever eat in. 5. Half the food on the menu had no protein in it (just a veggie plate) and they don't even have chicken as an option to add to it!!!! WTF. 6. Their water tasted AWFUL! 7. OH and of course they then messed up the check at the end! Whatever articles this restaurant was in. NOT worth it AT ALL. They definitely got way over their head now, and should seriously think about coming back to reality. Food was not better than another basic restaurant. Seriously the worst from START to FINISH. I never write review, so the fact that I am taking time to write one says a lot. read more

This place was phenomenal! Well-crafted cocktails, complex flavors and sauces - we enjoyed everything! The pecan tamales were a very nice surprise! All of the staff were super friendly, chef is inspired, great experience! read more

Cocina Chiwas - Mexican Near Me - Tempe, Arizona

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As much as I would love to rave about how amazing this new restaurant is, I couldn't due to the underwhelming service. We arrived at 8:05pm for our 8:30pm reservation. They accommodated and sat us down early. Once we sat down, we waited approximately 30-35 minutes before being greeted by a waiter/waitress. Around 8:45pm our drink order was finally taken. 15 more minutes proceeded to go by and our order was never taken. We unfortunately just had to leave. read more

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I tried the margarita, piña colada, pork belly, refried beans, and a couple other dishes. Every single one was perfect! read more

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Good service, nice ambiance, and food was tasty! Great for a night out with friends, or even a date night!

Food was delicious. Portions were big, could feed about 3-4 ppl! Definitely try their bone marrow with sweet potato- was one of my top 5 appetizers I've ever had. read more

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Wow, this place is INCREDIBLE! We ordered so many of the dishes, and every single one of them were delicious. Im not a big seafood fan, but their ceviche was top tier! I could drink that sauce. The blue corn empanadas were exactly what you would want them to taste like, just full of flavor. The blue corn went very well with the beef cheek filling. The chicken dish was really good, BEST polenta i have ever had, by a long shot. It was so soft, creamy, and buttery as can be. The tostada, birria quesadilla, chips, and guacamole were perfection. Mvp dish goes to the short rib plate. Those beans are a show stopper, the rice flavorful, perfectly cooked, and the short ribs, full flavored, very well balanced, perfect kiss of smoke and char. Our server was Jess B. She was so accommodating, gave us excellent recommendations, and was very helpful. One of our guests has a lot of food allergies, and Jess made sure that there was no chance of her being compromised. We applaud her patience and service. Well done! Highly...HIGHLY RECOMMEND. I'll be back, and Im going to make sure everyone I know who is looking for an incredible dining experience must come to Cocina Chiwas! read more

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I have been here twice- once with a group of 10 for a birthday and once with 2 others for a more casual night. When we went for the birthday it was an amazing expeirnce-- we got almost everything on the menu between all of us, and each dish was fantastic. The drinks are great, and are just as great the second time. When I went the second time, the food was good but it wasn't as good as the first time. The elote was pretty good as well as the enmoladas, but both dishes were better previously. Our group also thought the birria quesadilla was better the first time. The service is good and the ambiance is nice, especially because the restaurant is small. Overall I would definitely recommend for good food and good drinks, but not for a large group because there is a deposit required. read more

Met up with our friends we haven't seen in a while. Very nice place and very clean. This was on a Friday so the place was packed. Good thing we had a reservation. Bar seemed busy and there were no openings inside so we were seated outside. It was a little chilly but our server got us a heater. Our server was very polite and friendly. The party enjoyed that he wasn't afraid to joke with us. We had the Birria Quesadilla, Elote, and the Guacamole. They were all good. I had a couple of Sangria's and my wife had the Chiwarita. Ended up having a good time but bill was 3 figures with tax. read more

The food was incredible!!! I'm still dreaming about the blue corn tortillas, tacos de papa, and chile relleno. However, the customer service has much to be desired. We waited nearly 40 mins for our drinks, they hit the table after we finished our starters. We were never offered a refill on water or drinks the whole meal. read more

Heard good things about this place and decided to try it out. However, my experience was not pleasant... I have never returned food before and it happened here... I ordered the birria quesadilla and it was amazing. Definitely recommend. The issue came once I got my beef ribs, I could hardly take the meat off the bone. It was tough and majority ligaments vs meat. The server was nice to remove the entree from the bill, but ruined the experience as it took more than a half hour to get another entree. Literally sat at the table for more than 2 hours before we boxed up my entree... Also... the alcoholic drinks we ordered were very good, but inconsistency on pours were noticeable. Got an old fashioned and the first one was filled to the top while my second one was half poured. Food and drinks looked amazing, but the service and quality was lacking. read more

Cocina Chiwas - Birria Quesadilla - Mexican Near Me - Tempe, Arizona

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I have been a long time fan of tacos chiwas and was excited to hear the owners opened up Cocina Chiwas! The food was delicious, my favorite was the chicharron. The menu features small and big plates, both of which are big enough to share. The only thing that was a bummer was there were so many flies in the restaurant (they had the glass walls open to the outside seating). Service was great, food was great. We will definitely be back to try other menu items. read more

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You guys are really messing me up. As much as I love Bacanora and Espiritu...this take, with amazing Quesadilla and a rice base for many dishes, really grabs me. Available seating, great cocktails, absolutely fantastic food, and a great building...plus I can actually get a seat...unlike Bacanora with their broken, frustrating reservation system? Every dish I like at the others...available here with a uniquely different slant... Cocina Chiwas...you win. Best new Valley Restaurant! read more

Every couple weeks my bestie and I like to try new places we see and hear about and Cocina Chiwas was our food adventure this week. It was a total success from our waitress, ambiance and most importantly our food adventure. We started with a couple different drinks... it was like a fun research project to figure out what kind of flavors were in the drinks since they don't use any mainstream liquor. I had the red sangria and Jenn had the La Playa Hermosa. Sangría was very flavorful but had too much clove in it for me. I prefer a fruity version. For starters we ordered 2 items we knew we would like... the birria quesadilla and elote... honestly you would have to put effort into screwing these up!! They were delicious separate and I found them even more magical when you added the elote on the birria!! Jenn loves a chili relleno so we knew that would be one of our main courses and I opted for the chicharrón... no losers here but I was the big winner!! The chili relleno had good flavor but a lighter version that the standard. The chicharrón was the surprise star of the show for both of us... the pork belly was so crispy and well seasoned and the green sauce was such a compliment and didn't make the meat at all soggy. It was still crispy and delish the next morning when I ate the leftovers for breakfast. This place was a definite thumbs up and look forward to coming back if not just to get the chicharrón! read more

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This place is amazing! Great ambiance, food is amazing. The dishes are creative and taste great. The pork belly and the cauliflower in the chicken stand out! The service is amazing too. read more

Cocina Chiwas - Trip to Chile, Paloma, Sangria - Mexican Near Me - Tempe, Arizona

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The whole experience at Cocina Chiwas was incredible. The food, the drinks, the vibe. I couldn't be more stoked to have this new restaurant in Tempe! The Bacanora/Tacos Chiwas crew cannot miss! read more

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Ambiance was good, restaurant is decorated beautifully. Reservations - They do take walk-ins but mostly likely you will have to sit in the patio. We had a reservation and we went 30 minutes early in hopes to sit at the bar and have a drink before our table was ready. Unfortunately the bar is also used into the reservation seating. The lobby is really small so don't go early. Just go at the right time because otherwise there's no place to stand and you have to stand outside and that's no fun in Arizona heat. Food - the food has potential but it really needs to be seasoned. A lot of the dishes just seemed really bland. I would rate all the food of four out of 10. The kitchen is an open concept which is really nice, but it just seemed kind of dirty. There was cabinets underneath the counter that had peoples personal drinks and purses. There was one guy walking around who I think was the owner who kept drinking liquid death cans, and when he was done, he would just set them on the counter in the area where some of the food was being prepared so that was really off putting. Service - host and service was great! read more

I had heard really great things about this restaurant from some friends, so I decided to check it out myself.... Twice in one week, if that tells you anything... I made a reservation both times (not really needed since I made it for right when they opened at 5pm, but you never know). I sat on the patio both times, you're still on Apache Blvd and the people watching is....interesting! I loved what I had so much the first time that I ordered it again the 2nd time I went. The guacamole is probably some of the best I have had. I also highly recommend the farmers plate & the birria quesadilla. The farmers plate is not on their current posted menu, so it intrigued me when I saw it on the menu at the restaurant. It's not something I would normally order because I like meat, but it was so satisfying. Charred rainbow carrots, fried quinoa, spaghetti squash, and a spicy sauce.... YES PLEASE! Service was decent and everyone is very friendly. The restaurant filled up really fast so I do recommend a reservation if you are planning on going anytime after 5pm. I went on Tuesday & Thursday and I believe it was completely full by the time I left. I will say this, when I was here on Thursday the little cul de sac community was having some sort of event with live music, I'm not sure how often that happens, but its extremely loud since it's occurring right next to the restaurant. read more

If you don't care about the service and only care about the food, this is definitely the place. The food is uhhhhh-mazing! Everything we ate was top-notch. The reason for the 1 star though, is because despite our reservation, they made us wait almost an hour to be seated. We were questioned about our reservation, and even had to show proof of their mistake. Even then, the manager would not own up to it. He was very rude and his demeanor was condescending. It caused us to almost walk away during our wait. However, because we wanted to try the restaurant, we decided to wait. When we finished our meal, the manager came back and said, "I'm glad I was able to make it work out for you guys after....." He was trying to insinuate that we didn't make the reservation, even though we showed proof that we did. He was very argumentative. This isn't all that occurred during our over $600 visit. Yes, we were there to celebrate our family member's milestone! They knew it was my cousin's birthday, so they offered us a slice of cake. We thought it was a kind gesture on behalf of the manager's behavior.....We were wrong. It was $15 for a slice of cake. Yes, it was good, but wow! Why would they offer us cake and then not tell us they were going to charge us for it? Last, they asked if we wanted a few tortillas to go, so we said yes. Again, $12 for 6 tortillas. Why offer this, but not tell the customer that you're going to charge them? We're weren't looking for handouts, but these things should be told to customers. The entree was almost $40. Why would you charge an extra $6 for 3 tortillas?...Or why wouldn't you say, "Yes, it's $6 for 3 extra tortillas. Is that okay?" Just very disappointed with the service, and as delicious as the food was, I think next time, we'll spend our over $600 elsewhere. read more

The food was the flavorful, well cooked and unique, my husband and I enjoyed it. I gave it a four star because the service was pretty crappy which ruined the chance of getting a five star and the stupid thing was that the restaurant wasn't even full. read more

I don't even know where to begin except the experience here was magical and completely exceeded expectations! Easily one of the top 5 meals and restaurants I've had in my life. Tacos Chiwas is among our absolute favorites in the Valley and we were sort of expecting a slightly elevated, perhaps more expansive or unique ingredients, smaller portions but price that matches a nice ambiance. The server we was phenomenal. She was so kind, had spot on recommendations, if she hadn't tried a wine for example, she would personally a speak with the bartender (I need to find an elevated term for him too!). This place has cracked the code with quality, fresh ingredients, unbelievable recipes and everything just feels like it has genuine heart. The tables and chairs, the airiness of wide open doors/sliding panels to a lovely patio. It felt like you could taste each element of each dish distinctly and then in harmony together. Started with a cocktail each, the night in chile I believe, something that resembled almost a smooth, slightly fruity, but not too sweet milk punch Negroni, and a margarita. Each was beautifully presented in really lovely glassware the one night in Chile was in a timeless, crystal coupe glass with really smooth, complex flavors including a spicy pisco and topped with cilantro and some type of oil perhaps. It was so delicious, unique and reviving. Ordered 3 starters/shareable plates: the queso, birria quesadilla, and elote. Gobsmacking. I was eating the onions and chilies with a fork after we finished most of the cheese, and scraped any that remained. If you've never had birria, don't bother, if you come here, this quesadilla will ruin you for all others. Corn was predictable delicious and in chunks ON the cob which made it messier but much easier to share and savor. Portions on the starters were so generous, I split the mole (want to say enchiladas but know that's not what it was). I ended up licking the plate, voraciously. One person had the chicharron, pork belly was perfect: thin, crispy exterior and tender meat with a terrific sauce. Empanadas were lights out. Ended with a "slice" (code for a cake on a plate) of the carrot tres leches cake. So much thought even went to the selection of the blueberries on top. Can't recommend more, great value for the price, warm, welcoming relaxing atmosphere. I feel like mentioning going to most other Mexican food restaurants would feel like an affront when this is in town. read more

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Chorizo Quesadilla and elote were amazingly delicious! Love the modern decor! We sat at the bar and had pretty decent service for the most part. Food came out pretty quickly. Cocktails, wine and draft beer were really good. I recommend giving this new spot a shot read more

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Really awesome experience! The cocktails are great and the food is amazing. I was there with friends and I would definitely return read more

Cocina Chiwas - Cocktails - Mexican Near Me - Tempe, Arizona

Great food, fun atmosphere & beautiful decor! My 12 year old son said it was the best Mexican Food he ever had! Fast, Friendly service! read more

Cocina Chiwas - Birria Quesadilla, Elote, Adobado Chicken & Shrimp. Delicious! - Mexican Near Me - Tempe, Arizona

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A most enjoyable experience all around...great atmosphere, very friendly and attentive servers, fantastic drinks, and sensational dishes: creative riffs on Mexican classics, including many with grilled meats. I enjoyed my Chiwarita with its mix of Tequila and earthy Sotol. The guacamole we shared was especially well made: one of the best we've ever had. And every member of our party of four absolutely loved their selections. Gluten free accommodation was no problem. Even in a cosmopolitan university town with plenty of restaurant gems, Cocina Chiwas stands out. read more