Very good Mexican food overall, and especially good tacos, enchiladas, and chile rellenos. Both locations seem to have the same quality, but the newer location on Monroe is bigger and newer. read more

Great service. Delicious food!!! Totally recommend the tacos and chiles gueritos! Cozy place. Not a lot of tables but worth the wait for a seat. read more

Good food, good atmosphere, and great service, and great mixed drinks . Me and my family will definitely come back.

I really wanted to like this place because I was drawn in after reading all the Yelp reviews. Came in with my boyfriend & I ordered the Mexicali plate special with rice instead of nopales & he got the combination seafood plate. The Mexicali plate was basically just Carne Asada with rice & beans which I had been wanting so long but it was really kind of bland. The meat was really good but being someone that really likes spicy foods, I was not impressed. Maybe if they had offered salsa it might have been better. My boyfriends combination plate had a shrimp cocktail, camarones a la diabla & chiles gueritos with shrimp. Up until know I had never liked seafood. At all. But since I wanted to try everything I tried some of his shrimp and they were the best! Big & really meaty. The whole place is really kind of small and I think they need to hire at least one more waitress during the evenings. When we went in at 6:30 it was calm but maybe 5 minutes after we walked in it started getting packed and extremely loud. I think at some point they had two big parties in the restaurant & of course they were paid more attention to than the smaller parties but it really would have been nice to have gotten a better service. I knew if I wanted salsa, by the time it came back I'd be finished. It was obvious those two sweet waitresses needed some help. Another thing that kind of upset me was the fact they wouldn't accept my Retail Me Not coupon. That was another reason that made me stop in & the waitress said that they weren't allowed to accept it because it had to be printed but nowhere on the app does it say it has to be printed. Apparently the manager doesn't want it to be falsified. Which I don't know how it would be, that's ridiculous, because anyone can go on the app & get it themselves. I know it wasn't the waitress fault. The manager has to step up his game because those 5 dollars off ain't hurting but had I known I probably would have stopped in to Guerreros or Santa Fe instead, where the food is of the same quality for a cheaper price. read more

Ono to da max! Don't be fooled by the location! If you are a true food connoisseur then visit this spot! I ordered the green chillies stuffed with shrimp... fiyah! read more

This place ruined mexican food for me. Ever since I've held an impossibly high bar for any other restaurant i visited. The famed tex-mex? Disgusting next to these shrimp stuffed bell peppers. The michilada is the finishing blow. read more

You would drive by this little gem if you didn't know but if you are lucky enough to stop in for breakfast you will be glad you did! REAL Mexican food, great service and the train going by every once in a while makes it fun! read more

Food is amazing! Great service with a friendly staff. Love that this place is a family owned business. Great atmosphere. We will be back!

Don't waste your time. I came here optimistic about some chilaquiles. Just terrible service and waitress bullshitted me about whether they were hard or soft. Idk man, just shitty service. read more

We come to the Coachella Valley every year as tourists. We have heard so many good things about this place we finally decided to give it a try. First, the positive: The food (once we finally got it) was incredible. I had chicken enchiladas, one with green sauce and one with red. It was heavenly. My wife had some sort of burrito which she enjoyed very much. Now, the negative: When we arrived we were greeted with a frown by a woman who seemed to be the manager. (We got that impression just from the fact that she was quite a bit older than the other servers and was dressed in a different color.) She curtly showed us to our table and took our drink orders. Still no smile. I admit it was busy, but really, how much time does it take to be friendly? She brought our drinks fairly promptly, still no smile, and took our food order. We didn't see her at our table again for well over 30 minutes! We kept seeing people who we were pretty sure had come in after we did getting their food, but we seemed to have been completely forgotten. We were so hungry we had eaten all our chips long since, and finally someone else (not our server) brought us more. The person who brought more chips actually WAS friendly. In retrospect, we desperately wish she had been our server. Finally our frowning server came by and asked sharply, "What did you order?" It was asked in exactly the same tone she might have asked, "What are you still doing sitting here at my table?" When we told her what we had ordered she began excitedly flipping through her notepad, then said, "Oh my god!" No apology. We were ready to get up and leave at that point but she somehow talked us into staying. She came by a few minutes later and put some guacamole on our table. Neither my wife nor I care much for guacamole, but we did appreciate the gesture. Oh, STILL no smile. Another fifteen or twenty minutes later our food finally came. No comment, no apology, no smile. As I said earlier, though, it was delicious. When we were finished eating, well over an hour after we had been seated, our server brought the check and seemed very proud to note that she had seen fit to take 10% off our bill. I wanted to chuckle at the meager compensation for waiting so long for our food and the attitude with which it had been presented, but what I wanted even more was to get out of there quickly so I could allow my mood to improve. Honestly, we probably will go back next year because chances are we would get a different server. read more

This place is really neat! It is (as stated above) that hole-in-the-wall eatery your love to find. It's been family owned and operated since 1981. We stumbled upon it while checking out places for a big road trip we plan each year for 20 or so old sports cars. This WILL be a place we stop! Yes, the shrimp stuffed yellow peppers are fantastic! Anabel, our waitress suggested them, and when we didn't order them, brought a couple for us to sample anyway! My wife LOVES sopas and can hardly find them. These were the rivals of her grandmother's! That is TRUELY high praise. read more

I've given this place three tries, never again. Crazy salty, painfully slow service, salsa that tastes like ketchup, and whacky high prices. I had to beg for more chips, impossible to get more to drink. Every meat dish is tough as shoe leather (including the chile verde), and tiny portions. Don't waste ur hard earned $$ here; there are loads of good places in the area that put love into their food, versus salt and water. It's a nice interior remodel, obviously what ur paying the extra $5 a plate for. Total disappointment. read more

Drove up here from the date farm, looking for a late lunch at 1:30, decided to give this a try. It sits just off the highway, next to the railroad tracks, kind of a "hole-in-the-wall" looking place, the kind that's either very, very good or not so good at all. There were three people in our party. All of us ordered a combo plate that included chile rellenos. As it turned out, the chile rellenos were not very good and the cheese in the middle of one of mine was still semi-solid. The refried beans had an aftertaste of pork fat. The rice was good and the chips OK. However, I left part of the meal - I just didn't find it good enough to finish. The waitress was nice enough but the service was slow, and the other waitress brought the wrong food to our table at first. They corrected that. The total cost for 3 people was $42, which is pretty high for the quality of food we got. Overall, if you're looking for good Mexican food in Indio, there must be better choices. I have no reason to re-visit this place. read more

I haven't been to this restaurant for a long time but I was pleasantly surprised to see how busy they were on a Monday evening. Our server was Erica and she did a very good job of taking care of the whole room. Everything is homemade and the portions generous. We both had Chilies Rellanos. Excellent Margueritas! read more

Very lively place! We shared the Combinacion de Mariscos, which was perfect for us! The breaded fish, the shrimp, the shrimp stuffed pepper and the tostada de ceviche were all really tasty! Our service was great, even though it was really busy on a Tuesday night. I would love to eat here again. read more

Excellent food! Good margarita and better michellada. Tiny hole in the wall. The whole place shakes when the train goes by the food is authentic, very clean (not greasy) flavorful, old world Mexico style. I think they should add a railroad car and make it a dive bar venue complete with real time train entertainment, it would be amazing! Definitely going again read more

Found this on Citysearch so I thought I'd share with Yelpers. This is a cute little restaurant in Indio, with pretty darned good food. I ordered the shrimp cocktail, which came with lots of medium sized shrimp ($10). My aunt ordered the El Mexicali Special (steak strips with rice/beans/nopales) for about $12. Good food, good service. I would definitely recommend this place. read more

Not sure why people rave about this place... Been here twice and the food is ok... Had guacamole that seemed to have mayo in it for some weird reason(gross)... Drive across the street to Rincon Norteno if you want good Mexican food.. read more

El mexicali's chile gueritos are completely addictive pops of fire grilled shrimp in slightly charred yellow peppers. That's reason enough to visit this simple Mexican diner which I stumbled upon by accident. Thinking I was so clever to have discovered this place, I found out Oprah Winfrey and Jay Leno had been there before me. I'm sure they came in for those little peppers or maybe it was the chili colorado that lured them in (which was the best I've ever had ). Service was not great and you're really cramped in. It's super noisy and they just offer one mild salsa. It's a bit of a dive to be honest but it's probably one of the best dining experiences I've ever had. It's like something out of a movie set. Sit against the back wall to get the full experience as freight trains go rumbling past and rattle your water glass. Or sit by the front door where you'll be closer to the two mariachi guitarists who happily take requests. If you're only passing through Indio do not miss this place. read more

El Mexicali Cafe - Mexican Near Me - Indio, California

Tight quarters. Arrive early or wait. Fajitas greasy, no guacamole. Empanadas and shrimp rellinos were wonderful. Good service.

Haven't been here in 4 years! I love the remodel! Plus they have liquor now. The customer service is outstanding. I remember when the owner Monica would feed my son chicken soup with rice. Today I'm having a combo #3. Chips and salsa are so yummy! I believe my server is Juan. He did a fabulous job. I gotta come back more often. read more

The F&F Special is a must every time I go. It's Camarones a Diabla con Pulpo, Abalone and Octopus. If you like Mariscos you must try this with Chile Hueros and a Chabela made with Modelo Negra. read more

Never had a bad meal here. All their food is great. The margarita is awesome. Highly recommend this place. read more

El Mexicali Cafe - Mexican Near Me - Indio, California

Obviously we lived this place as we went two days in a row. I'm not a big Mexican fan. The first afternoon I had tacos that were ok. The margarita was awesome though. Hubby got the combo fajitas with shrimp, chicken and steak. He had enough to bring some home. The next day we took our granddaughter and her family. He got the same thing. I got the low carb meal which was fish. It was awesome. There are two locations but we went to II. read more

Normally this restaurant is good....not today. Our waitress Gloria was HORRIBLE she acted as if us being there was an inconvenience. She was rude and inattentive. The food took forever to get to us and my quesadilla supreme was boiled chicken and cheese with the blandest guacamole ever. The real treat was the Beatle frozen in the ice cube. Yes...and again Gloria acted like it was our fault it was there. I truly hope that this is not an indication of a new trend for the place. read more

Food was tasty but served cold. Rice was bland. Service was exceptionally slow although server was attentive once with a larger glass of water. Other patrons were berry noisy. Much better after two tables of families departed. read more

Great food, great people serving. This is the place to eat in Indio. K go there every time I visit the city

Best Mexican food in the valley. It's a family owned and operated small place on the train tracks off the I-10 freeway. Try the shrimp stuffed peppers. That celebrities come to this whole-in-the wall on a regular basis tells you something about the quality of the food. People like Oprah and Paul McCartney aren't coming b/c they can't afford somewhere else! And now open on Mondays too! read more

Inches from speeding freight trains and in the path of the occasional heavy winds, a purveyor of fine chiles gueritos. You will find a bottle of soy sauce on the table. I am new to this fusion and enjoyed it. read more

Seek this place place out. It is worth the trip. Though humble, the restaurant offers authentic mexican fare. You won't be disappointed.

My favorite Mexican restaurant in the Coachella valley. I lived here for my entire life before moving to orange county and I still to this day cannot return home without visiting El Mexicali Café! My favorite item on the menu are the STUFFED CHILIS. YUMMY :) I might have to return home sooner then expected just to get those read more

Great food and amazing service it's small but you feel at home the stuffed peppers are amazing and the chavelas are the best ive had in the valley read more

Great fried chilis, great Mexican drinks, great atmosphere; makes this an ideal place to take the family.

Good and authentic food. Definitely will go back. We grabbed dinner on our way through town and were pleasantly surprised to find some very good Mexican food here. The menu had some great choices but it was exceptionally hot out so we got two different cheviche, both very good well worth eating thought but not quite at the extra ordinary level we are used to at our favorite places in Phoenix. The referee beans were more liquid than we are used to but that he flavor was outstanding. We also had the chicken salad which was nice and light even with the cheese and the chicken was grilled to a nice texture and flavor. read more

First time here and it probably won't be my last. The chilis stuffed with are shrimp INCREDILE. We also had the guacamole superb. I enjoyed the pork ribs with cactus and my bud had the fajitas. We enjoyed it including the flan. read more

El Mexicali Cafe - Mexican Near Me - Indio, California

Prepare to wait. We arrived around 5:30pm on a Friday night, party of two. There were three small parties ahead of us. We waited a half hour to get seated. Once we were seated the drinks and appetizers came pretty promptly, but then we waited fifty minutes for our food to show up. What should have taken about forty five minutes took about two hours. While waiting I had a lot of time to observe those around me and one table was eating while the ten other tables appeared to be in our same predicament. There were at least three servers for those eleven tables and they always seemed to be busy yet we and everyone else seemed to wait and wait for food, the check, refills on chips, etc. I'm guessing the kitchen was shorthanded or maybe had a lot of takeout orders. Food was seven out of ten -- above average but not worth that kind of wait. The bathroom around back was kind of a dump, too. On the plus side they seem to have adapted to Covid pretty well with all seating moved outside to a screened in tent. read more

The food was good. (Not great) drinks were really good. They weren't to busy and our waitress never YMCA me to check in on us, we had to call her over for forgotten tortillas and boxes. She would walk by and not acknowledge us. Wish she was more attentive we would have ordered more drinks. read more

This classic restaurant is our home away from home in Indio. It is the "original" family run restaurant in the Coachella Valley. We like their incredible dinner menu but breakfast is also very good. Great friendly service. I have never been disappointed. read more

Good Mexican food in small but comfortable surroundings. The passing freight trains add much color to the place. Always busy for breakfast lunch and dinner. Go try it you will be pleased. read more

My father in law looked this place up and I am SO glad he did! It's delicious! Everything we got was amazing, from the costillas to chile verde to the incredible and unusual shrimp and yellow pepper appetizer. As advertised it was like nothing we'd ever had. Definitely worth trying, and the staff is very attentive. We had a rowdy tired two year old with us and they didn't even blink. I'm impressed to say the least. read more