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Caliente
Rating Details »
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Good for:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
22 reviews for Caliente
Came here for drinks and had a chupacabra. Very delicious. And knocked me on my ass! The drinks were pretty pricey (4 drinks were $40). The chips came with three different kinds of salsa, all three of which were VERY tasty, especially the chunky tomato.
Didn't have dinner here, so I have no idea what that tastes like, but the upstairs patio was really nice and the staff was super friendly.
I had not checked out the reviews because we were meeting a group that had suggested the restaurant for our annual kick off dinner in Lake Tahoe. They are locals so I figured it would be a good choice.
I liked the look of the place and they have an upstairs patio where you can sit outside and dine. Our server was prompt and friendly as we ordered the first round of drinks.
They brought fresh chips and three kinds of delicious salsa to the table.
I cannot recall all of the entrees, but some of the highlights were the Sea Bass Veracruz, Mahi Mahi Fish Tacos, Ancho Chile Beef Short Ribs. I ordered Cochinita Pibil, which is achiote braised pork with sweet corn polenta, pickled onions and corn tortillas. My meal was very impressive and the rest of our party was also very pleased with their choices.
The food was absolutely excellent and the service was spectacular throughout the meal. Most of the restaurants are very average in North Lake Tahoe. I was pleasantly surprised and pleased with the choice.
They have a tequila tasting on Thursdays. I would love to meet that crowd.
Hola Muchachos. Hankerin' for some o' the best Mexican on Tahoe's Northwest shore? Then point your burro toward Kings Beach and hit Caliente! (no I'm not that excited, the name itself has an exclamation point). So, Tahoe is not renowned for its cuisine, I mean, do ya really expect great Mexican in Tahoe? That said, any food? (Exception: Peluso's Pizza) Seriously, the Food & Wine Classic is in Aspen people. Not Tahoe.
***If ya want the full VinDivine review & more reviews, check our profile...
Caliente impresses. Litmus test: the Chips & Salsa. Yes, free. I hate places that charge! I mean figure it out - Q: what happens when you feed salty and hot food to someone? A: They drink like pigs! The margin's in the alcohol, people. Anyway, the chips are light, fresh and crisp and they serve three salsas of varying heat. A Pico, a cucumber/avocado number and a hot red + jalepeno killa.
And tacos. We love tacos! Tacos tacos tacos. The Chicken Tinga is our fave, excellently spiced, tender bird with chili and chipotle. The Carne Asada Taco is also very good, grilled skirt steak with charred tomato salsa and habanero-chipotle cream sauce. Mmmm mmm. Three for $15, and they are good sized.
***If ya want the full VinDivine review & more reviews, check our profile...
It's really a 3.5. They have a great tequila menu. Any bar/restaurant that offers Siete Leguas tequila is alright by me. The shrimp tostada is tasty. The crab chimichanga was pretty good. Margaritas are great. Check it out.
The atmosphere on the patio is nice. Very relaxed, the waiters have a good attitude.
I don't know where to start.
Waited 45 minutes for our food and it was not busy at all.
When the food did arrive it was lousy, I ordered Chicken Tamales it had barley any chicken.
The Southwest Tahoe Burger was dry the waiter told us that is why we had to wait so long because the 1st burger they cooked was burnt. Wait it takes them 45 minutes to cook 2 burgers wow they need new cooks.
My daughter ordered the Mahi Mahi Fish Tacos and that was all that was on her plate no rice nothing and they were not that good. For the price you are paying come on a side dish would be nice. The last one we ordered was the Mexican Ceviche that was descent.
The chips were all broken but good.
The margaritas were really good.
Would not eat there ever again.
I wouldn't go there just for the food. It was fine but not great. There are much better Mexican options around. The drinks and tequila menu is good though and it is fun to sit rooftop on a summer night and have drinks with friends. I recommend drinks and chips and salsa! Enjoy. :)
I waltzed into this place on a Saturday afternoon and got seated right away. Their patio was super chill and they could pretty much do no wrong from there seeing as I am from Dallas and NEVER get a decent patio! Their food is pretty tasty- I enjoyed the chicken tamales and the mahi tacos that I snuck some bites off of my man's plate. I loved our server, he laughed at me when I pronounced my drink, "Heart On" very carefully without trying to sound perverted, and didn't give me grief for ordering a second one, even though those drinks were muy fuerte! Sure made the short walk to King's Beach interesting!
A sister restaurant to Gar Woods in Carnelian Bay, this little Kings Beach enclave also has a strong spirited cocktail menu. While Gar Woods has the Wet Woody, Caliente carries it's own one-and-done signature; the Chupacabra...
Tequila and about 24 other fruits and flavors, they build this cocktail in the basement and pipe it up to the bars through slushy machines. One is all you need, two and it's Taxi time. They also have a few other south-of-the-boarder libations... the Strawberry-Basil Margarita, the Cilantro Margarita, Pisco Sour, etc...
Again, haven't tried to food, but the decor is welcoming, but I have never seen it packed to the gills.
On Lake Tahoe, it's hard to find a restaurant with an upstairs patio that has a great view of a vacant lot across the street.
I also look for a Mexican restaurant with liberal use of the words "chingon" and "chupacabra" in the menu.
When cooks get fired from a Chevy's, I think I know who hires them.
A NOTE TO THE MANAGER: a single waitress CAN handle 18 tables all by herself. Really. It was a good idea to stay downstairs and "manage." We didn't mind waiting 20 minutes for such time-consuming dishes as "water" or "chips."
Ice cream is best served warm.
Now I live in Sonoma and visit Kings Beach twice a year. Caliente is ALWAYS on the top of our list of things to do while there. I have eaten there about 10 times. Bringing various friends. ALL my friends, as well as my husband and I, LOVE THIS PLACE!
I will agree... it is $$$ pricey... but this is a tourist town and one of the nicest restaurants around! Those who say the food sucks.... what?! I guess it might be an acquired taste to those who are used to bland boring quesadillas or burgers and fries. The drinks are to die for! ALL are good.
We have NEVER had bad service. Seriously... NEVER!
That pic below of teh big bowl of Guac. It is HUGE and AWESOME!
My husband and I and 5 friends will never go here again. The service was absolutely awful. We sat at a long bar top table in the bar, we had 2 pitchers of margaritas ($51 a piece for so so drinks) and two orders of chicken nachos. We weren't having dinner or sitting in the main restaurant. Apparently they were understaffed, which is not my problem as the patron but theirs to remedy. After we placed our drink order and an order for one of the nachos, we waited at least 30 minutes for the drinks. We could see that one of the pitchers had been prepared as it was sitting on the bar with the abundance of ice melting. I inquired as to our drinks and were told sorry we are busy. I then proceeded to deliver the prepared margarita pitcher and the glasses to our table because I didn't want to watch the server walk past our drinks five more times without delivering it to the table. One of our friends had ordered a diet coke that the server never bothered to order so I had to take care of that as well. It took an hour to deliver the first set of nachos, by this time, we decided that we would order one more nacho because we were starving as opposed to ordering dinner because we didn't want to spend another 2 hours there. The server never removed any of the empty glasses or dirty plates so I not only served our table I bussed it as well! When the bill came, I was shocked at the price of the margaritas and disappointed over the services. I complained to the manager on duty and he told me that "I should have asked how much the pitcher would be" and that the "prices are the prices...if you don't like it you don't have to come back." Guess what, not only won't we be going back, we will advise all of our friends to stay away as well....we have a lot of friends! We then discovered that they had the nerve to add an 18% gratuity to a bar tab! That is a surprising display of poor business judgment. I have never been in a restaurant bar where this practice was applied and believe that the server and/or the manager should have pointed this out in advance. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the gratuity should have been removed once we alerted the manager regarding the subpar and I mean SUBPAR services. Especially after he acknowledged that they were understaffed and that the service was impacted as a result. It's a shame they can't get their act together and I am shocked to learn this place is affiliated with Garwoods.
I would have to agree with the rest, the food is pretty good if it is warm and gets there on time the carnitas tacos are the best of the group but leaking grease (must be what makes them so good). The mojitos, oh the mojitos, are super, but make you want to bring your own flask at 11 something a pop before tax and tip, yikes.
Honestly, this place beats the Taco Bell down the street. The guacamole is really good. but make sure you don't eat too much of it. you won't have enough room in your stomach for your actual meal.
the first time we tried to eat here, there was over an hour wait for dinner. the 2nd time around, it wasn't so busy for a late lunch.
the waitress was really cool, except she didn't know what a caipirinha was and she said seh-vee-chee for ceviche. the drink list is http://dabomb.com and the atmostphere on the upper deck on a sunny day rocks. the prices a little high and the beef i had was a bit spicy.
if you have some extra cash, come here instead of taco bell
I'm usually pretty patient about service but this place is just unforgivable. It was so bad we have no comments about the food. The host just didn't give a shit as customers walked out pissed. If you're the owner and are reading this post, I hope you fire your ding dong host. If you're the owner playing host, you should just get out and hire someone that can do the job right.
It was July 4th and the upstairs deck caught our eye as we drove by. We stopped off for a late lunch (2:30PM). The downstairs area was practically empty. As we were first in line, another party joined us shortly as we watched the host seat a group of 4. The host told us that he would be right with us.
Twenty minutes later, the host still had not returned. By this time, 3 additional parties joined the line. In those 20 minutes, we saw the host take an order, prepare a salad, talk to a wait staff and just bumbled around without acknowledging us.
The phone rang and the host finally walked towards us. Maybe just maybe he may at least indicate a wait time after the call. Nope, he just walked away. The couple behind us asked the bartender if it would be faster to just sit at the bar.
I was pissed. I accosted the first wait staff that walked by. Everyone in line was nodding in agreement. It was the wait staff's first day so he naturally deferred to the host who shrugged his shoulder, mouthed the words "can't be helped" and walked away. The wait staff told us that it would be another 10 minutes before we would be seated. WTF. It takes a ding dong 40 minutes to figure out that he can seat us in 10 minutes. No apology, nothing.
We left and weren't the only ones. You can read the other reviews about the "wonderful" food service--seems very consistent.
My friends and I went here while visiting in town. The two people I was with are fine dining servers so they know the game. We went two nights in a row because the drinks were fantastic and the short rib flautas were unbelievable. Night one it was busy, but we didn't pay much attention to the service because we were too busy getting sloshed on margaritas of all different flavors.. Night two; service was horrendous. There was only one table in the bar to be served (us), and we literally waited a half an hour for our first round of drinks that we watched sitting on the bar. Not only that but after being served by the same server two nights in a row and ordering the same appetizer, she brings our entrees and casually says "oh, whoops I made a mistake and ordered the wrong appetizer. yours will be up soon". Not only were we finished with dinner by the time our appetizer came, but she didn't even care to deduct anything for our troubles!
In order to get our tab paid, I took it to the bartender while our waitress just looked at me.
We would love to come back, if only there is a better waitress that works there. Until then, we will stick to being served at the bar, by the friendly bartenders who deserve the tips they get.
I have been wanting to try Caliente since September but haven't had a chance until last night. I am giving this place 4 stars not for their service but for the atmosphere, food and drinks. Our waiter was very kind but the service is a bit slow. We really didn't mind because we enjoy going to dinner and socializing. If you are in a rush I would not suggest this place. The minute we sat down they gave us complimentary tequila which was awesome! Their Margarita's are also great, I will definitely go back for more cocktails. For dinner I thoroughly enjoyed the chicken enchilada's mole, it was a lot of food but good. My husband ate the fish tacos and enjoyed those as well.
If you want to go out and try Caliente I would recommend it for a nice dinner out.
I swore I wouldn't be one of the 'haters' on Yelp, but my experience at Caliente has compelled me to review.
The service was HORRENDOUS; the food was not_good; the drinks are too sweet and way too pricey. Did I mention the service was bad?
We were this over 4th of July weekend which I appreciate is total chaos in Tahoe. We were prepared to wait a bit, we were prepared for the food to take awhile to come out. All of that happened - and that was fine.
They give you chips and shots when you arrive - and that's enough to hold this group over.
But that's the only good piece. So that's what you can give the one star too.
They don't list prices on the drinks. Beware - that's a $12 margarita you are ordering (and they aren't that good - too sweet).
The waiter had f'd up one of my friends order and gave him Chicken Mole (he *hates* Chicken Mole) instead of Braised Short Ribs. He sent it back basically untouched.
After 3 hours, when the bill finally came - with the service already included cuz we were a big group....
The bill still had the Chicken Mole on it. The 'virgin margarita' I ordered was rung up as alcoholic (that's $12 fruit punch). The waiter made it sound like he was doing us a favor by taking the Mole off the bill and changing my margarita to a 'virgin cocktail.'
The whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth. I felt like they were trying to get away with something.
It was a terrible, terrible experience. I'll never go back.
Great decor, nice folks but....pretty pricey and I wasn't a big fan of the menu. If you bring kids, you'll definitely be disappointed - a little too pricey and dishes were too upscale for their palates. However, their tequila list is fantastic and that would be the main reason to go there - appetizers and upscale tequila.
We went here on Valentine's Day. We weren't aiming for a high end place, just some good Mexican food, and preferably, a quiet, relaxing atmosphere. We should have turned around as soon as we walked in, but we were tired and hungry. One look and I could tell what kind of a place it was: A mediocre restaurant trying it's best to be high-brow. Too bad the only thing high brow about it were the prices! I agree with other reviewers that the service was pretty bad. The wait staff is very cheesy at their attempts to be "classy". The food took a very long time coming out to our table, when we were told it would be out "soon". The chips and salsa were tasty, but the main course and side dishes were not (which is what counts). I got "macadamia encrusted halibut". It was more like a bland, unseasoned piece of fish with a drizzle of nut puree on top. Nothing about it was "encrusted", and because it wasn't seasoned, it was a big disappointment. My side dishes consisted of rice and asparagus- boring, and both tasted odd. The asparagus was undercooked as well. My boyfriend got a chicken dish (sorry I can't remember the name), which made me jealous. It tasted much better than what I had! We spent about $80 for dinner...way too much!
So basically, there's not a lot terribly wrong with this place... it's decent enough. But it's way too pricey and pretentious, and wasn't at all what we were hoping for.
Free chips and 3 types of salsa when you sit down, plus tastee strawberry margarita type drink. We had chile releno and mahi tacos, both good. Eating on the roof with view of trees was bonus. Would be 4 stars but a bit pricey.
The only reason I even give this one star is because the site won't let me give it no stars. Horrible, horrible, horrible. I've been there twice and my fiance and I had completely different things each time and . . . yuck. The service is horrible, the food is mediocre at best and awful at worst.
The restaurant was maybe 1/4 full when we got there but we had to wait a full 20 minutes or more between ordering and each course. We sat down right around 7:00 p.m. and didn't get out of there until after 9:00 and that was not because we were lingering and savoring. It was because there was such horrible service. The other side benefit to the really long wait time between courses was that the food came out lukewarm at best so it had obviously been sitting for quite some time before being brought to us.
This most recent visit we started off with two different appetizers, the first was the cheese dip which came to the table with 1/2 an inch of oil floating on top. The dip had separated and was a disgusting bowl of blobby separated cheese submerged in oil. It was sickening.
The other appetizer was a plate with three types of meats on three small, round, hard as a rock yet vaguely stale tasting . . . not sure what. I forget what they were supposed to be but, they were awful, my fiance ended up just eating the meats off the top because the base was inedible. The meat was okay, nothing to write home about but not disgusting.
As an entree I had the three taco platter -- one of each. This was three tacos each with a different meat -- pork, beef, and chicken. They were okay. All of the three meats tasted exactly the same and were fairly inoffensive but, not really any flavor and you really couldn't tell one from the other. This is one of their "signature" dishes.
My fiance had the filet which came with mashed potatoes stuffed into what looked like a poblano chili and they were so obviously stuffed and left to sit for a very long time that at first I thought the top was supposed to be some sort of crust but it was just the dried out mashed potatoes from having sat in some heating bin forever. They were truly awful. Mealy, old, stale, disgusting.
The vegetables were okay, nothing gross or spectacular. And the steak . . . well, the steak itself was a steak and nothing noteworthy good or bad but the sauce that it was drowning in was supposed to be a demiglace but it tasted like the primary ingredient was grape koolaid. Seriously. My fiance kept trying to figure out what the flavor was so I tried it a couple of times and every single time the overwhelming taste was grape koolaid or grape popsicle.
Masochists that we are, we stayed for dessert. I ordered the bread pudding - yuck. And he had the churros which seemed decent.
We both agree that this restaurant is off our list of restaurants. Caliente? No, Calieyucky.
Great food, decent drinks, but service was awful. We waited sooooo long to get our drinks while watching the bartender just chatting with some folks at the bar - it wasn't even busy. I asked for a drink off the menu and was told they had never seen that ordered (didn't even ask the bartender if he could make it and it was a basic drink). The waiter asked us to pour our own drinks from the pitcher we ordered, but then realized he should probably do it, but then spilled it all over the table and didn't offer to replace any he spilled. It's a shame because the food was very good and it is a nice atmosphere.
