Central Mesa

I had a really nice time here. The bartender didn't really say too much but he was super nice. I had a dirty martini and it was perfect. The jalapeño margarita was good too I did enjoy my food but everything seemed to be a little undercooked. I loved the ambiance of the place. Varying relaxing atmosphere. I would definitely return.

Received a gift card and decided to try someplace new for dinner and spoil myself. The presentation of the meal is good, the meal itself, not worth the price. I didn’t complain since I was using a gift card. Well this restaurant REFUSED to accept its own gift card. Apparently there’s a new owner, no name change, but new management. So an apparent new owner refuses to accept gift cards for their own restaurant. No notices posted anywhere stating that prior to this date gift cards are invalid. Nice job there. The one and only reason I went there was to use a gift card that someone purchased for $50.00. So you profit from the sale of the gift card and the $50 charge for my meal since you would not accept the gift card. That’s a disgrace!!

Stopped in for lunch the other day. Service, vibe and food were excellent. The server was attentive and manager checked to make sure everything was ok. Started with chips and salsa. Got tacos with the sides black beans and street corn. Finished with key lime pie. I will be back and looking forward to trying other offerings.

Not too impressed, unfortunately. We came here to celebrate the end of the semester after reading all the good reviews and were rather disappointed. The restaurant is snazzy and attractive, nice decorations, with a very modern and clean feel. We had no trouble getting a seat at around 7 PM on Sunday. The service was adequate -- awkward and very quiet, but not in an unfriendly way. Our food and drinks came out pretty quickly. Their menu and specials seem to change really often. For example, the drink menu in some Yelp pictures indicated 5 dollar sangrias on Sunday. That was a price I was willing to pay; shortly after ordering it, I saw the drink menu at the corner of the table and saw that they were actually now 7 dollars. It's my fault for not double checking, so I'm not really mad -- this is just a warning to others to double check first. Another similar thing: the Mesa fries on one of the menus they GAVE us said they came with tinga chicken; the other said it didn't. It's not a big deal either way for us, but it is confusing. At any rate -- my white sangria was alright. Pleasantly floral and the bit of added champagne made it pretty boozy. We did wind up ordering the Mesa fries as an appetizer (and they do currently come with tinga chicken). They were probably the best part of the meal. The queso was nice and gooey, the jalapeños weren't too spicy, the fries were mostly crispy, and the chicken was fairly plentiful. Unfortunately, the dish was on the too salty side, which wound up being a theme throughout the night. I can count on one hand the number of times dishes have been too salty for me, but unfortunately our meal added another finger to my count. My boyfriend got the Nashville hot chicken tacos, and I had the chicken enchiladas. His hot chicken tacos were the better of the two dishes, but overall it was just okay. The poblano slaw was the best part of the dish, but again, the tacos were too salty. The fries he ordered came with a too-sweet, almost sriracha tasting dipping sauce; he asked for the chipotle ranch he'd seen advertised in Yelp pictures and was told they only had a cilantro buttermilk dip. We tried it, but neither of us are huge cilantro fans, so it wasn't surprising when we didn't like it very much. My enchiladas were...really weak. The tortilla texture was really gummy and too soft. The chicken inside was also mushy and tasted of basically nothing except salt. I never tasted the jack cheese; when I didn't taste salt, I tasted the overpowering rosemary cream sauce. The rice was, honestly, terrible -- overwhelming lime flavor, and cooked to mush. Perhaps we came on a really, really bad night, but we were not taken with this place at all.

Central Mesa is eclectic and hip. The atmosphere is a modern, industrial decor with some historical accents. The brick walls and wood add a warm feeling to the rooms. The menu is Tex-Mex with modern influence like the empanadas garnished with in-house made pickled onion. I highly recommend the empanadas and the street corn appetizers. For entrees, you can't go wrong with street tacos or the grilled burrito. I haven't had a bad dish there, so go ahead and order anything!