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Originally from California, I am used to having delicious authentic Mexican food. I have tried a majority of Mexican restaurants in Chicago and this is by far one of the best. The quality of the food is through the roof and the value is unbelievable. You can easily eat here for under $5/per person. It is a quaint restaurant. Anytime I have ever gone (which is at least once every two weeks), the cooks are very consistent with their food quality. It is a nice low-key restaurant with an atmosphere great for kids. I highly recommend this place!

I was excited to learn of this new byob mexican "jem". However it was anything but! Three of us arrived for dinner Friday night. The waiter explained the menu and we decided to go with his recommendations. He mentioned that we should order 4 "entrees" and share. We had him open 2 bottles of beer for us. The portions are tapas sized and our 1 special request of sour cream on the side was ignored for all dishes. (our friend doesn't like sour cream) not a crazy request? The "cazuela" which is a popular option was good, but we only got 3 tiny tortillas to share. We asked for a few more in order to finish the meal (yes, of course we got charged for this!) Overall we felt the food was decent, but extremely small portions. The ambience was also not great. Lights were completely off in dining area and kitchen and the train was extremely loud. Then we got the bill. This is were I was in disbelief! We were charged $4 corkage fee for having the waiter open 2 bottles of beer, no glassware. And we were overcharged on all items! For example, the Tamal Oaxaqueno is priced at $6.45, we were charged $8.45 and overcharged by $2 on every dish ordered. At this point we were not only left hungry but pissed off! The place is overall not a great dining location and a $4 corkage fee and "made-up" prices on our bill were ridiculous. Of course we never saw the waiter again to remedy so we left...never coming back. Fyi, the prices online are at least a dollar less than at the restaurant. Just double check your bill before leaving and bring your own bottle opener!!! Or try a different byob place, too many great ones in the city, this is not one of them. I wanted to support a "mom and pop" shop, however the wrong way to run a business is to rip-off a customer and try to make their $$ with ridiculous fees!