Mesa 14 is my favorite Mexican resto in Montreal.

I was an aficionado of the place before they changed owners, when it was Mexicali Rosa´s, and I am still a fan today.

The revamped Mesa 14 became more of a lounge-y kind of place to it, with groovy music and subdued lighting in the downstairs bar area. Upstairs, there is still a folksy kitschy feeling to it, with it´s cozy fireplace, and Mexican knickknacks and bandieras all around.

And then the food!

My absolute fave is their 90210 Taco Salad – billed as the salad that is so big it needs its own area code. It IS.

Packed chockful of a yummy arrangement of veggies (pepper, tomatoes, lettuce, onions and more), with thick – and I mean thick – chunks of fresh chicken. And this really tasty creamy sauce kind of like a chipotle – but not. Not sure what is in there, but it´s good. The sauce comes on the side and I usually ask for a second helping of it – and they don´t mind bringing it.

The whole salad is served in a HUGE taco bowl, a BIG edible taco that you can eat your way through. Light & crispy.

What I like about Mesa 14 is that they give you these free nachos to much on while you order & wait for your drinks and food.

Their fajitas are also great. I love the chicken fajitas & they come with a side helping of guacamole, sour cream and salsa with lots of veggies, a container filled with bread, and the dish is brought on a very hot platter – watch your fingers – nicely piping hot. It´s still steaming.

They have quite a drink list. The Mojitos are awesome and wonderfully minty.

They have a great Happy Hour as well:
Maragarita, Daquiris $4.50
Draft beer, a few other beers $4.00
House red, white wines $4.00
Bud, Bud Light 2 for $6
Bramha beer (Brazilian…like a Corona) 2 for $7

They also have a long list of REALLY WICKED martinis for about $8.00, but they’re really BIG ones (3 ounces).

They also have some tasty desserts.
Their Deep Fried Ice Cream is just decadent. That´s the only word for it. Forget about calories for the night if you try it.

I also like their Mexican Apple Pie, which is a tortilla filled with apples and more apples, with a dash of cinnamon, and served with French vanilla ice cream.

I love going to Mesa 14.
Gee, I have a craving for Mexican food now.

We’ve been to this place a few times with some friends, it’s a great place to go to before a movie or just for an early night out. We started with the guacamole and nachos, I thought it was a pretty good guacamole (and I make amazing guac, seriously) with some fresh tomato salsa on top, but everyone else thought it needed more heat or garlic. For our mains I shared a vegetable fajita platter with a friend. The portions for this were not thought out well (that’s an understatement). There were only 4 fajitas when clearly 6-8 were needed and not nearly enough salsa, guac, sour cream and cheese given. That said the vegetables were very nice as I love caramelized vegetables. Jean had the Bandera Mexicana which is essentially 3 different enchiladas with some rice and really good black beans (these made me a believer). Another friend had the fish taco, he always gets this here so I assume it’s really good. Apparently the mojitos are really good too! the server was very busy and they should probably divide the tables up in a more logical manner.