Carajillo

Absolutely above and beyond - incredible, scratch-made and authentic Mexican cuisine. Molcajete guac with chicharron is not to be missed! Do not leave without trying their homemade hot sauce, spicy plus flavor elevates any dish. Green chicken tamales were divine along with generously sized margaritas and mojitos. Cannot wait to return!

I met a couple of friends for an early dinner. We missed the lunch rush and it was too early for the dinner/weekend rush. Our server was very attentive and patient with us. The atmosphere was quaint. For the most part, we enjoyed our food. There were a couple of items that I should have tried instead of my choice. I would for sure return for an encore!

Started with the homemade molcajete guac and esquites, we knew we were in for a treat. Everything tasted fresh and homemade. We split the tacos and tamales which were both amazing. Coupled with the homemade sauces (the arbol and habanero are perfectly hot), it was a wonderful dinner out. Highly recommend anyone looking for some authentic Mexican food.

I came here before when this was Emory. Honestly it is much better as a Mexican restaurant. The food is so much better, it is made to order and the quality is good. There are very healthy options and less healthy options. I had the burrito (stretchers and mushrooms) from the brunch menu. It was delicious and initial presentation was top notch! I also had sangria and I’m very happy with that choice as well! Everyone was nice. It was honestly so slow in here, I hope business picks up, because the process and food and drink and service are all great!

Discovered Carajillo earlier this week and decided to stop in for dinner tonight while walking my dog. Service was great and they gave my dog water too. There is a lot of patio space and it’s really beautiful and comfortable. I had the nachos with steak and they were really good and a good size as well. I’m looking forward to going back soon and eating inside and trying more dishes. Glad to find this new gem in Ferndale.

Came in for a margarita after going on a first date that could’ve been better, and everything was fabulous. Best chicken tinga tacos I’ve ever had. I came here specifically because I wanted a real margarita made with lime and agave rather than sour mix. Best margarita I’ve had in Metro Detroit, and I’ve been around! Lol. 100/10 recommend. Also, my server Karina was so kind and attentive.

A welcome addition to Ferndale. The food and drinks were great. Arguably some of the best enchiladas I’ve had a restaurant, they tasted homemade. I only take off a star because the margarita could use some improvement and it felt like our waitress kept pressuring us to order once we sat down.

As a Mexican, this place feels like home. The food is delicious, full of real flavor, and clearly made with love. The service was friendly and welcoming, which made the whole experience even better. Definitely coming back!

Yummy!!!! Very authentic food. We loved sitting outside, but the inside was clean and looked like fun to have a large gathering. Great service.

Carajillo is a woman own restaurant ! Owner is super nice and makes sure the food is up to high standards! If anything is wrong she will gladly change it !!! Tortilla soup is my favorite! Their limeade was sooo good ! Mexican Brunch was great ! Big quiet place !

Checked this place out on a Wednesday night. There were only a couple other tables eating there at the time. We sat at the bar and got great service! Both cocktails my partner and I ordered were delicious. I got tacos entree and tried pastor, steak, and chorizo. The chorizo was my fav but everything was good! My partner got the las quecas and really enjoyed them. The rice and beans side was very tasty as well. I see they have a patio both in the front and back so I am really looking forward to coming back and sitting outside! I am also interested in trying their brunch menu. Overall I had a great experience and would return!

Decent new addition to the Mexican food scene in the area. Cocktails were good, but the food was a bit bland (especially the nachos). I visited on the first week they were open, so hopefully they'll get better. The place is pretty much exactly as it was when it was the Emory, minus the pool table. I wish they would've changed the theme/decor more. Service was quick and friendly.

Everything was delicious! The elote was delicious (not pictured) but tasted really authentic!!! Also not pictured is some corn soup that came with the chicken enchiladas. The soup was ok, not amazing. The chicken enchiladas were very flavorful and the mole on top had a lot of depth of flavor! The other 2 dishes were just as good! Service was amazing as well! The interior is the same as it was for the Emory and could use some updates but we don't come for the decor, we came for the food and it didn't disappoint!

"I wanted to give this place a try, but with so many options nearby -- including another Mexican restaurant just around the corner that serves handmade chips and tortillas -- this was a disappointment. The nachos tasted like cheap Costco chips topped with bland tomatoes and what seemed like canned cheese sauce. It felt like they just gave up. I should've gone around the corner instead."

Tried once and unfortunately don't think we will be back which is a shame since we live a walkable distance and love what downtown Ferndale restaurants have to offer! Overall: bland not flavorful food, too expensive for how underwhelming it was. To start, we put an online order in. Which said it would be ready by 6:05 and it wasn't ready until 6:35 with no updates regarding the delay (even though they have a text service and website set up to follow progress of your order, it was never updated until I received a text saying that my food was ready after we had picked it up) We ordered: Elote (off the cob) - and it was very bland and sour. There was an inch of pure liquid at the bottom of our cup, which also spilled all over our bag because the elote cup was packed upside down in our to go bag. Queso fundido (with chorizo) - we never received the chorizo. The "queso" literally had 0 flavor because it was maybe a small bit of cheese with a heavy rue mixture. You could see the grittiness in the "queso" from the flour. We couldn't even eat this and don't even know if the chorizo would have made it any better. The texture was not cheese. Steak and pork tacos - the pork was decent. Tacos were hard to mess up since it's just cilantro and onions the steak was too chewy. Side of Mexican rice - this was a 2.5 oz cup for $3 of bland, unflavored rice. It certainly wasn't real Mexican rice. We wanted to love this place because it's so close to our house and we frequent that area of Ferndale often but unfortunately for the price of the food it just was not worth it.

Let's start with the good stuff: the side salad was delicious, the sangria was good, and the service was pleasant. That's it. The rice was not Mexican rice. It was very bland rice. Mexican rice is supposed to be seasoned and have enough tomato sauce to change the color from white. My enchiladas were smothered in cheese and sauce to the point that the tortilla was barely noticeable. The chicken was not well seasoned. The esquite was $11 and not worth the price. The tacos al pastor weren't at bad as the enchiladas, but they were not well portioned. There needs to be some balance between the tortillas and the meat. This was an issue for both dishes. Im not saying everything is inedible, but it's just not good Mexican food. I'm sorry. I really wish it was.

Went for Sunday brunch. Made a reservation which we could not cancel otherwise there would be a fee. There were only 5 other tables so a reservation was not necessary. The menus were printed oddly and difficult to read. We waited 30 mins for my son's hot chocolate (even after walking inside to ask for it). That was very hot and tasty. We waited 30 mins for our food which seems like a long time for eggs (especially since there was barely anyone there). We asked for my husband's food to have no cheese. Huge amount of cheese in it. The food was marginal. The margarita was very bad. Would have expected at least the hot chocolate to be comped. The owner came out and said hello but did not ask how everything was. Kind of strange. Will not return.

After a long day I had a craving for a margarita and Mexican food. Carajillo popped up offering exactly what I was after. It's a charming family owned and run restaurant. I ordered a margarita, elotes, enchiladas suizas, and a margarita for desert. Highly recommended!

I wanted to give this place a chance since we live close. The atmosphere was great! Loved the decor and lighting (though they turned down the lights towards the end of our meal which was odd). The food was disappointing honestly. Salsa had little flavor, margs were decent, burrito fell apart and was soggy. Despite the food being ehh, the service was great! I maybe would come back for margs at the bar in the future but won't return for the food unfortunately.

I've been here a few times now. I've had enchiladas with red sauce, tacos, quesadillas, and a few other things. I've been very happy with everything! The restaurant has great waiters who are very attentive, and they're quick to get food out. Definitely a great new spot in Ferndale!

The food speaks for itself. House salsas, and other core menu items like beans are rice are exciting, authentic and packed with flavor. On another level than Mexican restaurants in the area.

The food here is exceptional. Not all Mexican food is created equally! I had the pleasure of dining in on a quiet Tuesday night a few weeks ago with my in-laws. The atmosphere was calm and soothing, we were pleasantly greeted and started off with appetizers: equites (deconstructed elote), each soup flavor (tortilla and friojles), chips and cheese. You can feel and taste the care put into the food. One simple peek and you can see an all woman staff in the kitchen diligently preparing the food. A mature, but obviously eloquent and beautiful chef emerged from the kitchen to do a hot soup pour from a round pueblo style pottery mug into our bowls where our dry (tortillas and other accoutrements) rested. All of our meals for the party of 5 came out timely and together. And our family were literally delighted with all the flavors! As a Chicago native, I'd become resigned to the notion that I'd never get really good Mexican food again, despite having visited SW Detroit. It seemed no matter what, authentic Mexican food was prepared to be downplayed in an effort to be more trendy or Americanized palates. I now feel like that's no longer the case and after several other solo visits in the last month, I can say the food has remained constant. The establishment is family ran and owned. I've encountered them run into some growing pains with increased popularity (I waited 25 minutes on a carry out order on a Friday night). And so far, I've not been a fan of the bartending staff...they seem like they're used to working at clubs as opposed to a cultured restaurant serving up robust flavor. I'm eager for their success and hopeful that the food continues to stay flavorful with high quality. If they learn how to better expedite and ensure food always comes out hot, this place will be insanely busy this summer.

Tried this new place for a friend's birthday last night despite reading a few negative reviews. The patio was nice and the interior decor was inviting. We started with cocktails and guac which were both good, but unfortunately the problems ensued after this. Flavor and ambiance mean nothing if your service is not there! We waited another 20 minutes for our second round of drinks and had to go in and ask. There was NO apology offered...instead I was almost yelled at by a young man "they are coming, ok!". I would give some grace if it was busy, but the place was empty and the bartender was literally doing dishes rather than preparing our order. My husband ordered steak tacos and was given chicken. My friends seafood burrito was not edible...the calamari inside was chewy and over cooked. I will say that my salad was large and delicious. All it takes is a quick apology and/or explanation by the service staff, but they need additional training. Good intentions and food mean nothing if your staff is not trained in the art of service. We will not be back...obviously.

Brunch here was really good, and I especially liked the Mezcal cocktail and the mushroom tacos I tried.

I thought it was delicious and a nice place/vibe. We all enjoyed our food and I will be back for sure!

Kinda on the fence about this place. Like the ambiance, location is nice next to port, good service... but the food falls short. IMO the guac is not worth the money. It needs way more salt, the tortilla chips had zero salt and were cold. Ordered the "chicken burrito" it was a ground chicken soft taco, which was fine but it wasn't a burrito! Margaritas were good but the juice floated on top needed to be shaken. Over all if the food can improve would love to go back, hoping it's just growing pains.

Food and drinks were good. Service was not. Waited over 30 minutes for our group's second drink, no check ins or updates the whole time and it wasn't busy. At the end of the meal server just told us what we owe, no bill to look at. Not sure if we'll go back.

This was by far the worst mexican food i've ever had. our elote bowl had an inch of liquid at the bottom and tasted like dog food. Their tortillas aren't corn or flour they're 100% made out of cardboard. extremely expensive and even more underwhelming.

I've been twice now since Carajillo opened and have noticed nothing but knowledgeable, friendly & accommodating staff. The second time I came on cinco de mayo and although crazy busy, the food came out tasting as though we were the only people in the place. Pretty impressed & happy to have them in the neighborhood. Also, Corrine is quite possibly the greatest in the entire industry. She totally made our experience!

This food had absolutely zero flavor. it was not Mexican style rice, it was white rice with a couple of peas and carrots in it. we had steak tacos...the beef was so tough you could not chew it. The chicken in the enchiladas was stringy and super tough. There was so much Mole sauce on the enchiladas, it made a soggy, sloppy mess. We ordered 3 entrees and not one of us ate more than 2 bites before we trashed it. $70 bucks down the drain. The third entree was fish tacos and they weren't edible either. I'm sorry, I rarely put out reviews but this was so bad that I had to this time. Sorry to the owner but you need better chefs. I will not be back. oh btw..my husband is Mexican so we know what authentic Mexican food tastes like.