iTzcali Tapas & Tequila

We came in on a Saturday night. It was not horribly busy. We asked for a table for 8. The wait time for the table was expected. What was not expected was by the time we got to the table we were left sitting for over 15 minutes without being greeted. We were sitting so long that the entire group was debating leaving. Right when we were about to leave the waiter finally showed up. The waiter was not the most welcoming. For the price of the food the service should be amazing. It took way too long to get drinks out. The entire table was starving, and unfortunately only half the tables food came out. This place has some much potential but falls flat.

Try the mezcal old fashion!! Tequila selection is amazing 10 pages long. Great food.

A Promising Start At first glance, this place exudes uniqueness, colorfulness, and a sense of fun. The exterior draws you in, promising an exciting dining experience. However, as we stepped inside, the initial allure began to fade. What appeared vibrant on the surface turned out to be a facade, at least from our perspective. Service: A Series of Red Flags Unwelcoming Hostess (Red Flag #1): Our arrival was met with disappointment. Instead of a friendly hostess, we encountered someone who seemed disinterested. We understand that everyone has off days, but this lack of friendliness left us uneasy. Understaffed Patio (Red Flag #2) Despite our request for an outdoor table, we were informed that only one server covered the patio. On a beautiful spring night in Kansas, this oversight surprised us. Surely, more staff should have been allocated to the outdoor area. Server Confusion (Red Flag #3) After perusing the menus, a server appeared, only to inform us that she wasn't assigned to our table. Moments later, our "real" server arrived to take our tapas order. The disjointed service left us wondering about communication within the team. Missing Servers (Red Flag #4) As we enjoyed our delicious drinks, we anticipated another round. Unfortunately, neither our server nor the other one materialized. The absence of attentive service dampened our experience. The tapas selection intrigued us, although not everything met our expectations. While some dishes surprised us pleasantly, others fell short. However, we must emphasize that the chips were exceptional—please don't change a thing about them! Except maybe the amount of them given! (Small quantity) Long Wait for the Check Our patience wore thin as we waited excessively for our bill. In the end, one of our party members had to approach the hostess stand to settle the tab. We appreciate the $25 gift card offered as compensation for our troubles. However, timely service would have been preferable. We believe this place has potential. Staffing challenges are common in the service industry, but prioritizing customer service is crucial. Nurture your employees, and they'll, in turn, care for your patrons. Managers and hosts should actively engage during busy nights, even through brief positive communication. Wichita deserves vibrant, successful local establishments like yours. We share this feedback with an open mind, hoping for positive changes. May this place thrive, offering memorable experiences to all who visit.

If People understand the shared plates concept they Will Love this place. This will be our new "doma". Food, Service and Atmosphere were Excellent! They opened the garage door for the evening air and it elevated the atmosphere. They had some of the Best Calamari, Street Tacos, Nachos, Shrimp Ceviche and Brushetta. We will be back and bring multiple groups to this restaurant. Look forward to trying more of their menu!

Oh boy did this place live up to every terrible thing I had heard since their first “grand opening”. Buckle up, this one is honest and a promise to never revisit this interesting place. First off we had a reservation for 6 at 5:45pm which two of us had arrived and checked in. The first to arrive the hostess in a short way said seating would have to wait until the entire party was there, and left it at that. The restaurant had very few patrons at this time. While I haven’t had experience personally in this industry— from a business stand point you’d think they’d suggest she sat at the bar and ordered a drink while she waited. So I arrived and we then went to the bar to wait for the rest of our party. There were empty places with dirty dishes still sitting on the bar, so we sat around it. We were not acknowledged, and 10mins later we were asked what to have to drink. Us two ordered our beverages which came out cute with flowers and dried fruit as their garnish. As soon as we got our drinks the rest of our party arrived and we were seated. Once seated, a younger gal finally attended to us by bringing us iceless water without straws. She told us she was in training and couldn’t answer our drink or food questions, nor could she get drinks for the table because it was her first day. Which we found odd. Eventually, we got frustrated, and the took our drink orders. Us two who already had drinks received our second round of drinks before the rest of our table did. It took an additional 10mins for theirs to arrive, and when they did they didn’t taste anything like the previously ordered drinks we had gotten, that they had tasted. We all agreed something wasn’t quite right. And for these drinks to be $15 ea you’d expect consistency. No one came to ask how the drinks were and at this point (45mins later and $30+/ea in) had yet to see the actual waiter. Our drinks ended up empty and at that point considered just leaving. But the waiter finally came to take our appetizer order and made some snide comments about being the only server in the now somewhat full restaurant, and only 1 bartender. He did not want to be there, and it was obvious the trainee was not being properly trained, more just thrown to the wolves with no actually responsibility or tasks. Oh and some things on their menu have been deleted, but remain on their lengthy menu. Our tapas came out fairly quickly in comparison to the drinks. We ordered the Spicy Cucumbers (great) , Ceviche (not great), their version of Poke which came out on a bed of quac smothered in sauce (it was ok), and then quac which was good but came out with weird pinwheel porch rind things which we were told was deleted, and definitely was not easy to eat. Once more no one came to check to see how it was. We all ordered another round of drinks which didn’t come out ans presented initially. No garnish and drinks kept getting worse. And NO ONE came back to ever take our dinner order. The other girls l did flag our waiter down for espresso martinis to which he didn’t recommend, repeatedly. And we saw why. They looked like watered down chocolate milk with globs of chocolate syrup and one came out in their “shot glass” and tasted like cold QT coffee for $14 each. When it came time to get our tabs, splitting it was a nightmare even though we discussed who had what. We ended up overcharged for some. And it took 3 times to get it right. We then also gave constructive criticism about the lack of consistency and lack of service, to which we were told sarcastically to google review it: so here we are. When we asked for his name, he gave us two fake names. Finally letting us know his name was Eric. So I don’t know if he is completely to blame for this experience, or if this is a management issue. But from where we sat, what we experienced was absolutely appalling. And then to see an office full of people by the bathrooms, while front of house was slammed was also quite odd. And to each have paid $80+ we expected this to be more of a fine dining experience. Do yourself a favor save your $ + STEER CLEAR. Parking: Unless you have a “reserved” spot, you must park on the East side of the building and walk all the way around the building.

The food was on point. The drinks were wonderful. Sophia was a doll. We will be back! Would suggest different music, cloth napkins and bringing out small plates for shareables though.

I had to track down wait staff to get seated. The food was mediocre. The albondigas was meatballs with spaghetti sauce on it. The chile verde was made with chicken, not pork. It was more like a tortilla soup. The margarita was pure perfection. I would go back for the margarita but I wouldn’t eat there again.