La Querida — Restaurant in Burnaby

By far not even close to authentic Mexican food. I had high hopes, but let's face it this California born latina knows what great Mexican food tastes like from the womb. And this sadly isn't it. That green salsa was by far the worst offender, pungent and tasting like fermented celery rather than a good, smooth tomatillo salsa. The red salsa had heat, but could have been made better with a can of el pato mixed with fresh garlic gloves and onion. The carnitas came from a frozen bag, lacked any flavor, and were very oily. The rice was overcooked and mushy--not salvageable at all. And the refried beans were as bland as they come. Those frijoles needed some grated Parmesan cheese, garlic, and salt--love. Last, the guacamole way too acidic (tasted like lemon soap) and then tossed with cheese. Nope, a big no no. It would have been better just giving the avocados over plain as they were and in my hotel I could have added the salt, garlic, onions, and fresh tomatoes with a small bit of lemon. Then they give you store bought tortilla chips to go with it. Common on, it doesn't take much to make homemade tortilla chips.

I hope to all that go here, you will be blessed one day by cooking that would taste like it came out of abuelita's kitchen. This is so far removed and...

Finally some authentic flavor in town!!! This dinner made me feel like I was back in Mexico eating in a local restaurant. I’ve invited my girlfriend from China to eat Mexican food many times and she says this restaurant is her top 1 now. We’re sure they use very fresh ingredients, starting from the guacamole and chips; fresh, creamy and such a good flavor including the 3 types of salsa to accompany your food. Horchata is not too sweet just how I like it, very well balanced. THE LONCHE GEMA, thanks god Guadalajara people exist. This is definitely a must try. I have to say it’s a bit tricky to eat but nothing impossible just use your spoon and cut the whole thing with it. Tacos I would say my favorite was chorizo but all of them were good. Thank you for the double tortilla as it’s supposed to be. We chose Pan de Elote (Corn Cake) for our dessert and it’s just exquisite. I’m giving 5 starts because this is at the top of Mexican restaurants of my choice in the lower mainland now. Service is fast and staff very friendly. I liked the decorations and the atmosphere of this place, small but...

Its a great restaurant but not the best dine-in experience for 2 reasons: 1. The ventilation is bad, it's smoky in the room. I went today during lunch time, the smoke from kitchen kinda bothered me and my eyes felt a little bit uncomfortable from the cooking smoke. 2. Its quite slow to serve 3 dishes we ordered for 2 people. It took more than 30 min to get served. Due to these 2 reasons I think you may not get best dine-in experience.

With that said, I think this is a good restaurant with friendly stuff and tasty food. I'd rather order pickup next time when I'm not in a rush, just to consider the extra time they need to prepare the food due to the limitation of the...