La Fiesta Latina — Restaurant in Ottawa

Ate here during our vacation in Ottawa and was very disappointed. The resturant itself is very small. Even though it wasn't busy the waiter seemed to have a hard time keeping up with orders. It was just my husband and I as well as 2 other girls at a separate table. The waiter was the only worker that we were able to see and he would disappear for 25 minutes at a time in the backroom leaving the dining area empty. It took the girls at the next table 15 before they were able to order due to the waiter being missing. We ordered the birria tacos, chicharon and 2 margaritas. The birria was very good however was disappointed it didn't come with consome and the portion was very very small. The waiter also forgot that we ordered 2 of them so we had to remind him and wait extra time on top of the long wait we initially waited for the food to come out. Our margaritas were okay but mine came with a broken straw so I couldn't drink it properly. I asked the waiter for a straw 3 different times before we finally gave up and my husband cut my straw in half so I could finally drink my drink. Chicharon sharable plate wasn't shareable at all. It was a really small plate with the chicken and 3 mini tacos to put them in. It wasn't the chicharon we were hoping to get and was really expensive for what looked like single serving appetizer rather than a large sharable. For reference my individual plate of birria was bigger. Overall we spent way too much money, really dissatisfied with the service. Will not...

So I went there last night w/my son. I was reluctant at first because early on in the day I called to find out about the menu because there was no menu online. Nobody answered the call , but I immediately got a text message from that number with a message saying "Please text me" I replied at 12h42PM this "Can't find your menu online , so was wondering if you can send it to me -your website has no links for the menu " Well. Nobody replied, then at 2h28PM, I texted again "would you be able to send me a picture of your menu????" Once again , nobody replied.

AS A POSSIBLE FUTURE CUSTOMER, the fact that I didn't get a reply that shows poor customer service. For that the restaurant gets a big zero stars. However, despite my frustration and initial rejection, i ended up going last night. I give 5 to Sergio, the waiter, he was fabulous.

The food was OK, my son had some quesadillas and I had something called Fiesta Mexicana, more like rice and sausages, The rice needed to be cooked a little more but the taste was good. But Sergio the waiter was A+++.

My star review here will be a 3 and is only leaning towards the work that Sergio did , his kindness, his willing to help, he was a chatter box but he was A+.

If I had to grade the place based on my customer service interaction via text that by the way no response after 24 hours., then it will be no stars. Thanks Sergio for my...

I ate here for the first time today. There is plenty of street parking available. It's a clean, small restaurant with 5 or 6 tables and has a bright, friendly atmosphere. My server Marlene is a native of Mexico and was very pleasant and spoke spanish to me at my request. She was great with the explanation of the different dishes and salsas. I started with the Birria lamb soup which was incredible!! It was accompanied by a jarred salsa called Salsa Macha. The salsa was very different and tasted authentically mexican, nothing like a standard tomato salsa you get in Canadian restaurants. It was very good. I felt like I was somewhere in the middle of Mexico with every bite of my soup. Nothing about the soup or salsa tasted Canadian. For the main, I ordered a Happy Burrito (Carnitas) w/fries. The burrito was pretty good but really came to life when I asked her for a salsa verde and she brought me Diosa Verde!! This whitish-green sauce was heavenly!! The fries were perfect. You can tell the grease is changed frequently as the fries were fresh and light in colour. The restaurant has a great selection of Mexican drinks (Jarritos) and other Latin American favourites such as Inca Cola (Peru), Postobon and Colombiana (both from Colombia), which are among some of my personal favorite sodas. I will definitely be back to try more...