Esteban — Restaurant in Arcata

Do not get the fish tacos. What a diasppointment. I ordered 3 grilled fish tacos. I was ready for a great meal because this place has over 4 starts. In stead of 3 grilled fish tacos, I got one deep fried micro-thin talapia filet, which was essentailly all batter, split between 3 tortillas. By the time I got done separating the deep fried batter from the fish, it was basically 3 lettus tacos. When I asked the waiter about the grilled versus deep-fried descrepancy on the menu, he shrugged, and grumbled, "Oh, yeah, the guy who printed the menu made a mistake." Then he walked away. No apology, no offer to see if he could make it right, he just walked off. I went back online and found that a lot of the 5 star rattings that this place got, have no comments attached with those magnificent number of stars. I wonder how many of those ratings are legitimate and not just friends that posted something quick. I cannot say anything about the rest of the food at this establishment, and a lot of comments said that "good Mexican food is hard to fine around here" so there must be some level of customer despiration that this place relies on, but I can tell you that I don't play that game and suggest that you don't either. I will never...

This review is absolutely overdue, I wish I would've posted this before Esteban's passing so he could know how appreciated he was. Moving from San Diego to Humboldt, I was expecting to be disappointed by the mexican food in the area. For most of my few years in Humboldt, I was disappointed by the lack of good authentic mexican food, until I finally tried Esteban's. As a vegetarian, it can be hard to find good, filling mexican food but Esteban's veggie burrito became my favorite thing in Humboldt. It is so delicious and so reasonably priced for authentic mexican food in good portions. Once I tried it, I started going WAYY too frequently, to the point where he knew me and my order. Now that I live back in SD, I constantly dream about Esteban's super veggie burrito with the spicy salsa :( I am heartbroken that I never got to tell Esteban how his smile always brightened my day a little more, and that he was such a joy to talk to. He was seriously one of the nicest people I ever met, and he always wanted to make his customers happy. He was such a wonderful part of the community, I hope he knew how appreciated he was. I hope his family is doing well, and I will definitely stop in for a super veggie the next time I am...

We arrived just after opening and were the only customers at the time. We had to seek assistance and ask if we could have a table. They do not offer chips and salsa while waiting for your food. I ordered the Chili verde and half of my meat portion ended up to be all fat chunks. I pointed this out to our waiter when he brought out the other meal. He said “let me see if I can get you more meat”. I asked if he wanted to take my plate, he did and when he returned I had just pieces of shredded carnitas on top of the verde sauce! Service was not great, the waiter never came back to our table until he brought our bill. When looking at the bill the amount charged for our meal did not match the prices of the meals we ordered. To say the least I would not recommend this place and unfortunately I will not...