Lady Nomada - Mexican Kitchen — Restaurant in Arvada

Really kind of hard to put together what the experience I had for dinner was tonight. I want to start by saying the food itself was phenomenal, I have absolutely zero issues with the food or its quality and would highly recommend this restaurant for the food itself. With that being said, the Arvada location gave me and my group of friends some of the worst service we’ve ever received this evening. I’m not going to pile on because the service industry is not easy and I know that as humans we don’t all have great days. However, it felt we were either unlucky or caught multiple people on the wrong day. Our main server was rude, visibly frustrated with our group, non informative on information regarding the menu, clearly discussing her irritation with our table to other staff which in turn created awkwardness and then the same rudeness from other staff to our group as well. Mind you, we were not a loud group, most of us work in the service industry ourselves and were incredibly kind and understanding, even when things didn’t make sense or even when it became clear we were disliked. We all ordered drinks and food, did not make any verbal complaints even when we should have, etc. The service became so poor and so uncomfortable our table began to speculate if we were getting this treatment because we had the only black person or person of any sort of ethnicity in the restaurant besides the kitchen workers, at our table. The service was that inexplicably bad, form MULTIPLE people interacting with our table without any cause. As I stated from the beginning of this review, it’s really difficult to put into words what this experience was like, but it was among the worst my group had collectively. This restaurant experience was easily a 4/5 star experience if the service was simply average. To not even hit that bar and make a group of 6 people all feel equally uncomfortable to the point it felt like we were not welcome in the restaurant...

This restaurant is overwhelmingly underwhelming. Aesthetically, the venue is gorgeous. Too bad I can't get full on fake cacti and a wall of speakers because gastronomically, the menu leaves a lot to be desired. For a place that has such a limited menu, I expected that Lady Nomada would have nailed the recipes, especially the tacos. It is a taqueria after all. I think they might have some interesting ideas, but the execution was NOT there.

I had a potato taquito that should have had a creamy, flavorful filling but, I bit into huge, unflavored, partially-cooked chunks of potato. All I could taste was the sour cream drizzled all over top of it. The chicken tinga taquito was drenched in an overly seasoned sauce and I couldn't finish it. Taquitos are traditionally fried, thinly rolled up corn tortillas with a filling inside and are dipped in sauces or salsas. They aren't smothered in sauce. If they are, they would be called enchiladas. Shouldn't a Mexican restaurant be knowledgeable about Mexican food? Or, am I buggin?

I was also with a friend who ordered 2 different types of fish tacos and a shrimp taco. He said only the shrimp taco was well seasoned and his passion fruit margarita was missing the passion fruit. We shared queso and chips too, but it wasn't anything special...just warmed up, flavorless cheese sauce with diced tomatoes sprinkled in the middle. We skipped on desert because we didn't feel confident that they'd get the tres leches cake right.

When I did a quick Google search to see who owned the establishment, I learned that Lady Nomada is owned by a restaurant group which explained why the concept was great but it failed to leave an impression where it really mattered, the plates.

American palates may be satisfied here but if you want something more authentic and in the neighborhood, go to Teocalli Cocina where the head chef and menu designer are actually Mexican.

PS - The stars are for the decor, not the...

Last straw: visited on Sat. 11/26/22 and found out that the rice and beans are no longer vegetarian. Good thing I asked. What a crock to offer vegetarian options for an entree yet the sides are filled with pork fat and chicken stock and pay for a full meal you can't eat. This place needs to get it together. It's exceptionally rude to keep this charade up where guests can't rely on consistency, especially when they're vegetarian. Beware vegetarians, this info isn't forthcoming, you'll need to ask and hope the server is knowledgeable with the menu/ingredients.

Edit: Stopped by on 8/10/22 at 6pm for dinner and was told that the patio was closed because they didn't have staff for it. The entire patio was dressed for patrons yet not open. Very frustrating especially waiting a while for the host to stop playing on her cell at the bar then to plug it in, then to help me. Seriously, please train your staff to be more pleasant. And, put a sign up or not dress up the patio if you're not using it. I don't know why I keep bothering with this place.

Visited yesterday (10/10/21) and was happy with the flavor of the food, and the drinks were yummy, too. We were extremely disappointed with our dining experience in having to fight off flies the entire time (we sat inside). Others around us complained about them as well but staff didn't have any regard for this and just ignored the complaints and those along with ourselves swatting away at them while trying to enjoy our meal. Also, having to pay $22 for shrimp fajitas that only had 6 shrimp (seriously, 6 shrimp!) and extremely miniscule fixings (tiniest serving of peppers, guac, and pico) - there was more dairy on the plate than anything else (which I couldn't eat due to a dairy allergy) was truly absurd and the portion for the price was greatly offensive. Would give a higher rating if it wasn't for these two items...