Viva Cinco De Mayo — Restaurant in City of Albany

Viva Great Food!

We ventured out seeking some Tex-Mex for lunch in downtown Albany and decided to try Viva Cinco De Mayo (VCDM). I figured a 4.4 review on Google meant something and it does. VCDM offers a great variety of dishes including options for vegetarians, a few breakfast selections, and a dedicated lunch menu.

We chose the enchilada and chimichanga platters. The enchiladas platter comes with three (the lunch menu offers two) and can be topped with any combination of their green, red, or bean sauce; we weren’t quite sure if you could mix the meats. Both platters came with sides of rice and black beans.

My husband chose chicken as the protein and tried each of the different sauces. Served atop the sauces is a layer of finely chopped lettuce, a sprinkling of cheese, and a drizzle of sour cream. His favorite sauce was the bean sauce but said the other two were good. It was just something about the bean sauce which was a bit better tasting.

My carnitas chimichanga came out golden brown with a side of guacamole and a sliced radish on top of the rice which made for a pleasant-looking dish. It came stuffed full of green peppers, onion, red peppers, cheese, and meat. I opted to leave out the green peppers. The only downfall to the dish was they may have doubled up on the red peppers since I asked to forego the green ones; the red peppers were a bit overwhelming. Aside from that, it was delicious as the cheese was melted and stringy and the pork cooked well and perfectly seasoned.

We both thoroughly enjoyed the black beans as it seems they add a touch of cacao. They offer Mexican Coca-Cola by the bottle and free chips and salsa. They do quite a bit of take-out business which may have slowed the kitchen as it seemed like the food took a bit of time to arrive. The delay was not an issue, however, as we were sitting outside enjoying the nice weather and the food itself was worth the wait. Our server was quite pleasant and helpful, and the restaurant looks to be well-kept.

All-in-all, we’ll soon be going...

Waited over 45 minutes for 3 birrita tacos, just one order. Came in a bit earlier than the online ordering system said because usually restaurants can make them before said time and it was 7:30-8pm so maybe the rush was over. While waiting this Spanish couple came and ordered at the bar. Multiple dishes with drinks. They ordered in Spanish maybe knew the people there. I was appalled when they got all their orders as I’m waiting and they placed the order 30 minutes after us and we still waited 15 minutes after they got their order. It did seem like they did favor a race which I don’t like to say but felt like they got some special service which is understandable but after asking if dine in orders got pushed ahead on the prep they said no.

Staff was not friendly. I was for a good amount of time and was asked what was my order the first time and they never checked because you can see inside the kitchen. Another person came and asked and after 10 minutes they said it would take another 10 minutes which it did not. Took another 25minutes. The first person who asked for my order again asks for my name to check forgetting my name and that they asked. Mind you this was my wife’s birthday so we were picking up from multiple local restaurants to enjoy a meal at the park so this was one order of 3 tacos. The food was ok but the experience couldn’t have been worse especially after I felt racially discriminated for...

My family went here Sunday for dinner cause we have heard such great things & were so excited!! All I can say is this was a massive disappointment & an absolute miserable experience!! The server took our order & then we didn't see her again until we inquired almost an hour later!! As she came out, we asked about our food & she said we are very busy & she never even put our order in to the kitchen!! I said it's been almost an hour & our order hasn't even been put in it yet, to say I was livid is an understatement!! My son is only 18 months old & we had ordered rice for him cause he was gonna be hungry!! So the excuse from her we are busy, we are busy was ridiculous!! I watched other tables get attention & thier food, so why were we neglected!! I'm just gonna say, we felt cause we didn't speak Spanish that we were not a priority in this place!! I don't say this lightly cause I've been to many, many Mexican restaurants & I've NEVER felt that way before but this place sure gives off that vibe!! I can't comment on food cause we never got any but the SERVICE IS ATROCIOUS & she never even apologized which just reinforces what we thought!! There are way better options in the area & I recommend u seek those outs & skip this disaster of...