La Galera Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in City of Niagara Falls

I wanna start by saying this is by no means an attempt at bashing the restaurant, this is just my honest experience.

I dinned here for the first time tonight, and it could’ve been a much better experience - food wise.

To start more positively, the atmosphere of the restaurant was actually very nice for one located in a strip mall (from plenty of experiences, strip mall restaurants have been lacking in the atmosphere category).

Our waiter, I wish I could have gotten their name, was incredibly sweet and very friendly. They were honest about the menu, gave his opinions on dishes, was incredibly fast with refills, etc.. They made the visit more enjoyable than the food.

Now, the food… like I said, this was my first time dining here. For starters, the salsa that comes with the chips was very bland - the best way I could describe it was watered down Great Value salsa. It didn’t taste like it was freshly made, like you would expect. For the main course, I went with the safe choice that I would get at any other Mexican restaurant - steak tacos. When the food came out, I was very disappointed. The portion of steak per taco was very small. The salsa that came out with the meal somehow had less flavor than the salsa that came with the chips had. The steak tasted like it wasn’t seasoned at all - following the trend of everything, it tasted bland.

Where everything went wrong though was when I had made it through a taco and a half. I started to feel grossly ill, and had to excuse myself from the table with my family just to go puke in the restroom because I couldn’t keep it down. In my opinion, the food was tolerable taste wise, not my favorite, but it didn’t taste gross - which is why I was so confused as to why I would be getting sick from the food.

To see other reviews talking about getting sick from the food after visiting just says enough that it isn’t just me, and it’s kinda disappointing to see that this doesn’t seem to be getting taken seriously by the owners…

To end on a good note at least, our incredible waiter was so sweet, kind and helpful after finding out from my sister that I was in the bathroom. She had asked for a water for me, and they were quick to do so. They was very apologetic for the food that had made me sick, when it wasn’t even close to being their fault. They wanted to comp the bill, but we refused. Instead, they comped my portion of the meal and we tipped them the money worth my meal and then some, just because of their incredible service.

Overall, the visit was disappointing and I would not recommend going, but I know everyone’s taste (and stomach) is different. I can only hope that the owners will take this review and the other poor ratings to better...

Date of visit: Friday, January 17th, 2020

When we visit Buffalo & Niagara area, one of our favourite places to go for dinner is Lagalera. We have been going here for years, even when they were in their previous location. We have always found this to be a fantastic dining experience. They are very popular, so some times there is a wait, but it is totally worth waiting for. The service is always very food. I have always had servers who were friendly, attentive, helpful, and kind. In all of the times we have been here (which is many) not once have I had bad service. The people who work there seem to really love what they do.

The menu has a great selection of items to choose from. All very traditional Mexican dishes. Upon being seated, you are given a bowl of freshly made tortilla chips and salsa while you look over the menu. The food is always served very fresh, hot, and well presented. While this is a sit-down restaurant, the food is served rather quickly, so if you are in a hurry this will be good. I suggest you take your time and savour all of the flavours. They have a large selection of margaritAs to enjoy including banana, mango, papaya, and more. The prices are so reasonable it is ridiculous. But don't tell the owners. If you love Mexican cuisine, and who doesn't. LA Galera is a great place to eat. We gave them an honourable mention on our blog about...

This is one of those places where the food is incredible but the service is just awful. The hostess asked us "how many?" With no greeting or smile and then handed us a buzzer without saying anything. When we got a seat, she just said to go with her and walked away. We did love everything we ordered, but it took 15-20 minutes before even being able to order drinks. When those finally came, we immediately ordered and the food took about the same amount of time before coming out. During this time my husband got a refill on his drink but no one refilled mine, and we didn't see our waiter at all. He checked in exactly once during our meal and we got no more drink refills though both of us had empty glasses. When we went to pay our check the man at the register just stared at us until we gave him the receipt, and then didn't say a word until my husband handed him his card.

I probably haven't gotten service quite this bad in a really long time, but the food really was incredible and our waiter was nice enough, just very busy.

TLDR: I highly suggest this place for takeout. Skip eating there and just...