De La Vega -Wine, Tapas & Sangria- DeLand — Restaurant in DeLand

What a wonderful little gem in historic downtown Deland! It's rare that literally everything sampled was great. We had a wonderful experience. As soon as you step into the establishment, it has a cozy Latin vibe. There are huge painted portraits of beautiful Latina's (J-Lo, Selma, Penelope, & Shakira). The food, drinks, and service were outstanding! Shoutout to Yelp for my free Aspirinas for checking in! They came in 4 pieces which consisted cornmeal patties topped with beans, tomato, onion, cheese, and sour cream. My mother ordered the Latin Bowl (ropa vieja, black beans, rice, side salad, and yucca fries. Delicious! My lady ordered the Ceviche Peruano, which is a traditional Peruvian dish, *raw fish fillet with lime juice, served with shredded carrots, red onion, cilantro. Marinated in an aji sauce, with garlic, and leche de tigre (citrus-based marinade). Served with plantain chips. It was super sour and tangy and so good! I ordered the Taquiza Gringa, which was grilled marinated steak on a bed of sautéed onions, bell peppers, and pineapple with melted cheese. Served with corn tortillas, and guacamole on the side. OMG it was amazing! We also ordered a white and a red sangria. Those drinks packed a serious punch (pun intended). The white tasted much stronger but both were excellent. This is easily my favorite restaurant in Deland as of yet and we will be...

The food was phenomenal. I wish I lived here to go back soon. I chose this restaurant due to the vegetarian options on the menu, and it was so worth it. I must say very talented chefs and friendly servers run this place. I tried the hibiscus tacos- never knew you can eat hibiscus, it was a different experience. Tasted so good, the red pepper sauce that came with it was super delicious too. I also go the banderitas - the fried cheese was so so good. I wasn't a big fan of the sauce that came with it only because I'm not a fan of sweeter sauces with savory meals. But I was given their habanero sauce which was like sweet death at every bite. So spicy that you couldn't do more than a drop at every bite but I'm love with that sauce. My server was the sweetest, she got me some to go since I loved it so much. I also tried their non sweet plantain - which got back memories so yum! The tacquiza vegetariana is a fajitas served with super warm tortillas and tasted good too. Finally sangria, tres leches and churros - all good. One suggestion would be to not sprinkler cinnamon on the tres leches - in America people over use cinnamon, and I know Mexican desserts use a ton of cinnamon but I've never had tres leches with cinnamon so if it's not original...

Note: This review is only based on a tasting that I attended with my wife. My daughter is having a baby shower soon and we were recommended to use De La Vega as a catering service. As part of the agreement They offered a small tasting of their dishes. We tried the ropa vieja. Very tasty and well made. I have tried this often in other places and it’s usually dry. De La Vega made it very well. There were all kinds of flavors on my tongue while trying this dish. Amazing. We tried the garlic fish which was absolutely delicious. The fish was nice and light. Very flavorful. The other dish was the chicken gringa. I will be honest. It took me a bit to figure it out. I assumed a plain chicken breast. Oddly, it had all kinds of flavors and a red sauce with pineapple. Not very “gringa” to me but hey. It worked. The person helping us out was Nora. She was very nice and super helpful. She explained in great length on what to expect the day of the baby shower. Very informative. The five stars are for the way Nora took care of us and answered all our questions. Nora, gracias por todo. Nos...