La Sureña Restaurant & Store — Restaurant in Fernandina Beach

Probably the worst food experience I've ever had in fernandina. The burrito was 90% rice, 8% pico de Gallo, and maybe 2% steak. The pieces of steak weren't much bigger than a grain of rice and there was maybe 12 pieces in the entire thing. The tortilla was so rubbery I nearly broke the table trying to cut through it, and they completely forgot the queso that's supposed to be on top. I only ate about a third of the burrito before I gave up on finding anything but rice in it. I honestly don't know how this place is rated highly. The food isn't technically poisonous and it's not wildly overpriced so I guess that's good? The service was also pretty awful. I've had worse service, but not often. The waitress took our order and only came back once to drop it off, and once after we were completely done with the meal. They never came back to refil the empty drinks, or to ask how the food was. They tried to charge us for chips that we never asked for (yes apparently chips are extra here) they took off the price of the soda which is almost a step in the right direction except that it just shows they were to cheap to just discount the uneaten burrito. They also never brought the fajita tortillas. At the end of the day there are MUCH better places nearby to eat for the money, including objectively better Mexican restaurants. Basically if you want authentic Mexican snacks this place is fine as it's kind of half a restaurant and half a very small convenience store. However if you want food save yourself a trip and go...

For authentic Mexican cuisine, we have found our local favorite. On a previous visit, I had the taco salad, which was delicious. This time, I got tacos (theirs have soft corn tortillas, and they’re loaded with cilantro and chopped onion, served with salsa…and FYI the hot really is hot…but also yummy) were great. My husband got 2 carnitas gorditas (Friday’s special), and they were out-of-this-world amazing.

While their chips and salsa are $3 or something in that neighborhood, we felt like this was fair, given they were piping hot and crispy, and the salsa was very fresh…i.e. these were not sitting in a basket under a warmer. We experienced good service and thought the people who work here were very nice. For anyone who is wondering about atmosphere, it isn’t fancy, but…who cares? The food is so good, it doesn’t matter. The mural painted on the walls and the plants in the windows are quite lovely. And the restaurant is clean. We are planning to return to this place many times.

Update: we have now had the fried chicken, which is served on a bed of slaw and fried plantains, with a side of spicy pickled onions + veg. Yummy! My husband got his with the rice and beans instead, which he said was also delicious. On a previous visit, we had the enchiladas, which are still our favorite out of all their daily specials (the daily specials we have had so far: enchiladas, sopes and gorditas, fried chicken).

TLDR: the daily specials are all delicious, all their...

I was fortunate to break down right outside of Amelia Island and had to stay the night. When I went to find food on the main street it was all very fancy almost Rodeo Drive feeling. I was only looking for quick and yummy. As I was driving on the back side of fancy street I find this little place and decided this was the place. I went in and was so pleased. Super clean, very nice people and because I was so hungry after being on the road for 8 hours, broke down, towed in, and finally finding a hotel my hunger was great. I ordered chips and queso and 3 different tacos. They were very fast and was in and out in about 15 minutes. This food was so good I wanted to tell everyone if your ever in that cute little place I know you will enjoy this little...