La Colonial Supermercado y Taqueria — Restaurant in Huntsville

Stopped in one Saturday to give this place a go. Been hearing all about it because they have the coveted and fashionable birria tacos! We stuck with more familiar options for the time being just to get a baseline feel for the food.

We tried calling ahead but never got an answer on their phone. When we arrived, we placed our order with a very sweet older woman. She didn't speak much English and we don't speak much Spanish, but she was so pleasant and patient and we bumbled our way through well enough that our order came out 100% correct, so I don't think any of us did too badly, lol. We ordered 4 tacos (2 al pastor, 1 steak, 1 chicken), 3 sopes con pollo, cheese dip, and a mangonada to try for the first time.

The attached market has some cool offerings -- Bimbo bread, lots of chilies and salsas, and a ton of other stuff unfamiliar to me. I always enjoy poking around in grocery stores, especially ones that have food and drink from cultures other than my own, so that was fun to do while we waited on our food. It came out packaged nicely and in a reasonable amount of time.

The food was just okay, nothing too mind blowing. The al pastor tacos were far and away the best thing; I'd call them pretty good. Liked both the red and green salsas that came with the food -- they had good heat and texture. Steak taco was decent. The cheese dip had a nice flavor with a subtle kick, but the consistency wasn't to our liking. It was closer to...I dunno, cheese water. So so thin and watery, not at all thick and gloopy like typical cheese dips. The chips used for dipping seemed fresh, though, and had a nice crunch.

These were probably my least favorite sopes I've had. The chicken was just shredded and was super watery and low on flavor. Same problem with the chicken taco. They also had too heavy a hand with the lettuce on the sopes, which made the dish more watery. Additionally, the masa rounds were a lot longer and thinner than the ones I've had at places like El Cazador or the Arrieros truck out in Madison. They didn't have that nice chewy texture and were a little closer to a tortilla than what I've typically had. Lastly, I didn't like the mangonada at all -- it was kind of spicy and had lots of spicy and savory flavors I wasn't familiar with that overwhelmed the mango flavors. I also thought it would be made fresh, but instead it was handed to me out of a cooler. I'm not really holding that against them, though; I've never had a mangonada before and maybe they're just not for me. No idea if that was a good representation of the drink or not.

At any rate, I would consider going back to try a birria taco, but I wouldn't order any of the stuff we got on Saturday again except for maybe the al...

2025: Came back in twice, once at dinner and once during lunch, both were not great. There's definitely a communications barrier here. Ordered pork chops for dinner and never got it, my friend was done with his food before finding out it was never put in. At lunch, we were able to order drinks right away (they showed up tepid and without ice) and then our server did not come back for another 20 minutes. Had the carne asada, it was tough and I only had a butter knife to cut it with (and it wasn't cutting it). Beans were good. What a disappointment after a great first visit. Keeps the 4 stars because of the grocery store.

2024: Great selection of groceries, fresh meats, fruits and vegetables, and hot bar. Lots of fresh and dried spices for your recipes and frozen foods for your not recipe nights too. Restaurant was also fantastic. Not fancy but great good and great service. Quiet on Taco Tuesdays but real busy on the weekends. Birria Quesa Tacos, Birria Egg Rolls, and Enchilada Verde were all fantastic. The fresh peppers and salsa were also quite tasty. Would definitely...

Best Tacos in town! This was years ago, unfortunately service is going downhill. Food is getting less and less. El Servicio Va en Picada

Siempre fui cliente fiel, pero la neta, el servicio se ha ido pa' abajo. Ya es la tercera vez que me mandan la orden equivocada por DoorDash. Se entiende que a veces hay errores, pero esta vez llamé antes y les pedí de favor que verificaran bien mi orden antes de enviarla. Aun así, me llegó mal otra vez.

Llamé para avisarles y les dije que iba a ir hasta la tienda para que me lo arreglaran. En vez de aceptar su error, el vato en el teléfono se puso a la defensiva, necio con su "Yo revisé la orden”, y luego, me colgó. Cuando llegué, traía una actitud de mocosa berrinchuda, evitando mirarme y sin tener los pantalones de aceptar su error. Aun cuando vio que la orden estaba mal, ni siquiera fue capaz de decirme: "Lo siento, déjame arreglarlo." En lugar de eso, me gritó desde el otro lado del local como si yo fuera un perro callejero—"¿Ya estás listo?"—y luego aventó la comida en la esquina del mostrador antes de esconderse en su oficina. Ni siquiera tuvo los huevos para darme la comida en la mano. Una cosa es equivocarse, pero otra es no tener los pantalones para admitirlo. Un hombre de verdad acepta sus errores, da la cara y trata a la gente con respeto. Pero este vato se portó como personaje de telenovela—puro drama, pero cero dignidad. "El respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz." Si el vato tuviera tantita educación, no andaría con estas payasadas. Si así van a tratar a sus clientes ahora, pues, qué lástima, porque acaban de perder uno.

‐-------English Disappointing Decline in Service

I've been a loyal custome for a long time, but the service has been going downhill. This was my third time receiving the wrong order through DoorDash. Mistakes happen, so I called ahead this time and specifically asked them to double-check before sending it out. Yet, I still received the wrong food.

When I called to let them know and told them I’d drive to the store to fix the issue, I was met with attitude and dismissal. Instead of acknowledging the mistake, the guy on the phone kept insisting, “I checked the order”—then hung up on me.

When I arrived, he acted like a moody schoolgirl, avoiding eye contact and refusing to own up to the mistake. Even after realizing the order was wrong, he didn’t have the guts to say, “Lo siento, déjame arreglarlo.” Instead, he yelled across the store like I was some stray dog—"You ready?"—before dropping the food at the counter and storming off to his office. He wasn’t even man enough to hand me my food.

It's one thing to mess up an order, but another to lack the backbone to own up to it. A real man handles his mistakes, takes accountability, and treats people with respect. Instead, he acted like a frustrated telenovela character—all drama, no dignity.

"El respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz." It means respect brings peace. Maybe if he had some, he wouldn’t be acting like this. If this is how they’re treating customers now, pues, qué lástima, because they...