La Esquina Cocina — Restaurant in Huntsville

I tried out La Esquina Cocina on Monday, grabbing lunch for carryout since I wanted to eat in the comfort of my home. Overall, I was pleased with my experience!

I initially tried to place an order online through (I think) a 3rd party website linked to their Google page, but after filling out my order and putting in card info, it seemed like my order didn't go through, as I never got to a confirmation screen or email. I decided I'd just walk over and ask what had happened and place an order in person if it didn't work out online.

I was greeted quickly upon walking in and the friendly staff member checked to see if my order was in the system. It wasn't, so I placed an order to go and sat down to wait. He quickly brought my receipt over and I was pleased to find it about $10 less than what it was going to be had I actually ordered online. Pay attention to service fees, folks! Lol.

Despite having only just placed my order, it came out quickly - I was definitely waiting for less than 10 minutes. Granted, it was a pretty simple order, but still! Good service.

The inside of the restaurant is very pretty and modern looking. Big spacious windows and open spaces, plus a view into the kitchen. There was a slightly off odor that day, but it looked like they had the bar closed and were working on fixing/changing something, so I'll chalk it up to a construction-y smell.

Anyway, I got my food home and set to eating. I ordered a quesadilla with chicken as well as totopos with queso. I agree with other reviewers that prices do sting a little bit; it was ~$20 before tip for those two items. That being said, I do think the quality of the food is noticeably better here than at other Tex-Mex / Mexican restaurants in town that I have visited. You'd also, normally, be paying some for the price of the atmosphere, which again I found quite nice.

My quesadilla was cut into three large triangles and came with a scoop of guacamole and a cup of sour cream. It was lightly toasty and crispy. The chicken was cut into small pieces rather than shredded, which is definitely my preference. It was well seasoned and melded perfectly with a blend of gooey orange and white cheeses. It was also only the tiniiiiest bit soggy at the center by the time I was done eating, which is honestly pretty good considering I had to haul it all the way home, it was loaded with toppings, and I took my time noshing on it.

The totopos and queso were also quite yummy! A little extra salt for the chips would've been appreciated, but you can tell they're made fresh. Little thicker than standard chips, but that just makes them more stable vessels for dip! Lol. The queso was a little thinner than I'm used to which made it slightly runny, but the flavor was really there and I couldn't stop eating it! It was a very large serving and more than I could finish, so remember that when considering the price too! It is plenty to share. :)

Overall, I'd definitely grab food from here again. I wish I'd visited earlier when they were focused on a more tapas style menu, but some of those items remain as appetizers and I would love to sit down sometime and try a drink and some apps with friends,...

When we arrived we were told to expect 30-45 minutes wait. Fortunately we found two seats at the bar (if we had waited 45 minutes we would have been much more disillusioned). This is first and foremost a tapas restaurant. That said, many tapas restaurants expect you to share bites with the table, each person ordering something different. Apparently everything on the menu (except the designated “shareables”-a half chicken, a 16-Oz steak or short rib enchiladas, none of which I consider easily shareable unless you aren’t very hungry, especially served with just tortillas) was Ala Carte. Despite the menu listing a plural item, you get one-see the Gorditas entry on the menu. But even though there were two ordering and we each ordered a different taco, they brought both small tacos (3” tortillas) on one plate (at least should have provided a second plate or two smaller plates-we had to ask for a second plate). We also ordered Gorditas. They did bring these on individual plates. One Gordita per serving. Small Gordita. Very tough masa cake for my Gordita, which I had to cut with a knife, and much of the bottom of the masa cake was too tough too chew. On the positive side, service was decent, food came out fairly quickly, though I would rather the food all be brought at the same time. The flavors WERE very good! And the Paloma that Brent made was one of the best I’ve had (but for $13 it should be). Value for $? I had a small taco, a small Gordita and a good drink for $26 before tip. I left hungry. One last word: several menu items are marked as Vegan on the menu but 4 of the 7 of those contain dairy, either cheese or cream, so if you are a strict vegan, read the menu carefully. They are new. Maybe they will make adjustments that improve the experience. I will try again and hopefully can give a...

It was a mixed bag experience: some good some bad. The server Neil was professional and attentive and did his level best to make this culinary outing worthwhile. Our initial greeting was a bit strange when the hostesses stated there was a 45 minute wait when in fact there were 3 tables open. Ten minutes passed and finally the front end manager came and seated us with 1 single paper menu which was stained wi the smallest font and totally unreadable. Thankfully Neil the waiter was able to describe the offerings and price points succinctly and clearly. LA Esquina uses paper napkins.I find this offensive cheap and ridiculous. If you want to charge fine dining prices use cloth/linen napkins;it matters. Note to ownership: Your coffee is inspid weak and horrible. Why no expresso?If you want to be known as an urbane cosmopolitan eating destination get great coffee and expresso please. The Food: I had the Jaliso salad with grilled camarones and scallops, arugula, avocado cilantro and lots of fresh squeezed lime juice.Though this was very good. My wife had the chicken bowl which she said was tasty and filling. The star of the show were the charcuterie boards. We ordered two, the goat cheese board accompanied by grapes, fig preserves,toast points,and a few pecans.The other charcuterie board had Serrano ham which was also really nice counter point to the sharp taste of the Jalisco salad. Note to Ownership/Management..Would be nice to have freshly made tortillas when the entrees are presented. Love the restaurants interior design and really like the open glassed in kitchen design too Prices: $95.00 tax included. No liquor Gratuity was additional and very...