La Campesina — Restaurant in Jackson Township

This is a very good Mexican restaurant! The food is always hot and fresh, flavorful, well-seasoned, and well-prepared. The service is always attentive.

Our dinner began with queso con chorizo dip to go with the generous, fresh tortilla chips. Mind you, there was nothing wrong with the medium hot house salsa that came with the chips. We demolished that too!

Our drinks came quickly, and a misdelivered Pepsi instead of a Mountain Dew, a minor oversight, was quickly corrected by our fantastic waitress. Speaking of wait staff, sooner or later everyone was at our table. Rather than let food sit in the window and get cold when a waiter or waitress is busy, someone else grabs it and brings it out! They work as a team! Other restaurants: take notes! 🙂

My husband ordered carne asada. His steak was cooked perfectly, with just enough sear to flavor the meat and seal in juices, and a generous portion of grilled white onions on top, along with delicious refried beans and perfectly moist, tender rice. He had no complaints!

My chicken tinga, which I tried for the first time, will definitely be worth a repeat eating! Chicken tinga is shredded chicken breast, marinated in a chipotle tomato sauce, then served with lettuce, finely diced tomatoes, white onions, jalapenos, grated white cheese, and avocado slices over two corn tostadas.

The tostadas were crisp, the vegetables were very fresh, and where does someone find a perfectly ripe, unblemished avocado in Ohio in January?! They're wizards! The plates were pretty, and huge, but I'd left my phone outside so no photos this time (dinner conversation is a thing!)

We tore into our meals, and there was silence for a good twenty minutes, if that tells you what we thought. 😀 The chipotle tomato marinade on the tender chicken was delightfully smoky without being overpoweringly hot, and complimented the vegetables nicely. I was concerned about the dish being dry when I looked at it, but I needn't worry. When everything was mixed up, it became a perfect blend of cool vegetables, juicy sauce, hot chicken (temperature,) mild cheese, crispy tostada, and spicy chipotle and diced jalapenos. Surprisingly, I didn't really drink much of my unsweet tea for this meal.

The portions were huge to fill the enormous plates, and I'd filled up on chips and that excellent dip, so there wasn't room for dessert. One other thing we did notice? Their flour tortillas appear to be made in-house. If so, that is amazing, and they definitely deserve kudos for it!

Oh, the place was clean, even though we arrived right after dinner rush. Thinking always of my handicapped friends, it is accessible, with plenty of seating options.

We have eaten here several times prior, over many years. Most places seem to either stay the same, or go downhill. La Campesina, happily, is bucking the trend by getting better, so it gets five stars! It's a remarkable little eatery! It's worth the drive over from Bucyrus, and I know it would be worth the quick, easy drive up from Mansfield, when all of the trendy restaurants are full. Get the same quality meal, with little to no wait time for seating, better service, and less noise, in a clean if somewhat dated environment. 🙂

Oh, side note. On 1/3/23, what was with that strange experimental Hispanic electronic music playing in the background? It wasn't polka, I'll say that for it, but at times it sounded like Peter Gabriel produced and did keyboards on a studio album for a Latinx group who had taken way too much LSD when they were all...

We were very optimistic when we decided to try this restaurant. Everyone had been recommending it. While there was nothing wrong with the food, it wasn't really special either. The main problem was with the service. We had a party of four and were sat at 5:50pm. The restaurant was empty. We got our drinks relatively quickly but two of them were wrong so we politely asked for the correct drinks. We received the new drinks at 6:15pm after the waiter spent 20 minutes talking with other staff members behind the bar. He didn't take our order for food until 6:40pm. We almost left. During the time we waited to even have our food order taken, 5 tables came in the restaurant and ordered and received their food. It felt strange, like we were being avoided purposefully. I asked another employee if he was a waiter because he kept bringing us chips and was so friendly but he stated he was a bus boy. That guy deserves promotion in my opinion because he was the most attentive and friendly staff member in the whole place.

I was really disappointed because I had high hopes but it unfortunately turned out to be a really bad experience. I will not be...

Not greatest way to EARN new customers.

After ordering our meal with the waiter. The owner came back to the table because the waiter did not understand us when we said we'd like an ice tea for myself and root beer for my wife. We thought all was ok. Then the meal came. Not even close to what I had ordered. When I still had not received the correct order when my wife was almost finished with her meal. I told them to cancel my order and was asked "but why" you've already placed the order. Well. I tend to like to eat with my party at the same time..... Very disappointed. I do understand training and all but on a Saturday night and you don't understand tea, root beer or Special combo. He should have be at least shadowed. Not a good way to win new customers. 🙄🙄

I do not recommend. I'll stick to Mexican restaurant in Mansfield. This restaurant in Shelby for sure was not the drive to get there....