La Carreta Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Lansing

We tried this restaurant first in December 2012, and it really didn't blow us away. We went on a busy Saturday night, and with two large parties around us, we were basically ignored. It took 10 minutes to take drink orders, 10 minutes to even just get the check and so many people helped us that it was hard to understand who our waiter/ess really was. The steak fajitas was fine, but it wasn't really amazing. The onions with it were inconsistent, which is a big drawback for me.

That being said, the salsa is really something else. It's amazing. It reminds me of salsa I loved when I was a child, and because the food had promise, we decided to give it a go. They seemed to be fairly new, so we didn't want to write them off just yet.

I'm glad we went back. About a month later, we tried them again on a Sunday afternoon. The experience was completely different. While the wait staff wasn't just incredible, they were on top of it. The salsa and chips were constantly being refilled, and our waiter (oddly, the same one we supposedly had the first time around) was really on his A game. The portions really are massive, and the guests we brought with us said it was even better than Jose Peppers. The chicken is high-quality, as is the pork and beef.

I would recommend going there, especially if you have people in our party who don't necessarily like a lot a heat in...

NOT TAKING PANDEMIC SERIOUSLY This is the second time I have been to this place. Last time was pre-crisis and the food wasn't bad, but not anything to rave about. This time was my first outing to a sit down restaurant since restrictions have been lifted. We we came in, we noticed no personnel with masks on. We asked for outdoor seats, and was happy that we were seated a safe distance from the other diners. However, as soon as our server came to take our order, she stood right next to me without a mask.The utensils were wrapped in napkins, not sealed. The menus were large plastic laminated, instead of disposable. When our food came, the servers were not masked. Then later, towards the end of our meal, diners were seated at a table next to us, less than 6 feet. Apparently, limiting diners was not a priority, and it only got worse. Our server took our plates when we're finished, and the disappeared inside. We waited for our checks for nearly 10 minutes, when we just got up and went inside to pay our bill. When the server saw us, she gave us a wait a minute finger, and then we got our bill with absolutely no apologies at all for the wait. I would have given no stars, but my food was good, although my companions food was cold. If you take the pandemic SERIOUSLY, don't come here, because THEY DON'T. I...

Edit to add: Looking at pictures of the food from years past, it's clear the food we were served was nowhere near the quality of what it used to be. This is kind of sad because it appears in the past the food was quite good. I don't know what has changed but it's clear the ingredients quality has diminished. Having said that it appears this location is clearly failing.

Original Review: My son and I love traditional Mexican Food. This is not it. The service was impeccable however the food was not. My son and I both had the Enchilada Trio. I will say the best one was the spinach and cheese enchilada. The chips and salsa were good the black beans were good but the rice was hard and not fully cooked. The chicken enchilada had very little meat in it and it was pink. It looked like minced chicken flakes and it was not good. The beef enchilada tasted horrible it was like canned chili meat inside the enchilada. We tried to eat it all but just couldn't. Enchiladas traditionally have a corn tortilla these were made with flour tortillas and they were gummy and soft. We knew we had made a mistake with our first bite. We also paid $36 for the meal. I tipped the server because he was very attentive but the food was just bad. We will...