La Bamba Mexican Taco House — Restaurant in Mankato

This place is a hard pass! My partner and I ordered take out from here because we were craving Mexican-style tacos and it had such high ratings. I looked at the menu and saw a lot of items I expect to see at Latino restaurants on Lake St in Minneapolis. Based on those factors, we ordered 7 Mexican tacos for dinner and we ordered two soups to eat the next day for lunch (pozole and menudo).

What was good about the restaurant? It was easy to order online and it was ready on time. The cilantro and limes were fresh.

I cannot comment on the service because there was minimal interaction staff due to the pandemic.

What was bad? The food. Okay, I'll be more specific. We ordered 7 Mexican tacos (that means corn tortillas, meat, cilantro, and onions). We ordered 1 carnitas, 2 barbacoa, 2 al pastor, 1 lengua (tongue), and 1 chicharron (tripe). The tortillas were not cooked. The tortillas for Mexican street tacos are always cooked/heated up in a little bit of oil on a skillet/stove top. These were served straight out of the bag they were delivered in.

The carnitas were world's okayest taco - nothing to write home about. The al pastor tasted like a sloppy joe with cumin in it. The barbacoa tasted like it got in a wrestling match with a 5lb sack of Domino sugar and lost. Lengua, when slow cooked, is delectable and really picks up flavor. What La Bamba served a macerated beef jerky disguised as lengua...except the beef jerky would have had more flavor. In other words, it was so undercooked it was the consistency of day-old chewing gum left out overnight... and served at just about the same temperature. But that's okay, they apparently the cook time was reallocated to the tripe, which was so overcooked that it took on a distinct livery flavor.

But the "best" I have saved for last - I held on the false hope that maybe Mexican tacos just aren't their best item on the menu...maybe it's their soup? So the next day, I heated up my pozole... oh, wait, did I say pozole? My bad, I meant Dinty Moore Beef Stew with hominy. I mean, if that wasn't canned soup, then the Pope isn't Catholic. But to be sure, I checked to see if that is even a product. Yep, it is. Juanita's Pozole, available at Target. It looked EXACTLY like the slop in the bowl in front of me. What a joke! I cannot believe I was duped into paying $10 for canned soup!!!

So, if you want to know if I'd recommend this place, my answer is yes... IF this were the zombie apocalypse AND all the other restaurants were raided AND Target was out of...

Dont trust the other reviews, they clearly have not had real authentic Mexican food and if you are new to this town you will begin to realize this town has very low standards for what they regard as good food and goodservice. There are few Mexican places in town and for that I think this place gets away with its subpar minimally authentic Mexican food. Mazatlan and Terraza have way better food but they are pricey. Let me begin with how dirty the place was. the floors weren't mopped or swept and it's a small place so it's not hard to clean. They make the food to order and give it to you at the register and thus it takes awhile to get your turn and food. They advertise themselves as authentic but let me tell you something, after eating in Mexico and living next to the boarder , authentic places do not cook their rice in the microwave, the corn is not from a can for the helote preparado, and the drinks are not in a premade machine mixture. I literally watched them put the rice bag in a microwave. The taste is fine but its not authentic and shouldn't cost what it does. The steak sat in the heat lamp all day and was chewy. the chips aren't house made, the salsa might have been but it cost nearly 4 dollars for something you get free and housemade elsewhere. Behind the counter in the kitchen was filthy as well. Dirt and trash on the floor and grease all along the sides of the wall. The posole seemed authentic and the taste was pretty good. If you have low standards or haven't had real Mexican food and have low standards then go ahead but you're better off with fast food for the price or pay more and go...

I want to start by saying I love La Bamba, and for a long time I considered it the best Mexican food in Mankato, but they’ve unfortunately changed over the years. I’ve been considering leaving a review for a few years as I’ve noticed things start to shift, and I guess this is that review. There was a time in my life where I would go to La Bamba multiple times a week; I was in college, it was convenient, and it was priced more similarly to Chipotle where it was a no brainer to choose La Bamba. Prices are now more similar to a sit-down restaurant, and the times I go there have dwindled down to once every couple of months. When I do go, I’m met with some inconsistent quality. Sometimes they absolutely nail my order, other times it’s pretty lack-luster. For reference, I order the nachos every time with the same toppings. The most recent time I went, it seemed like they were using store-bought chips when they previously used to make the chips in-house. Maybe this was a fluke. I understand that there might be extenuating circumstances that cause them to resort to something like this, but if that’s the case, I guess I don’t know why I was charged full price for an inferior product. It’s made me consider other eating options in town. If I’m paying the same as I would for a sit-down restaurant, I might as well go to one; if I’m looking for something more fast-casual, Chipotle or Giliberto’s are cheaper options. It seems like the business has grown pretty large and I am happy for their success. Unfortunately, it seems like they’ve lost a bit of their identity in doing so, and it’s turned me off from...