LA TOLTECA MEXICAN RESTAURANT. — Restaurant in Maryland

Let's attack the elephant in the room right out of the gate... Americanized Mexican isn't the stuff legends are made of, but it can be excellent, flavorful and with elegant surprises. But this place errs on the side of EXTREME BLANDNESS in it's menu items. I didn't find anything spicy or even remotely spicy on the menu. No biggy - I'll adapt and get the tr-color burrito since it has 3 interesting sauces that might be flavorful. It was bland - the most interesting thing on the menu was 90% devoid of flavor. So I give them another shot a few months later and got a few tacos. They literally had less flavor than Taco Bell - I am serious here. I was shocked. They literally were cheese, ground beef or chicken, and lettuce. The meat has basically zero seasoning and no sauce on the tacos. At least taco bell ground beef has a semi-decent flavor - and surprisingly ok hot sauce devised in a lab by food scientists. I never in my life regretted getting restaurant food over Taco Bell (because duh) - but today I did. I added a ton of salsa to choke down this adult version of bland baby food tacos. Even the salsa, although very fresh, was just boring - zero interesting flavor - let alone a hint of spice.... I don't see how this place can stay in business serving food that has ultra-minimal flavor as it pleases the utmost of the utterly boring taste buds on the planet. But then again, no one ever went bankrupt underestimating the taste and taste buds of Americans... But even for Americanized Mexican this was just utterly devoid of stimulation - totally uninteresting for the tongue and nose. Oh and I asked them specifically to make the tacos spicy - I mean for the love of God I would've been happy with a some chopped, fresh jalapeno, some spicy sauce they keep in the back for their own dishes - anything please.... Anything to add some decent amount of fun to the food. If you need to take Mexican food to someone in the hospital who has severe digestive issues and is someone who likes insanely ultra-boring European food - this is the perfect place for you. Service was mediocre at best. I have better things to do with my time instead of writing reviews like this - but this place is as boring as it gets, a huge disappointment in the most obvious way. The fact that people still go...

My food and my server was great! No complaints there. However last night I did have an incident with Francisco. I’m not sure what his job title is, but my incident occurred when he brought our chips and salsa to the table. My partner had gone to the bathroom so I was at the table alone when he brought the chips. As he sat down the chips he said hello and I said hello back. I smiled and thanked him for the chips as anyone would but my smile quickly vanished when he leaned in and asked me if I had a boyfriend while looking me up and down. Dumbfounded, I said “what?” and he repeated himself asking again if I had a boyfriend. I said yes, so that he would go away, but luckily my server was coming up at the same time. She saw the look on my face and asked if he was bothering me, which I said yes to. She apologized profusely and I learned that apparently this is common behavior for Francisco. He is no stranger to making customers and his coworkers uncomfortable. My server informed the manager of what had occurred but he did not come over to apologize during our visit. It wasn’t until we finished our meal, when I approached the manager myself to tell him what happened that he apologized. He confirmed he had already heard what had happened and had “reprimanded” Francisco. This interaction with Francisco made me deeply uncomfortable as I indicated no interest in him and was cornered in my booth with an intimate question by a stranger, and I was even more bothered to learn that management is aware of this ongoing theme with Francisco, yet he is still employed at La Tolteca. It deeply disappoints me that the manager seemed to not really care about my experience as he did not come up to me himself to apologize, and allows someone like this to continue harassing customers AND his coworkers. The food at La Tolteca is delicious but unfortunately I do not believe we will be returning to the Crofton location unless we hear that Francisco...

WHO doesn’t love Mexican food? This location hits the nail on everything from ambiance, great tasting authentic taste, and even cleanliness. It’s probably the cleanest restaurant I’ve ever had the chance of eating at. Coming from someone who has food handling experience at one of the top visited locations in the world. This location takes pride and has integrity of giving the best experience to their guests. I was welcomed immediately by the hostess and staff when I entered. In the background, they had Spanish playing music which really helped amplify the experience. I was sat and the waiter was very attentive and accommodating to me. Chips and salsa was presented expeditiously to my table and I knew it was going to be a pleasurable experience from how hot the chips were and the freshness of the salsa. I got the pollo encremenado and we saw that they had the VIRAL birria tacos with the consome. My favorite from this location is actually the chimichangas deep fried. Those are a good time but I think they just got dethroned by the pollo encremenada. De-li-cious!! The fried ice cream is also a must have and is always a good time too . Flan a close second . They got a new item too which stole my heart - tres leches cakes 🎂 . I got the peaches tres leches which was phenomenal and moist while stile being fluffy decadent texture. Highly recommend from a foodie 😋I love how the staff is very friendly and welcoming. As we left, we started laughing because the staff said bye and then ,” See you tomorrow.” Made my day. Great experience and great food. The prices are reasonable and they also have a happy hour too. Will be...