La Cabanita Mex 4 — Restaurant in Meridian

For Cinco de Mayo, and at the recommendation of Dwight Nielsen, I checked La  Cabañita Mex 4 in Meridian.

La Cabañita opened in 2009 in Ketchum. There are also locations in Bellevue and Hailey. In December 2020, Senator Jim Risch recognized la Cabañita in the Congressional Record of the U.S. Senate for it’s contribution to the community, by naming it Idaho Small Business of the Month. In 2022, La Cabañita in the Wood River Valley won 3 awards: Best “Cheap Eats,” Best Salsa, and Best Mexican Restaurant.

I arrived close to 1 PM, and the place was packed. I was lucky to find a table. My server quickly brought me a menu, water, and complementary fried corn tortillas, salsa, and refried beans. The fried corn tortillas, salsa, and refried beans were excellent!  The salsa was so good that I was tempted to ask if I could purchase some.

I was a bit overwhelmed by how many menu options there were, so for the first time in decades, I ordered a combination plate. I ordered #20, which is an Enchilada and a Chile Relleno, served with a side of rice and beans ($11.99). I don’t normally order enchiladas, and was trying to decide between ground beef and shredded beef. My server recommended the shredded beef. I also ordered a Fish Taco on the side ($2.75).

I loved the Chile Relleno! It was very cheesy and a bit spicy. I didn’t care for the shredded beef enchilada because the beef wasn’t seasoned, but according to reviews, this is one of the most popular menu items. I didn’t love the fish taco, which was a bit bland for my taste. I later realized it was supposed to have been served with some green salsa, which my server forgot. Also, I’m partial to Baja style fish tacos.

Even though there were a couple of items I didn’t care for, there was a lot I did like about this restaurant. Also, the service was excellent! I look forward to returning and trying some other menu items.

La Cabañita is one of the few restaurants in the Treasure Valley that serves crisp shelled tacos. My favorite crisp shelled tacos of all time were at Art’s Casa in Nampa. Art served Sonoran style Mexican food. I’ve never found any quite like his, but El Rinconcito in Nampa was a close second. Sadly, it too has closed.  I can’t wait to try La Cabañita’s crisp tacos!

There is a 4% convenience fee when paying with a card. If you don’t want to pay...

Went here for the first time tonight after wanting to give it a try for quite some time. Let me tell you this place is the bomb!!!!! I can’t emphasize that enough. First off this restaurant was clean enough to eat off the floor. The tables, the menus, the silverware, the cups, the dishes — all very clean. Our server was Jorge and this guy was on it. Very polite, attentive, and gracious. It felt like we were at his house the way he treated us. There were 7 of us in our party and he knocked it out of the park with his service. He hustled for our food, for drink refills, for more salsa and chips, etc. He called us sir or ma’am, suggested delicious entrees and you could tell he took pride in his work. Now for the food - A+. Moving to Idaho from Southern California years ago I realized how spoiled we were to have had such delicious authentic Mexican food all over Southern California. It’s easy to find good bbq or burgers in Idaho but it has been tough to find great Mexican food. Well, we finally found our spot. I got a super burrito with ground beef. The ground beef was tasty with chunks of potato throughout. Besides the beef, the burrito was filled with rice, beans, lettuce and cheese. It was smothered with a tangy red sauce, melted cheese, and guacamole. It was HUGE! I’m 6’2” 225 lbs and it filled me up. Others in my party had shredded beef taquitos, cheese enchiladas, tacos, carne asada quesadillas, and everyone was very happy with the quality of their food, the service, the ambiance, etc. Even the kids had chicken nuggets and fries off the kids menu and they ate every bite. My wife had a skinny margarita and she said it was excellent. Not too sweet with a good amount of tequila. Also, the chips and salsa and bean dip alone would have been enough to bring me back to La Cabañita. Soooo delicious. I’m beyond stoked we finally found a real deal Mexican restaurant in the Treasure Valley. Oh and as if it couldn’t get any better, the prices were great considering the portion sizes and quality. ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Keep up the great work Jorge. We will see...

We have been looking for some 'decent' Mexican food. We're not talking gourmet, just at least as good as I can make at home. The reviews that were listed on google can NOT be real. The good part of our visit, the people were friendly. The place was clean. The bad part of our visit was the terrible food. I had a "chili relleno burrito" which I've never heard of before. It was supposed to have chicken and beans inside plus the relleno. The chicken was there, the beans were indiscernible. I was charged extra for sauce/cheese on top. The chili rellano inside my chicken burrito was barely edible. A fresh pablano, yes, not canned. I would have preferred canned. At least it would have been skinned and tender. As it was, the fresh pablano was difficult to cut (needed a steak knife but did not have one), and was not skinned or even charred. It was not cooked enough, so quite tough. The egg wrap around it was discarded and so was the rubbery tortilla that the whole thing was wrapped up in. My husband had a shredded chicken super-burrito, which was the special. The red enchilada sauce was so bitter it was inedible. The burrito itself was so rubbery on the outside, I had to cut it for him (again, a steak knife would have made this easier). The filling for the burritos was not even seasoned with salt. No rice or beans accompanied the dish. Save your money, this is a sad excuse of a Mexican restaurant. I can definitely open a can of beans at home and serve a better tasting meal. Oh, I forgot, the "fried whole tortilla shell" instead of chips is quite amusing. I would guess this is how they get rid of their stale...