La Santa Taqueria — Restaurant in Miami

What a horrible experience! Not only was I hit&run in their parking lot and no camera was working to help me find the person, it is TOO EXPENSIVE for the type of facilities, atmosphere and security they offer to their customers, it is terribly hot inside and outside the site, no AC, just a bunch of fans all over the place. Already in itself that lowers the category. For a glass with lemon and salt to pour a sparkling water in they charged me 4 dollars, the cocktail bar is too expensive for the type of liquor they use, the parking is excessively expensive, 5 dollars an hour during the day and at night it is even more expensive and they don't even guarantee the minimum security for a private parking lot, and even so, none of the cameras worked and I had to insist too much to get help at least contacting the owner of the shopping mall to see the cameras that were not working either, they charge a lot but they don't guarantee the minimum that an expensive and private parking lot should guarantee. If Im going to pay 140 dollars for lunch with my husband I would rather pay for it in a much better place in a safer place in the Groves or Gables NEVER AGAIN. We should not let Miami continue to rise to abusive prices and decline in quality and service. The parking is your responsability too the experience of the customer is your responsability

Que experiencia tan horrible ! No solo me chocaron (hit&run) en su parqueo y ninguna camara funcionaba para ayudarme a encontrar la persona ES DEMASIADO caro para el tipo de instalaciones, atmosfera y seguridad que ofrecen a sus clientes, hace un calor terrible adentro y afuera del lugar, No AC solo un monton de ventiladores en todo el lugar. Ya de por si eso le baja categoria. Por un vaso solo con limon y sal para hechar un agua con gas me cobraron 4 dolares, Demasiado cara la cocteleria para el tipo de licor que usan, el parqueo es execesivamente caro, 5 dolares la hora en el dia en la noche es aùn más costoso y no te garantizan ni el mínimo de seguridad para un parqueo privado y así de costoso ninguna cámara funcionaba y me toco insistir demasiado para que me ayudaran al menos contactando al encargado del shopping para ver las cámaras que casulamente tampoco funcionaban, De pagar un almuerzo con mi esposo de 140 dolares allá los pago en un lugar de mucho mas prestigio y agradable en un más seguro en los grove o gables NEVER AGAIN No dejemos que Miami se siga subiendo a precios abusivos y bajando en calidad y servicio. El parqueadero si es su reponsabilidad tanto hace parte de la experiencia del cliente. 20mReply ely_munera_m's profile picture @lasantamiami What a horrible experience! Not only was I hit&run in their parking lot and no camera was working to help me find the person, it is TOO EXPENSIVE for the type of facilities, atmosphere and security they offer to their customers, it is terribly hot inside and outside the site, no AC, just a bunch of fans all over the place. Already in itself that lowers the category. For a glass with lemon and salt to pour a sparkling water in they charged me 4 dollars, the cocktail bar is too expensive for the type of liquor they use, the parking is excessively expensive, 5 dollars an hour during the day and at night it is even more expensive and they don't even guarantee the minimum security for a private parking lot, and even so, none of the cameras worked and I had to insist too much to get help at least contacting the owner of the shopping mall to see the cameras that were not working either, they charge a lot but they don't guarantee the minimum that an expensive and private parking lot should guarantee. If Im going to pay 140 dollars for lunch with my husband I would rather pay for it in a much better place in a safer place in the Groves or Gables NEVER AGAIN. We should not let Miami continue to rise to abusive prices and decline in quality and service. The parking is your responsability too the experience of the customer is your...

I went to La Santa yesterday for 5 de Mayo, and it wasn’t the best experience. I’ve been to La Santa many other times, and the food is delicious, but service has never been its best; however, since food is so good, I have always been kind of ok with it until yesterday. The hostess was super quick to take me to my table, and our first waitress was taking my order right away. As the restaurant starts to get busier because again, it was 5 de Mayo, you could see the drinks were taking longer, but the food was still coming super quick and as good as always. When the restaurant had an hour list of waiting, which I’m aware of that since I had some other friends waiting for a table, you could see the same single bartender and the same 5-6 waiters running around. Now, I understand it’s 5 de Mayo, a big celebration, but the restaurant should have been way more prepared, and for sure they should be training their servers properly for high peak hours and events, as well as in customer service. My friends and I were drinking, and we started to realize drinks were taking 10-25 min and we understood since the restaurant was packed. However, we placed our last order of drinks and waited 45 min for them! At the first 20 min, we approached the server just to see what was happening and he just told us he hasn’t forgotten about our drinks, but there is only one bartender... we kept waiting and waiting, and after those 45 mins I told him to cancel the round of drinks and just bring me the check. I was ready to close the tab and just go home. Another 20 min passed by, and the server didn’t bring the check, now when you request the check at La Santa, it is in a little tab reader they carried with them, and you can swipe the card right away, it’s not like he has to go and print the check. So after those 20 mins, he brings me the drinks, so I reminded him I asked him to cancel those drinks 20 min ago. So after waiting 20 min for the check and 45 min for those drinks, we obviously didn’t want to accept the drinks and just leave. The server told me he didn’t understand why I was canceling the drinks when supposedly we waited 20 min for those drinks . He showed me the tab where it shows the time we place the order; he placed our order 30 min ago. Now, he placed our order 30 min ago at the moment we asked him why our drinks were taking that long which we were already waiting for over 20 min. And while he was scrolling the tab, we actually realized that at the moment we asked him to place the order for the last round of the drinks, he added guacamole instead of our drink orders (and no, we never ordered guacamole, and we never got it to the table either). I’m just giving La Santa 3 stars instead of 1 due to that bad service because the food is really good, and that specific day was crazy! However, the restaurant should have been more prepared for such a big event with enough bartenders...

THE NEIGHBORHOOD. This is a zone in transition between Little Haiti and El Portal, on the NE 2nd Avenue line. Mom-and-pop Haitian shops went away during the pandemic, and there are a dozen or so small bistrots, in addition to the recent The Citadel food court and art gallery in a converted former warehouse. It is a funky area, with the MADE workspace sharing hub where creative entrepreneurs have places.

THE BLOCK. There are four small restaurants/bars in this tiny strip plaza, and parking is a problem if all four restaurants are busy, and this is not a zone that one would leave cars out of sight for very long.

THE GOOD. The food seemed authentically made in-house by a Mexican chef; this is not Tex-Mex. The dishes seemed fresh, tasty and in-house made, and ranged from lamb, to pork, to beef, to seafood, to vegetarian. Apart from the difficulty in garnering the attention of the waiters during peak times, service was efficient and courteous. The atmosphere was informal urban Yuppie where sandals, shorts and even dogs could be seen (at least in the outdoor patio; this may not be much of an option when the high humidity returns in April). The street noise on the patio at this busy intersection and the music were a tad loud for me.

THE PAY-ATTENTION. On Tuesdays, the restaurant advertises its "Three for Two" taco dishes, and its Monopolio beer at $3.50 BEFORE 7 pm. I had misunderstood the special offer to mean that for every two orders of tacos, a third would be free; in reality, what is offered is that there are three mini-tacos per serving instead of only two mini-tacos. You must also be aware that the special price of beer is only on Tuesday before 7 PM. I had three plates of tacos (i.e., 9 mini tacos in total), expecting to pay for 2 x standard cost per plate. To my surprise, I was charged for three plates, not the two I had been expecting. It was only then that the waiter explained that the standard dish had ONLY two mini tacos (3" diameter, each) per service, so the offer was for a larger serving -- NOT an extra free order. I would suggest that the owners make this explicitly clear for new patrons, and I got clarification only as I was able to understand in Spanish.

NOT AS GREAT The price of drinks is very high. The cheapest beer was $9 each, and some were $14 each. The restaurant bills with a service charge included, and if you are not attentive, you may add more tip than you had intended. The portion sizes are very modest, with two 3" diameter tacos per standard service, which is a large appetizer for...