La Taqueria — Restaurant in New York

I will lead with this…..The Food & Drinks were great. I had the Fish Tacos with Chips & Guacamole on the side and a Mango Margarita.

The SERVICE on the other hand could have been A-LOT better. When my guest and I walked in we looked around for a few seconds as the staff looked directly into our eyes. I proceeded to ask do we wait or can we sit anywhere and one of the servers told us to sit anywhere, so we did.

It took about 4mins to receive two waters where the ice had already melted (It made me think the waters were just sitting out in the back because there’s no way the ice could have melted that fast).

The waiter places the menus in front of us and proceeded to walk away, I called for him to come back because I had a quick question about a drink. As he turned around he had an expression displayed on his face as if I annoyed him 😌. I proceeded to ask my question but during the entire exchange he looked completely not interested and I honestly wanted to leave right there.

Normally Chips and Guacamole will come out before the actually meal because it’s an appetizer but it came out with my Tacos (that wasn’t a big deal but something I notice).

After we received our food I had to ask for napkins because as you eat Tacos it can get a little messy. I also felt when I asked for napkins the server was annoyed that I asked.

The entire vibe was off for me and I felt the staff catered more to the Latinos who entered the restaurant vs the 2 African Americans who were already enjoying their meal.

To be honest I will definitely do take out if I ever eat there again but there is also a Taco Restaurant on the corner of Grand & Union ( a few doors down) that Ive been...

As you can see from other reviews, the food here is great, the service? Not so much. It is a shame because I️ love the food and have been here numerous times but I️ refuse to continue to give them my money when the service is abysmal. Every single time I️’m there it’s the same two servers with the worst attitudes, especially the one with the blocky eyebrows. They constantly get the orders wrong. Not to mention they do not check in whatsoever, you constantly have to flag them down to receive anything, it’s as if they don’t want you to keep ordering 😂. The worst part is every single time I️ go there they add a 20% tip for themselves, when really I️ wouldn’t even consider going past 15% OUT OF COURTESY because of how bad the service is. I caught on after the first 2 ish times that they tip themselves and I️ always make sure to ask them to see the receipt breakdown before finalizing the tip, however, today I️ was in the bathroom and my friend who has never been there received the bill and paid. Our total was wrong (charged for an extra shot we DID NOT order) and they tipped themselves 22% on that. Like get out of here. Time and time again I️ justify the lack of service here by telling myself the food is really good but it is not worth it anymore. I hope management learns to better train the wait staff because this place would do so much better with better service. Your best bet is to order for pick up and skip the dine...

A copy of my delivery review (I haven’t been to the actual restaurant yet): Thank goodness for La Taqueria! The tostadas are terrific (messy but perfect—I don’t want to see any reviews about how messy they are—it’s a delivered tostada so it is what it is and it’s GREAT). I’m a huge Mexican seafood lover from SoCal and I now know, after several years in NYC, that it’s not always wise to order seafood from just any NYC Mexican place like I had the privilege to do back in SoCal (where any place that did seafood did it great). However, this place does an A+ job. Taco was loaded with fresh/meaty fish...it was probably skate or tilapia/maybe wahoo//all I know was that it tasted fresh and had just enough bite to it (not too soft or even mushy like some other places). The shrimp they serve is a good quality and grilled to perfection/maybe a little overcooked but good quality/good flavors. I won’t know for sure if it’s overcooked until I have it fresh at the restaurant, which I will do. The al pastor is incredible. Carnitas are pure. I haven’t gotten to the carne enchilada taco yet cuz I’m stuffed but I will say this food was so good I’ve had it two days in a row. I think tostadas and tacos are the way to go....I’ll try a quesadilla sometime in person but the burrito doesn’t reflect their best work. For first timers, go with an al pastor taco, a chorizo tostada (wonderful), and a shrimp taco or tostada and thank them...