La Vecina Taqueria — Restaurant in Newport

Was super excited to try this out! We had heard that the chef was from Mexico City area so we had high hopes. Going on a weekend night we thought there would be a long wait, there was no wait, which might be a red flag. We ordered some cocktails to start and were greeted with chips and salsa. The salsa was awesome, some of the chips weren’t fried long enough and were not crisp, but at least you know they’re frying them fresh. The drinks were good, but so small. Mine was in the same size water glass(12oz glass) and was 3/4 ice. It was tasty, but not a $14 cocktail. The same could be said for my wife’s, very tasty, but small glass and lots of ice. We ordered the queso fundido, which had poblano peppers instead of the typical chorizo which sounded fun. When it arrived, the cheese sauce was warm, but congealed. Like it had been sitting in a steam table and was scooped into the bowl after sitting since opening. I thought it had the texture of a processed cheese, a bit plasticy, and nothing about it screamed Mexican cuisine, and there was nothing in it that even made it like fundido. No tomato, onions, or spices, only cheese and poblano. We ordered some tacos, and from looking at other reviews here we were expecting typical taco size on blue corn. When they arrived, they were on yellow corn street size tortillas (3”). With the price ranging between $4 and $5.50, to get 1 tiny taco was disappointing. The flavor of the fillings was decent, but far from a flavor punch or anything that says authentic. The chicken tinga was dry, and missing the signature chipotle and tomato sauce that tinga is braised in. The Al pastor was also a miss, it didn’t have the typical guajillo pepper flavor, and it was quite greasy, like oil was dripping from the tortilla before it was picked up and seemed to be made from trimmings of pork, not shaved from a spit from whole cuts. The only saving grace was the pineapple, which was a garnish and not part of the cooking like a typical Al pastor. We also got the corn and mushroom taco, which was probably the winner out of the 3. It had some cotija cheese and crema which helped, but quite messy to eat. Overall fairly unimpressive, especially for $58 before tip for 2 small cocktails, plastic cheese sauce and 6 tacos. There are better places to get authentic Mexican food in Newport, might not be a flashy as here, but the food was...

First time to this restaurant- was told that they served amazing chips and that the salsa was great… We, a party of 4, show up on a Tuesday and arrived at 5:30-did not have a reservation so we were offered either the bar or outside- we chose the latter. Lily was our server. She was pleasant enough and took our orders. She was very kind and patient with me as it took me a while to decide on my meal. Once we ordered, I guess it must have gotten busy because we started to sporadically receive parts of the order. First came the chips and salsa which I did not photograph. Coming from New Mexico I was not at all impressed with the thickness of the tortilla chips, nor was the salsa at all flavorful. I ordered two tacos; the sweet potato and crispy fish- my man ordered the La Vecina burrito and our friend ordered the carnitas for two. Our food was delivered by server Isabelle… she had literally no idea how to pronounce any of the food that she was handing us- and after I snapped the photos for this review and began to eat- I realized that I was given a shrimp taco rather than the fish. About 1 minute later, Isabelle came back with another small plate and said who got the fish taco? And then told us she has no idea what she is delivering- she was just told that an order was ready to go out. If the management team is reading this… please invest in better training for your new hires. Not knowing the food on the menu is off putting.

The food was fair- ZERO spice but ok- they offer room temperature bottled water with no ice- the silverware and glasses were dirty. There is only one bathroom for patrons- hope the person before you...

WASTE OF MONEY!! I was so excited to try this restaurant out, only to leave disappointed. I got pozole, tamales & a burger. The food was hella salty for some reason—like, uncomfortably salty. Imagine grabbing a handful of salt and just mixing into the food. That’s literally what it felt like the cook(s) did. I managed to get the through the pozole but when it came to the salty, dry tamales I just couldn’t. It was so bad! Like why would you do that to the food you’re serving? Do you not taste test prior to serving this food??

Anyway, I had ordered off the appetizer menu during their happy hour (1/2 off appetizers). The waitress knew I had ordered off the appetizer menu expecting it to be half off. Got the bill and it was full price. She says “it’s only half off at the bar”. The bar was like 1-2 steps in front of us. We were the only ones there in the restaurant along with one other smaller group on the other side. So you’re telling me if would have sat in a different seat 1-2 steps away I would’ve got half off the food I ordered? Okay. That was the dumbest thing. The waitress should have mentioned that ahead of time. The back of the menu says “bar only”, yes, but I also got a margarita so I was thinking because I ordered a drink made at the bar it would’ve count since the waitress didn’t correct me when ordering.

Yeahhhh, I would not...