La Bamba Mexican and Spanish Restaurant III — Restaurant in Oakland Park

We've been coming to this location for many years and have noticed that the food and service have been progressively getting worse as time has gone on, not better. It doesn't matter how many good reviews you read about any restaurant because you never know if they may be written by someone from the restaurant or not, but there are very few bad reviews that are not 100% accurate!

Last night, we went there for dinner and my wife ordered her favorite Chicken Fajitas. When they came to the table, they were not "sizzling", as all fajita dishes do and appeared to look very dry. The chicken actually turned out to be dry and tough to chew and the richness and the flavor of the fajita's seasoning was almost non-existent! She ate some of the dish, but could not finish it all. We asked for to-go boxes when we were done, since we were paying for it. She was deciding how she was going to possibly steam it the next day to get rid of some of the dryness. When we told the server about how poorly it had been prepared, he started to pick up the dish to throw it away. We told him to leave it and just bring the boxes. He refused to leave it and said he will take it to the manager. He returns and says he told the manager. About 7 minutes later, a man slowly walking down the aisle, stopped by our table and stared at us for a few seconds, then just says "Hello". My wife then asked him "Are you the manager?" to which he just replied "Yes". She had to initiate the conversation to describe the condition of the meal. When she was done, he then asked "What do you want me to do?". My wife and I just stared at each other somewhat puzzled. He then said "If I make you another one, it's going to taste just the same." With that comment, we told him to just take it off the bill. He turned and started slowly walking away. I called to him and said I had another question. He did not even turn around!....... He was only 5' away and I called to him in a loud voice. The server happened to come to the table at that time, so I asked him my question instead. I said "Isn't the fajita supposed to be sizzling when it comes to the table?". He said indignantly "Yes, of course!". I asked him "If that is true, then why did you bring ours to the table NOT SIZZLING?" He made no comment, just said I'll get your check and walked away!

I normally would not go into such depth with a review, but my wife woke up with food poisoning type symptoms today and since the server took our food, I can't verify that the chicken was the cause. I know it's only speculation, but the server was told NOT to take our food and he did anyway. Under those circumstances, I have to consider the worst!

La Bamba has multiple locations and I will be forwarding this to corporate in the hopes that situations like this are addressed and other customers not need to suffer in the...

12/21/24- We sat at the bar. Great bartender sorry I didn’t get your name. G had a Margarita, on the rocks with salt. He said it was a real good one He then order the Lechon Asado , it came w/ white rice black bean and plantains.it was shredded pork. I had the chicken fajita came with four wraps. It was loaded with peppers and onions. The flavor was very good. Chips and dip offered when we first sat. They were nice and warm.

726/22- wow sat at bar w/Roxanna. Very personable. Chips were nice and warm. G had the palomino steak came w/very good plantains, white rice and black beans . Steak was cooked perfectly. I had the steak taco , there 2 round taco shells. But soft . Also came w/ white rice and refried beans w/ melted cheese on top . So good.

5/20/2021- got parking yuppie, we were taken to a table In back. Big place. As soon as s we sat the guy came with the warm chips and 2 mild and 1 spicy sauce . Both real good. We ordered a couple of glasses of wine , took almost 10 minutes to get them. Chips real good. Then I ordered their Costilla de Puerco, fancy for the pork chops , very flavorful. Hubby had the NY Steak, which we read they cut their meats . Who knew. A bit tough, mentioned it to the server and she said well how’s the temperature and it was cooked perfectly medium but it still was tough.Hubby got the white rice and black beans , I asked for there white rice and I got retried beans with the big piece of melted cheese on it and delicious plantings cooked perfectly. All and all ,guess we just didn’t order what we usually order here

9/22/2020– As you pull in the parking lot on the north side they have orange cones along the building for your pick up. We ordered a head of time and number one and number seven for lunch the girl came out gave us a credit card thing and gave us the food and off we went food is always consistent no chips were to go but that’s OK cause it’s plenty of food Number one was the quesadilla I ordered chicken with it no problem. Number seven what is the baby Palomilla which came with of course white rice black beans and plantains a packet and start a phone not crazy about that but the food was great the service was g

Oh my so full. I ordered the combo #4 , Burrito with chicken , yellow rice and refried Beans with all that melted cheese . So yummy. G had the#7 Baby Palomilla ( sp ) with white rice and black...

Its a mixed bag here, Its not fine dining nor has the renovation they did maybe 5 years back really upgraded their food or ambiance enough. I went just recently for a lunch and ordered off the lunch special menu. The tostado was decent at best the chicken was tender but it was truly flavorless and they completely forgot to put the taco sauce on it as well. A taco salad was also ordered from the regular menu but I was charged for the lunch special which was more. I personally didn't taste the taco salad so cant say if it was good or not but in appearance it looked nice. In the area of drinks the regular house Margarita is pretty tasty but a COMPLETE RIPP OFF for what you are served, small cup overflowing with ICE and 6-7oz of actual drink a best for $8.50! Thanks La Bamba for that sham of a drink I was served, unless you catch a HH or another day they happen to have it on special Avoid It not worth the money at all. Another area that seems trivial but is staple of any decent mexican restuarant is the chips and salsa. The salsa was and has been consistently good over the times I have gone however the chips were mostly broken and/or small pieces at best and if your gonna dip a chip in salsa a or any sauce it makes it tough to enjoy to say the least. Honestly over 18 years of living here and knowing this place I prefer Tequila Sunrise over La Bamba any day. Both have been Mexican staples for probably around 2 decades or more yet La Bamba is over priced, while its food isn't nearly as good. Its not the staffs fault they are very nice and do a good job getting to you quickly and work hard, it is certainly the owners or managers that need to tighten things up around there. I think you can do better for your patrons but I probably wont be coming back for some time after last visit as the Cold Corona may have been the only high point...