LA FONDA DE LOS CARNALITOS — Restaurant in Redwood City

Walked in for lunch recently, was immediately acknowledged and politely asked to wait while the table was wiped. Very attentive server, just one woman. Atmosphere/Interior is nice and decorative. TVs were off which was nice. Good 1st impression.

Paper menus are heavily soiled, though. I wish I had brought rubber gloves. Please throw these gross menus away! Bad 2nd impression.

Ordered a Mexican IPA $9 and the fish taco lunch $16 which comes with a small soup and side salad. I tried to order the mahi mahi ceviche, but they were out of it. Small pieces of lettuce very difficult to eat with a fork, so I used the fork to shovel greens into my spoon. Server brought my beer together with my food about 10 minutes after I placed the order.

She forgot to bring my soup, too (soup is usually served first in my experience), so I had to remind her - “this lunch comes with soup, doesn’t it?” - after nearly finishing my 2 fish tacos, which were ordinary, not outstanding in terms of either taste or volume. The fish has a light batter and is fried.

I was still hungry, so I ordered the mini crispy gorditas $14 filled with chiccharon. These were specifically mentioned in the article I read.

After tax and 15% tip, my bill was over $50…. for lunch!! Oh, I forgot to mention that my server originally billed me for TWO beers which would have brought my subtotal to $48, but I looked at the handheld screen and said, “excuse me, but you only served me one beer!” How could the server make such a silly mistake? She removed the extra beer. No apology for forgetting my soup nor for trying to charge me for a beer I did not drink. Mind you, she’s the one who poured my beer.

I found this place on SF Eater’s list of 25 top places to eat in the Peninsula and saw the high Google ratings, so I was looking forward to it, but alas, disappointed AGAIN by the opinions and 5-star ratings of so-called foodies and food critics. Ho hum. Overpriced and underwhelmed. Cute plates and dining area, though! I’ll stick to the taquerias frequented by Mexicans. Not a single Mexican person in this place except for the staff. That says something! FOOD - 3 stars SERVICE - 3 stars ATMOSPHERE - 4 stars Overall 3 stars. Just ordinary nothing even close to 4.6 stars.

Update: Printed Menu says $14 for Gorditas de Chicharrron, but my receipt says $15. Dropped from 3 stars to 2 stars for discrepancy and overcharge. Not worth driving to Redwood City...

You need to come and try this place!! You can tell every dish that comes out is well thought out. The service here is amazing. Our waitress was so sweet!! While we were waiting for our food to come out she gave us fideo(soup) to tide us over.

We ordered: Drinks- media naranja, subeté and the guava agua fresca. Oh my god!! Sooooo good!! Just the right amount of sweetness and alcohol. Flavors were very well balanced. Perfect!

Appetizer- Gordita chicharron. This thing was on another level!! It was like a Mexican version of a pizza pocket but so much better! And the side of chile was amazing!

1st Main dish- Chicken verde enchiladas. Their homemade tortillas adds such a good flavor and texture. The sauce is slightly tangy but still really good! The rice was very nice as well. I do wish the dish came with beans.

2nd main dish- Arrachera ( skirt steak, chorizo, cactus and black beans) The skirt steak was pretty tender. It would have been a lot better if they added more salt. The chorizo looked more like a sausage. It tasted good but I was expecting the Mexican style chorizo. It was more similar to Spanish style. The beans were very good and flavorful! We even ate the fried tortilla bowl it came in. The side salsa that came with the dish was not that good.

Dessert- churros with a guava sauce I want to start by saying you can definitely tell these are homemade! Thats very impressive!! But I wasn’t blown away with the filling inside the churro or the guava sauce. I would have loved something like vanilla ice cream, Caramel or like a Mexican chocolate dipping sauce.

Would 100% recommend this place and we do plan...

When I first found out about La Fonda, I was really excited to check it out. I have been to the Los carnalitos restaurant in Hayward as well as the food truck in Redwood City off el camino and have never been disappointed, always a huge fan. My sister introduced me to this restaurant. She raved not only about the food but as well as the wonderful, friendly, and attentive service.

The food at the restaurant did not disappoint however the service was quite disappointing. It's so disappointing to see a fellow Latinx disregard another Latinx at the presence of gabachos. Literally the moment an "American" walked in all attention was dedicated to them and the rest of the customers (Latinx) were disregarded. Our drinks took a while to come out as well as our food. All of a sudden the waitress stop coming around to check in.

Word of advice take care of all your customers equally and you shall receive better reviews as well as better...