La Cienega Mexican Grill and Seafood — Restaurant in South Carolina

Update: 9/16/2025. Views at time of this update, 2344.

I really enjoy the bean dip served as you arrive -- warm and creamy. La Cienega has a wonderful Salsa Wagon. They have a Black Bean salsa with corn, red onion, cilantro and finely chopped green pepper. The Mango & Corn salsa is also tasty. Their traditional tomato-based salsa is really good and has a nice bite. Yummmm-y!

There is an appetizer I have been wanting to try and today was the day. Shrimp Botanas. I had it as an entre -- it's big. Now, I know it is $21(ish), but, in my opinion, well worth it.

Beautifully sautéed shrimp sit upon a bed of cold fresh chopped veggies, sliced jalapeño, and accented on the plate with sliced avacado. Check out the lovely "blossom" created with thin, nicely ripened sliced avacado. I had put a photo from the menu of this appetizer after my first visit, and my dish was identical. I'll leave both photos on the post.

Pop out of downtown Columbia, SC, on Hwy 378 toward Lexington, or hop off US I-26 or I-20, and enjoy a great meal in a comfortable setting. ENJOY!

Original Post: I really like La Cienega. It threw me off the first visit. They play country music rather than traditional Mexican music. Another unique feature is they bring bean dip drizzled with queso with their chips. Never fear, they have a wonderful bar with a wide selection of Roja and Verde salsas. The tequila selection is very good, too.

Ulysses, Manager and Host, and his team are a good crew. They have dishes for us carnivores and Vegetarians! I usually get a Beef Tostada or one of the lunch combos. Today I tried the Lunch Shrimp Plate. I had been eye-balling it for a while. The Shrimp Lunch Plate is offered Fried or Grilled and served with French Fries or Baked Potato. I went with grilled shrimp and loaded baked potato. It was a nice surprise when the plate arrived, and it also had mixed veggies - asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, and chopped onions and mushrooms. The veggies were seasoned wonderfully.

I also took some photos of dishes shown on the menu. I asked Ulysses if the Shrimp Botanas served looked like the photograph -- he said yes. It is so decorative.

Please stop by for lunch or...

Was there around 5PM on Sunday, August 17, 2025. Person took drink order immediately. I asked for no lemon in my tea, received tea with lemon in it. It took more than 15 minutes for him to come back to take order and that was after we finally got his attention. Brought out our rice, beans, and guacamole salad after about another 15 minutes. Received our fajitas about 10 minutes after that. We asked about our tortillas. We were told they were coming. Meanwhile the Hispanic couple that came in 15 minutes after us and their order was taken after us received all of their food including their tortillas before we received our tortillas. We asked about our tortillas, because our fajitas were now cold, because it had been more than 15 minutes since we had been told our tortillas would be out. When we asked to speak to a manager… He was our waiter. When we asked about our tortillas he snapped at us and raised his voice. We asked if we were going to get a discount since our food was now cold because of the wait. Of course, we didn’t. I doubt we will be back there. We had never had a problem there before, but left a very bad taste in my mouth. When I spend that much money when I go out to eat, I want my food to be hot not lukewarm or cold. Beware if you aren’t Hispanic and are going in this restaurant. You are not as important to them and will be treated as second class citizens by...

This was one of the worst Mexican places I have ever went to. First off, the host and girl upfront were clearly racist, rude and very disgusting. I could also tell that the whole staff kept talking trash in Spanish. Constantly speaking Spanish in front of me to each other and chuckling when I said anything at all. The one girl up front kept staring at me, looking at my clothes shoes and laughing at me while texting. That already made me uncomfortable just coming in there. However when I got my food, tasted it and learned that there was peas/mashed peas in the rice and in the chimichangas I ordered (mind you I'm allergic to peas) I tried to bring it to their attention however they they disregarded everything that I said. They didn't offer anything else, they just said they already made the food and walked away. At this point I was fed up and just wanted to refund. However once again they refused, completely ignored and disregarded what I had said. Now I'm out $18.50 for food I can't eat. I had to give it to my sister, so I wouldn't completely waste my food. This situation definitely deserves to go to the BBB. Also it wasn't the fact they they couldn't understand me. They spoke perfect English initially, so there was no issue with that. They were just insanely rude. I will never come here again and I advise no one to eat here. DONT GIVE...