La Fiesta — Restaurant in Sublette Township

Visited 7/29/25. Heard about their $1.50 Taco Tuesday special from neighbors at Woodhaven Lakes so we headed over. Two types of tacos: chicken and beef. I got beef (with cilantro and onion), others at my table got chicken. The tacos were delicious. We eat a lot of Mexican food in Chicago and these were comparable to the best I’ve had. Another person with our party had the chicken chimichanga and loved it.

Now the rest… Our service was terrible. Our waitress wasn’t friendly or helpful. She didn’t return to ask how our food was and whether we needed anything. When we attracted the attention of other servers, they gave us attitude about helping us. No one asked if we wanted refills on chips or salsa. None of our dishes included red or green sauce. We asked for it and only green sauce was dropped at our table. None of our dishes included limes and needed it. We had to ask for that too. We ordered a margarita and beer and wanted another round but couldn’t find staff to bring that over either.

We arrived at 7:30 and were rung up at 9:15. That’s way longer than we expected to eat dinner. Much of that time was spent waiting for our simple meal order to arrive, looking for a server, or waiting to order a dessert.

The restaurant was busy when we arrived but quickly emptied. I don’t know where all the staff went. We’re a friendly bunch of moms with tired, quiet kids so it’s not like we were deemed “THAT TABLE”.

Lemonade refills are charged at a new drink rate…wasn’t told that. Credit card fee of $2.55 added to my register payment…wasn’t told about that. Clover system used for payment and I have a Clover account and might have accumulated points but wasn’t told about that before the transaction was rung up.

I’m not sure if it was because of the Tuesday special or the small town vibe but the restaurant and bar were loud. There was a lot of noise coming from what seemed like the back side of the restaurant, or maybe the bar entrance carried the noise from the back, but it was loud. It was difficult to carry on a conversation at times without repeating ourselves.

I guess it’s possible to have great food but blow the experience with bad service. We won’t be back, or recommend it to our Woodhaven neighbors. Maybe a takeout order would be better if you have a taco craving and feel like...

The restaurant is modest, it's not as fancy as perhaps the other place in Mendota, but the food is good with nice portions and fairly priced. The salsa is very bland to me, but to be fair, I like my food spicy. If you like it spicy, ask for their salsa verde. It's better, but still doesn't smack on the Scoville scale.

Here's the rub with La Fiesta, the service. It's a lot like a shot of Malort, it can make you cringe. It's also like Malort in that the more you drink, the better it gets.

Overall I like the place and...

Delicious food that's good priced and big portions! Cozy atmosphere and everything is made from scratch. Amazing people to work for and to be around, too! Which adds to how awesome the experience is. Creates a great atmosphere. I recommend to anyone who hasn't stopped in. So far most have loved this place and experience and the guests are always in good spirits. Family oriented, too! Pina coladas and variety of flavored margaritas are popular here and the queso and guacamole...