La Tiendita Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Tallahassee

La Tiendita left a bad taste in my mouth.

So I found this place while visiting Tallahassee on business. I stopped in for dinner on a Monday after a flight in, sat outside, and was blown away by the food. Nothing was bad. The salsa slapped, the lengua gordita was a pocket of goodness, the tings tostada had avocado and crema with cilantro, and the Chile relleno platter cooked to perfection. Not greasy, not overly fried, cheese was gooey in the center. Sauce was great. The rice? So flavorful and delicious. Things were so good I decided to return again during my brief 4 day stay in the area. Man do I regret that decision.

I returned on Wednesday for dinner after working, sat inside and got started. The server was pleasant and made suggestions and guided me through ordering. I took her suggestions and was greatly anticipating dinner. The salsa was a bit flat this time around. I don't know if it was old, or it was close to the end of the night, but it wasn't the same heavenly mana as before.

When my order arrived, I was a bit surprised to see the portion sizes. The especial de la casa lengua en roja had two pieces of tongue that looked to be about 4oz total. Rice portion and beans were noticeably smaller than two days ago. The rice and lengua were not as flavorful tonight. Not a good value for $18.

I had ordered a second entree, the Diablo burrito with steak to take for my lunch the next day, but was still hungry after the surprisingly light portion of tongue and so tucked into that next. Flavors were good, the spice level was just right. Portion was again a bit small for a $16 burrito, with the rice just meh and the beans a bit runny.

While eating the burrito, another server came by to check on the table. This was not my server - she was bussing the table behind mine. When she asked how things were, I had a mouthful, so I nodded yes, thumbs up. I saw she had a pitcher in her hand, so I passed my water glass to her for a refill. She took it, said "oh, water?" and I nodded yes. She had a microfiber towel in the same hand as the pitcher, and when she went to fill the glass, had some problems and moved behind me to fill the glass. I heard ice rush into the glass, and she set it back down on my table. I thanked her, picked up the glass, and took a swallow. Something was bad. The refilled glass was... wrong. It tasted like an old, watered down margarita.

Here's what I can put together:

When the other server checked on me, she had a pitcher from another, dirty table in her hand. She used this pitcher which had (?) old margaritas from another table to fill my water glass. I got a mouthful of something from another table that I have no way of knowing if glasses or anything was emptied into the pitcher before it went into my glass when the table was being bussed.

When I realized this, I took the glass to my server and let her know that something happened, and the water tasted like old watered down margaritas. She was apologetic, and got me a fresh glass of water. She also asked if I needed a box, which I did not at that point.

When paying, my server again asked how things were. I replied "Well, other than getting a mouthful of an old margarita from someone else's table, it was okay. " She did apologize again. I replied "it happens." Paid, tipped, and left.

I cannot express how disappointing my second trip to this establishment was. Everyone has bad days, I get it. It seemed that today was definitely the "B" team with front and back of house. The inconsistency broke my heart, truly. I had decided that with my limited time in town, I'd return to this restaurant and support your business instead of patronizing a competitor. I was looking forward to this meal, and had called others to let them know how stoked I was to be coming back to try new dishes on your menu. Having worked in industry for more than 23 years, I can with 100% certainty say I have never filled a guest's glass with trash/waste from another table. Never.

This place left a bad taste...

La Tiendita Mexican Restaurant, 1840 N Monroe St

We are pretty new to Tallahassee, but as we love Mexican food, so we have already tried a few places. So far, the big winner is La Tiendita Mexican Restaurant. The biggest losers are El Jalisco and Cinco De Mayo

Echalee Mexican Grill is another winner, but today, we looked at the google listing and decided to try La Tiendita on Monroe. The place is well appointed a bit of touristy stuff but not as bad as most, it had more the feel of an airy café in some of the border towns I have to (on both sides of the border). We decided to go for the Birria Tacos, which are about twice as expensive as the regular beef tacos, when ordered with cheese. We highly recommend adding the cheese.

The staff was friendly and helpful, if VERY young. We are still getting used to this being a college town where most of the wait are college students. You are, as per tradition in any decent Mexican restaurant I have eaten at, served salsa and chips while you wait on you main course.

The chips were warm and yummy the salsa was kind of oddly dark. I was a bit skeptical, and they only offered a single bowl. Most places bring a spicy and a mild, which suits my wife and I because I like spicy and she likes mild. We both took a bite, fearing for the worst. We were amazed to find the salsa to be fresh, very flavorful but not too hot on the spicy scale.

My wife got a diet Coke, and I got my standard black coffee and ice water. Here’s a tip, most good Mexican restaurants serve a good coffee, and it goes so well with Mexican food! Surprisingly, the coffee was just OK. Of course, after my recent experience at Lucky Goat, I was pleased to find drinkable coffee!

We actually asked for more salsa while we waited, as it was so tasty. We did not get more chips, as I have done that before and found I couldn’t finish my entrée because I was too full of chips. The Tacos were amazing, the shredded beef, onions and cilantro were filled on a bed of soft stretchy white cheese, it was perfect, or nearly so, because the real perfection came from adding the dipping sauce which is basically au jus with wonderful seasonings that will, if done right, make you almost cry from joy. This sauce was certainly done right!

We ordered a side of yellow rice which was served in a cake and looked and tasted wonderful. I suggested to my wife we use the remainder of the salsa over the rice which again seemed perfect, until I added a bit of the dipping sauce, all the flavors compounded into a real delight.

Google shows a single $ on the listing, which is technically correct, because they offer regular street tacos at $2.75. These low cost tacos are probably as yummy for what they are as the Birrias. We dropped $40.00 plus tip, which is on the high side for our lunch budget, but neither of us regretted a bite nor a dollar!

Afterwards, our server told us the Birrias are their number one seller. I...

LONG REVIEW, BUT WILL SAVE YOU MONEY!

Where do I even begin with this establishment? I would have given 0 stars if possible. They have such poor customer service and their food was sub par. I ordered a curbside order from them that said it was going to be ready at 2:12. I arrived at 2:19 thinking it wouldn't be long before I got my order (boy was I wrong) I called the restaurant like instructed and was put on hold for 5 minutes when I told them I was outside for curbside. They then told me it was going to be 10 more minutes before the food was done. No apology, no sorry for you wait, nothing to express concern of not having my order done on time. I then sit in my car for 25 MORE MINUTES watching in-house people get their food that arrived after me before I have to go inside for my curbside order defeating the purpose of selecting that option. When I went to the front counter and asked about it the woman was literally putting my order through the window, and scoffed as I asked about it. I then had to wait 5 more minutes for salsa. Once I finally got my food it was haphazardly given to me, and the front counter person didn't say anything as I made my way out. I went at a dead time on purpose for lunch and ended up being there until 2:50 because of poor communication and lack of skills.

Now for the food! I ordered what I thought was a traditional Mexican meal. A chicken quesodilla with rice and beans. My quesodilla had no cheese in it, the beans were very runny, and the Mexican rice had green beans and corn in it. I've been to many Mexican restaurants and LA Tiendita definitely does NOT know what authentic Mexican food is. My brother's food was even worse. He ordered what he thought was a "steak" which turned out to be a single thin strip of meat they would use for fajita meat with the rice and beans. His meal wasn't cheap, so seeing that was aggravating to say the least. The salsa though was by far the worst. Again I don't know where LA Tiendita gets their recipes, but it isn't from Mexico. This salsa was very chunky and brown. It had seeds and other plants parts mixed in as well and it was awful. I had to pay 5 dollars for salsa that ended up being thrown away. After our meals we were both still hungry, so we ended up having to get more food.

So really a 0/10 is what I would rate this...