La Mexicana Cantina & Grill Tallmadge — Restaurant in Tallmadge

We had actually chosen another Mexican restaurant in Akron to go to that was rated 4.5 stars on over 150 reviews in Yelp. Our friend arrived before us and texted me while I was driving. She didn't like the area the other restaurant was in and suggested this place. So we went here instead. And of course since I was driving I couldn't look up reviews. BIG MISTAKE! I ordered the make your own combo with a chicken burrito, beef sope and beef tostada. Mind you the beef is ground, not shredded as the menu implies. My pregnant wife and our friend ordered the chicken burrito fajitas. And a side of fries for the kids. My plate of 3 items was incredibly bland. Our friend and I lived in Los Angeles for over 10 years, my wife for most of her life. So we have had authentic Mexican food. This is nearly flavorless gringo Mexican food. Those stating this is authentic in other reviews have obviously never eaten Mexican food west of the Mississippi. To the restaurant's credit, the burrito fajitas tasted good, but it was covered in cheese sauce, not actual shredded cheese. I've never seen authentic Mexican food covered with cheese sauce. I thought the burrito fajitas tasted better than all the items on my combo plate, so I was regretting ordering it and not sharing the HUGE burrito my wife had ordered. Well, later that night when my wife was feeling ill, my bland regrets were abated. I asked my friend this morning if she and her daughter had gotten sick. She said they tummy aches also. My 17 month old daughter had icky poo this morning as well, and all she ate were the French fries. So it seems the issue may be with poor sanitary practices or personal hygiene. On a trip to the bathroom I noticed a woman taking a young child into the back of the restaurant. Makes me wonder what sort of things the boy is allowed to touch or made to prepare. Not sure they understand that this is likely not acceptable by the local health department. So, in summation stay away unless you want bland, overpriced...

Living in South Texas for around a total of 5 years and having friends from Reynossa, Mexico and Monterey, Mexico and eating authentic Mexican food I am really picky about my Mexican food. This is honestly the only Mexican restaurant in this area that I have tried and really really enjoyed. I should say in surrounding areas as well I've been to about 5 or 6 different Mexican restaurants. I now basically only go here unless someone recommends somewhere else and then I'll try another one but I usually only come here because it's as close to what I had down there i only wish that they had breakfast tacos in the morning I feel like they would get business even in the mornings if they did breakfast tacos. I in particular miss the Carne gasada and cheese taco lol. I've yet to find a place that offers it one place told me they had it and they brought me a Carne Asada taco. For those who do not know what I'm talking about asada is just like plain beef and gasada has a gravy on it but it's super good. An down in south Texas and Mexico tacos are like huge in the morning. Homemade tortillas flour or corn or even a mix of the two are so good and they were fairly cheap only Dollar something a taco. That's honestly another difference between here and down there as well is the cost of the food everything down there is $2-$4 cheaper but that makes sense because there's a lot more options...

When ordering the waiter had no time whatsoever to take our order of appropriately. It was my son's birthday and we were told that at the end when we were ready to check out he would be receiving a gift and a song however in the midst of our eating and ordering more food the Entourage the storm then singing happy birthday from Clear across the room. We weren't even able to get a photo of the hello birthday that they were singing are the gift that they get. You all while that was happening we hadn't been there for about 45 minutes without any service after we had placed our order and was trying to continue placing more food order and greeting our guests to join our party when my guest did arrive and try to make an order the order was not at the understanding of a chalupa and there was an additional $10 fee for shrimp on top of that the owner herself told me that we can get our food to go and be on with our life in those exact words very nasty for someone celebrating their birthday out of state at your restaurant. When asked to replace the food items that was not what was wanted the owner again stated that we would have to pay for that food that we did not want and an additional what we would like to have because the owner nor her employees or her business was going to pay...