La Cita Restaurant — Restaurant in Tucumcari

Sept 2025. Excellent food. Excellent service. Highly recommended. Worth stopping for lunch or dinner even if you're not stopping.

We stayed in Tucumcari because it's almost exactly 500 miles from home. We arrived from Cortez CO where we visited Mesa Verde. Reviews suggested la Cita, and we made our way to the restaurant to check them out. They were the only restaurant on our list that appeared to be ready for guests with a fresh coat of paint on the sides.

They have a friendly Sombrero above the entrance. Their Sombrero is a good example of mimetic architecture: A form of construction for enhancing an amusement experience. Outside of formal, corporate amusement parks such pieces are now rare.

A friendly waitress showed us to a table in a dining room that looked well-maintained. Chairs were comfortable. It looked old, which is fine because I'm old too.

Again, my companion ordered chicken enchiladas, which is her go-to order for a new Mexican place, and I ordered the combination plate with a tamale, chile relleno, and beef enchilada.

The food was good. The only surprise was the chile relleno, which was one of the best I've ever had. The tamale was a disappointment - obviously a canned food service kind. The chicken enchiladas were excellent.

Food cost: Very reasonable, but note that chips and salsa are not free. It's $5 if order alone, and less if ordered with other meals.

Salsa was too hot for an old man. I would have loved it 20 years ago, but not today.

Margarita on the rocks was good, and the price ($7) was very reasonable for a place that has to survive on travelers. My companion 'stole' my margarita, so I had to order another for myself.

Left an excellent tip. Our waitress was very local and bubbly.

Highly recommended. Watch out for the hot salsa. Inexpensive (we spent only $45 excluding the tip)

Plenty of parking in their lot.

We will stop...

You know you have hit the big time when you show up in someone’s music video. Well, even if it is for a nanosecond, like when La Cita had its moment of glory in the Black Crowes’ Wiser Time music video (1994). You have to pay attention, or you will miss it…but it is there at 0:24. The video chronicles a road trip, much of it on Route 66.

I had the pleasure of dining here twice in the last two months, and most recently sharing lunch with current owner Jerry Mares, interviewing him for an upcoming magazine feature. La Cita’s story is that of a mom-and-pop that opened in 1940 diagonally across the street, and then moved to its present location in 1961.

And it’s the story of a place whose name translates loosely to “The Meeting.” If you happen to be coming through Tucumcari, use your time wisely and stop here. This is the Mother Road done right, whether you have a meeting or not. I suspect the subtle nuance of the name might be lost in translation.

Both times I had veggie fajitas, and a sopaipilla with cinnamon and honey for desert. There are meat choices for those so inclined, along with the typical variety of Mexican-inspired menu items (as well as American interpretations). The restaurant is looking great for being more than 60 years old, and it is clear that Mr. Mares has invested his heart and soul here. La Cita has positioned itself as the go-to for Mexican food in Tucumcari, and the steady traffic at both lunch and evening meals is...

Grace has to be the most pleasant attribute to this restaurant. She understood that I had been working all day and didn’t want to sit at the table next to the party of 1000(my headache said it was that many). She move me with no hesitation to what I called the “granny section”. The waitress on this side of the room was very unwelcoming and didn’t even speak. She finished up her customers all nice and bubbly and proceeded to clean her section with the help of the 10 yr old buss boy( really cute). When she was done she said that the best part of her shift was “……having a beer afterwards”…,WHO? I know you not talking to lil ole me😂…. Grace saved the day on this one.

The FOOD…….and y’all know I like to eat….look at the picture and tell me what you see…. 5 pieces of the toughest ends of a steak they had and 4 jumbo shrimp with the shell still on. Even the waitress was like “you had shells on your shrimp??” Lol. I ate ‘em….shrimp were actually the best part of the whole entire meal. I was referred here and told that this was the best place in town…..GET ME OUTTA THIS TOWN😂🤣😂🤣…..do yourself a...