La Fiesta! — Restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City

I had intended to try the Kung Fu Wok upstairs, but was told to go to first floor. I ordered and ate Chinese food, but as I was waiting for the food, I saw the display menu on the table and felt I needed to try it.

There were no prices, so I was a little thrown off by the bill. I know, in general, Mexican food is more expensive in Vietnam than a lot of other food, but each item was more than the Chinese food. On the bill, it said "steak taco," so I was a little worried and asked the waitress, but she said it's the burrito. I couldn't look at it until I got back home.

This was a very pleasant surprise~

I will say, the take-out packaging is outstanding! The portions looked much bigger than the Chinese food I had. For the mac and cheese - it definitely was.

*I had both items over the next two days, so I did not have them fresh. However, both tasted good.

The Spicy BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger Mac (199K$7.85) was much larger than I expected. It might be hard to tell from my photos, but it was in a sizable container, and it had some weight to it. It could be just my personal taste. I thought it was great. Something I'd find at a nice diner in the US.

The Mojo Steak & Eggs Burritos (239K/$9.40) ended up looking exactly like the menu photo, except only one hashbrown. Looking at the actual menu, it says I was supposed to get two, but they did give me some chips - if that's supposed to come with it or not. I thought they gave me some guacamole, but it was lime chili sauce... which is probably my favorite Vietnamese sauce.

You do get two burritos, but if they were a smidgen bigger, that would have been great. The steak and eggs were good. The refried beans were something to be desired... It was just bean paste... and not great.

I did get a little stomachache after eating half of one burrito, but it went away. I had the other half and the same thing. I did have to use the bathroom after the second one. However, it might have more to do with me eating it as the first thing in the morning. I ate the other burrito that night and had no stomachache.

No service fee or VAT (I still spent...

La Fiesta has long been my favorite Mexican spot in Saigon. Last week was my first time back since pre-Covid, and I'm updating my previous review here.

First of all, I'm pleased to confirm that La Fiesta still has the best tasting, strongest, and best value Margaritas in town. Unlike most others, these actually give you a proper Margarita buzz!

Also delighted to find that they have upgraded their nacho chips in a big way. Now they are super thin and crispy.

However, the guac and salsa were both disappointing. Guac and salsa are vital to any great Mexican meal, but these weren't fresh at all. Guac is best when it's made to order, and salsa should be made at least daily. This is one point where the newer taquerias are excelling. Fiesta should aim to serve a fresher salsa, and maybe also offer a couple other varieties, like a super hot one.

Also sad to see they no longer serve the jar of spicy pickles/peppers. That was a unique feature of Fiesta in the past.

For the mains, we went with the Mojo steak salad which was very served with nicely seasoned tender strips of steak. We also tried the Nashville Chicken. Theirs is not like other Nashville Chicken I've had. It was more like "Buffalo" style with the chicken fried and then dipped into a sauce. The sauce had a nice smokey, somewhat spicy flavor. Not quite spicy enough for me, tho. But very flavorful nonetheless.

The fact that I can order Nashville Chicken, though, and Mac n Cheese, etc. is something else I really like about Fiesta. Other Mexi restos are obsessed with trying to appear "authentic" by not offering cheesy dishes or crispy tacos, but La Fiesta offers those and loads of other Tex Mex and non Mex related comforts from the US.

it's cool that there are a lot of options for Mexican food these days in HCMC, but for me, La Fiesta is still on top. Sure there is room for further improvement, but I have no doubt that they will continue to innovate and perfect what...

My nephew and I were around Ben Thanh market area and stumbled upon this restaurant, which seems to run 2 concepts under one roof: Chinese and Mexican. The menu is big, almost overwhelming and honestly a bit confusing. We decided to go for Mexican instead of Chinese, though the Chinese menu reminded us of Panda Express in the U.S.

For food, we ordered the beef shank burrito based on the waitress’s recommendation, as she said it was their best seller. Unfortunately, it fell flat, the tortilla was soggy, the beef lacked flavor and the overall taste was disappointing. Next came the fish tacos, which were no better: hot fish paired with cold vegetables made for an unpleasant bite. Their hot sauce didn’t help either. The hot sauce was overly sour and when I asked for alternatives, they brought out a green sauce that tasted odd. I really wished they had something like Tapatío or Cholula, but no luck.

Service was just as underwhelming. Several servers kept coming over to clear the table even after we’d explained we were waiting for 2 more family members. We switched to a bigger table for space, but they kept removing the extra utensils despite repeated explanations. There were only 3 servers working, one of whom spent most of the time sitting at a corner table on her phone. The restaurant wasn't crowded at all, with 5 customers spread across 3 tables.

To top it off, when we got the check, it showed 1 lime soda at 55,000VND and another “lime soda” at 25,000VND. We ordered 2 sodas in the beginning and returned 1, hence we asked about it. Turns out, they charged 25,000VND for a glass of lime, ice and sugar separately. The issue wasn’t the amount, but the server’s attitude when we asked for clarification, definitely not a good note to end on.

Ratings: Food: 2/5 Service: 2/5 Ambiance: 2/5

Would I come back? Nope. This was a poor choice and I wouldn’t return....