La Bamba Cafe

Food was bland, soggy and almost flavourless. Rice was edging on day-old, refried beans tasted like they’d come from a can. I really wanted to give La Bamba a second chance but I’ve never been so disappointed by a meal. Flautas: overcooked and flavourless. Enchiladas: 20 minutes after pickup and somehow a little cold inside. My daughter had the $10.99 children’s quesadilla, it was a taco shell with soggy shredded chicken and some bland cheese, and for the life of me tasted like it had been heated in a microwave, no signs of it having been cooked or pressed in any way. I do know this place gets rave reviews, but this is the second time I’ve ordered in the last few years and both times have been laughably bad. Laughable if the meal wasn’t so expensive. Ordered on a Wednesday night so perhaps slow night and we got the leftovers, but not an excuse for terrible food.

I genuinely hate to leave a review like this but I was so completely disappointed in this place. I can’t recall what the dishes I ate were called (which is unfortunate) but I had to order two because the first one was so bad (the photos are of the second dish and the dessert). I was excited when I ordered my first dish because I could order 2 sauces! for it because there was two enchiladas (I think that’s what it was), but when I receive my dish it had two problems: it was DROWNED in sauce, and it was the chicken version — I had ordered the vegetarian. It was nice that they gladly replaced it with the vegetarian version but the puddle of sauce was the real problem. The second dish was actually pretty good and I love that they have a collection of hot sauce bottles you can go grab for yourself. This was particularly handy because there was a lot of bean paste and it was a little bland. The rice was delicious though! I think the dessert we ordered was the ‘special’ that evening and it was definitely not something to write home about. The taste was good but the texture was really not right and again, it was somewhat soggy seeming. I have friends who LOVE the restaurant but I really can’t understand why. Ending with some positives.. their corn chips and salsa were great, our server was friendly, the layout is fine, the atmosphere and dishes are authentic, the prices are okay, and they’re pretty well gluten and nut free.

Definitely one of the more authentic of any Mexican or Tex-Mex restaurant in town. Service was good, staff were friendly. I ordered the flautas and nachos, both were excellent. I was surprised with the high quality of the complimentary chips and salsa. As with any good Mexican place, they use cilantro liberally but tastefully. I'm hoping to head there again soon!