La Carreta

Sunday Brunch, new at La Carreta. Just stopped there, party of 5. Four good eaters, one of them couldn’t eat fat and Ricardo, the manager, went out of the way to please the fifth person and went out to buy bagels. Everyone was satisfied. La Carreta had a chef making omelets to order. A soup called Menudo, which, I believe would be tripe soup. Carnitas, tacos, poblano chicken, pork and beef ribs, everything really good. Desserts, the best I have tried in a long time.
We all definitely will return. No complaints, food and service have an A+ from me.

So I was always a huge fan of La Carreta in Manchester, and when this place opened I was there on the first day. I’ve been here just about once a week ever since. Let me first start by saying I drive by 2 other, closer, Mexican restaurants just to get to this one. I love their chips and salsa! The salsa is nice and thick and has a good spice to it and the chips are always fresh.
My favorite is the chile relleno, but their burritos and enchiladas are very very good. I had the shrimp fajitas for the first time the other night and they were quite good.
Once in a while they accidentally give me beef when I ask for chicken, but they always make up for it with some nice freebies on the side.
The only downside is the place is a tad more expensive than the competition, but in my opinion is totally worth it for the quality. I won’t go anywhere else now.

The food was only okay. It was fine but I actually prefer the Border Café or at least like the Border Café as much. Great for groups and the service was good but unremarkable.

As someone who is from Tucson, AZ the land of Mexican food that’s actually Mexican and not Tex-​Mex, this is the real deal.
Guacamole is chunky and delicious and the number of choices of tequilla for your margarita is amazing.
Stop here every time I’m in the Boston area.

The only reason The Boyfriend and I ate here was because we had a Groupon and being half-​Mexican, I eat Mexican food out and at home at least twice a week.
The place is horribly overpriced. We went on a Friday night and it was packed, which is a good sign but one look at the prices and I about died.
We both had combo plates. The food was good but not worth $ 18.00 a plate. We had soft drinks so $ 50 with tip is ridiculous without the $ 15 groupon we had.
I definitely won’t be coming back here when they are several excellent hole-​in-​the-​wall Mexican places where two people can eat mountains of food for $ 20.00 with tip!

Food is so so
Service is horrible
The owner is a jerk
We tried them four times and always had the same experience so we quit going. Viva in Wayland is so much better.

Just bad.
We went on Friday night and although it was packed, we didn’t have to wait to be seated. I ordered a Dos Equis Amber draft, while my wife ordered a Margarita with no salt. Of course, it came with enough salt to melt a snow pile.
My wife ordered a side of guacamole that never showed up, and despite asking again, her next Margarita came with even more salt.
But that’s just the service, let’s talk about the food: just dreadful. The chicken I got for my fajitas tasted exactly like those refrigerated short cuts you get in the grocery store, and my wife’s food looked a lot like a mystery animal tossed into a wood chipper.
Do NOT go here.

Delicious.
I came here with a few friends a couple months ago. We had been driving around looking at Christmas lights, and suddenly found ourselves with an overwhelming desire for queso dip. We’re a group who loves our queso dip.
I called up my Unilocal app on my trusty smartphone, and it led us to La Carreta. We pulled into the parking lot, and walked up to the door. We were saddened to see that they were just about to close. Defeated, we headed back to the car, only to be chased down by two employees who told us we could come in. They ushered us inside, and brought us some queso. It had little bits of chorizo in it. Yum!
We perused the menu, and made our selections. I had chicken enchiladas, and was very pleased. I don’t remember what my friends got, but I do remember that they too were happy with their meals.
We finished our food, paid, and headed out. As we were leaving, the owner said «Thanks for coming in! See you for lunch tomorrow!»
We haven’t made it back there since that night, but I’m sure we’ll make it a point to head out that way again soon!
Thanks for a nice night and a great meal, La Carreta!

Ouch. So we order the chicken fajitas and the server says, «you want the side order of tortillas.» I ask why and she says, «well, there are only two.» why not just charge a buck more and provide a reasonable number?
Expensive! Regardless of the tortilla up charge, this was a $ 30.00 meal for no appetizers, 2 beers, guacamole $ 6.00! And one entrée.
Flavorless. One thing you never expect from a Mexican restaurant is flavorless. After walking to the back room to find a server for the second time, we asked if they had any Tabasco or other sauces. Surprisingly, they had a house sauce. It would have been helpful had the server mentioned this. It was pretty good and helped the dry, flavorless chicken to be more palatable.
Wait staff was friendly but so in attentive that we ended up calling the restaurant to get them to come to our table!
This sounds like a joke but it’s absolutely true.
Acapulco’s is 5 minutes west on route 9 and a much better value and experience.

I’m not Mexican but, close enough since I was born and raised in Central America. And we’re (not officially) trained to eat like there’s no tomorrow. I mean, have you ever been to a Hispanic party? We have pots of food, not small containers, so trust me when I tell you to bring your appetite when you go to this place.
Anyhow, I had a Torta de Carnitas (pork Sandwich, if you will). It was ginormous! The pork was well seasoned and tender, the bread was crispy and yummy, the sauce was delicious… only problem, that is all the torta had! I mean, where is my portion of vegetables?! Granted, there is a side of salad and soup but, that doesn’t excuse them from serving bread and meat, only.
Luckily, the tortilla soup was delicious and the side salad was fresh. So I forgot I had no vegetables in my torta. The chicken tacos were delicious, too. We ordered them Mexican style, meat, cilantro and onion, only (you can get the American version, though. With lettuce, sour cream and «salsa»). The Carne asada was also a large portion, and they cooked it just like my friend likes it (burned, and no, I’m not joking), they serve it with tortillas, a side of rice and beans, enough to feed 5 children.
Oh, and if you’re an avocado lover such as myself, make sure you get the guacamole dip. It is to die for! But be aware, extra chips are for a fee (booo).
Margaritas are great, very strong and with lots of tequila (not the best quality, though) so be aware and don’t drive afterward.
The staff is very friendly, and although not perfect, they speak English well and my friend had no problem understanding our waiter. I speak Spanish, so I didn’t have trouble understanding either :-)
The restrooms were also very very clean, which was nice. There’s plenty of parking so that isn’t a problem. I gave it 4 stars, because it’s a bit overpriced.

Finished up work late, so I stopped in at the bar for dinner on my way back home around 10:00. (Hooray for this place being open late)
Ordered a Dos Equis amber on tap, and received the requisite basket of chips and bowl of nice and spicy salsa within about 30 seconds of taking my seat. The Tacos al Pastor were authentic, with little cubes of pork, a yummy sauce, and bowls of cilantro and onions on the side. The corn tortillas were made in house.
Service was prompt and friendly, and my conversation with the bartender leads me to believe that this place is one of the most Mexican in town, even if the people that work there hail from the other spanish-​speaking countries of the world.
A plate of tacos and two beers ended up costing me $ 30, but this is New England. I’ll happily go back, and pay it again.

Been here 3 times now. Never had a bad meal. The homemade salsa was fresh and has a bit of a kick.
The fajitas are excellent along with the enchiladas. Lots of food for what you pay for. Just wish more restaurants were like this.

First off I just want to say I wanted to give them a 4 star but since I was only in and out quick for lunch I can only give a 3.
We were seated very quickly followed by warm chips and salsa. The chips were awesome but the salsa lacked some chunkiness — was basically the consistency of pasta sauce with a few onions sprinkled in — it did have a really good flavor though.
The lunch specials are awesome and very cheap! All 4 of us ate until we were stuffed and had an order of guac and the bill was only $ 40! I had the lunch special # 3 — enchilada and taco with rice and beans — was very good!
I will definitely be coming back here to try dinner time and a couple of drinks!

Buy With Me brought me to this hidden gem.
5 for the margaritas — they are delic
5 for the chips and salsa
5 for the space — it is big inside with plenty of seating in the dining room and bar area (and parking)
4 it can get loud which is fine unless you are looking for a relaxing place to chill
¾ service can be on the slow side but each time I’ve gone we haven’t been in a hurry so things went along fine.
4.5 The seafood fajita was great. The seafood was not overcooked and was steaming hot with lots of flavor. The portion was just right for me but a little on the small size for the price.
I was looking forward to the crab enchilada and was disappointed. I was looking for gooey yummy I have to have more and it was just ho hum.
This place has lots of potential. It could be a killer place if they can get the flow to move more smoothly and quicker. I can see it being full and hopping… some day.
I am not giving up and I’ll be back, at least for the chips and drinks.

Well, I went there last Saturday night for the first time. And I was more than a little underwhelmed. I had eagerly watched them work on this for a very long time, and fully welcomed the idea of a new Mexican place in the hood. Even better that it wasn’t full on corporate dining! I was disappointed. The service wasn’t very good, the food wasn’t very good, and the drinks weren’t very good.
Some details:
The margarita menu is difficult to discern, sure they list a bunch of tequilas, all in different groups priced per shot or per margarita, but no other details on the margarita. When they took our drink orders, they never asked how we wanted the margaritas so we got them with salt, which is not our preference.
I did something I rarely do; I got a combo platter, half enchilada, half chile relleno. I was impressed by the different varieties of meat I could have in the rellenos. I was naïve. What I got was a mushy pepper with melted cheese inside and the meat lay on top and the meat was very fatty. We also ordered a pork burrito and what came was a dryish tortilla that wasn’t fully wrapped shut. I will say the pork however was really yummy!
All in all, I was disappointed.

Do not eat here! I don’t know where all of these other fools have eaten but it hasn’t been authentic Mexican! They use Land O’Lakes in their Quesodillas!!! I mean we had contimplated Margs down the street but had read the reviews for this place and they were great but the place was not. Guess we can no longer trust Unilocal… The queso fundido is also a molten mess– not a grilled cheesey goodness at all!
One plus: the Margaritas! Great and strong!

It took a million years for this place to open, but so worth the wait!
I didn’t want to get my hopes up because finding good mexican in MA is very hard to do. Husby & I went for Valentines Day… they had a mariachi band which was comically loud but lots of fun.
Love love their salsa, so spicy and flavorful, I could have eaten a vat of it. Husby got the combination burrito, enchilada & chile relleno with rice and beans. The burrito is not like burrito you usually see, its more enchilada-​like, the red sauce had a cinnamon flavor which I wasn’t a fan of, but I always get verde anyways.
I had the chicken enchilada & tamale with rice and beans. The verde sauce was soo good as was the rice and refried beans. Not the best tamale I’ve ever had, but still tasted really good.
They were understaffed for the night, but the service was still quick & efficient and the food came out hot and fast. I can’t wait to go back and try the rest of the menu!
PS you have to specify if you want chicken or else they give you beef

2 stars and a reach for 2, sorry new place we wanted to love.
after being open for a few weeks i was hoping they would have worked out those new business kinks. this is a chain mostly in NH, so they should have had a decent business plan, but alas, not so much.
we got there at «we have babies/​we are old people» 515 pm for dinner. no wait, but after we were there for 20 minutes the place exploded with people.
we asked for a table for 2 with a high chair. i was hoping when he got to the table they would be right behind us with said high chair, but alas, no dice. I had to get salty to get one, which is fair, sure my 2 year old loved standing in the booth, but really, a seat was appropriate.
they came right over (while our coats were on and i was still holding the child wanting to take our drink order, come back i stated kinda po’ed i was still holding this kid instead of dejacketing and sitting to take it all in. I think they wanted me to order a margarita prior to looking at the menu as they start at 12 bucks. nice, if you actually take the time to read over the drink menu they have several tequilas and when i saw they have a 70 dollar top-​shelf margarita i knew they were up to no good. they sold this stuff by the shot at like 65 bucks, and in a margarita for 74. HA! I laugh, but hey, maybe you wanted to blow a paycheck on a drink that kills the point of expensive spirts. everything was extra, which i also understand, but pass.
service was slow, and sure its busy, but turn those tables, we (with kids) dont want to sit and wait until toddler meltdown happens, trust us there.
extremely extensive menu, so much so that when they solicited my order i hadnt had time to look it all over, but enough is enough and we had to get our dinner on, veggie quesidilla for her, pork tacos for me. they werent called that perse, but thats what it was.
for what its worth, they were ok, they sure werent what you would think they would have been, but the tortilla were totally made on premise.
her dinner was the smallest ‘dilla ive seen in all my ‘dilla days, 4 bits and poof, you want another i asked as i was on taco #1 still? the worst part was hers was still 11 bucks! she was able to eat my beans and rice in lieu of a bigger dinner. mine was 12, and the whole thing was 35 bucks for a night out, but this was sans drinks or extras. chips and salsa were gratis as expected, but they werent that good in my opinion, cold chips and soso salsa.
i did add a star as they had live mariachi which was really cool, too bad we were leaving as they broke into labamba (mariachi pre-​reqs)
walking back to the car i noticed they have a whole other back room which could have alleviate a lot of the people waiting for tables, but im not in the mexican restaurant business, but then again, maybe the current management shouldnt have been either.

I have been to La Caretta twice now. This place is a hit. I have had the queso dip for an app and 3 different entrees. The Grande burrito is so good that I had to order it both times. Luckily my wife ordered something different both times so we could try a few different things.
Food is always hot and tastes very fresh. Great service and watch out for the Margaritas. They are huge and very strong. The bad part is you can’t tell in till after you had a few. Good thing we live close. If you are looking for Mexican in Metro west this is your place.

Just went for dinner on opening day. The décor in the restaurant is very good. Good lighting, layout, nice bar area with large screen TVs, etc. Being this was opening night, it did take quite some time for food to arrive. However, we were not charged for the meal.
The food was very delicious and part of the reason for delay was that everything was made from scratch. We were first served chips and salsa which we went through quickly as they were warm and salsa was spicy. We had new chips and salsa brought in no time. The staff was very helpful with the menus. I ordered Mom’s Arroz con Pollo, which is a very nice rice dish with chicken, baby asparagus and red/​yellow pepper. B had a Taco Salad Grilled Steak, which she enjoyed thoroughly. The drinks menu is also quite extensive with plenty choices of tequila, margaritas and beer.