La Costita

Yum! It’s under new ownership and their service is amazing. Kept checking in and asking if we wanted more chips, water, how’s the food etc. Food was delicious and fresh. Good sized margaritas and they are delicious too. Comes in different sizes.
A good spot located in this small mall. I will be back!

La Costita is closed and has been replaced by Cochina Garcia with new management and a new menu. My husband and I were in the area and decided to grab an early dinner and check it out. This was a great decision!!! The food is excellent, the service is very quick and attentive, drinks flavorful, we left all smiles! The new menu features SHREDDED BEEF in the dishes!!! Which was something almost unheard of in the former La Costita menu. I was so freaking excited to see actual shredded beef in my order, it’s been that long! This is my new favorite neighborhood mexican place! GO NOW!!!

This restaurant has been sold to a new owner. He seems like a nice person, so I hope he does well. The food is not as good as it used to be, it is okay, but a couple of years ago it was great. Service seems slower too.

I’m born and raised in Portland and this restaurant is top 3 Mexican restaurants in town. Food is authentic and service is great. Not to mention the drinks are strong and hit the spot.
I highly recommend this spot if you want some good Mexican food.

Been going here for years. Always clean environment. Food is always good and portions are typical Mexican tray size plates.

The staff was great !! Everyone was attentive and smiling, regardless of whether or not they were our «designated server». Abraham at the bar overheard us talking about the chile and queso that was advertised on the board and quickly offered a sample for us to taste. He called it crack cheese (and let us know that it was his own special recipe) and after tasting it, we agreed !! We ended up pouring it all over our food, delicious !!

I love the food! But the service can take a while sometimes and it’s a bit spendy. But totally worth it sometimes

I love this place. Probably one of my favs! Food is always super fresh and delicious! Very gracious portions! Will continue to bring my family here!

Very yummy food especially after a long hike!
My friend and i stopped here for lunch and were not disappointed. We both ordered the pollo fundido and i was surprised it was split up into three separate pieces on the plate. I liked how the rice and beans were in little taco shells.
I don’t live in Portland but i would recommend this place.

Great Mexican food with great service! I love their enchiladas and salsa is good too! Been there probably ten times and is always good!

carne asada fries.
video poker
horchata
cheap, open a bunch, and super friendly!

First thing I noticed there are two Costitas right next to each other? Okay… well I tried both and the experience both times was pretty dissapointing. The sit down restaurant on the left is over priced mediocre Mexican food… if you can call it that. For that kind of price I would expect something more authentic than store bought burritos. Seriously if you have «taco salad» on your menu your not a Mexican restaurant.
— Former Restaurant manager, bartender, Real Mexican.

We were not impressed with the food or the service.
No drink menu. Waiter not forthcoming with choices of margaritas.
Ordered a melon margarita with Hornitos instead of well tequila. Charged an extra $ 7 and not for the large size either. I ordered the smallest size that was offered which was medium. There is no way this margarita was worth 17.49! I just got home from AZ where I had premium margaritas at three restaurants for considerably less money. Patron and Gran Marnier should cost more than Hornitos and Bols melon liqueur not less…
Had to ask for more salsa though more chips were offered, the chips are ok, Chipotle has much better chips and they are fast food… the first bowl of salsa was good, the second was very bland.
Spinach burrito with grilled chicken didn’t have any chicken, waiter did remove the extra charge for the chicken from bill and offer complementary dessert but the sticker shock from the bill had us ready to go home…
I admit that growing up in Phoenix does make me picky about Mexican food and margaritas but this dinner just wasn’t worth the over fifty bucks it cost for the two of us especially with one cocktail and one bottled Corona being ordered. We miss El Ranchito. Their margaritas were lousy but their food was significantly better for less and their tequila sunrises were great. Too bad the years of construction in Rockwood took them out…

Boom. Get the Fundido Especial or the Molcajete. DELICIOUS!!!
Each time I go there, I walk away wishing Mexican food were good for me so I could eat at La Costita every meal!
The ingredients are super fresh, the menu is extensive, and the service is delightful! The ambiance is your typical blue tiled walls that you find in many Mexican restaurants but the food just takes this place up several notches from «typical».
We are now spoiled for all Mexican restaurants forever!

This place is close to my work, and although I’ve been warned its mediocre food priced too high, whatever I tried it. Checked out the lunch menu and taco salad sounded great. I phoned in my order for 1130am and arrived promptly. After walking into the cantina express, which is right next door and likely only there so they can have even more lottery games, I found my food order and was not pleased. It cost 1.50 more than menu price because the manager told me he gave me the dinner taco salad and not the lunch taco salad. Ha. He asked if i wanted a smaller lunch size one made. Yea right buddy… like I got the time for them to make a new spit laced smaller sized taco salad. So I hoped this taco salad would be amazing and make it worth my stress. No, it’s a basic 5.99 taco salad they can make at mochas gracias (fast food). So I won’t be going here again…

Called to see if they were open, they said yes. Showed up and doors were locked and there was no indication they were closed or opening late. Not happy to drive out of my way to come here only to find it closed.

I went to the express side of the establishment and ordered a torta. They were both huge enough to feed 4 people easily. The carnitas had a lot of flavor by itself but when added to the avocado, tomato, lettuce, beans and jalapenos made it a really flavorful torta.

This place has some of the best chips and salsa I have had.
The food is great. Roberto is one of my favorite bartenders anywhere.
I ordered a large salsa to go and it was gone in 24 hours after arriving home.

I was pleasantly surprised by this place! Its hard to find a decent mexican place in portland. The salsa was good, you could taste a little smokiness from something roasted in it, and the chips were hot and fresh! I ordered a side of salsa verde, which kicked ass– a bit of spice but the perfect amount. they didn’t even charge extra for it! I ordered the Fundido Especial. OMG! It’s a huge chicken chimichanga (all perfectly cooked/​shredded/​white meat chicken) in a crispy golden fried flour tortilla split into 3 pieces and smothered in a cream cheese sauce and cheddar cheese– Delish! On the side were refried beans in their own edible bowl, guacamole and sour cream, and another edible bowl of the most perfectly cooked and seasoned Mexican rice. It was well balanced, fluffy, soft but still held the right texture– some of the best I’ve had!
The wait staff was friendly, and gave superb service. Could have been that we were the only people there around 2:30pm on a Friday, but still very nice and accommodating. The only complaint I really have is that you could taste dish washing detergent (bleach) in the coke. A second rinse on the dishes would be nice!

I am constantly surprised by all the great Mexican restaurants in far SE. Came in for lunch and was quite happy with both the lunch and dinner menu. This place also has daily drink specials and a decent happy hour.
Had a pork quesadilla. The meat was great and they had cheese, jalapeños and sides of sour cream with it. The portion size is a bit much but kinda expected. I will be back to test out more of the menu soon. (And hopefully one of those giant marguerites.