Taqueria La Colmena

La Colmena is fabulous for eat in, take out or catering! Best in town! They catered Christmas pozole (one set up for chicken and one for pork) for my party for 40 people. It was the hit of the party!
Muchas gracias, Jesus!

We have used La Colmena 3 times to cater our corporate events and everyone raves. The pricing is great for large groups and there are always leftovers. We get the big option with three kinds of meat, plus rice and beans, guac and all the fixings. It’s the easiest event I have to organize!

We hit up this place after seeing it in nytimes and on Unilocal.Granted I only had one taco, but wtf??? It was tiny and just blah. The shrimp taco. Had nothing on it, just shrimp. I guess maybe tacos are done differently in SB than in Austin, but that would’ve definitely been well below avg in Austin. I added the pico, salsa etc, but still not much flavor.

I told my husband that Santa Barbara (and California in general) Mexican food is way way better than the stuff we get in the midwest. He sort of half-​heartedly believed me until trying these tacos. He immediately said «this is the best Mexican food I’ve ever had.» He had carnitas, asada, and chorizo. I had rajas, pescado, and camaron. All were amazing. He particularly loved the chorizo. I was really into the pescado. I was hesitant to order tilapia, because I never order tilapia, but it was so good! Seasoned so well and crispy on the side it was grilled on. Pretty good salsa bar. I loved the avocado and peanut salsas. Yum yum yum!

Food Poisoning. Never again will I return. Tried to like this place after a few visits, but then a week ago I got horrible food poisoning (it was the only thing I had eaten that day) Also, the staff is very standoffish and comes across as rude. I waited over half an hour for a stinkin’ BRC burrito one time! Really?!

I want to like this place because the food reminds me of a traditional taqueria in Mexico but after three tries i wont be going back. Nothing happens correctly. last time i was there was no regular pico de gallo salsa. The water taste terrible. Its kind of expensive and portions aren’t large. I don’t think i will ever go back.

Love the rajas tacos!!! Sooooo good. And that peanut salsa is something like I’ve never had before, but I still like the avocado salsa best. We’re always some of the only people in there but with those tacos I really don’t know why… Definitely worth it.

The Tacos are the best in santa Barbara, this little place is a jewel. I really recommend it

Stopped in for a quick lunch on a week-​day. The burritos were huge: I’m eating the leftover half for lunch today! I liked the flavor but wished they were more generous with the meat portions. The salsa bar was nice and clean as was the little cozy estaurant. Service was friendly. Not a bad place by any means.

The restaurant can be summarized by one word: APATHY. Everything about our dinner said «we could care less about your experience here or what we serve you.»
We ordered 2 rajas con queso. While the grilled cheese was good, we were also served a 2″ piece of the stem from a chile. How do you miss that when you are cutting it up? Apathy. The filling was meager. There were a couple little pieces of rock hard avocado on the side as a garnish which couldn’t even be eaten, it was so unripe.
We also ordered an enchilada that came out at room temperature, not even warm to the touch. We sent it back and it was microwaved and brought back 2 minutes later — yes, the same piece that I cut off ready to eat next was in the exact place on the side. so it was clearlyl microwaved. It was served with tasteless pale beans and crunchy poorly-​cooked rice. How could you mess up even rice and beans?
We tried to order guacamole with the chips. No. After much discussion there was no guacamole available this night. We also tried to order a beer with dinner. No. Beer is unavailable here.
And this was at 6:00 pm for dinner. No wonder almost no one else was in the place.
We certainly will not be going back.

Late lunch at 4pm was our motivating factor to find food. The mojarra was seasoned and cooked perfectly. Skin was wonderfully crispy while the inside was tender and non greasy. Not too much of a fan of la adobada meat but loved the crisp tripitas tacos! Beans were amazing! I believed they used Peruano beans which are creamier than pinto beans.

People rave about tacos at two other (over rated) Santa Barbara restaurants… Colmena blows their tacos out of the water. They make the best rajas tacos I’ve ever had. They also have one of the funkier buildings in town. They sit on their own little triangle block that is a great novelty. Awesome place!

La colmena catered my rehearsal mixer at corks and crown and everyone was raving about the food! The tortillas and guacamole were out of this world. The only reason why I’m giving it 4 out of 5 is bc they were a bit late to the event but other than that, everything was awesome!

Oh no! They cancelled their happy hour taco special. I will probably not be back. Please bring back happy hour! Raise the price a bit if you have to, $ 1.25? or 3 tacos for $ 4 is totally fair. It was the best special on Milpas and I looked forward to it every time.
Sad face. The regular menu doesn’t justify it and there is no shortage of taco places on Milpas. Hoping they bring it back soon!

The tacos are definitely full, which is nice. You get a lot for your buck. The shrimp and fish are not seasoned at all, so are a bit bland, however are cooked perfectly. The rajas taco is a hot mess, as it’s completely smothered in melted cheese. The salsas were pretty good, but the cilantro and onion mix was definitely old — the onions were all brown and the cilantro was wilty and had no flavor. I like the option of fish and shrimp tacos, but I’d prefer Lily’s over these. A warning about the parking: it’s horrendous. Two spots out front on Milpas and that’s it.

Found this place via access deal, buy one get one free. Ordered the combo for 3 medium sized tacos with rice and beans with a horchata. Came our to around $ 14. Eh, was disappointed. For the same price there are better deals around the neighborhood. Lengua was undercooked. Cabeza, asada all were okay.

I have not been to the restaurant but Alvaro has catered two events for my business. Both times, we had 80 – 100 people and it was so great! He brings his grill and all the toppings/​sides. They make the tortillas fresh right there and you can pick what type of tacos you would like. All of my coworkers loved it and so did I!
I can’t wait till we can have Alvaro cater for us again.

Taqueria La Colmena is good don’t get me wrong but I wouldn’t recommend it with so many options that are better nearby. La Colmena has one thing going for it — the tortilla is by far the best on Milpas. It’s kind of small thing but damnn it’s good.
I have seriously considered just going to another taqueria to add the meat to the tortillas at La Colmena. La Colmena doesn’t have the best meat and the salsa is necessary to make up for it.
*Happy hour is cool but they skimp on the meat for sure. Not the end of the world it’s a buck but don’t get your hopes up.
Mexican Coke is sold here — that’s pretty legit.

This place is worth it for the super tasty homemade tortilla and for their delicious al pastor meat. The tacos are served with only the tortilla and the meat, like a lot of other taqueria do, you then can add some onion and cilantro or spicy sauces etc…
My adobada (beef) tacos was not that great though as the meat was kind of bland. I’ll have to go back and try more meats I guess!

So the food is good but the meat in the tacos is ridiculously a rip off. I had the 1 $ tacos that are so infamously talked about on these reviews and when I opened my box I noticed the small amount of meat that had been put in them. it’s basically not a deal because if you went to another taco shop it would be twice the meat for an extra dollar.
It’s good stuff though. I’ve had other stuff from their menu and it’s more authentic tasting than other places you will find snooping around Milpas.
Hand made tortillas of course but ehh I’d give those a 7/10.could be worked on!
I’m sort of a regular here but definitely not because of the taco «deal»