Latest of 12 Reviews
Mexican Villa Restaurant
Vancouver, WA
Mexican Villa is a small cafe on the northeast...
Mexican Villa is a small cafe on the northeast side of Vancouver. Located in a strip center, the small place only has six tables. It’s very clean inside; you can tell from the furnishings the cafe has been there a long time; their menu says 1973. Mexican Villa does not have separate menus for lunch and dinner.
There were photos on the wall behind the register with pictures of their menu items. My order looked just like the photo on the wall.
Service, after I got my menu, was fast, friendly, and efficient. There weren’t but two other tables occupied and there appeared to be another waitress on duty so I expect service is always good. After placing my order, I was served my food in under five minutes.
I would have given Mexican Villa another half star if it was allowed. There were just enough quirks to keep it out of the 4 star rating. Quirk number one (and I have encountered this only in an extremely small number of Mexican restaurants), there were no salsa and chips delivered to the table. You can order them but it costs extra. There are two squeeze bottles, one with crema and the other with a fairly spicy salsa at the table. It was obvious the bottles were intended for plated food – there were no empty bowls on the table. Quirk number two, the menu. On entering you are expected to grab a menu from a stack near the cash register. Not knowing this, I sat at my table while the waitress hovered expectantly, waiting to take my order. After I’d explained I had never been here before she got a menu for me and also showed me a tabletop menu for the specials of the day.
It was, overall, a pleasant dining experience but there are other places I would go before choosing Mexican Villa.
Dishes Tried:
Combination Dinner 2C
Again, I would have given another half star here if able. Combo 2C is a chicken enchilada and chicken taco with refried beans and Spanish rice. There was nothing bad about the dish – there just wasn’t anything about the food that made it stand out.
I was expecting the enchilada to be smothered in tomatillo or some other type of green sauce but it was covered in a pretty decent chili. The chicken appeared to be all white meat (same with the taco) and a generous portion was used in the enchilada. The enchilada was flanked on either side by the ubiquitous rice and refried beans. Both had good flavor and the rice had bits of bell pepper in it. The refried beans were very creamy and topped with cheese.
The chicken taco was made with a corn tortilla (they ask if you want it soft or crispy) and also had a generous portion of chicken in it. There was shredded cheese under the chicken and lettuce on top. There didn’t appear to be any type of sauce mixed in. The chicken in the taco was a little dry but that’s to be preferred so it doesn’t wet the bottom of the tortilla and break it apart. The taco was accompanied by a half slice of tomato.
Overall, the food was pretty good, the presentation was fine, and the price was right. I left Mexican Villa feeling satisfied.