La Bamba Restaurant
| Address: | 4908 SE Powell Blvd, Portland, OR 97206, USA |
| Phone: | +1 503-445-6341 |
| Site: | labambapdx.com |
| Rating: | 3.8 |
| Working: | 2–10PM 2–10PM 2–10PM 2–10PM 2–10PM 2–10PM 2–10PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 11
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Tara JRJ
Bad food, bad service. On a SUNDAY afternoon there is only 1 employee to greet, seat, serve, bartend and cash out customers! Surprisingly we were the ONLY customers......or not so surprising after looking at some of these other reviews. The food it not authentic, only folks who cant cook would even come close to agree with that statement. Sadly I had high expectations from co worker reviews, but when your one and ONLY server....has no idea what your special is even though it is proudly displayed on line(Chile en Nogada) . The store menu is missing numerous items from the on line one and the food ingredients are even different. I had seen shark listed in several of the on line dishes, we were excited to try it on the tostada, thinking we would be getting some fresh civeche like dish but instead it was stinky, mushy canned "shark". So gross, the server was kind enough to not charge us for that item which was his only redeeming act or he would not have even received a tip. "The servers personal phone was ringing while he took our order and he tried to walk off without taking my husbands order......clearly we were interfering with his personal life while at work. We were practically begging for drinks( I had to ask 3 times before I got my 1st one), napkins, God forbid the server should have any basic training on at least checking maybe even once during the meal to see how things are going! The only good thing here is your funny statue holding a giant margarita and your salsa. I am so disappointed, clearly it is not the servers fault, management is on a total snooze fest.
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Pete Landers
The reviewer before me, Scuttle Jrj, is not writing the truth. We live in the neighborhood and often stop into La Bamba on Sundays. On that day, she says they were the only customers in the restaurant at that time, but I believe that is not true. We were in the next booth. Ruben was working. He is one of the hardest workers there. I was a restaurant worker in my youth. I can see the workers in the "background". When I see someone working as hard as him, I recall that I was never so good a worker. Let me tell you. we love this place. These are good people. We tell all our friends about La Bamba, and we bring our family here. We could go to other Mexican Restaurants. They are all over the place. We choose La Bamba because they give us good friendly service, the food is way more than I can eat. My wife loves the variety, and it always tastes great; the drinks are huge, and the atmosphere is vibrant. We are highly offended at the previous reviewer for choosing to assault this good neighborhood restaurant with such harsh and vicious terms. We hope all readers will recognize from the tone of her review that there is something askew in her perspective.
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A Private User
Mediocre food, poor service. We went on a busy day, but we were seated quickly. It took forever for someone to wait on us and even longer to get our food. When the food arrived it was warm, but tasted very bland. We didnt seem to have a consistent waiter and the wait staff in general seemed to be very disorganized. I was patient at first considering they were busy, but it took more than 2 hours for us to eat here and most of that time was waiting for things. If it were the best Mexican I had ever eaten, I could maybe ignore the amount of time I had to wait, but theres better stuff out there at places with better service.
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A Private User
Finding good Mexican food in Portland has been my mission this year...sadly, this place fell flat and thus my journey continues. The service was terrible....we had to beg to have our order taken and for someone to bring me a second margarita. I still tipped 20% because it seemed like most of the other waiters were attentive to their tables and I figured they pull tips. Anyways, the margaritas were decent. The chips were stale, the salsa was mediocre. The steak fajitas were greasy and just not good. The guacamole was terrible...absolutely terrible. With that in mind, the chicken enchiladas with mole sauce were delicious!
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Laura Cifelli
My boyfriend and I love Mexican food and have our go-to places. We wanted to try somewhere new and after googling "best Mexican restaurants" we saw La Bamba and decided to give it a try. The server was fast and nice. We started with a cactus salad. It tasted good but not sure it is something i would order again (was my first time trying cactus). We split one of the daily specials, which was a chicken verde dish, and also shared a dish on the menu that was an Oaxan brown mole. They were both delicious. The food came out fast and we had enough leftover for lunch the following day. We will be back.
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Terbic Zebrabo
Atmosphere and decor: Disgusting. Who wants to stare at filthy floors, tables, and employees. Service: Our waiter arrived glistening in sweat, which Im certain ended up in my drink. I ordered Arroz con Pollo, a simple dish, what I received was Canned Chicken saturated in a disgusting gravy with mushroom chunks, it looks like something a commercial soup manufacturer threw away. Completely Awful. I sent my meal back and explained to the waiter the problems with my food. He was rude and condescending and explained that I had no idea what Mexican cuisine was. I will never go back.
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A Private User
Well, the service here was attentive, lets get that out of the way. Points for the waitstaff. Strange atmosphere - from the looks of it (the outside a bright flamingo pink, some strangely erotic oil paintings in the back bar) youd think the place was designed by Liberace. Chips and Salsa came right off the bat, the salsa was very vinegar-y. (If anyone also finds the salsa to smell strange, please contact my wife. ) The food arrived nice and hot, but all seemed very bland.
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Bill Ess
La Bamba is the ultimate Portland outpost for great Yucatan flavor. Being the only place in the US that you can experience authentic tlatohnile its a must for any fan of mole. The Yucatan burrito is heaven on a plate; delicious marinated puerco pibil wrapped in a tortilla and topped with great pickled onions and sauce. If you live in Portland and you havent experienced the great food, fun decor and friendly staff youre missing out.
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Nikolaus Matheis
Since moving to the Woodstock area, this has been my familys go-to Mexican restaurant. Gabi & Ignacio are out favorite waitstaff. Theyre super friendly and great with our kids. Food is great with an extensive vegetarian menu, which is great because Im a long-time vegetarian. You can find menu items here that arent very common in Mexican restaurants which makes eating an adventure. Margaritas are great, too.
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Amanda Falke
Fantastic. Have been a regular for eight years. Am a bit saddened by Google reviews from Portlanders calling Mexican employees here "dirty." La Bamba reminds me of Mexico. Majority of the servers non-American. Spices shipped from grandmothers gardens in Mexico. Pre-Spanish dishes. Strong drinks. Not your typical Portland Mexican restaurant. Its run by Mexicans! Great food and drinks. Go to La Bamba!!
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A Private User
I am from Texas so I know good mexican food. This place has unbelievable food, great atmosphere, great service, overall an A+++ experience. Try the pink cadillac margarita with the queso fundida. Dine on the Enchiladas de Camaron and the Combo enchilada plate. Finish it all off with the Coconut Flan! Very nice owner who cooks the food himelf. Cant wait to go back again!
