La Cabana

Best authentic tacos in Richmond. Everything was freshly made. Try the cactus tacos, delicious!

In the words of Carl Cox: «Oh yes oh yes» awesome tacos! Went on a Wednesday night on a hunch, searching for good and cheap tacos and this place delivered. Very very authentic, the place is fully in spanish, the TV, the menus, the staff, the food is on point. Happened to be dollar tacos that night and I had about 6 with some chips and good salsa. Tried the carnitas, the al pastor, chorizo, and the cactus, two of them. First time trying cactus and the flavor was delicious, chorizo, potato tacos, were probably my second favorite. I had a smokey, grilled crispy taste to them and they were awesome. Sauces were pretty good as well. I’d still say that baja cantina in Virginia beach takes the cake for sauce, but the ingredients and flavors of the tacos with no sauce here, beats them out by far. The tacos arn’t huge, but don’t need to be. Don’t expect crazy good service for most people just come in and order at the counter and then sit.

Tried this place after months of spotting it. The chips and salsa are delicious. You can tell the chips are homemade. They are thicker than your typical chips but that’s what I loved about them! They serve $ 1 tacos on Wednesdays and Fridays so make sure you go on one of those days to take advantage of the deal! The slow cooked pork and steak tacos were my favorite! It’s an upgrade from a hole in the wall in my opinion because the interior is clean and you have table service. I will definitely be back again!

Took advantage of their $ 1 tacos special on Wednesday. Great hole in the wall place to stop in for some great Mexican food. The waitress was very attentive. The service was quick. Great food! I would definitely come back for lunch.

This is my secret mexican spot. Thee best tacos ive ever had. So authentic. I love them even more when they’re $ 1 on wednesdays and fridays.

Disappointing… service was pretty slow, and we were the only table at that time. FYI they don’t accept Amex!

A friend of mine and I wanted some Mexican food and the Mexican place we usually go to was so packed, so we decided to look on Unilocal and found La Cabana and saw how many great reviews. So, we decided to go there. And thank god we did.
When we got there, the inside was definitely a hole in the wall, which made me doubt the quality of the food. That, and that there was only one server. But, after sitting awhile, she came over to get our drink menus and to answer questions. We heard her speaking fluent Spanish with a table near us and she was still able to answer our questions about the menu well.
I ordered a carnitas taco and a chicken quesadilla. The carnitas taco came just how an authentic taco comes, the meat siting on two hot, soft. corn tortillas and topped with cilantro and chopped onions. It was delicious! So much flavor. She had brought us two hot sauces, one green and one orange, but I’m not much into spicy. Those that like spicy would love this place, though.
Then, the chicken quesadilla came and that was the BOMB. The chicken had so much flavor, simple as that.
The girl came over to us to ask how the food was and she let us know that on Wednesdays and Fridays they have $ 1 tacos (which normally are $ 2), so I will be coming back asap on one of those days. SO YUMMY! I suggest anyone go.
There was a couple sitting behind us and the girl kept saying over and over «Oh my god this is so good! Wow! How is this so good?! This is sooooo good!!» My sentiments exactly.

Very confusing menu
The food was boring.
The one in Ashland next to roses with similar style food was far superior way fresher

Delicious tacos. We got the al pastor, lengua, and carnitas. We also got the salsa and chips were were freshly made. The rojo (orange sauce) is the best!

Great authentic food! Always look for the little places. Tacos are great, fast friendly service.

Not much to say that hasn’t already been said. They have really good, authentic tacos! I had three different types: Carnitas, Pineapple and Pork, and Chicken. The carnitas were my fave, but all were tasty! I also tried the chips and guac– delicious and the chips came out hot, as well as the horchata, which was creamy and delightful on a December night. It was empty the night I went (which may be due to it being a Monday) and I can only assume it’s because this place isn’t well known– definitely not due to the quality of the food. The prices were VERY reasonable; the menu said that the tacos are only $ 1 on Wed and Fri; I’m planning a return.

If you want the best tacos in Richmond, don’t go to That Hip Taco Place™. Go to La Cabana.
Situated behind the Dunkin Donuts on Staples Mill, this is NOT a beautiful, hip establishment with easy visibility. It actually looks quite sketchy and is kind of hard to find. But give it a try and you won’t care about that anymore.
Walking inside, you’ll see a strangely-​organized set of tables and booths, and a counter to place your order at. Place your order, wait a couple minutes, and they’ll bring everything out to your table very quickly. They also give you a couple sauces — an orange sauce that’s a little spicy and a little sweet, and a green «verde”-style sauce. I wasn’t a fan of the verde, but the orange was quite nice.
The tacos are ridiculous. At $ 2 a pop, I ended up getting 3, then got another 5 to take home to my wife (which I had claimed 1 of). The Al Pastor seems to be the favored choice here, but I really liked the Chicken and the Carne Adobada. That being said, I also tried the Bistek, and had a bite of the Chorizo, and not a single one of them was bad.
The home run here is the tortillas. Most places have tortillas that scream out «corn tortilla» — they’re usually not as soft as flour and have a pronounced earthy corn flavor to them. Not here. These tortillas are like what would happen if a flour tortilla and a corn tortilla were melded, resulting in a wonderfully soft corn tortilla that gets out of the way for the goodness inside, but still lets you know that «hey, I’m a corn tortilla,» in the most gentle way possible.
Long story short — go here. You can thank me now, if you’d like.

So I found the chink in the armour here… they serve instant coffee. They gave my wife so coffee crystals some sugar and a cup of hot water. Yikes.
But the guacamole was amazing.

I found this place thanks to Unilocal.Have been going there already for about 2 – 3 months… as everyone says one of the best things about it are the tacos, specifically the Pastor Tacos! really good and for the price, specially on Wednesdays and Fridays when they are 1 dollar each, you can’t beat that…
Also I am Guacamole Lover ha ha
The place is small but seems clean and cozy, I always order to go anyways and never have to wait, when I arrive they are always ready… I always say I’m gonna order something different but end up ordering the tacos, they are sooo good :)
Enough parking outside… look at the pics for the menu and hours

Let’s get one thing straight right now before you read this review on La Cabana restaurant off of Glenside Dr. The décor of the restaurant looks pretty rundown. There is an open kitchen, a few booths set up on the side walls and 2 or 3 tables spread out in the front of the restaurant. The booth seats could use some patching up as cracks and holes were evident as I sat down with my girlfriend for a quick bite to eat. Now with all those particulars out of the way…
When we sat down we were greeted by the waitress who was the only one on duty today. It wasn’t very busy at the time being there was a family of 5 and 2 other people besides us in the restaurant. There were 2 TVs in the restaurant one displaying a Mexican soccer match, the other had lucha libre (Mexican wrestling) on and I noticed a couple pinatas hung over head as more decoration for the place.
The menu is not your typical Mexican menu. You will not find the stereotypical combination platters or even the complimentary chips and salsa here (no you’ll actually have to pay for that here). The menu for the most part is written in the native language but not too hard to discern. However you won’t miss out on those run of the mill selections your used to at the others. The first thing they feature on the menu is their tacos and from a majority of the reviews I read on here before entering this is what they are known for.
We started with the Chips and Guacamole ($ 4.95). The guacamole was fresh made and had a good creamy consistency, not too chunky but flavorful. The chips will be hit or miss with some. They are thicker than the traditional chips that you can pretty much see through so they have more crunch but are also smaller. My guess is that they make these in house.
Now back to the tacos. First off they are $ 2 each. Authentically made with soft corn tortilla rounds and a generous helping of whatever filling you would like they are well worth ordering at least 3. And get this, on Wednesdays and Fridays the Tacos are $ 1 each. I ordered the Chiccharones (Pork Skin) with Cactus, Bisteca (Steak), and Chorizo con Papas (Mexican sausage with potatoes). The old adage 2 out of 3 ain’t bad has to apply here. The Chiccharones with Cactus was not what I was expecting. I would have like a little more crunch but the pork skin was served soft like it was boiled along with the soft cactus, pretty much one note and one texture, soft. The other two were very flavorful and along with the homemade salsa verde and salsa roja the spice amped up the flavor of the tacos. My girlfriend had the tostadas which was a lot of food for the price and had good flavor. It’s 3 crunchy tortillas each topped with refried beans, shredded lettuce, cotija cheese, and your choice of topping. They were great with the pork and beef she selected.
They also have menudo along with other soups and other entrees which reflect traditional Mexican cooking and also various Jarritos sodas and Horchata on their bebidas (drinks) menu. All are reasonably priced but the true value is in the tacos.
It’s all about the food, nothing more. Make the trip!

One word: DELICIOUS!
La Cabana is not the most beautiful place, but it did have the most delicious Tostadas I’ve ever had! My boyfriend and I went the other day — he had 3 tacos. Two dollars each every day, but one dollar each on Wednesdays and Fridays. I bet people come and order at least 10 on dollar days.
For my tostadas– I chose Carnitas, Bistek (beef), and Chicken. Chicken was probably my least fave of the 3. But the seasoning and flavors were perfect! I would so come here again. Hole in the wall that doesn’t disappoint! They usually never do, right?!

After reading the reviews here on Unilocal,I decided to try this little «Hole in the Wall» place, as this is where you can find some of the best food. It is all homemade, and not from a Franchise where they send you the food and all you have to do is cook it. La Cabana is Authentic in what they make, but authentic in how it is served and especially in taste.
Since this is my 1^st time here, I decided to go for the Tacos. I ordered the Birria which is a Mexican Meat stew; Bistek which is Beef Steak, and Carne Adobada which is a Spicy Pork. To my much surprise, they have a young girl who comes to your table, and takes your order.
I asked for some spicy sauce as I like «Heat» with my food. So upon receiving my order, they brought out some Green sauce and a Orange Sauce. So, I tasted each, and the Green Sauce which is made with Jalapenos had a nice Heat with it but it lacked in flavor… So I was anxious to try the Orange, and I was thinking it was probably made from Habanero Peppers… It was mild and really lacked in flavor. In fact, they botth needed some «Salt».
I ordered a Coke which is from Mexico… The Care ADobada was excellent in taste, along with the Birria. The tacos are small, so you can eat a bunch. For the 3 Tacos, and drink… my bill only came to $ 5.50. Not bad for a good lunch. The people working there are extremely friendly, however do not ask a lot of questions unless you know how to speak Spanish.
I saw many other items on the menu, and I plan to go back again soon. The food was really good, however they need to learn how to cook with a little salt which brings out the flavors in the food more when you create this wonderful dishes. So, I have to thank the Unilocal fans here for steering me here… Great place and a great place for Lunch… :-)

If I’m not eating tacos, I’m usually thinking about eating tacos. I might need to re-​evaluate this priority in my life but for now I’ll carry on. La Cabana is my new favorite taqueria in Richmond. It’s just an extra perk that it’s only 5 minutes from my office. When I’m at home in N. Chesterfield, I still rely on the solid Taqueria Panchito but I have plenty of taco appetite to share.
La Cabana offers the full range of taco fillings, even animal parts you never thought to eat before. I’ve tried many of them and they’ve all been delicious. I am still partial to their al pastor and carne asada, topped with onions & cilantro, with a drizzle of their hot sauce. They also make a delicious horchata, which is a great beverage accompaniment to spicy food. A fresh dash of cinnamon makes it taste just right.
They’re always very friendly and the food is always good. I think I just talked myself into lunch on Monday.

After having tried La Cabana a couple more times, I am even more confident in giving the establishment 5 stars. My lengthy wait on my first visit had to have been a fluke of some sort as my tacos have been promptly served to me in about 5 – 10 minutes the last two times I’ve been there.
I’d still check out my initial review for more details, but everything about the place is great. Amazing food, awesome staff, and an overall great experience.
I will direct you to the pictures I’ve taken, but every time the tacos are presented beautifully, are quite filled with ingredients, and are as delicious as they look. The orange sauce (which I managed to take a picture of this time), is absolutely amazing.
Between the flavor of the tacos, the comfortable atmosphere, and the price, La Cabana may very well be my favorite place in RVA to eat at, and currently holds the title of my favorite tacos anywhere.

My wife and I had a stop during our Amtrack trip and decided to check this place out. The neighborhood was sketch but the food was simply the BEST MEXICAN FOOD OF OUR LIVES!!! Seriously. There is a difference between authentic and good. I’ve had «authentic» but this was beyond that. Not only authentic but super legit and just plain great food.
McDonald’s is authentic American food but it’s freaking McDonald’s. this was like 4-​star mexi-​street food. If we lived anywhere near here we would try to get back. Richmond? You are luckier than you know.