Veracruz Cafe

You can’t go wrong with Vera Cruz. During their slow hours they pop out the food so fast it’s amazing. I love to come here!

WOW
– interjection
(an exclamation of surprise, wonder, pleasure, or the like): Wow! Look at that!
– verb (used with object)
to gain an enthusiastic response from; thrill.
The dish I had here on my first visit «wowed» me! A strong dish I can’t wait to have again. Unilocal needs to add a special button for exceptional moments. This dish is exceptional and deserving of all the praise it can get. Allow me to share.
They advertise on their menu they are a fusion of Mesoamerican, Aztec, Mayan, and Huasteco traditions and flavors. Artfully intersperse this with hints of Tex-​Mex and you have a truly different approach. They deliver what they promise.
Walking in, the ambiance is not traditional Mexican, despite the Unilocal classification. That is the first clue that this is not a typical Mexican food restaurant. Iron chandeliers hang from the ceiling, which is composed of large wooden beams. The walls are splashed with paint that has dripped down the sides. All of this adds together for an interesting effect. Not elaborate, but strong.
The tables are simple thick solid wood and the chairs match. What I mean, is the chairs are rock solid heavy flat wood chairs. No cushions on the chairs and I thought it might be a problem initially, but after a few minutes I never noticed any difference.
At this particular evening, there were no female waitresses. All were men about the same height with dark hair and thick accents. None of them smiled, yet it didn’t come across as negative. It is almost as if they took work very seriously and it was strictly business. If you have ever been to a Brazilian steakhouse with the gauchos running around, this has a similar feel.
The chips are a medium thickness and the salsa delicious. I like cilantro and couldn’t taste any in the salsa. However, there was enough of a spicy kick that more than compensated.
I ordered the Enchiladas de Villa Rica. It doesn’t show this item on the internet menu and prices are $ 2-​$ 3 higher on the physical menu than the Unilocal supplied menu. Three enchiladas cost $ 12.95 and were well worth it.
It is three blue corn tortillas filled with shredded chicken. Each enchilada has a different sauce.
One is topped with Pipian, one with Salsa Verde, and one with Mole. I’ve never heard of Pipian, had to look it up and ask the server about it. It was delicious and hard to describe, unique in flavor. It is light brown in color and has a mellow almost nutty flavor.
The Salsa Verde is the best I’ve ever had. It is the traditional tomatillo based verde, but has one unique quality: smoothness. It wasn’t the slightest bit tart like virtually all Salsa Verde’s I’ve had. I asked the server how they made it so smooth. He wasn’t entirely sure, but believed it might have been butter. I couldn’t detect any oil based textures. At any rate, this is delicious.
The Mole. Oh my gosh, I nearly licked my plate and did back flips. I mean, this Mole is so fine I had to build a bridge to get over myself. Mole is a complicated dish to prepare that takes two days to complete. It isn’t something the average person or chef needs to even begin to attempt. I’ve had a lot of Mole in my life and this is the finest I’ve ever had hands down. It was so good I had to take a large container home. The dark roasted peppers blended with spices and hints of dark chocolate were simply sublime.
The rice looked like a normal bland type with peas and carrots. I was pleasantly surprised that they put enough spices to flavor the rice nicely. Not a kernel of rice got passed my fork.
The black beans were really good, too. This also surprised me. In general, black beans are robust in flavor. They added a few extra spices to make it super fine.
A few critiques: they could stand to touch up the paint on the walls and/​or add a chair rail on the walls. The restroom was clean but needed some basic repairs.
If you want traditional Mexican food, don’t order this plate. If you want an explosion of flavors like a Fourth of July party in your mouth, get off yer buns and make the drive here.
If you like Mole sauce, get over here as fast as you can, don’t delay, and treat yourself to a fine dish.
I will be back.

My husband and I have enjoyed this restaurant in the past. We’ve always had great food and great service. However, last night was very different and has us rethinking ever going back.
The problem was with my husband’s steak carnaval. It was a tough cut of beef with a very bland red sauce on top. He only took about 2 bites and pushed it away. When the waitress finally came back to check on us she asked if he wanted it boxed up to go and he told her about the toughness and blandness of the dish. Without saying anything else, she scooped up the plate and walked off with it. We thought she was getting the manager or something, and she never asked if he wanted anything else. We waited, and waited, and waited, then about 10 minutes later she breezes by and drops the check on our table. His meal wasn’t on the bill, but he also didn’t get to eat anything for dinner and was never asked if he wanted to order something else. The message was clear — if you don’t like the shoe leather they serve you, get out.
Unfortunately, my husband didn’t get to have dinner and the rudeness of the server was disappointing, to say the least. I don’t know if we’ll ever go back which is a shame because it used to be so good.

Omg this is a fabulous small dark ambiance restaurant with authentic gourmet Meso American, Mayan, Huasteco, and Aztec cuisine!
If you haven’t been here– GO!

Delicious fresh food. Great attentive waiter. FAST service! We went for lunch and it was nice and quiet. So glad we stopped in as we were traveling. Def recommend! Also… Happy to tend dietary restrictions.

Excellent service, fantastic food. We drove several miles to eat here and it did not disappoint! Best mole in Texas!!!

This place melts my heart, I love this place from the chips & salsa, Entrees, Margarita & size of Platinum… OMG!

My husband isn’t a fan of TexMex, but he loves this place. I love their top shelf margarita.

The décor is awesome and easy access to the location right off the highway. The service was friendly. The food was excellent and delicious! BUT, I was very disappointed to have such an awesome meal with «fake» tortillas (store plastic looking ones). You would think they could hire someone to make them from scratch. They would have scored a 5 star otherwise.

Great service, great food! Margaritas here could cover a multitude of service industry sins, if they ever committed any.

Been here many many times, food is always fresh and delicious, service is amazing and overall it’s a place that I would recommend. There’s guys know service and good food.

We were not very impressed by the food. I’m surprised by this because they had an interesting menu and several good reviews. I ordered the steak tacos and my husband got chicken nachos. My steak was very chewy, overcooked and bland. The nachos were made with corn tostada and were not very crispy. The chicken was also not seasoned very well. However, beans and rice were good. The food wasn’t bad but it seemed thrown together with no love. We may or may not go back.

Holy moly nothing is bad here. Including the service. Drinks are strong and food is amazing

What a cool place this restaurant is… man, I was taken by surprise by the flavors of their food. Believe me, being married to a Mexican National… it’s NOT easy going to Mexican restaurants without getting some criticism from her. She order the Tamales Veracruzanos dish, (Two tamales (Choice of Veggie Tamales, Chicken Pipian Tamales or Pork Tamales) prepared in the way of the Mayan countries, wrapped in hojas de plátano. Served with rice, black beans and garnish), and she was impressed with the delicious flavor. I finally had a peaceful meal without any critique!!! Just kidding!!! She’s going to kill me if she sees this!!! ;) LOL!!! And I order their Enchiladas de Mole Xiqueño and asked them if they could make them vegetarian for me. And with no hesitation, they customized them to my needs. That there was AWESOME!!! Let me tell you, the blue corn enchiladas covered in Mole sauce was the BOMB!!! If you want to eat a dish with a bold flavor… then, you need to order this dish. It’s delicious!!!
Note: This restaurant is vegetarian friendly… they can adapt any dish to meet your vegetarian needs.
I would definitely be visiting this place again! :)

I was so close to giving this place 5 stars until I got the bill. 6 bucks for a cup of Queso? Basically just melted velveeta? Why when you have such a great restaurant would you do that? Aside from that, great Mexican food! very fresh ingredients. I had 2 steak tacos and 1 chicken taco. No complaints. Marinated to perfection and delicious. But rethink your price point on the Queso. It’s not $ 6 Queso.

Super fresh food with a great flavor. I am not a refried bean fan, but I was pleasantly surprised by their black refrieds. Not gummy, but not too thin either. Fish tacos in crispy blue corn shells will bring me back. Decent Margarita, but I didn’t request the top shelf either. And, OMG, you gotta try the Mango Mousse! Excellent service from the Water Fairy and our waitress! I’m giving this an «Arnold» (I’ll be back)!

Best South American food ever and seriously, the BEST margarita’s in the state of TEXAS! Ask for Sergio or Diego!

I WASN’T IMPRESSED:
We called in an order to be picked up. The description of the steak fajitas along with the price made me think I would get some juicy meat that fell apart in your mouth. Not the case the were thin chewy strips of meat, not good when inside of a tortilla because the meat pulls out when you take a bite. My fiancé ordered chicken quesadillas some of them had all chicken and some all cheese and some of the cheese was burnt. Also the refried black beans and rice were bland. Maybe they had a new cook this night but this is my first and last time going there. I would give one star but I have to admit the guacamole and queso were both good. I spent over $ 50 as their prices are not cheap. The last thing I have to say is that the to go containers were all styrofoam and cheap, the food leaked out.

My other half and I agree, 4 STARS!
His Chimichanga was AWESOME (steak) and my Sopa de Atlahua was packed full of sea bass, shrimp, scallops, calamari and fresh veggies.
The margaritas were strong but poured out of a large bucket, so mehh…
We will be back!

Yeah, the reviews here are right on. Service is great and the food is delicious.
This isn’t like your average Mexican restaurant, however. This is Aztec, MesoAmerican and Mayan influences thrown in.
I had the mole enchiladas and a side of sautéed plantains. It was great. The refried beans are black beans, which means they have better flavor! (In my humble opinion.) It’s a nice touch they add to it to give the plate life by sprinkling queso fresco on them too. Never tried that before, but I remember Aaron from Chopped doing a commercial for it and saying its great. Anyway, I liked it. Lol
They have a unique flavor here and I love it! From all the great reviews, you know you HAVE to try this place!