La Esperanza

Was so happy to find this little gem! great food, fast service and friendly staff! I’m one for spicy and they got it! chicken enchiladas are great!

Wow, the seafood burrito was phenomenal! I’ll definitely be back!

Love the flautas here. Great place for lunch. Service can be a little forgetful but the food is worth it.

We liked this place but I ordered chili rellano and the pepper was so tough I couldn’t eat it. The rest of the meal beans and rice were good. The chips were good too and hot sauce was really good! My husband liked his meal. Wait staff was nice but just kind of shrugged off my comment about the pepper when she clearly saw that I couldn’t eat it. We will most likely try this place one more time.

If you like average Mexican food, cheap margaritas, and mediocre service then this is your place. I’ve had the enchiladas and the chicken aborgado, both really good. The highlight of this place is the price of the margaritas. The salsa served with the chips is very spicy, and no one at our table ate it. I ordered guacamole to eat with the chips which was good. We like this place, the only issue is trying to get someone to come back to your table again after your food was served, and trying to get someone to ring out the bill. We always have to stand and wait for someone to take our money. All well, it’s better then waiting a long time for the food.

We think this is the best Mexican restaurant in the area. Friendly and attentive service in a quaint environment. It’s like a mini vacation when you’re there. Salsa, quesadillas and well everything we’ve tried has been tasty there. Really enjoy eating here!

This place has great decorations. And awesome unlimited chips! The tastiest burritos ever! But, they usually mess up the order! Do go here if you want to something new! «This place has the best burritos! But they messed up my order! How dare you!»

Visiting Elkhart from Chicago and needed to t R Y some Mexican food. This place did it and does it for mw. Great food, quick service and very low key. I truly recommend this place if you are visiting the area.

Awesome fish tacos. I have never had a bad meal here. There are a few legit Mexican places to eat at in Elkhart and this is one of them.

I love this place. Low-​key, relaxed, quiet, and excellent food. The waitress (la mesera) was very sweet and helped me practice speaking Spanish (I’ve been studying for a while now). The seafood burrito (burrito de mariscos) was perfecto! Highly recommended for families and those seeking excellent Mexican food and a relaxed atmosphere.

Definitely the best Mexican food I’ve had in Elkhart! I had been on the hunt for a go-​to Mexican restaurant here for a few months, and La Esperanza definitely takes the cake.
Their 3D art wall is pretty unique! It’s hilarious that they have a little Christ the Redeemer painted on there because he’s actually in Brazil, which is not a Spanish-​speaking country nor was it colonized by Spain or have any cuisine similar to TexMex… oh well!
Their flautas are delicious, and they have a very good selection in general. Service can be a little slow, and there isn’t always someone at the register, so I wouldn’t recommend going there if you’re in a rush/​quick lunch break. If you do have time, though, the food is definitely worth the wait.

Was looking for an authentic Mexican restaurant & ran across this place. Food was delicious, will definitely be going back.

Food is good… Service isn’t the greatest. There is server area with a booth and TV and last few times we have been there our server has been so distracted watching TV that we didn’t get chip or drink refills. She sat in the server area watching a talk show… laughing. She brought our food out that’s it. Horrible. We will not return because of this!

For a hole in the wall place in Indiana, this is pretty good.
It’s a small spot, and we ended up waiting for a table around dinner time. The interior is a little kitschy – this is definitely not fine dining, but it’s a good family spot. They brought chips and salsa to the table when we sat down, which was very welcome considering how hungry we were. The chips were fresh, but the salsa wasn’t that flavorful. The entrees and margaritas were on point. No complaints there. We had two or three different servers throughout our meal, which made it hard to figure who to ask the check from. Fair prices, good food.

Great dinner with the family. Moderately priced. Fresh, unlimited, chips with a fairly spicy salsa. I took the last piece of Tres Leches home for dessert. Great service!

On a road trip from Chicago to Virginia. Stopped in here for lunch. Food was incredible — fresh, best Mexican I’ve had in a while

My wife and I come here just about every time we are in the mood to get Mexican food. And just about every time we come here, I order 4 Tacos de Alambre – 2 with chicken and 2 with steak. And just about every time I finish my meal, I find myself wondering why I shouldn’t order 4 more. But my wife insists that 8 tacos in one sitting is a bad idea. What does she know?
Anyhow, this place beats El Camino hands-​down. The salsa is tasty, the service is excellent, the prices are great. (A little known secret about El Camino is that they charge you for drink or chip refills. Strange, but true.)
And if you go on my recommendation, order yourself 8 Tacos de Alambre so that I can convince my wife that it’s not all that unusual.

Most Mexican restaurants claim to be authentic but serve «Tejano» (Americanized) food containing too much salt, vinegar, jalapenos, and bleached flour hidden under a mountain of tasteless cheese — especially in Michiana, a long way north of the border, I have eaten the good stuff in Colorado and New Mexico, but it has been a while.
The first time I went to La Esperanza, I was amazed. Great menu, they actually prepare and cook the food instead of nuking something from a can. The presentation is excellent, and so are the flavors. You can get it from mild to hot; but unlike most places, hot does not mean «battery acid». The chili arbole sauce is fire with flavor, without obliterating the flavors of the food — producing a nice glow on a cold Indiana day.
I have yet to find another Mexican restaurant in the Elkhart area that can hold a candle to this one.

haven’t been to the restaurant, but tasted the food at ‘Taste of Elkhart’ and it was amazing! If the building is anything like the food, this place is worth the stop.

If you are craving real Mexican cuisine, this is the place to go. One of my favorite Mexican dishes is Tacos de Alambre. The only problem is that it’s very hard to find. La Esperanza is the only place around here that makes them as far as I know. They also have a very fresh tasting Taco Yucateco. The Bistec A La Mexicana is also very good.
Now if you are more into Tex-​Mex and don’t know what real Mexican food tastes like, then you may not be happy with the food you get here, but if you want authentic Mexican food done right you won’t be disappointed.