La Huazteca

Do not be fooled! This is not just a grocery store. This is Little Mexico on the inside. Their food is delicious, and their staff is amazing. They enjoy some Spanish-​practice if you know some Spanish.
I had tacos del pastor. They were delicious. The salsa is hot. It’s just a great place. Do not go to the races without checking it out!

Yo entré en la puerta, y me sentí como si estuviera en México!
Short story, the food is awesome, serving sizes are impressive, and the prices are excellent ($ 1.50/taco, $ 6 for a HUGE torta). Your meal comes with complimentary chips, and both classic salsa (on the spicy side) and salsa verde (green salsa) that all of us liked better!
But! Heads-​up, the menus are in Spanish, and the staff don’t all speak very good English. They know that, and they try very hard to make sure it doesn’t get in the way. If your Spanish is passable (or you want to practice) this is the place for you! If you don’t speak a word of Spanish though, never fear, they’ll help you through it.
If you don’t want to/can’t deal with that, this is almost certainly not the place for you — but if you can deal with it, I recommend trying it anyway :)
Long story–
YES! A place that feels like a slice of another country! If it’s what you’re looking for, every inch of this place from the second you step in the door feels like it was lifted straight out of central america– the colors, the smells, the foods in the market, the drinks. It doesn’t feel like a restaurant that serves Mexican food, it feels like you’re actually vacationing in Mexico for your meal, right down to the Spanish TV!
A group of us were walking back to our car from the Derby at Oaklawn, and we were really hungry and wanted to eat before the long drive back to Little Rock. And we were in the mood for a little spice. The entrance to La Huazteca had us confused, because it’s a big steel building with three doors — one goes to a piñata store, the other goes to a small grocery market (mmm, chilis!) and the third goes into a restaurant. BUT, what you find when you go into any of them, is that all of the doors connect to the same space (s), so go in whichever feels right!
We walked in (the middle, market door) passed by the dried chilis, the fresh chilis, the fresh vegetables that I still don’t know the name of (but I know they’re delicious!), the cooler full of Mexican sodas, and sat at a table by the window. A wonderful lady came by moments after we’d been seated with menus — and a translator. Turns out she didn’t speak a word of English, so she asked her coworker to translate. When my wife (whose Spanish is excellent) ordered in Spanish, or server was so, so excited! Her face lit up, and she couldn’t wait to speak to us. We quickly established that they were out of Carnitas, but had plenty of the other fillings.
My wife and I split a plate of Tacos (5 for around $ 7), while our friend had a torta (a sandwich –which, it turned out, was HUGE and delicious!) and a house-​made horchata (sweet rice-​water, she said this one had some pineapple in it, just a heads-​up)
Our server was super sweet, very prompt in getting us anything we asked for, and was very attentive making sure things were filled as needed — all without hovering.
At the end of our meal, we, completely stuffed, paid at the front register, trundled out the door and on our way. And it was exactly the meal we’d needed!