Villa Del Mar Mexican Food

New Ownership! Higher prices for what seems to be a smaller menu and lower quality of food, service, and atmosphere. To be fair it seems they just opened and may need some time to work our the kinks, but their menu items are priced very high at 6 – 7 $ per burrito. $ 6 for a bean & cheese? What?

UPDATE: It’s no longer Via Del Mar. It’s El Tacon. I guess they took over 2 weeks ago. Menu is small, in 3 months gutting the place out. It’s gonna be a bar with limited food items. It’s not gonna be the place we loved. I’m kinda sad about it…
have been going here for years. I LOVE IT! Food is so good & actually cheaper than all of the «…bertos». I’ve never been disappointed. They also have vegetation options.

My new fav Mexican fast food because of their vegan menu. I’m not vegan but prefer that when possible. So good! The veggie quesadilla and veggie burrito were amazing!

Just moved into the area and might I add Normal Heights is pretty awesome. You can walk to a lot of amenities! I figured I’d give this little Mexican taco shop a try. High expectations because I had walked by there before and it appears to be a family owned business. Wohooo! Should be good I thought…
Ummm… I’ll give the place one more try but wasn’t very impressed. Ordered the carne asada nachos. Carne asada seemed to have been «re-​re-​heated» it was chewy and ended up setting the meat aside. Salsa bar was okay but no descriptions!

I only had the shrimp burrito, bit it was huge and delicious. The chips were warm and super crunchy. nthe vegan menu looked excellent, but I was in the mood for shrimp. Will go back again. Fours stars only due to lack of atmosphere…

Chile Verde special was outstanding. Super tender with Awsome sauce. Will be going back again and again.

My Girlfriend and I went here expecting the usual taco shop experience, I.E. quick easy food, not really caring about customer service, ect.
I ordered a «Surfing California Burrito» and my girlfriend got a plate of Carne Asada nachos. The server offered us some complimentary tortilla chips, and a bowl for salsa, Which is not unheard of at Taco shops, I know, but it was very welcome. The chips were fresh and the salsa was great, But I soon realized I forgot to get something to drink. Before I even asked for some water, the server brought us 2 glasses of Ice water. At that moment I was sold on the service.
Then our food came, and we beheld one of the largest plates of Carne Asada nachos I’ve seen at a taco shop, and my burrito was excellent. We couldn’t even get close to finishing our food, it was so much. And the meat was cooked just about perfect too.
I don’t usually go to taco shops with very high expectations, but Villa Del Mar really raised the bar here. 5 stars!

Have been coming here for as long as I can remember. Not the cleanest place.
But but the food is always fresh and I have never been disappointed with my visit. They always give you fresh warm chips and a bowl of homemade roasted salsa (The best part of coming here:-)

They have a delicious Vegan/​Vegetarian burrito. I ordered it with french fries and loved it. The tortilla was really soft and flavorful. They have black beans without lard for a vegan option. They also have delicious soy chorizo rolled tacos in the vegan menu.
They were very friendly. And really accomodating. It has an authentic Mexican feel, and the chips they give you to snack on were fresh and good too.
I really liked this place and will be going there again.

I’m lucky to be surrounded by so many Mexican restaurants here in Normal Heights so I’ve been going around trying them all. Now I usually stick to the bean and cheese which is hard to mess up but still hard to make it the right size and the right consistency of cheese and beans.
This time we got a California burrito and the aforementioned bean and cheese.
The california burrito was pretty gross. The meat was crap and the fries soggy (not fried then soggy but just soggy). My bean and cheese was just so so. They had several options at the salsa bar but none were to my liking but they weren’t bad.
The staff was friendly though and its a nice little restaurant with random photos hanging on a wall in a section that no one ever sits in. I wonder who put them up and why so out of the way. They were dusty too. That’s all.

I got the grilled veggie burrito from the vegan menu. From the outside, you would not expect this place to have a vegan menu, so I want to rate it highly just for the unexpected diversity of their menu. That said, the veggie burrito was actually really good! I want to come back and try the squash quesadilla.
My boyfriend got the surf and turf and loved it. If I were to come back and eat meat, I would try the surfing california (surf and turf + california burrito = surfing burrito).

We’ve been eating here since we moved into the neighborhood four years ago. Great family-​owned, hole-​in-​the-​wall place for great take-​out Mexican food.
Classic Mexican fare menu items. Good food. Dirt cheap. They always get the orders right.
The dining area does not have a lot of appeal, but we always get it to go anyway. We live just two blocks away, so we call ahead, order over the phone, and the food is ready by the time we walk over.
Highly recommended!

After reading the reviews which were hit or miss I decided to give this place a try. First off my jaw almost dropped when I asked the guy at the counter if they had chavelas and he said, what’s that ?
Really !? I told him you really don’t know what that is? Have you heard of micheladas and he said yeah I think so. What kind of Mexican restaurant doesn’t have or know about micheladas/​chavelas .
I should of walked out but I was starving after a long day of work .so I ordered the fish tacos and a carne asada taco along with a corona, which was one of their 3 beer selections .
One star is for the cold beer and the other for the fish tacos. the fish tacos were decent.
The carne asada on the other hand was not so good .it was eatable but the meat looked bland. the meat was of a greyish color. carne asada should have color, maybe even some char on it after all color is flavor.
Any who I won’t be coming back. rule of thumb if a Mexican place has bad reviews on their carne asada don’t go there. I judge Mexican places on their carne asada, if the carne is good most likely the rest of the food will good as well …

I really enjoy the costumer service as well as the «just like grandma use to make» food. The salsa is very tasteful. The service as well is fast. Every time I order they get it right.

Right on Adams ave. great carne asada burrito. Too hot to eat at first but it came with chips while you wait so it doesn’t matter. They add a fee for credit card orders under $ 5 so just order a drink and your good.

Negative reviews are no fun to write, but the appropriate bell curve would not emerge without them. Trying to do my burb a solid, I decided to keep it local and take my hungry self to Vila Del Mar. The place is a wreck and the faint-that’s putting it nicely– smell of urine was present at the cash register. This alone should have had me scrambling, but I have eaten great food at far worse venues and thought I’d man up and order.
The kid behind the register, nice kid, seemed fairly new as he had a hard time answering my questions about the burrito filling options resulting from the vague nature of the items listed on the menu board. I opted for the gilled chicken burrito which came with cheese and guacamole. I got the rito home and started to dig in. First bite, mushy. Second bite, fatty and mushy. Third bite stringy, fatty, mushy. I was extremely hungry and forced myself to eat two thirds of this most heanous of crimes against burritos the world over. I finally just emptied the contents onto my plate, scraped off what I could and consumed the only acceptable part of my meal, the tortillia. The chicken was an inferior product or maybe just not butchered properly because every bite contained fat or connective tissue, the guacamole lacked seasoning and the cheese was more akin to sour cream.
I went here expecting to find a hidden gem. Instead, I found a chance to test the limits of my cast-​iron stomach. I want to find it in me to return and give it another chance, but I don’t think that will happen sober.

These folks are awesome. Love this place, night and day service wise with the other ‘hood taco shop. Smiles, free chips, and great food — five stars all the way. The menu is creative and the food is fantastic. The only thing I don’t like is that they use jack cheese instead of cheddar. So if you’re looking for a quesedilla it’s a tough decision going here or that terrible place that shall not be named further down the street. That said they have the standard fair and they also have an exotic menu which includes squash, eggplant, and a variety of combo burritos.
The «California Surfing» burrito is frikking amazing. Carne asada, shrimp, crispy fries and with chipotle salsa. Give that a shot for sure — consider splitting it.

The only reason I did one star is because I have to! This place is horrible !! I can’t believe this places is still in business !! I use to go their many years ago, mostly because the Juke box would be playing bit now the poor thing is just sitting their maybe broke, but lets talk food, Berria was NASTY ! Taste old and salty kinds when you reheat it over and over and over. won’t be going back and I suggest you don’t either unless you want a good cleanse next morning just saying !! It seems to be under new ownership, I use to walk in their and it was always busy, clean and the music playing it smelled good, now is just dark and the food is NOT GO AT ALL…
I will not be retuning

I’ve been here twice this month since I just discovered it in my neighborhood. I have to say I’m disappointed.
The first time I ordered fish tacos with rice and beans on the side. The itty bitty lime slices they gave me were completely brown and had no juice. The burnt fish fillets in the tacos were more batter than fish.
The second time I ordered rolled tacos, also with rice and beans. After a nearly 15-​minute wait (and it wasn’t even busy), I received rolled tacos buried in lettuce and tomatoes, as if to mask the watery dribble of «guacamole» on the tacos. The smattering of cheese also oddly resembled thickly grated… mozzarella? The rice and beans are mushy and watery, respectively, at best.
If you’re looking for memorable Mexican food, you’re not going to find it at this place.

I used to live across the street from this restaurant about 9 years ago and I can honestly say that my little Mexican body grew up on this place!
You can literally look up «hole in the wall» and this place would be listed under it. However, quality over quantity is key and the food quality here that I’ve had is excellent.
I’m a sucker for Carne Asada burritos and Rolled tacos with delishhh guacamole and shredded cheddar cheese… and this place constantly hits the spot. Definitely give them a shot if you’re in the area!
P. S. — I think they have a small fee if you use debit… so if you have cash, use it here.