La Fonda Mexican Restaurant & Cantina

Always a great place to meet friends, have a margarita and eat really good food. I love the mini sampler platter. It’s the perfect size portion of food. Margaritas are yummy and service was really good. As good place for families as well.

Have been here several times but won’t be going back after our last visit. We went for a family birthday meal and everyone was sick the next day. No Bueno.

Tried this restaurant for the first time and had the private room for our family celebration.
Had the Machaca Chimichanga with Poco Pollo Sauce, rice and beans. The Chimichanga was prepared well, nice and Crispy with a topping of cheese and the Poco Pollo Sauce on the side as requested. The rice and beans were okay. Overall the Chimichanga was good.
We shared the Margarita Chicken also. Came with tortillas to use with the Margarita Chicken which was good.
The restaurant is simple, service was very good. Mexican music in the background to give it some festive atmosphere.
The food was good, the server taking care of our group of 13 was excellent. Not a big wow factor but pretty good.

Worst experience with a new restaurant in a long time. The food was not to par and when we were finished eating my daughter’s needed to use the restroom. Walking back there when i got closed to the kitchen, the smell was horrible. When we got to the restroomit was way worse. Unbelievable. Not to mention when the waitress brought my food she sat it down and burned my arm. She didn’t even say the plate was hot.

Went here on Cinco De Mayo. This place has been around a long time but I haven’t visited here in recent years. My first impression was that our waiter was in charge of way too many tables and while he tried to be accommodating we hated to bother him for simple things since we knew he was busy! No silverware or napkins until food arrived (i.e.none for appetizers). Started off with Chips (very good), salsa (tasty but very small bowl not enough salsa for two people) and appetizer (fundido cheese) excellent but didnt have enpough chips because they were never refilled from chips and salsa starter. Overall our meals were ok and the margarita was ok. With so many other great places in the valley, and nothing here that stood out as spectacular, i probably won’t be back for another long time.

We should have known by the space heater blowing behind the front lobby podium that the owner was trying to save money by not setting the thermostat at a temperature to make customers comfortable. We went there in December and the place was freezing. I asked the waitress and the owner to turn on the heat. The owner said that it was on, when it obviously was not. I replied, «Well, could you please set it higher to warm the restaurant?» She then said that it couldn’t get warm because the ceilings were too high. It was so cold that I kept my legs moving constantly to generate heat, I gave my sweater to my little girl to wear on top of hers, my husband removed his sweatshirt and gave it to me and we ate as fast as we could.
My husband ordered soup to warm him and it came completely unheated! The waitress discovered that the soup warmer was not turned on. The rest of our meals were not good enough to make us want to return in the spring.

The Carnita dinner special has me coming back again and again. Just delicious. I’m sure everything else is too. I just can’t get away from the carnita. Plsss try it!

Excellent! Went there today for the first time and was REALLY IMPRESSED! First of all, the service was prefect, it seems so rare these days to have a server who smiles. Ours was really pleasant and she never left us feeling forgotten. The food was exactly what I was craving! The queso fundido was yummy, not too Spicy but totally not bland. I tend to customize my orders wherever I dine, and I received it just as requested! Delicious Mexican food with a beautiful and clean atmosphere!

Really good food. Went there for lunch and it was enough food for two meals!
Great service too

I went in for apps and drinks with a friend. The place is nice. Nothing spectacular, but better than most. The appetizer platter was really good, margaritas were a little sweet and soury. It could have been better, but for the very inexpensive price it was worth it!

These guys were great! Met a friend here and we thought they closed at ten. But they weren’t pushy to kick us out they were wonderful! Will definitely be back!

Great carne asada tacos and their chips are always so fresh! Love coming back here when I am in Phoenix. Always have had great fresh food and great service here.

Food was good with a nice hot sauce and chips to start! It’s hard to find a good hot sauce that tastes great and has a kick!
Server in the bar was attentive, but it was also a late lunch.
The waitress told me to come by on a day off or after work bc they have $ 3 Dos Equis drafts every day all day.
I’d come back if on this side of town again for lunch, fast service as well.

Meh. Watery margaritas and egg role esque mini chimis. Good happy hour prices.
Welcome/​service is barely acceptable. Awkward entry way.
It looks like it could have a great patio, but it was closed.

We were referred here by a friend and it was delicious. We had the carne asada plate and machaca plate. The meat in the carne asada plate was tender. The waitress suggested we both try something different and share so we did. We will definitely come here again!

Gross Gross Gross
This is probably the worst Mexican food I have ever eaten. My fiancée and I ordered the nachos and they were a greasy mess with hardly any cheese on them. It looked like there was zero effort when it came to making these.
I ordered the chicken chimichanga dinner and it was GROSS. The chicken tasted like it was a week old. I spit it out. The chimichanga was drenched in grease as well. I understand it is a fried item but your plate should not be swimming in oil. BARF. I would never eat here or recommend this place to anyone.

Came here on a whim with my bestie. They couldn’t get an order right. I wanted my order of nachos without onions and add chicken, and my vegetarian friend ordered just the nachos. Gave me onions and no chicken, and her no onions with chicken. Took those back, and second time around I got onions on my plate. I ended up just not eating. Server guy was a little douchy, and I didn’t even give him a hard time about it. Like «Na dude, I’m just going to chill while she eats. No worries.» Won’t be coming back. Also, chips were oily.
Bye La Fondalesha.
Confirmed douchiness of the waiter. Just complimented my review. «You’re cool.» Thank you. Also, here’s a tip* since I forgot to leave one on the table. Find a new occupation.

I love Mexican Food. Better yet, I love good, great Mexican food. Maybe we came on a good night. But, I was very happy with what we got!
This was my first time here. Though Mario has been here many times.
The Chips and Salsa were very good and they refilled them for us several times. I got the shredded meat, even though I am not a huge meat eater, this was very tasty and I would order it again.
It seemed like it had been cooking all day. So it was tender and very tasty with whatever type of spices they put in.
Lots of food of course, I had to get the rest to go. The server was very pleasant and the restrooms are clean. It was a tiny bit cold inside but, that is better than being hot. So I have to say I really like it and would go back any time.

Had a late lunch here on Sat. Friend highly recommended it. good high quality food, just a bit bland for my tastes.
Salsa is great, fresh made daily and good corn chips also.
If you don’t like your Mexican food too spicy then you’ll like it.

10/​25/​2014 Update: Much much much better experience this visit. Chips were hot, fresh and oily, much more like the chips at the old location and a dramatic improvement over the seemingly heat lamp bagged chips served last time around. Served both salsa and hot sauce without having to ask. The salsa, which was mostly chopped onions last visit, was quite tasty this time around. And service was solid. Thinking about upgrading La Fonda to four stars, but the inconsistency between visits is a great concern. Need another visit or two before deciding. Happy, though, to see more signs of the old La Fonda.
La Fonda, at its old location just north of ASU, was always my benchmark for Mexican food. The restaurant to which I compared all other Mexican spots. Why? It was the first Mexican restaurant I tried when I moved to Arizona. Having grown up in the Midwest, I had no experience with border food… Tacos with shredded beef? Unheard of! Plates so hot they could burn you? What the? Hot sauce that would peel the roof off your mouth? I was instantly addicted. Ate there once a week for years, gradually becoming less of a regular due to distance and life in general. I was horrified one day when I showed up to find a construction fence between me and my machaca burro enchilada style. Thought La Fonda was history. You can’t imagine how happy I was when I discovered (through Unilocal) that it had reopened, even if it was even farther away from where I now live than the original location.
There are some noticeable similarities to the old La Fonda. The hot sauce is still tasty, although it has lost quite a bit of heat over the years. The shredded beef tacos are wonderful and as generous with the meat as ever. But the ambiance is totally different. Admittedly, the old location was a bit of a dive, so the new digs are a significant upgrade on the surface. But some character seems to have been lost. Also seems to be a big push toward selling more alcohol. And the service, which was so prompt and sassy at the old location, now seems slow and indifferent.
Case in point, my recent weekday lunch visit. Arrived to a half empty restaurant, but had to wait several minutes (seemed much longer — used the time to take three photos for Unilocal) to be seated. Why? Two guys were picking up a take-​out order and apparently it was necessary for me to wait for their order to be completed before I could sit down. No problem. I was happy just to be at La Fonda.
Chips were delivered hot and fresh. The chips are no longer the delicious hot and oily yellow corn chips of the old location. They’re now light white corn chips, a significant downgrade for me, although you might like them if that is your preference. The hot sauce has to be requested these days. An interesting choice, since the default chunky salsa is heavy on onion taste and not much else. The hot sauce, on the other hand, is exceptional.
As the lunch went on, I began to feel sympathy for our server. Stretched way too thin. We waited to order. Waited for drink refills. Waited for a hot sauce refill. And waited, a really long time, for our check at the end of the meal. Such a contrast to the old La Fonda, where you would have been seated instantly, served chips that risked burning your fingers, be given a small pitcher of hot sauce, had your entrees delivered before the chips were cool enough to eat, and have you on your way in as much or little time as you liked.
Overall, the food is fine, with just enough of the old La Fonda for me to want to drop in again if I’m in the neighborhood. Consistency of service at La Fonda seems to be a problem. Understaffing was the apparent issue this day, but the overall vibe was just not that welcoming in any case. Still family owned. I recognized one of the owners, so I know they are still hands on, but… I’ll definitely give them a try again and hope for the best. Maybe they’ll bring back the Number One Plate, my old favorite.
One more thing: Kids meals are reasonably priced when you consider they include a drink. That said, I’m not sure about the appropriateness of pushing «kiddie cocktails» (see menu photo). Perhaps as penance, kids eat free on Sundays. Bottoms up!