D’La Colmena Market & Catering

Wedding catered by D’la Colmena with excellent results. D’la Colmena provided the food, and our serving crew put it out for guests to serve themselves buffet style. Guests in attendance were at about 225 total (300 invited). Prices were in line with our budget and published on a menu (PDF) you can work from.
Adrian was very helpful through the entire process. Asked great questions and offered advice of which I’m so grateful for. Delivery was on time, quality of food was excellent.
Being from SoCal and Texas, I love Mexican food, and I’m pretty picky too. We tried a few different options and went back to D’la Colmena for additional «taste tests» at the walk up window in store. The food is so good I had to schedule the extra quality checks in order to get my Mexican food fix. (These frequent tests had nothing to do with any concerns of D’la Colmena’s quality, it was just an excuse to order more delicious food for a Sunday lunch).
We selected the Chicken en Molé, Carnitas, tamales, and fajitas. Sides included chips, guacamole, various salsas, rice and beans. A nopalito salad (cactus) was also part of the festivities. It was all so delicious.
Guest after guest commented on the food, how authentic it was, and delicious too.
I highly recommend D’la Colmena for catering, and also dropping by the walk up window in store. It’s the real deal.

We have loved this place for years, but came to a new appreciation after we chose them to cater our daughter’s graduation party. We had carnitas, cheese enchiladas, rice, beans, and flour tortillas, and it was all spectacularly good. They were pleasant and easy to deal with. I wish every business was run like this one! Well done, Adrian and company!

Had 2 carnitas tacos… The «bomb»…Huge tacos… Was expecting «street tacos»…2– 12inch tortilla’s stuffed with carnitas (close to 1lb)…Will come back again when I am in Watsonville… Would make the drive from Santa Cruz!
Only downside is parking… This place is popular… Suggest going after lunch crowds are gone.

This place has the best Carnitas and Cubano Tortas! You can also cater your event at a reasonable prices. Well stocked meat counter. Delicious house made tortillas. Love it!

I usually purchase the breakfast burritos or a torta sandwich. I tried their carne asada super burrito last week, their burritos are huge! The rice and beans were on point, the steak on the other hand tasted and looked more like carnitas.
Today I had a super burrito de tripas (tripe.)
There are two ways to cook tripe, deep fried (which is my preference), and not deep fried, which is how they prepare theirs.
They cleaned them well I must say, I didn’t taste any poop shoot which is a good thing.

I’ve had their carnitas for 20+ years. They are still delicious. Very tender pork. Great for family gatherings. I have also used them as the meat stuffing for tamales. Stop by for lunch and try the burrito de buche, no rice and beans. You won’t go wrong. Buen provecho!
Parking is a little tight. The bulding needs a little TLC. But, the food is delicious and that it was counts.

I just ordered tamales for our holiday potluck and they were amazing! They are always on time for catering event. their food is good and very affordable.

Just finished my first Carnitas super burrito from D’la Colmena about 3 minutes ago. It was large and very, very good. Easily one of the 5 best burritos that I’ve ever had. Had some language barrier issues as I have minimal spanish skills and the lady at the counter had what seemed to be 0 english skills but was able to get what I wanted for the most part. Missed out on Avocado in it and some hot salsa to go on the side that I would’ve liked but the quality of the burrito made up for those small complaints, though its possible that with both of those added it may be the best burrito that I’ve encountered. Will probably dust up on my spanish skills and end up back at D’la Colmena within the next week or so.

i’ve been going here since I was child with my mom, she always ordered a carnitas burrito with probably the best salsa verde that compliments the porcine very well, it’s heaven when combined together.

Hands down the best burritos in town. I used to come here growing up all the time, my dad used to order carnitas, tripitas and warm tortillas.
The place is really a market but they serve food, I have not had the other items in their menu because with burritos like those there’s no need to. I’ve had both the carnitas and al pastor burrito although they were both good, carnitas is their specialty.
There is nowhere to sit, this place is a market, «run down» and mentioned by Luke the previous Unilocaler.
Also, don’t order a quesadilla, read the reviews: carnitas and burritos. If you want an authentic quesadilla just buy cheese and tortillas at the grocery store and call it a day, but don’t go to a restaurant with delicious food and order the most boring thing on the menu.

Love this market for quick pick up Mexican food. I really like their carnitas. The burritos and tortas are really yummy.

I had high expectations when I saw the 5 star rating, but was a little discouraged when I saw that it was a run down looking Mexican market. However, I read in one review that it was a «hole in the wall» and that despite it’s appearance, the food was really good. It was really affordable, but I was not impressed with the food. And I asked the lady for chips and salsa with my quesadilla, but I guess her English wasn’t very good because she didn’t give me any chips, and she filled my quesadilla full of salsa. Lol it was quite disgusting, but I do understand this was a misunderstanding. Regardless, this place is nothing to write home about.

This place is BOMB and super cheap! I will definitely be coming here more often!

Take out place — literally a hole in the wall. UNSURPASSED prices and quality. Real meat — chicken burrito has huge amounts of fresh chicken. Daily specials — cheap and delicious. Fast, easy, great food.

We had a going away party catered by D’la Colmena. Everyone loved it. They give you a LOT of food for a great price. We went taco tasting prior to the event and chose Pastor and Carnitas. They were delicious!
It’s more a do it yourself kind of a Caterer. We ordered tacos for 40 people and fed 70 with left overs! They give you the food in large trays and you have to figure out how to keep everything hot.
I would use them again for any future party!

The best carnitas anywhere. The best taco trucks in Santa Cruz county all get their carnitas here — enough said.
difficult parking though. But if it were easy then it would not be so good — right.
Nice looking meat counter, meat looks very fresh but have not bought any yet.
Get a pound of carnitas, a stack of corn tortillas, some onion, celantro and have many great days of meals at home. Only problem, you’ll gain several pounds.

I’ve been coming here since I was a little boy with my mom has awesome food for a great price. Has great chicharron in town.

My absolute –favorite– Mexican Market in Watsonville. Hands down.
Everything you could ever want for making traditional Mexican meals is here, and reasonably priced, to boot. Enchilada sauces in both red and green varieties. Multiple brands. Dry and canned beans. FABULOUS meat counter rivaling Shopper’s Corner in Santa Cruz, and their prices are fair.
A personal favorite: visit the fresh section for massive quantities of –FRESH– blue corn tortillas, which are SO delicious. Not to mention cheap. I bought what must seriously be 50 fresh (they make them there) tortillas for $ 2.50. Their hot food counter also provides a number of yummy snacks, as well as pre-​cooked bulk foods by the pound (carnitas, asada, chicken, etc.) to take home and cook with. Score!
That’s not to say the place doesn’t have its challenges. The parking lot is a clusterf*@#k. Street parking is tricky at best. Produce quality is hit or miss. Sometimes it’s fresh and crisp and perfect, other times it’s tired, soggy, and squishy. I haven’t figured out a system for finding the good days.