My family decided to try this place on a whim and it was hands-down the worst Tex-Mex i've ever had. The potatoes were under cooked and hard, the tortillas didn't even deserve to be called tortillas, and the bacon was so salty, i could've scooped up a cup of ocean water and have drunk less salt. The carne guisada tasted like Alpo dog food and the omelette was drowning in cheese and sauce. The best thing about this place was the pancakes, which tasted sort of like carnival funnel cake. My whole family became severely ill with extreme cases of Montezuma's Revenge shortly afterwards and we didn't get to enjoy the rest of our day in this beautiful city. Save your money for all the fantastic, little food trucks.
Review Source:Stopped in here on a whim after seeing the long wait down the street at Maudie's. Should have kept driving but it was a lesson in making random lunch choices. Pretty sure there was no tequila in their margaritas. Hot sauce was tasteless with no spiciness at all. Enchiladas were acceptable but beans and rice were bland. I will keep driving past this spot in the future.
Review Source:HOLY JESUS LORD IN HEAVEN! Â A COCKRAOCH JUST WALKED ACROSS MY FOOT! Â AND THERE ARE TWO MORE!
Those are the thoughts that were screaming in my head at La Feria.
This was not an awesome adventure at ALL. Â
A friend was in town from LA and her mother likes to go here because they have the mariachi band.
We walk in. Â The place does not appear clean at all and has a really weird smell. Â We ask to be seated on the porch because there will be so many of us coming.
We go to the porch, it's winter, so it's got the plastic enclosure around the porch... just enough to trap all that cigarette smoke and stale, cheap beer smell. Â Yay. Â It's nice and warm outside, so we really need all that plastic enclosure right now. Â
We sit at our thrown together tables and are served some chips and hot sauce. Â It wasn't very good. Â However, the feeling of something crawling across my foot wasn't so great, either. Â I move my foot from under the table to see a roach crawling across my foot. Â (No, I'm not barefoot, I had my chanklas on.) Â I quickly stood up, remained as calm as possible and didn't say a word. Â I look under the table to see two more scattering. Â Awesome.
That was it. Â I was done. Â I didn't eat anything, told the rest of the table quietly what had happened.
We moved inside due to the roaches, cigarette smoke and stale beer smell, only to be subjected to the weird smell inside. Â I didn't eat. Â I just couldn't after that.
The twins got a plate to share, but said it tasted nothing like food and didn't eat theirs. Â The boy, who is an eating machine, told me his food was really gross and didn't eat his.
We stayed for a bit to hang out with people we love, then left. Â I'll never go back and I'll never recommend La Feria to a single human being.
Things have gone (more) downhill since the first time I've eaten here: we didn't get silverware or napkins without asking, our queso appetizer came with the meal, and our waitress was siting at another table the entire time talking with who we believe might have been the owner. No idea.
My tacos consisted of boiled, unseasoned chicken with shredded cheese, lettuce, rice, and beans that were all marginal and didn't taste fresh. My boyfriend had a steak fajita salad with lukewarm beef and lettuce that looked soggy. The taco bowl tasted like a grease bomb, and was inedible.
I commented on the queso coming out with the meal and not being able to eat it, but was still charged for it. The food was also obviously reheated quickly and slopped on our plates since it arrived in about 3 or 4 minutes. No joke here. Needless to say, I will never be going back. For $30 I could have cooked a much better tasting and well seasoned Mexican meal at home for 5 people, not two!
This reminds me of a Mexican restaurant found in a small town in the mountains... In other words, lacking authentic Mexican food and probably owned by a white person who likes to eat! Â It is fine for a lunch, but no real technique in the food, you can tell by the look of the menu.
Definitely needs to be brought out of the 80's inside.
I will say that the Margaritas are nice and strong, go for happy hour!!!!
Not hating on the place, but meh.
Seriously  Hungry like a wolf  as my Hunny put it he said his  enchiladas were  great as far as my Chalupes they left much to be desired,
First I asked for one and never said avocado yuk it was some runny stuff it was not avocado ,which i sure do love not sure what it was I took some bites and said give me a box. they do  get the first star for in and out quick, Tea was good  chips were chips salsa had some kick
Service was really quick  food was hot, price was equal to most Mexican lunch menus,
I have not been there in a while  now i know why.
Ahhh man! Â Sometimes destiny is so sweet. Â We couldnt find parking anywhere else and this was the first place with parking! Â How lucky are we?! Â By the smell when we walked in the door, I knew we were in great hands. Â
I ordered the chile relleno camarones and my bf had a sampler. Â
Every single thing was mind blowing good.
Im so happy I found a new favorite spot! Â
Next time im sittin on the patio!
La Feria is another great place to break up with someone.
I can't think of anything better than watching someone's heart break in front of you, their lip quivering, having a cold beer in my hand, and then the mariachi band strikes up an awfully loud tune right behind them.
Awkward? Nope. Hilarious. Yes.
La Feria serves up cold beer and decent strength margaritas. Tasty chips and salsa, and some fine guacamole. Â Speaking of, the guacamole chalupas are a great vegan lunch or dinner, minus cheese.
Happy Hour is great, with $2.25 draft beer and $3.95 frozen margaritas.
The service is cool, the colors are bright, the food is cheap, and the drinks are great. The patio is super, and has covered and uncovered tables. Â
La Feria brings back wonderful memories of weekly happy hour with the ladies, and trips to Horseshoe Lounge, and breaking up with parasites. Â I wonder if it's a Mexican food place that makes splitting up with someone so much fun. Â The colors? Music? Booze?
Whatever it may be, add La Feria to your list of places to dump that loser, and make a fun, festive night out of it.
Ole! Pendejo!
I ate here late on a Friday night. The food was very, very unremarkable. The service was OK, but the waiter acted as if he was doing us a favor instead of serving us. He was adequate but disinterested.
I had enchiladas which were really not very god. I've had better frozen ones from the grocery store.
It was very busy the night when I was there so perhaps my experience was unusual,
There are so many great places to eat in Austin that I doubt I will return to La Feria.
Missing our turn to our normal Mexican restaurant we stumbled upon this little gem. Â The prices were great and the food was plenty. Â It was a delicious accident that we will definetly redo! Â We had the fajitas they were tender and tasty. Â The only downside was their chips were not warmed. They were not cold but I like a hot chip :)
Overall fast service and great food at a decent price
I figured this place would be just great considering its location on South Lamar, surrounded by a veritable cornucopia of delightful eateries...not so, mi amigos.
The food was blah, the salsa was blah, the cleanliness was blah, the decor/vibe was blah... the whole experience was just utterly BLAH. With all the other options I have no reason to ever return.
You'd think the food would be way better considering all the competition around this place. The food is cheap but bland and tasteless. Absolutely unremarkable with no reason to ever go back. The decor inside is really run down with torn booth seats and a general unclean feeling. Also depending on where you sit the lighting is incredibly blinding. I had to eat my meal with my head down the whole time to keep from going blind from the overhead lights.
Don't eat here, walk a few blocks down Lamar to find way better Mexican food.
I enjoy this place because it's often overlooked, consistent and close to home. We eat here once every month or two and every time there is parking and no waiting in line. This is a huge plus for average to above average Mexican food with patio dining.
I've ordered fajitas, cheese enchiladas, chili relleno (w/ shrimp and wo/), queso / chorizo dip and plenty of other dishes that have come out fine. Frozen margaritas are great here as are the Mexican Martinis.
Sometimes they have a mariachi band playing (Mariachi Relampago is particularly good) and it's actually more fun to eat there. Mariachi bands seemingly have fans who follow them around from eatery to eatery and request favorite songs then sing along. The more the patrons (and band) drinks the louder and more enjoyable the night seems to get. While this isn't our thing exactly, it's fun to watch. Also, if you're feeling up to a traditional machismo ballad request, "El Rey".
I like the place because I know I can count on getting a traditional Mexican dish wo/ a bunch of hassle. This place has been solid and I've eaten here no less than 10 times.
Chips and salsa = B-, but the queso is better.
Friendly service, spicy salsa- in short, we liked it and will most likely be back.
Now the long version:
La Feria is one of those places we pass by every single day and have never really paid attention to- especially with the abundance of flashy neon signs outside. Â On a whim, we decided to try something new on Lamar. Â My dining companion grew up in a Mexican household and he admits being quite apprehensive to stopping. Â I think the neon outside worried him. Â However, when we got inside, his attitude towards the place changed.
We were promptly greeted at the door and we sat in a comfy little booth. Â Tejano played in the background as my companion ordered a raspberry frozen margarita. Â We were brought chips and salsa.
Now, I gotta tell you something. Â I love a good salsa. Â However, this salsa was just nuts. Â Like, I'd have some and it would slowly burn the back of my throat. Â Usually, this is the case for a spicy salsa on the first few bites, but this one kept burning with each bite-- but in a really good way. Â I don't know how to explain it, but with each bite of the salsa fueling the fire in the back of my throat, I wanted more.. because, well, the salsa was delicious!
My companion ordered the Guisada and I had the beef enchiladas. Â The Guisada was excellently flavored. Â My beef enchiladas were A-OK, but I must admit I was jealous of the Guisada.
The services was very friendly, but without being prying- and I really do like that. Â There's a difference between good service and plain annoying you into thinking you're getting a good meal. Â This place definitely falls in the good service category. Â You're allowed to enjoy your delicious food without interruption and that is a major turn-on for us.
One of the few things I could see potential is in increasing the serving size, but I will admit, you do pay a fair price for what you get. Â All in all, we probably spent around $25 with tip included, with the 2 entrees and the margarita. Â So I think we will definitely be back, probably with friends. Â It looks like a good place to kind of just have a nice Mexican dinner and be left to socialize in peace.
Yum!
I hit these guys up at least once a month. Much of the food is great, but stick to the basics: enchiladas and burritos. Â Tacos not so much. Â Chips are excellent, salsa is spicy, but spent a little bit too much blender time.
Mexican martinis for 5 bucks on week nights are a great deal. Â I'll be back.
Went Friday night with roomies after finding out Chuy's had a 45 minute wait. The waitresses were nice but got our drink orders wrong and had to come by twice after we ordered to make sure she had gotten it right. We even ordered in Spanish (which they clearly were speaking) and they got our orders wrong/confused. Also, there was an ant in my friend's horchata.
The only good thing was that the food was pretty decent. Salsa was nice and spicy. I ordered the ground beef chimichanga with queso sauce. Tasty but not spectacular.
The environment was kind of odd, there weren't many people there for a Friday night, but that was fine with us since we were starving. One of the waitresses was sitting at a table watching a Bollywood soap. We were like... uh what?
Go if you're hungry for Mexican and your favorite places are busy.
I'm not sure what it is- but I love this place!
1. Â Walk in, find the seat that YOU want, then sit back and enjoy the good service!
2. Order a margarita that is sure to get you a buzz- two if you're feeling snazzy. Â Three? Honestly don't think I ever have here. Â
The price is right, the food is good, the service is great. Â This is your everyday restaurant. Â They often have live mariachis playing and a great outside patio.
Admittedly, La Feria has take a few years to grown on me. The Margs have always been of stellar quality for the price (read: Hidden HH hot spot). The warm chips and salsa are above average- nice texture on the chips (thick enough so they dont break in the salsa, thin enough so they dont resemble a corn cracker) and the salsa has a little kick.
Its pretty traditional mexican fare, no frills here. But- they do have black beans for the veggies and their rice is also vegetarian (not so with more authentic recipes). The everyday items are nothing spectacular, but they are solid. Ive heard great things about their Carne dishes and a few of the not-typical mexican steak things.
Huge patio is nice, always a spot. Weekends have roming mariachi's (a few of which are young and HOT these days). So yah...its really about the Margs and going home satisfied (WITH doggies bag in hand). You wont be WOWed by the food, but you wont be disappointed either.
*Bonus 1/2 Star if I could give one for being a Stone's through from the Horseshoe Lounge.
This place makes a mean margarita! Both times I have imbibed here I felt a slight tipsier than I expected. Not that I am complaining.
The tortillas are good, as is the spicy salsa. Food has overall been so-so, but nothing gross. Veggie quesadillas were stuffed with fresh veggies and cheese. Hubby's plate looked like most Tex Mex combo plates. Regular queso was boring, but the queso flamedo mouth watering.
I don't know if this will be a regular haunt, but surely I will come for happy hour or just a change of pace from the rest of Austin's many Tex Mex joints.
When you walk in, don't be put off by the old decor. It's tacky, like a Florida retirement home. The booths have this peeling tropical sort of casing on them that screams "run away!" But its ok, I swear.
The chipotle fajitas are amazing. For $9.99, the portion was huge, and when accompanied by some frozen margaritas, hit the spot perfectly. The queso wasn't anything special, and for $4.99, I expected more, but the salsa was good and spicy.
Every Thursday they have a live mariachi band from 7 to 9 pm, which is worth going to see if you like live, free music. Happy Hour is everyday from 3 to 7 pm.
I had a great experience here last night. We had a party of 12ish and everyone was drinking up a storm. Our waitress was so bad ass! She was so quick to get us new drinks- seriously, every time I asked for another margarita she came back with one within two minutes. Pretty damn good for a busy Friday night. We kept adding more and more people to our table and she didn't miss a single drink.
The food is alright, not the best but really not the worst. Probably the cheesiest tex mex I've ever had. My chile rellano was tasty.
At the very end she had already split our checks up (perfectly) and we waited less than five minutes to cash out and leave.
Girl made waiting on a 12 top look like child's play.
I will definitely keep this place in mind for large parties. I'm a fan.
This place is for Mexican Martinis.. yep.. the best I have drank.. although I only have 3 other places to compare it too.
I think if you want the whole drinks and a little tex mex experience this is the place to go. Not baby-A's, not el Mercado, or Trudy's. Â Semi-decent food and I have honestly never waited too long to eat here. They have pretty good el pastor, basic chalupas, tacos, and veggie quesadillas. But honestly if I want real good cheap Mexican food I don't have to travel to south Austin.
Stopped by on the way home from an early, early Chelsea game day (6:45 a.m.). We had a hankerin' for our usual Maudie's enchiladas, but alas, it was a UT home game day, so we might have died of starvation before we even got seated. Â The parking lot at La Feria was almost empty, so in desperation we pulled in.
I've been here before with big groups of thirsty edumucators, and enjoyed the atmosphere and always friendly service, but had never tasted the tex-mex fare. We started with some chips and queso, which was very meh. Â I ordered the spinach enchiladas, which were actually pretty darn good. Â The J-Man had the chipotle chicken enchiladas, which were also good. Â
All in all, it was a decent experience. Â And it's right next door to the Horseshoe Lounge, which might even give it another half-star in my book!
chapter one:
Mariachis were playing as i was eating chips and salsa out in the patio area. Our table was full with people. my mother invited me and  had a co worker with her, who was very lovely. We glanced back and forth but i was too shy to make a move. the food came and it was good. Cheese enchiladas. Tex Mex goodness relative to the price. enjoyable. the staff very prompt. a good dinner experience.
chapter two:
food is ok tex mex. some items are great! some ok. good prices.
chapter three:
i met my sister and her friend for lunch one day. forgot what i had but it was good. great lunch menu. cheap. the staff were ok. Â one waitress had on the tightest black pants i ever seen. i wanted to drop my fork to see if when she bent over to pick it up, would her pants rip?
chapter four:
Sunday morning. Not packed at all. With my Ex girlfriend. we sat out in the patio and i noticed a couple were sitting there tapping an empty cup with ice. Four wait staff walked right by us. ten minutes past and i get impatient. someone comes up and ask if we have been helped. ummm NO. they leave to get someone. 7 minutes later we order water and ask for chips and salsa. the chips come out. but no salsa. we wait. staff were not rude just lost. service was crappy. i started getting flashback of my TGIF experience. (read my TGIF review) i panic. i want a vicodin to calm down. I see the other couple who were there leave, they are mad too. another couple who came in after us got their order first and were smiling. i decided that i might go postal in the place. i started thinking of that rap video by DMX where he goes:
yall gon make me lose my mind
up in here, up in here
yall gon make me go all out
up in here up in here
yall gon make me act a FOOL
up in here , up in here
yall gon make me lose my cool
up in here up in here!
we, just decided to leave. thats the problem with this place. I have a love and hate relationship. when the service is cool and all that jazz, Â i have no problem. but this last time was freakin' disasterous. i can only imagine if i was new to austin, or just new here period. If this happened to me on my first visit i would give this place an ass ripping. it was that bad.
it was so bad i decided to boycott this place for 18 months. yeah that is what i did. i was the judge and they were the crooks. i banged the gavel and said i sentence you to 18 months of no business from me!
Lea and I stopped in for lunch right after church, and found the restaurant already had several families and groups eating lunch, including a party of twenty on the large outdoor patio which faces Lamar. It was obviously a pretty popular place, with its well-worn, homey environment. It seemed to me that the restaurant was not generally as clean as I like to see, and the floors were pretty dirty, but there was a busser working to clean tables during our meal.
As we looked over the menu we noticed that they didn't appear to have been wiped down very recently, and had dried spots and stains on them. Most good restaurants sanitize their menus at least daily, but I couldn't imagine ours being so dirty by lunchtime, and have to presume they don't have a regular cleaning routine. I certainly didn't see any of the menus being returned to the hostess being cleaned while we were there.
Their salsa was a bit of a let down. I've had much tastier salsa several places, and theirs seemed thin and runny and could use more cilantro for balance and onion for heat. The chips were thick and seemed greasy. On the other hand, the iced tea was quite good.
Our server recommended fajitas, since, he said, unlike other restaurants, they slow cook their fajita meats to make them extra tender. Lea ordered the beef version, while I ordered the chicken. The entrees were certainly not outstanding, but they were okay. Personally, I didn't much care for the pinto beans they served in a small bowl. I would have preferred the usual refried beans, but, I wouldn't say they were bad; just different.
If this review is one of the first you have seen because you are trying to find one of the really good (rather than really fun) restaurants, there are many places that serve better food at the same price with a better atmosphere. However, it is a nice change from the well known local restaurants to a bright, cheerful place with a friendly staff.
By the way, we noticed that smoking is allowed on the patio, so if you're sensitive to second hand smoke you may want to let your server know before selecting a seat, and make sure you're in the unroofed section.
Would I go back? Sure! I could eat there again. After all, you can't let your immune system get too sensitive, right?
Don't go. Â Really, there's just no point. Â
My flautas were filled with bland, completely uninspired and unseasoned chicken, and were not fried in hot-enough oil, resulting in greasy tubes that dripped out oil at a fairly rapid, steady pace when held upright. Â The chips? Â Old and tasteless.
Really, there's just too much Mexican food competition in this part of town to be serving food this substandard. Â Next time I'm in this part of town and wanting Mexican food, I'll try one of the other 20 or so places nearby.
I got sick here on food one time. Â I swear it was not the alcohol. Â Only one beer, officer. Â I had ordered ground beef nachos and instead got chicken (shredded not fajita style) and woke up in the middle of the night puking chicken chunks until dawn. Â
But I don't hold that against La Feria. Â What I like best about La Feria isn't the food, it's the environment. Â They have a very laid back huge patio with ample seating for both large and small parties. Â There is always at least one large party of family or friends there celebrating some reunion or graduation. Â It's a very homey environment and I really enjoy it. Â They do allow smoking on the patio, so if you're sensitive to that you may want to sit on the outermost patio that's not covered. Â I don't know if it's non-smoking/outdoors, but not many smokers sit out there it seems. Â You may want to ask the waitstaff about it.
The food here is pretty good and very cheap in my experience. Â I haven't been in a while but remember their mole enchiladas and the tortilla soup being good. Â They also serve churriqueso which is always excellent. Â The drinks are very strong and like the food, they're cheap.
One more thing, some nights, La Feria has mariachis too, but I'm not exactly sure when or what mariachi group.
Crappy, bland tacos (Who screws up tacos in Austin?!), shabby service, lackluster margaritas, wobbly tables, generally unclean. Â Why is this place so busy?
My menu smelled like urine. Â I told the waiter. Â He said, "Oh that's okay." And put the menu back with the others. Â It wasn't okay. Â But I didn't tell him that.
Tacos were horribly assembled as if a teen just slopped them together. Â They were also very bland. Â I've had better Tex-Mex in Canada.
I would give this place zero stars, not becasue it's that bad, but because the rain God told me it was that bad by sending a torrential downpour to occur as soon as we stepped inside, and it continued as we left, and followed us home, until we 'passed' the cursed food into the toilet. Â Seriously, it rained a lot.
Aside from the angry elements of nature, this place is pretty bad. Â The chips we had were stale, the drinks were weak and took way too long to get, extremely curious since we ordered beer. Â though service was quick, and the mariachi band was really fun, the food was a total epicurean disaster. Â Our food was bland and my tamale resembled an eggroll, which was really confusing, and sort of insulting ( ok, it wasn't insulting).
We used to eat here all the time in college...or shall I say, drink here all the time in college. Â The food is decent Tex-Mex, is relatively inexpensive (another good thing for college) and the salsa is quite good. Â We mostly frequented the establishment because we got the know the waitstaff and they were super friendly, the margaritas were strong, and we were into binge drinking at 21 years old. Â Also, they have good happy hours, 3-7pm everyday and longer hours on Mon and Tues. Â
I am not sure this spot would have the same appeal today as it did back then. Â However, it is a nice little escape from the locally "famous" restaurants to this bright, cheerful place with a super friendly staff.
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