Now you have a reason to visit the otherwise overlooked and ominous sounding Downtown LA corner of 6th & Central. Food, drink and staff all perfect on a recent Saturday night. With whom do I discuss getting a subway stop nearby? It's a long walk from Pershing Square. Until then, there's easy parking. If not, Yxta is almost worth renting a nearby loft just to be in the neighborhood. Â If only all of Downtown was this amazing.
Review Source:Located just east of downtown, with the Los Angeles skyline visible a mile or two away, Yxta Cocina Mexicana is a true gem of a restaurant. As you enter into a large space that is decidedly cool and beautifully designed, busy with an eclectic crowd of patrons, it's instantly clear that this, my friends, is a special place.
Our server, Alberto, Â showed up promptly, and was friendly and very articulate about all the important details concerning the day's specials and the menu in general. We ordered our drinks, and looked the menu over while munching on smokey, spicy chipotle salsa and a lovely pico de gallo. Our drinks arrived, and having decided on what we wanted (it wasn't easy), placed our order.
My wife is vegan, and this restaurant did not disappoint her, serving a dish of Calabacitas that was absolutely delicious, whether you're vegan or not! As for me, I ordered Mahi Mahi tacos.
The first thing I noticed was that the tortillas were gorgeous, so good in fact that they compete with anything a street vendor in Mexico City has to offer - and that's a big compliment! The fish itself was perfectly grilled and delicious, an unqualified hit. For desert I ordered flan, and what I got was one of the best  (possibly *the* best) flans I have ever tasted, and I've tasted a few. The texture was just firm enough, the sweetness just right, the flavor of the custard simply perfection.
I plan on visiting Yxta Cocina Mexicana with regularity, there are just so many items on that menu that I'm dying to try! I hope you'll do yourself a favor and go find out why this is such a special place for yourself. You won't regret it.
Celebrated my Birthday here... YUM!!! Never been, read the Yelp commentary and it lived up to them all! Â Had the salmon enchiladas, Â tasted friend's carnitas (great!) ... Would recommend their food in a heart beat... Excellent!! Â Server was really good, very helpful with recommendations and information! Â Â
Its a cavernous space so the noise gets loud, but oh well. Â And yes agree with another review that driving out of there is going thru some homeless encampment areas, but well that's like a lot of big cities these days. Â Well worth the drive for the food and the service.
PS really good margaritas!!
BEST MEXICAN FOOD in southern california! Â We went here before a concert at Staples. Â We had the house margaritas and the blood orange margaritas, delicious with a punch. Â The guacamole is a must, chips are fresh and the corn tortillas are made in house. Â The carnitas and chili relleno were very authentic and creative with fresh vegetables and seasoned to perfection. Â The fish was mahi mahi and couldn't have been prepared better, sooo tasty! Â Dessert is a must! Â The waiter told us they make the BEST Flan in the world. Â He was right, never had flan that rich and flavorful! Â And if you order the cinnamon ice cream you really need to love cinnamon, great experience. Â Look forward to going back and they take reservations.
Review Source:I had the pleasure of celebrating my birthday this past weekend at Yxta and it was quite possibly one of the best dinners I've had anywhere. I had been here previously for one of my co workers birthdays but it was during the lunch time. I enjoyed it so much then that I decided to have my birthday dinner here. I'll break my review down by sections as its deserved.
Restaurant:
The Restaurant itself its a good size with plenty of seating inside and out, I would recommend sitting outside on a warm summer night for the ambiance. The inside has plenty of tables and they do a great job at accommodating large groups. The space overall does feel a little cold though and not warm and welcoming as most mexicans restaurants tend to do. The area can be sketchy but nothing to deter you from trying out the great food here.
Service:
Our waiter for the night was Albert which I found great seeing as how we both share the same name and almost the same birthday! He went above and beyond for our table and provided us with some of the best service I've had anywhere. The entire staff was fantastic especially the bartender we had while me and some friends waited for our table. He was very informative and provides us with great information about their drinks and food menu.
Food:
Simply fantastic! I had their Salmon with grilled veggies and lime rice and it was out of this world. Since I was with a party of 10 we all ordered something different and we all tend to share so I had a bit of everything. Their Alambres de Arrachera appetizer is sublime! the meat is so tender and flavorful. We also ordered a cup of Cream of Corn Soup and Pozole, both where fantastic with the Pozole being amazing....better than my mom's! (Shhh don't tell her I said that). We also had their grilled corn which is  a side dish and it was delicious. I can't say enough about how great everything tasted.
I can't wait to come back here and try some of their other offerings. I'm so very glad I only work 10 minutes away as I can see myself coming by on a cold day for some of their Pozole. I highly recommend Yxta!
OMG, this place... amazing.
To me, the opportunity to experience something unique that I can't make at home is one of the main reasons to go to a restaurant (besides satisfying hunger and not having to cook or clean up!) From the minute I walked in, that's what I encountered at Yxta Cocina.
The salsa was incredibly fresh. I had a kale salad with a garlic-infused vinaigrette about which I'm still fantasizing. The carnitas tacos were out of this world, with the most complex flavors. Even the white rice was tasty. I didn't have merely a lemonade... it was a mint lemonade... delicious. The waiter was very enthusiastic about the place, as he should be, and he gave me great recommendations.
I had such a wonderful experience there. GO!
Yummy yummy appetizers and terrific happy hour drinks! The Jamaica margarita and Yxta margaritas are awesome!! The spiked horchata, or Mexican Russian or White Mexican...whatever they call it is freakin' amazing! It's pricey and it's not on the happy hour menu, but if you're an horchata fanatic like me, you will die happy. Fair warning...it is very strong, just the way I like 'em. Â I love that the parking is gratis and the restaurant has plenty of seating with super friendly staff.
Review Source:This is place is great, the staff is wonderful and the food and drinks even better. We waited for our table at the bar and the bar tender was great. Made some recommendations and I ordered a few different drinks, La Picosa is the best. Our waitress was really nice and helpful. All in all I highly recommend this place. A true gem in DTLA.
Review Source:Used to give this place high marks. Â Went last night and was disappointed they drastically changed the menu. Â No more skirt steak salad...guacamole is way chunkier (it might have been too creamy before, but isn't there a happy medium they could find?). Â Also the portions seem to have shrunk. Â That's fine for entrees but when you're sharing guac with a group, you need more than a small portion. Â
Bottom line: food is still tasty, but not the great value it once was.
In a sketchy neighborhood, but as soon as you walk in you stop fearing that your car's going to get stolen (joking...kindof). The atmosphere's great, the service is great, and the food is really great. We had such a good dinner before going to listen to the Philharmonic. The tacos al Pastor were my favorite and the guacamole was amazing. Â Everyone else loved their margaritas as well. The price point was great, and I like to go if we're in the neighborhood.
Review Source:A great Mexican restaurant kind of off the beaten path in DTLA.
I came here for a friend's birthday dinner last Saturday, and they did a great job accommodating our group of 10. Â We were a bit late, and the place had several tables filled, but wasn't uncomfortably or insanely packed.
We got a variety of drinks, and all of them were tasty. Â I tried the sangria, the Yxta margarita, and my friend's Mexican white Russian, and they were all good and strong. Â The Mexican white russian is interesting because it's made with horchata and cinnamon - it's really good!
For dinner, I ordered the arrachera, which was a strip steak served with mashed potatoes and an enchilada. Â I thought it was weird that they were serving mashed potatoes at a Mexican restaurant so my friend and I ordered sides of rice and beans instead. Â With that being said, however, my steak was cooked perfectly and everything, including the service, was very good.
This is a cool place which has a nice ambiance. The bartender definitely sold us on the place since he started telling us about how fresh the food is, etc. I had a Cadillac Margarita and the Blood Orange Margarita. The Blood Orange Margarita was pretty good, it had an interesting and unique taste. It was very fresh nonetheless. We also had chips/guacamole as well as the potato tacos. It was all really good. One thing that I did notice is that it was pretty pricey, especially the drinks. I think this is a place that I would come to once in a while due to the prices. Also, parking is pretty crammed.
Review Source:One of the restaurants that I've been wanting to try and the day has finally come! A gf and I came during HH. Even if it wasn't happy hour, I would gladly pay full price the the entrees we tried this evening. Great spot for after work eats or even a luncheon. Spacious restaurant with friendly staff!!
We shared the following:
Tostadas de ceviche - came on two med sized tostadas. Great taste & texture in every bite!
Tacos al Pastor - slowly incorporating pork back into my taste buds and this taco was great, especially with the sweet taste of the pineapple on top!
Tacos de Machaca - this was a winner for me! Loved the spices on the shredded beef. All tacos that we tried we generously packed on the tortilla.
I shall be back!
Food and drinks are great, location is okay.
I have been here 4 times, a couple times during lunch and couple for dinner. It was not too busy for lunch so parking was sufficient, but for weekends and dinner, they had a $2 valet service, which was okay.
This place seems somewhat hidden and you wouldn't think to find a nice restaurant here, given its surroundings. But when you are in, it's great. Fun ambiance, and great servers. The food here is great, but more "mexican inspired", some of their dishes are more baja style than anything.
I recommend this place for lunch, or getting a night started with a group on a Friday night. The drinks are very good, but you only save a couple bucks on happy hour.
** After dinner and a couple drinks here, we hit up Villain's Tavern less than 5 minutes away, check out my review for them <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/villains-tavern-los-angeles#hrid:bwZ3fTBb6pK_yyFkewGD1A">http://www.yelp.com/biz/…</a>
It's Friday, and time to unwind!
Hit up Yxta's happy hour for:
- free parking
- $5 margaritas
- delicious foods! (Try the tacos al pastor, which have pineapple chunks in them. My mouth is watering just thinking about them!)
I've never ordered a full-sized entree here, and prefer to order lots of sides, including their cilantro rice, beans, and grilled corn (off the cob, buttery, spiced deliciousness)!
[[This is a 3 star review, but it doesn't come easy and it doesn't mean that I recommend the place]]
I got some friends. We all got some friends. Â I got some friends that insist on eating at PLACES. Places with NAMES. In my mind I remember the names of these places as "The Salty Hind" or "Pneumonia" or "Psst." So in comes the announcement that we're gonna go eat at this place "Yxta." Alright. Ok. Let's go.
This place has nice art design. I like the windows and light fixtures. It's got a good feel. The staff is really helpful. I walked in and numerous people asked me if I needed anything. I had come in right around happy hour, which I believe ends at 7pm. It's a good deal, $5 margaritas that are otherwise $9-10, I think.
My biggest problem was that there isn't a lot of space. (The route to the bathroom is a nightmare). If you're going solely to drink, I would just skip it. The bar fills up fast and then you'll have to sit at a table and then you'll have to order food and then you'll see the prices of this food and all of a sudden you're in over your head for what you thought was a nice little happy hour trip where nothing could go wrong. We had a prix-fixe menu due to the size of our party so I didn't have to experience any of that, but I can see the way it goes here. There are some major leaps in prices on the menu, I ended up just getting the carnitas tacos. They were good, but why am I going to this place for tacos?
Don't go to this place for the tacos or burritos or anything else you can get on the street or at El Cholo's. I'm not sure what the extents are to their plates, but I saw tacos, burritos, and enchiladas. People, save your money. Don't over do it. This place over does it. Plain and simple. If you like being jerked around in a town where superb Mexican dining is included in your rental agreement, Yxta is for you.
The parking lot is horrible.
Great place to have some upscale Mexican cuisine. Â Shrimp taquitos is an excellent starter. Â Skirt steak is very tasty. Â It comes with a cheese enchilada and some tortillas. Â The winner, though, is the the salmon. Â It's extremely moist and very flavorful. Â Will be back to try other menu items and maybe happy hour!!
Drinks are top notch.
You will not be disappointed.
I reviewed this place back in 2009, and I must say, this place is even more impressive than I remember. Lunch was packed with people, and I'm thankful I made a reservation. The food is innovative, the atmosphere is groovy, and parking? Only $1 to valet....How cool is that?
Downtown LA can be a traffic nightmare, and thankfully, this place is a bit off the beaten track. Well worth a visit, if you haven't been here. Â Here's a link to my previous review in addition to the one below.
<a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.examiner.com%2Farticle%2Fyummy-yxta-industrial-strength-dining&s=8c22639928c542dce99ca498b6be87c13c91b904a27ac09f5cb7c75f76ff8197" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.examiner.com/…</a>
Fantastic crema de elote soup
Wonderful horchata
Tasty chicken enchiladas de mole
Decent chips with weak salsa
Good but somewhat dry carnitas
Bland chipotle mashed potatoes
Awful al pastor tacos
Located in downtown LA, YXTA Cocina is a beautifully decorated Mexican restaurant with industrial décor, high ceilings and a laid back atmosphere. This place looks much more like a Gastropub than a Mexican restaurant.
My wife, my mother and I had dinner here recently. Since I listed everything we had above and what I thought about each dish, I'm pretty much done with this review. All that's left to say is this place is somewhat pricey, the service was just OK and the clientele was made up of rich old white people and a few hipsters at the bar.
Yeah, it's that kind of place!
With so many amazing Mexican joints in Downtown LA, I won't be back but I'm glad I gave YXTA a shot.
Came here for the first time Friday night for a friend's bday...loved it! Â
Grub: Â Started out with their famous Cadillac Margarita and it definitely did the job. Â I like my drinks on the sweet side and it hit the spot. Â We had a set menu between 4 items that we picked from and it was delicious. Â I chose the Pork Tacos and my friend had a steak salad. Â Though portions were a little small and simple, the pork was sooo flavorful...and the rice?...Yumza! Â
Price: Â In our set menu, the prices ranged from $12- $14 a plate and the margaritas were around $12 (I think?) Â Not exactly your King Taco but what would you expect? Â
Ambiance: Â I love it. Â The decor is young and hipster with a few simple, gorgeous pendant lights. Â The space is set up as a bar/ restaurant with pretty open seating so it accommodates large parties well. Â
Conclusion: Â I'll be back before a night out in town. Â
Service: Â Since we were such a large party, I didn't really get the chance to speak much with the waitress but I did notice it took a little time to catch their attention.
Free chips and salsa! Great!
Located on the corner, kind of near skid row but not a bad place to have lunch when you work down in DTLA.
The insides is really nice and inviting but on a nice sunny day, I picked to sit outside and enjoy my company sitting across from me.
My husband decided to surprise me for lunch date and we ended up about a minute away from my job, how thoughtful of him!
Fish tacos, great. Nicely grilled and topped with guacamole and salsa.
Asada Torta, meat breaks easily, that's a plus for me, I can't stand chewing my meat for a long period of time!
Food comes with black beans and rice.
They have Jamica and some yummy pineapple mixture drink. Mmmm mmm..yes it's very refreshing!
Location is crappy and you have to pay for valet parking!
I'm trying trying trying to love Yxta - but I just think I'm tough to impress with fancy Latin cuisine.
Drinks are hands down amazing. Everyone raves about the blood orange margarita and they are all right. Get it, drink it. Order another.
Let me say that the food here is good, and by good, I mean well prepared and fresh. Sounds like 4 stars to me. So what's the problem? Fresh Mex just isn't my thing. It's kinda like going to a nice Vietnamese restaurant (Le Colonial, Crustacean) and they go easy on the fish sauce. Vietnamese is all about the fish sauce! Mexican food is all about pops of flavor and I hate to say it, fatty goodness.
I'm a hard Angeleno to please when it comes to Latin food - El Tepeyac here I come!
What a day! Â We watched the Shuttle Endeavour fly over our office twice and then we saw it fly over Yxta when we went to lunch. Â Awesome!
We came to Yxta to celebrate Sandra's (the baby of our office) engagement. Â We toasted with watermelon Agua Fresca & lemonade with mint. Â Both were delicious but if we didn't have to go back to work the margaritas would have been my choice.
We ordered 2 of the Taco Dorados de Papa with spicy mashed potatoes, cabbage, creama fresca, & queso fresco. Â Just added some smokey salsa and it was perfect. Â The chips and salsa are addicting and I ate too many of them but I couldn't help myself.
We each ordered a variety of entrees and everyone was happy. Â I had the Camaron Tacos with crispy shrimp, chipotle cream, jicama, savoy cabbage with a side of cilantro rice & beans. Â The tacos were yummy with an extra kick of salsa but the cilantro rice & beans were just O.K.
Service was attentive & friendly.
The food was pretty good and the restaurant was really modern and a little cold/metallic.
I had a Sope with chicken (2 sopes). It was really good, but a little soggy. It was an appetizer, but i think it was sufficient to fill me up. The Nopalitos looked really good but I didn't get to try them. Someone else had the chile relleno, which was really hot (good) when he got it, obviously sometimes it can by spicy, so watch out. One of my other friends got the Shrimp (with garlic) but she said she couldn't taste the garlic too much. We like the guacamole, it was very tasty and that Mint Lemonade was SO Good - it tasted like a mojito w/out the alcohol. Delish! Also, we were told the Pozole is spicy, so watch out? We can't really say for sure because I didn't try it, but that's what we were told.
Overall it was a good experience, the location is interesting, it's close to the mission but it's not so close where you might feel a little nervous. We were all okay, no one felt out of place - very casual place.
Overall a nice little place, might come back - they have reasonable prices.
FYI:
A. they have a $2 cake cutting fee PER PERSON
B. The menu says that they will ONLY split the bill 3 ways, but that doesn't mean that they won't take more than 3 credit cards (that's what we did)
C.(for BIG PARTIES) It's cheaper if people get their drinks at the bar - it'll be cheaper in the end (taxes)
If you're driving thru skid row you're almost there.
This place was pretty empty for a Thursday night. How do they stay in business?
The food was pretty good. Wasn't sure what to try so I had the Salmon Enchilada on the waitresses recommendation. that came with grilled vegetables and cilantro lemon rice. The salmon tasted freshly grilled. The enchiladas were topped with slices of avocado.
The interior feels art deco. I did like that the glass cube windows around the restaurant were lit in such a way as to make me think it was still dusk outside when we actually left the place at almost 10pm.
I'd come back to try happy hour (drinks sound amaze-balls!) and appetizers/small bites. Was a little cool in there. Bring a sweater. Service was good.
Parking: Private lot.
Yxta takes simple sounding cuisine and puts it to a level of amazing that you really underestimate.
Favorite menu item I could behold has to be the Taquitos de Camarón - A simple thing really, a shrimp wrapped in a tortilla and made into a taco... but then you toss on guac and some salsa on it's something you're going to be craving very often.
Service here is warm and welcoming and rather fast to get you taken care of.
They have a pretty solid happy hour, so you can get your grub on with a side of cold ones and that in itself is the end of a good day. The decor is fairly laid back. Considering you're in downtown, you'll see both white collar and blue collar folks who know what Yxta has to offer all ponying up to get their delicious tacos.
Simple review for a simply amazing tasting establishment.
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