La Nortena Taqueria

I love this place. The food is legit. We got the chicken enchilada with mole sauce and chipotle shrimp. We really enjoyed both and had plenty to take home.

Fast and friendly service. Chips and salsa are very good. Authentic feeling ambience. Cozy place nothing fancy, but very good food.

We've always enjoyed the food and service at La Nortena, but for heaven's sake, please bring back proper menus (star deducted for this)! Trying to share a mobile amongst six children of varying ages is incredibly painful.

Please, please, please!

Cool little spot for authentic Mexican food. Tacos, margaritas, and chips all were fantastic. Bartender was attentive and made sure to pitch the 5 dollar margs

I can't give it five stars because I came there specifically for the Birria tacos and another birria item, and they were completely out of it. The margarita was great., the server was very attentive, the place and the bathrooms were clean. Prices were reasonable. We didn't wait long for our food. The rice was delicious. The street tacos were great I preferred the El Pastore and the Carnitas over the chorizo. I know chorizo is greasy. I cook with it every day, but it was a little too greasy for me. I want to go back so I can try those tacos when they actually have them.

Thank you for delicious tacos and adult beverages. Our server was spot on. Not crowded on the night we went. Spacious but still private feeling. All enjoyed their selections and looking forward to a repeat performance.

I've known them for the longest and I honestly can say that they came from the bottom I will one day grow like them with my business but I'ma ll the food is amazing the closest thing around here other than my food to authentic Mexican food

Fabulous menu, not your typical Mexican restaurant menu. Everything ordered was delicious, brought to the table quickly, and visually appealing. Our waitress was awesome dealing with kids and three sets of adults. Live music at a reasonable volume added a nice touch. Highly recommended. Oh, and ample parking!

La Nortena Taqueria is a great choice for classic Mexican dishes -

* Initial thoughts:
The place is a casual spot to eat at. It's well lit, and can be used as the perfect place for a family dinner or for even larger parties as well. The vibe is similar to TexMex restaurants you see all around though this place has several distinctions I'd like to make below.

* Service
Our server was great and was very accommodating to our - unfortunately high amount of - demands. Taking my entire family out for dinner led us to ask on multiple occasions for refills, extra chips/salsa, etc and he never failed to address us. He was very attentive.

* Food:
The food here has great portion sizes and is very flavorful! While we didn't order an appetizer, we indulged ourselves in their complimentary chips & salsa. Their standard salsa tasted great and so did their (on demand) spicier variant. After mixing the two, it was even better. By the time dinner came out, we were getting full!

For our main course, I ordered the vegetarian quesadilla. Filled to the brim with bell peppers, cheese, onions, mushrooms but this dish (as well as a few others!) had the distinction of adding thinly sliced potatoes which was the first time I've had potatoes in a quesadilla. I must admit it complimented the rest of the food very well!

My mother ordered the tostada while my father ordered the combination which had burritos and enchiladas. My sister ordered the vegetarian fajitas which also included those aforementioned potato slices! My brother-in-law, who isn't vegetarian, ordered the birria burrito and he thoroughly enjoyed it. Nobody complained about the food and they were all very satisfied by the end of the night. (We had to waddle out as we were very full). We even had leftovers.

No alcoholic drinks were ordered though they have a wide variety of margaritas, beer, and a good selection of non-alcoholic drinks as well.

No dessert was ordered nor did we really care to see the selection after we stuffed ourselves.

* Summary
In our visit to the Charleston area, La Nortena fulfilled our craving for Mexican food and then some! The food was delicious, the atmosphere was friendly and I recommend stopping by and trying it out if you're looking for affordable, quality Mexican food in the area.

We visited from Savannah for Cinco de Mayo and we are glad we did! The decor was typical for local Mexican restaurants but where this place really shines is the food! We had amazing drinks and food for our part of 12. The staff was very welcoming and extremely prompt and polite. Even though they were busy for the holiday they had us seated quickly and brought the food out extremely fast. We had a great time and highly recommend coming here for lunch or dinner.

Delicious food! We ate here on the way to a concert. Not from this area we decided to try this place due to all the good reviews and they didn't disappoint the food was delicious!
Best black berry margarita I have ever had.