La Barca Restaurant

This is only for delivery.. Since the place is a bit away from us with limited parking, we decided to get delivery first..

Wife and I enjoy crazy "gigante" burritos just to see what places do, so we ordered a Carne Asada (her) and a Chili Verde (me) "El Coliso" burrito.
We also tried a quesadilla and some extra chips..

I AM going to use "OMG", because, OMG their El Coliso burritos ARE freakin' HUGE.. I've never seen one this big (get yer minds out of the gutter, right now, kids! ;-D )!

Even more OMG is that the flavor was awesome, the chilie verde was not overly spicy but still spicy and the carne asada had a nice grilled flavor to it.
Sure, it took us three days (when it showed up and two leftover servings) to finish them, but hey.. ;-)

The quesadilla was a nice change of pace, too. Not because it was huge (but there was a lot of it) but the peppers added inside made a nice contrast to the usual cheesey tortilla snack.

The chips are good, the kind you totally would mack on while waiting for your food, as was the salsa.

Someday we will get there and find parking, but meanwhile we'll have to try some of the other dishes.

Lots of food, surprisingly not that expensive, given the amount of food, and great taste.. Give the place a try!

(sorry no photos.. next time!.. )

PROS:

- Good GOD their chips and salsa is amazing!
- The employees are awesome and friendly.
- The food here is darn good as well. Try their garlic shrimp dish! It's amazing.
- The tortillas are good as well.
- Refillable soft drinks!

CONS:

- Parking can be a b**ch.
- Not in the nicest neighborhood.
- Why is it so dark inside though? lol

I visited this location after back-to-back horrible experiences at the location in Bell.

This location is significantly nicer and has a nice bar (although the bar was not open). I would have given this restaurant 5 stars, but there were a couple of minor issues. The food was definitely 5-star quality! Ordered the goat birria and single Mexican molcajete. The portions were large, complimented with handmade tortillas and both were just delicious. Definitely better than other locations.

The service was not the greatest, but no fault of the staff. They seem to be a little short on staff. The hostess was really good and helped us when our waitress never showed up, THREE TIMES. Our waitress seemed overwhelmed with a large party of 10 accross from our table.

Overall, I will 100% recommend this restaurant and I will be back!

Myself, family and friends truly enjoy eating there..,the food seems to be authentic. We eat there every chance we can. The atmosphere waiters were friendly and pleasant . The best food well seasoned mouth watering.rate 3will be back again with my family, recommend to

Sketch o Rama. You feel safer when you walk in and there's more people. Servers are very attentive. Burritos are humongous, so it's better to share. But honestly nothing special.

There was an AC vent above my head that kept dripping water on me and my food. Isn't that some sort of food code violation?

This place needs a good scrub down. No idea why it gets four stars.

SERVICE
- located very close to USC campus
- mostly geared towards college students
- lots of indoor seating on large tables
- street parking only
- servers are nice and try to crack jokes
- free unlimited chips and salsa
- food served as it is made but not super quickly

MENU
- Mexican food
- no vegan options, some vegetarian options
- average price ($17 per large entree)

FOOD
- veggie fajitas plate (4/10): this was not listed on the menu so when I asked the server what they could make vegan he said he can do grilled vegetables, rice, beans, tortillas, salsa, and guacamole. It was not a terrible option but there was not anything that stood out as spectacular. The portion is quite large so I had enough to take home leftovers.

WOULD I COME BACK? probably not I was extremely underwhelmed.

Nice ambiance and vibes. I liked their spicy shrimp a lot the sauce was good and flavorful. Staff was very prompt and nice as well. Haven't tried their other dishes but I liked their shrimp dish(:

Food is delicious, but the service is Terrible. I went to this restaurant yesterday (3/22/2024) afternoon around 3 o'clock hour to meet with my cousin for late lunch. When I arrived, the hostess did not assist me nor greet me, nor looked me in my eye when I asked for her help, I had to look for my cousin to be seated. The server was terrible. He never greeted us, didn't introduce himself to us, rushed us for our order, got irritated when we asked him about details of the meals while ordering, he was very short with us and combative as if he didn't want to serve us. Very unfriendly towards us and gave us no eye contact as if he was disgusted. We ordered water which he never brought out. My cousin wanted to send back an order she couldn't eat and wanted order something else instead, but he ignored her walked away and left the food. He never checked on us, wasn't attentive to us or our requests/orders, but was engaging and attentive to the "other" patrons around us Very odd behavior and sour attitude, so I signaled him over to our table to express a couple of concerns about our orders - instead of listening to my concerns to resolve it, he became irritated, short, cut me off, and combative and threatened to tell the manager and walked away. He later came back (without the manager) and dropped the bill in front of me and tried to storm off which I then told him to bring the manager over I wanted to speak with him. He brought the manager over, and I explained to the manager both mine and my cousin's concerns regarding our orders and most specifically the bad service and unprovoked treatment and attitude we received from our waiter. The manager did show empathy and acknowledged our concerns and resolved our issue and fixed our bill. Another server came to me and tossed the updated bill at me, no eye contact no words, and walked away As we gathered our things and began to leave, our waiter decided to be friendly to us and speak to us by wishing us a good day and come back again . Needless to say that we will Never return to this establishment, and highly recommend that others "that look like us folks" follow suit. Good food, but Terrible service.
Upside of this terrible experience: After leaving confused & disappointed w/ La Barca, we went to the warehouse at the Marina and was welcomed and served with friendliness, attentiveness and professionalism. Shout out to our server/bartender Derek @ the warehouse in Marina del Rey!

A hidden gem behind the facade of a hole in the wall. Don't be deterred by the bars on the windows or the outside appearance, because inside you'll find a warm, inviting, family atmosphere serving delicious food and excellent service.

La Barca offers traditional Mexican food dishes and yummy margaritas. I really enjoyed my chili verde plate, and others in my group raves about the shrimp fajitas, tacos, a burrito, and enchiladas. We ordered a mixture of margarita and I asked for mine with tajin instead of salt and some kale pond and they were happy to accommodate. Side note, if you haven't been adding jalapeños to your margarita then you're missing out! The service was fantastic. Attentive but not overbearing.

Excellent as always. South LA staple. Would recommend going there again, and again, and again!