For forty years, La Chinita Mexican Restaurant has been a longtime staple of the dining community in Wichita. Since 1976, they have been serving real homemade food and authentic Mexican cuisine. At the request of one of my colleagues, we decided to pop in for lunch.
It’s been a long long long time since most of us had been to La Chinita so we were excited to see how the restaurant has held up over the years
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1451 N Broadway
Wichita, KS 67214
316-267-1552
Open Monday – Friday 11am – 8:30pm
Saturday 11am – 9pm
Closed on Sunday
Website: http://www.lachinitamexicanrestaurant.com/ – Menu available online
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/980371531980878
Cash/Card Accepted – WiFi Available
They also have a second location we did not visit:
321 N Mead
Wichita, KS 67202
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Immediately when we arrived, the staff was very friendly and welcoming; not just to us but all customers that walked in through the doors. The ambiance was great and what you’d expect from a locally owned Mexican restaurant. Those were all major pluses to start our meal.
Between the four of us who went, we all ordered something a little different:
Pork Burrito with Fideo
Combination #3: Pork Burrito, Green Beef Enchilada, and Bean Tostada
Combination #5: Pork Burrito, Beef Enchilada, Beef Taco and a side of Fideo
Combination #7: Tamale, Chorizo Enchilada, Pork Burrito and a side of Fideo
While we waited for our lunch, we were presented with their homemade chips and three different salsas. There was a mild red, a hot red and a spicy green salsa.
The spicy green salsa was warm as if it had been heated. It was unexpected as most salsas are room temperature or cold. While it had good flavor to it, most people enjoyed the mild. The hot didn’t have much flavor to it and wasn’t all that hot. The chips were excellent though; I could eat on those for days.
Soon afterwards our food was brought out to us.
My colleague who had the Combination #3 loved her meal. She’s a huge fan of La Chinita and it was no surprise she would like it. That is her usual order.
The Pork Burrito entree was lightly smothered with mild salsa. While she thought the beans and pork had good flavor, there was not a lot to it. No cheese or anything else with the burrito to really make it stand out. It was your simple burrito. As for the fiedo, it was described as ok. There was too much salt within the sauce. For the $10 she spent, she wishes there had been more to the burrito or even multiple sides.
The Combination #5 was also less than stellar. There wasn’t much to the food to separate it from the competitors. The portion size was ok. He felt all the food was very simple.
Meanwhile I ordered the Combination #7. I gave a portion of my enchilada to my co-worker and she really liked it; much more than her pork burrito. For me, it was too much cheese to deal with. The pork burrito was very basic but the hot sauce drizzled over the top of it added some much needed spiciness to it. The tamale I was less than impressed with. It was fairly dry and had a rough/hard texture to it. The fideo was as described earlier.
Between the four of us, one loved the place while the other three felt it was like your basic average Mexican restaurant. There wasn’t much to it that made us feel like it was superior to the competition in town. While the service was great, the portion sizes could have been a little better.
and that readers, is La Chinita Mexican Restaurant
Happy Dining!
Eddy
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Oh, green sauce is so much better warmed (at least in my opinion). When I make it at home, it's still warm from boiling the tomatillos, so we eat it fresh and warm (and then when we're eating it later, we warm it up in the microwave.)
I do agree about La Chinita – it's a nice, family-run business, but the food is…just okay.