I loved it and I brought my friends and they both really loved it as well. The enchiladas were so good, and I got a large horchata and they literally gave me a whole takeout container full I was so happy. The place is so cute and I really like that they also have a mini supermarket type thing. I really want to bring my boyfriend next time I go. The people working there were also very kind! read more

La Costeñita - Red chicken enchiladas - Mexican Near Me - Hillsborough, New Jersey

Food is decent. Not bad but not anything to write home about. One of the better options in town but understand that doesn't mean too much. But OVER PRICED!!! 6 tacos (3 shrimp n 3 beef) the shrimp taco is better than the beef one. & one quesadilla chicken n beef mixed. 50$!! I won't be returning, I feel like I've been robbed. read more

La Costeñita - Shims and beef tacos - Mexican Near Me - Hillsborough, New Jersey

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Good tacos and great rice and beans. I would say the shrimp tacos are better than chicken. It has a nice grilled flavor. Will return again for shrimp tacos. read more

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Absolute hidden gem Never in a million years would have I guessed that one of the top 5 taco spots in New Jersey is in this strip mall Inside is as traditional as it gets for Mexican markets with one little table to eat at The meat was all flavored well, guac made fresh, and the house chips/tortilla were bomb Ever since taking my sister here she's ordered weekly for the last year. It's the real deal and so cheap read more

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La Costeñita is one of my favorite local spots in Hillsborough. Food: The deviled shrimp wrap is one of my favorite meals that I often crave. The shrimp are always fairly large and cooked perfectly. The combination of the spicy chipotle sauce with the sweet plaintains is delicious! The chicken burrito was also good. The chicken wasn't dry and we loved that it came with queso fresco on the side. Service: we called in our order for pickup. everyone was kind and our food was done on time. Ambiance: this is an unassuming spot in a strip mall, but it's really nicely decorated and there's several tables to eat inside. read more

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Don't say this lightly, but this place serves some of the best Mexican food I've had outside of California. In California, I was spoiled by incredible taquerias, fresh ingredients, and bold, authentic flavors. So I walked in with high expectations -- and left absolutely blown away. From the very first bite, I knew I'd found something special. The tacos were spot-on -- perfectly seasoned, tender meats, fresh salsas, and tortillas that tasted just like the ones I've had from family-run spots in L.A.-- pure magic. But it wasn't just the tacos. The rice and beans were flavorful. Everything tasted homemade, like someone's abuela was back there cooking with love and pride. It's rare to find that true California-level quality outside of the West Coast, but this place nails it. Friendly service, generous portions, and prices that don't make you wince? Total win. If you've ever missed that real Mexican flavor you find in California -- or just want to experience it for the first time -- run, don't walk. read more

My wife and I have eaten at most of the area Mexican/taco places in the county and La Costenita is the most authentic in flavor and ingredients (they have lengua). We have moved three towns away and we still drive back for their lengua anything (tacos, chilaquiles, enchilada) and the tortas (chilli rellenos is especially yummy). Prices have gone up but definitely worth it! read more

This is an little strip mall and a hole in the wall. Mom & Pop owned. It is a restaurant and they also sell Mexican groceries. When you walk in you see pretty tables decorated with authentic decor. The tables and chairs are decorated with Mexican art. We ordered the chicken nachos. They were really good, a bit dry for my personal taste, but I added extra salsa and green sauce on top. The Mexican cheese tasted authentic from all the commercial cheeses I have eaten. It was also topped with avocado chunks. It was a lot and can easily serve 4 people for appetizers. The chicken tacos were tasty, the usually chicken, onions and cilantro. They did not skimp on the chicken which was good. Added salsa on top. The burrito was good, it was loaded with rice, chicken, beans and came with a salad on the side which had avocados in too. I will definitely be back for me. One of the better and more authentic places as of yet. read more

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I guess we didn't realize the seating section was so small. You're right there where the grocery is. It's take-out place with about 5 or 6 tables (beautiful area). We also didn't realize there was no wait staff. So, I became the server. No big deal, but, I would have preferred knowing we weren't being served. The food was delicious, authentic and made right there. The other thing I searched for on the website.....BYOB. read more

Always solid. Very good quac. Friendly service. Tacos and quesadillas were tad small on the portion side but both tasty. Usually reasonably quick on service. read more

We got an assortment of stuff, everything was delicious! Chicken tacos, pork empenadas, chicken enchiladas with mole, and a beef burrito. read more

La Costeñita - Chicken tacos, pork empenadas, chicken enchiladas with mole, and a beef burrito. - Mexican Near Me - Hillsborough, New Jersey

Small place. Great food. Vegetarians they have food for you too. They are very helpful. Again great food.

Wow!!! Best nachos ever!!!! Just moved to the area and was ecstatic to find an authentic Mexican restaurant. The food is delicious and they offer fantastic service. Definitely recommended if you're looking for good price and good food. read more

This place would've had four stars if I enjoyed waiting an HOUR for our food. When it arrived(FINALLY) it was well better than average. I've had way better but this was a good place to eat. I'll be back. read more

Came here with a buddy of mine to grab lunch. We definitely didn't expect the food to be this great since I've never heard of the place however the authenticity and quality of the food was definitely on point. We ordered the carne asada nachos and spicy chicken enchiladas in a mole sauce and were not disappointed. The food came out quick and everything was seasoned and cooked perfectly. The restaurant also has a little Latin market so you can pick up some essentials while you're there. I'll definitely be coming back here. read more

La Costeñita - Spicy chicken enchiladas in mole sauce. - Mexican Near Me - Hillsborough, New Jersey

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Very good! The food is fresh and delicious! Highly recommend this hidden treasure in Hillsborough. Their nachos are really tasty. read more

Love love love this place! We go here often and everything is fresh and made to order. The guac is delish. I usually get the chicken enchiladas with mole sauce and I can never go wrong. read more

Friendly local business. Food is freshly made daily. Delicious. People are nice and helpful.

Holy mole!!! La Costeñita is an awesome restaurant with a very authentic feel to it. By the looks of things, it seems that this is a restaurant that is using recipes that I've been passed down for generations, all of which are homemade. I would highly recommend La Costeñita for quick and casual dining as well as take-out. I'm relatively new to authentic Mexican and La Costeñita sits on top of a list of 4 restaurants in NJ and LA. I've tried the mole in 3 of those places, La Costeñita included. Comparably, the mole at La Costeñita is my favorite mostly because it isn't as sweet as the others I've tried. I also tried a chicken tamal. Today's meal was dynamite! See fotos... read more

La Costeñita - Chicken mole - highly recommend - Mexican Near Me - Hillsborough, New Jersey

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This is one of those dive-y, neighborhood, authentic-type place that you would either love or hate. My rating of this very friendly establishment is based upon veggie choices and taste. Yes, one can question my judgement of going to a truly authentic Mexican place looking for veggie food. You need a "metro" Mexican outfit for that - this is clearly not one of those! So you guessed it, they really don't have anything vegetarian. So we went for plan B - request them to make something without the meat. Very friendly staff happily obliged - but the resulting preparation was quite ordinary. Nachos with sour creme and freshly cut guacs were good, but the burrito without the meat was full of south-western rice with very little black beans and really not much of anything else. So we ended up eating rice wrapped in a tortilla. Of course, the price stays the same - meat or no meat. So veggie yelpers can skip this place. I wish I had been warned :( read more

La Costeñita - Nice looking nachos with sour creme - Mexican Near Me - Hillsborough, New Jersey

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Though they are very friendly on phone and took my long descriptive order the food somehow did not stand up to the Yelp reviews. We drove 30 mins to get our al pastor tacos, chicken picadita, tamale and chili releno. Unfortunately none of them really stood out, the meat was dry and not as flavorful as I had expected. Only thing I liked was chicken tamale with mole sauce. They did add a variety of sauces however none of them could compensate for the subpar food. Also maybe the food did not travel well and reheating could have made it worse. read more

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Decided to try this little gem after reading Yelp reviews. The place is small, seats around 20, has some grocery items. You walk up to the counter, order using the paper menu, then wait for the food. Very low key. The lengua and al pastor tacos were flavorful. The mole de pollo was spicy enough that is still enjoyable, good portion. The carne asada torta was good as well. The Jamaica jugo was big and refreshing. Would return if in the mood for mexican food in the area. The food was clean, not with fat or frozen food. read more

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The food here was great and you can tell it is authentic and homemade. The prices here are very good, especially for the quality. I got the mole enchiladas and they had so much flavor. The nachos had a fresh cheese on them and were good. The ambiance isn't the best since it is in a small grocery store but the seating is comfortable and I have no complaints. The service was friendly and we got our food fairly quickly. I will be going back to try more items. read more

La Costeñita - Spicy pork nachos - Mexican Near Me - Hillsborough, New Jersey

This small Mexican restaurant/grocery store seems to want to have the whole Mexico stuffed into its 4 walls, with cheerful colors on the tables and chairs (some carved, some just printed on). Gleeful decor from Día de Muertos and technicolor porcelains dotted the walls and ceilings, along with bright mini pinatas and picado banners. Grocery items packed the racks that line the wall on the opposite side of the dining area. I can understand it if some people may find it stuffy, but to me these actually positively add to the air of authenticity of a small family-owned restaurant/store combo. The usual fare such as chicken burrito were delicious, including slices of avocado in the wraps. But what surprised me was the De Rajas tamale -- such a pleasant mixture of poblano peppers and grilled cheese.... super delicioso! Also tried the pollo enchipotlado (spicy chicken) empanadas, and while it's slightly oily, the spicy chicken contained in that small pocket delivered huge kickin' flavors. Added some horchata, which tasted authentic and delivered some sweet balance to the quick lunch. One rather interesting point though, is that they did not provide chips and salsa as openers, just like most Mexican restaurants. The waitress was friendly and chatted with us about the experience with the food. Will try other items in the menu if we pass by the area again. Pleasant dining experience overall. read more

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Small business deli and grocery with authentic Mexican food and grocery. The location makes you feel like México with nice decor and service. read more

La Costeñita - Beef tacos - Mexican Near Me - Hillsborough, New Jersey

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I moved to the area not too long ago and was craving tacos. After a google/yelp search I came across this place. When I pulled up I was shocked to see how small the place is and almost did not go in. It has maybe 5 tables, mostly 2 person high top. As you enter on the right is different cans/sauces, but you can get those anywhere. The workers are super sweet. I got the Chorizo Tacos(3) and my friend got the Chicken Tacos (3), I expected more flavor. A huge plus is the place is BYOB. I will try them again, but will not be getting those two tacos. read more

Best Mexican food in Hillsborough. This place is small but the food is authentic Mexican. It'll keep you coming back.

Had take out from here pretty much weekly through all of COVID - the food is fresh and delicious. The Chicken Flautas with the salad is amazing as well as the VERY large Burritos. Highly recommended and you can get credit on the Hillsborough Card. read more

Authentic!!!!! No frills atmosphere inside a mini grocery store, with homemade chips and green AND red salsa, also homemade. Limited drink selection in the fridge cases. Simple menu. Hubs got the beef enchiladas with mole sauce and HOLY MOLE was it goooooood!! I went with the beef barbabaco quesadilla. The meat was sparse in 2/3 slices, and they used ( I'm figuring) a cheese similar to Italian mozzarella. It's a nice place to go for flavor. read more

Cute little Mexican restaurant & grocery store combination. The food is pretty good but portions are kind of small. I think this place is more geared for takeouts. A little difficult to communicate with the servers but manageable. read more

This is real authentic Mexican cuisine. You can taste it in the tortilla! I always get the spicy chicken tacos, and boy are they spicy and FILLED with flavor. It comes with a Verde sauce that adds the perfect amount of acidity to the spicy tacos. This tiny restaurant feels like you've entered a Mexican kitchen. It's very quaint and the food is just amazing. I've also ordered the chicken enchiladas in the Verde sauce, which is excellent. Their chicken salad is also great, and they are very generous with the portion. So far I have absolutely loved all the dishes that I have ordered! read more

I'd say more of a 3.5 or 3.75. It's a small place that's also half grocery story. The food is good, but they sometimes confuse your order or run out of food. Cool decorations and friendly staff. I like that there's outdoor seating, but it's pretty limited. I've seen other say the food isn't fresh, but I've never had that problem here. read more

La Costeñita - Mexican Near Me - Hillsborough, New Jersey

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Ordered mexican chicken wrap. Flavor is good but the wrap was soggy by the time I had to eat it. Chicken was sauteed and the juices leaked through the tortilla. Maybe next time I'll try the burrito. My daughter said it was good. read more

Excellent Mexican food! I love the tostadas, the tamales, the guacamole and salsa and chips. I heard that the nachos are wonderful! It's authentic and very delicious. Highly recommend! read more

La Costeñita - Tamale, guacamole and hot salsa with chips! - Mexican Near Me - Hillsborough, New Jersey

Update: the braised beef burrito is brilliant!! Beef, cheese, black beans, avocados all wrapped together In harmony. I also like that each side is large enough to only eat half and save the other for another meal. What a great early dinner. Pleasant music playing and they didn't mind my daughter wandering around with a spoon so I got to eat in 'semi-peace'. Now that I'm on yelp I've got to review our favorite place to eat. Thanks to my other half's coworker who read about them on here a few years ago, we started our own love affair about a year ago. We will even be using go them to cater an upcoming event. Between my entire family we've eaten almost the entire menu. The tamales are a large generous portion. We love the chicken mole in banana leaves-not spicy at all. The peppers and cheese in corn husks is also fantastic. I'm a big flauta fan. Ive had all but the spicy chicken not because I'm not a fan...I am...but because twice I went and they were out which is fine because if you are going to get flautas you have to get the chorizo con papas. Omg divine. Fried to perfection so you get that crunch and the filling is perfectly spiced/seasoned. They then too it with mayo/lettuce/avocado/tomato/jalapeño/pickled orange pepper/cotija and I also ask for it without pesky iceberg lettuce and because my baby eats everything sans jalapeños. The burritos are huge and stuffed to the brim. They are packed to tightly they can be cut and half can be saved for later without any of the insides falling out. We also love the guac, green and red sauce and oh the lengua tacos are pretty good. They cube the tongue so it's bite sized morsels. We also are a big fan of the rice and black beans and plantain sides. We usually eat in bc the food tastes best fresh. Their eat in area is small only a couple of tables and is located essentially in their food shop area. Mostly people come in for the good food. Decent prices, they always have good mariachi or Mexican music playing or soccer on the tv. And everyone is super nice behind the counter. Cute sugar skull decorations and the bright dia de los muertos tissue paper decorations add to the theme. Highly recommend this place. read more

I don't get the good reviews. There is nothing good about this place. It's below average Mexican. For $33 I ordered chix tacos, beef nachos and a spicy chix burrito with a side of plantains. I did take out but watched them make it all. Nothing was fresh. All the meat came out of a fridge ore cooked and was heated up on a fry top so everything was totally tried out. With minimal toppings (seriously no tomato you could see and a hardly enough avocado or cilantro) and no marinade on the meats everything is tasteless and dry. Hard to swallow in fact it's so dry. The cheese they used was very crumbly which made it everything even worse in terms of dry. I tried to drown in the tiny salsas provided but they weren't much good. The plantains were cut and dried fresh but were not ripe so not sweet. And the staff isn't friendly so the lack of English goes from authentic to annoying. Skip this joint and take the ride to Maria's in Jamesburg. Worth the drive! read more

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Best kept secret in Hillsborough, hands down! La Costeñita has authentic, fairly-priced Mexican food freshly made by the ladies behind the counter on the spot. The food comes out fresh, tasty and piping hot. The restaurant itself has limited decor and is very casual. My only tip would be to ask for less jalapeños if you can't handle spicy! read more

Very well priced and the food was delicious! I got chorizo tacos and spicy chicken empanadas. Mexican empanadas are a lot different than Puerto Rican empanadas so I can't fault them for that, just be aware if you're expecting PR style empanadas! The chorizo tacos were delicious, and the tacos come in orders of 3. Definitely a great option if you're craving mexican! read more

Very good picaditas looking forward to trying their other items. Took a chance with quick lunch. Very satisfied read more

La Costeñita - Menu - Mexican Near Me - Hillsborough, New Jersey

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I love this place. The pork tamales are spot on. The gauc is fresh and they make their own chips. Get the horchata, if they have it. The enchiladas and homemade mole are great. The different flans are perfect. Sopes and tostadas are also delish. It tastes like an abuela is cooking. read more