I recently embarked on a full taco tour of Willimantic, and La Mexicana Grocery and Taqueria seemed…read moreto be the highest rated place on Yelp. It is indeed both a taqueria and a market. There is a seating area within the market where you can eat your tacos. The area where you order food is functional, but completely lacking in aesthetics. The tacos were terrific though. I ordered a Bistec, a Pastor and a Chorizo. The meats were very good, especially the Pastor and the Chorizo. The tortillas were very good. And the homemade red and green sauces were great. The taco side of La Mexicana is a great place worth exploring. The Market side was cool too. You can basically buy better versions of most Mexican foods you would buy in a grocery store. Terrific tostada shells. Very good queso fresco. Very good condiments. I love exploring stores like that. Five Stars

Food is excellent here. I love the chorizo burrito best. My friends usually get the carnitas tacos,…read moreand enchiladas, and they love them. The staff is friendly and helpful. Nice area to sit down and eat. Definitely come here!

These street tacos from A Mano were good. We have here one chicken and two beef. I preferred the…read morechicken over the beef; the chicken had much more flavor and the toppings complimented the meat. The beefs were good too, but the chicken was top notch! The chicken taquitos were really good too, there was so much topping it was like having a salad with my taquitos! During lunch, it was not that busy. The place was very cutely theme, a modern take on mexican traditional decoration.

I recently started a deep dive of highly rated taco places in Willimantic, and A Mano Taco Shop is…read moreone of those places. A Mano has a different POV than the other Willimantic places I've tried so far. While the other taquerias I've tried are more or less traditional (Pastor, Bistec, etc. with cilantro, onions and a few other classic toppings), A Mano has a more modern and creative take on tacos. In terms of the Willimantic spots, A Mano is the most modern in terms of art and the space, which includes outside tables on a wood deck out front, and at least one small inside table. I'm not sure if they had additional seating in a different room or upstairs, but that's possible given the building design. I suspect they have a robust takeout business as well. I ordered a Pastor Taco, and a Sweet Potato Black Bean Taco. The corn tortillas were fresh made and very good. The tacos arrived with the small round tortillas mostly flat and side by side in a takeout container, and the toppings artfully displayed on top. The toppings were slightly different for each taco. The pastor taco had marinated pork, pineapple chunks, micro greens, and avocado based salsa. I ordered a Pastor taco at each Willimantic place. A Mano was the only one so far to feature pineapple chunks, which I really like for Pastor tacos. This sweetness was important for balancing the saltiness from the pastor. Without that sweetness, the flavors would have been out of balance. The pastor was tender. The avocado salsa was good. I like the use of microgreens for the color, shape and fresh flavor it brings. A definite way to distinguish your taco. I ordered the sweet potato black bean taco because I've never seen it on a menu and I was intrigued. I was expecting the sweet potatoes and black beans to be in pieces, but the presentation was actually puréed or at least stewed to a smooth texture. This taco was topped with the same micro greens and avocado salsa, but it had pickled red onions. This taco was well executed and looked great, but if I had known it was going to be puréed, I probably would have gone a different direction just based on personal preference. I like that A Mano has different toppings for different tacos. In addition to the above toppings, I noticed corn, cilantro, slaw, mango and more as different toppings on certain tacos. A Mano's menu features other cool things like Birria Ramen, Street Corn, loaded fries, churros, flan. It's definitely the type of menu you'd like to explore. Service was very friendly. Both service and the atmosphere are a factor in my 4.5 Star rating, which rounds up to 5 Stars. If I was just rating the tacos, the score would be 4.25 Stars.

Tacos La Rosa in Willimantic has been on my Try List for years. So long -- I don't remember how…read moremany years. A while ago, I had seen TLR listed as a best taco in CT contender on one or more internet and/or media lists. An interesting thing happened in all those years. More and more authentic taquerias started opening in CT. Also, Willimantic itself became a known hot spot for tacos and Mexican food in general. So much so, that people would say "I have a taco spot for you in Willimantic." I was ready for them to say Tacos La Rosa, and sometimes, it would be a different place. I recently started a deep dive on the Willimantic taco scene. I'm not finished yet, but I can say the following based upon my extensive taqueria visits across CT in the past few years. Tacos La Rosa, makes a traditional style taco, and TLR is in the top tier of CT authentic taquerias. As you stand in the TLR parking lot, you can see the buildings of Eastern Connecticut State University. Inside, if you took all of the Mexican decor away, the restaurant sort of looks like an old school pizza joint. There's a black and white checkered floor. Brick walls. Open kitchen. Solid tan tables that are bolted to the floor or wall, and red benches snuggly positioned on both sides. I ordered three tacos at the Counter. Pastor. Bistec. And Chorizo con jalapeno. The person who helped me spoke very good English, but I'm not sure that we perfectly understood each other. He asked me if I wanted everything on the tacos. I wasn't sure what that meant, but I have a rule, that if a place asks me if I want everything, I say yes because I assume that's how they intend it. So the tacos each came with avocado, lettuce, queso fresco, tomato, cilantro and onion. Red salsa, lime and green salsa came on the side. Each taco had a substantial house made corn tortilla that held its structure despite all the filling. The tortilla was a cut or two above average. The pastor and the chorizo were about as good as you'll find in CT. The Bistec was pretty good, but didn't stand out. The chorizo had a sliced or chopped sort of texture rather than the crumbled chorizo you sometimes see. It was flavorful and manageably spicy. The pastor consisted of tender, saucy-red pork chunks. They tasted great. There were no pineapple chunks like you often get. I'm not sure that the toppings brought anything to the pastor, but they worked nicely for the chorizo and Bistec. The salsas were authentic and spicy. Throughout my time in Willimantic, I observed a robust Mexican population that was supporting these authentic Mexican restaurants. This was definitely the case at Tacos La Rosa. I'm glad I finally made it to Tacos La Rosa and I'm happy to see that their outstanding reputation is deserved. 4.5 Stars

We found ourselves in Willimantic a bit past the luncheon hour so we again stopped at this taqueria…read morefor a light bite. The price of an individual taco has increased to $5.99 which seemed a bit high so we decided to share an al pastor burrito that was jam packed with ingredients, flavor and a bit of heat.

This restaurant was so cute! Even though their sign is big, the store is so small it's easy to…read moremiss. Walking in, it looked like a regular cute family own restaurant. They had snacks to buy at the register too. We all sat down for lunch and they were quick to attend. Rough prices: the birria tacos (4 tacos) were about $18. The other tacos ranged from $4.50-5.50/taco. Honestly was not bad of a price considering how much protein was stacked into them. Two others at the table had gotten burritos with mushrooms instead of meat, and those burritos were comically huge in size. I think the prices are definitely worth the size and quality of the food! The tacos were absolutely delicious! The birria meat was not dry without the consommé! They were very generous with how much filling it got. The carne taco was much better than the chicken one but both were very very good. Nothing in the meal was dry or felt like it's been sitting out for a while. The food is definitely made-to-order! No one at the table had any complaints, only compliments! Hopefully they get much more foot traffic; for lunch time it was not super busy, just a small family and a singular customer. I would recommend this place, very homey feeling too!

On my IG Food Blog, I released a reel of taco places to visit and some people recommended places…read morefor me to try. One recommendation was Taqueria Cordoba. I recently visited and loved it. TC is located in the heart of the main drag in Willimantic. It's not fancy. It's part market. Part takeout. And there's functional seating for maybe up to about 15 people. But I wouldn't call it comfortable. After looking at the menu and what was going on at some of the tables, I ordered a pastor taco, a shredded lamb taco and a Mango Guava Agua Fresca for takeout. The tacos were traditional in that the meats were served with cilantro, onions, a lime, red salsa and green salsa on corn tortillas. The pastor was very tasty and tender. The serving size of the pastor was substantial. The lamb had good shredded texture and moisture. Almost like lamb carnitas. It needed more salt though. Both salsas were spicy, but good. I don't know if the the tortillas were made in house because they were too busy to ask. They seemed like they probably were though. I ordered the Mango Guava Agua Fresca after seeing it on so many tables. There were so many apparently knowledgeable Mexican diners there, I figured they knew something I didn't know. They did. It was delicious and had a substantially to it. If you need a fancier place to eat and don't live in the area for takeout, TC might not be your first choice. I don't need a fancy place. And I loved it. 4.5 Stars

The food was so good! We loved talking to the owner and her family. I'm from Tucson and I know good…read moreMexican food and this was good Mexican food!

Finally authentic Mexican food ! Nicely seasoned, beautifully presented. Can't wait to return!read more

This the first Mexican restaurant I've been to that did not have salsa and chips brought to the…read moretable. We decided to order a large guacamole. It was absolutely delicious with just the right amount of spice. What frustrated me is the fact we ordered a large guacamole and had to get a second bowl of chips to finish our guacamole and they charged us $2 for an extra bowl. That's not right. Food was decent but expensive. Not in any hurry to return except to get guac to go and I'll use my own chips.

Ordered 2 cokes with a wings and fries to split with my boyfriend came to 28 bucks woooohhh the…read morewings were deep friend with a Kentucky fried chicken batter Wanted tacos and burritos but they all came with 4 to a meal the food is probably great But not for wings

So fresh. So clean. Great service. Great drinks. I think I'm on Mexico. I l o ve this restaurantread more

Solidly average Mexican fare. The verde chicken enchiladas were fine. Nothing special. Drinks were…read moresmall and pricey.

Good food. But have had to wait in line for a mobile order for almost an hour TWICE now. Employees…read morealso aren't very kind considering how long it takes to get the food

Never again. Such indigestion and GI upset after eating here. My sister and her kids love it,…read morehence I tried. Am very , very afraid to step in that water again. Service wss great however

We came together here to remember a special lady who was a blessing. This place offered a place to…read moreshare our memories experience comfort among family and friends with good food great surroundings and wonderful people thank you

Willibrew has been a staple for more than 25 years, and that history is honestly the only thing…read morekeeping this from being a much lower rating. There's a lot of nostalgia tied to this place, but the experience today feels like a shadow of what it used to be. The quality has dropped drastically. Service was, frankly, atrocious--slow, disengaged, and bordering on indifferent. The beer selection is still decent, but it doesn't matter much when every pour arrives tasting off. Whether it's bad kegs or hot glasses, the result is the same: lukewarm, skunky beer that's hard to enjoy. Food was another disappointment. Every item came out cold, and the flavors were on par with grade‑D fast food--bland, lifeless, and nowhere near the standard this place once had. Giving three stars feels generous, but it's a nod to the legacy Willibrew built over the decades. I truly hope they find their footing again, because right now, the nostalgia is doing all the heavy lifting. Ummmmm cheers I guess

Love the stake and especially the prime ribs. Service is very good as well. It's nice when the…read moreowner stops and has a conversation, asking if all is well. Bill Hassell

Been going here for years! Food is always hot and tasty every time you go there? Well this place is…read morethe one to visit. Their onion soup is a must have! Don't miss it!