Viva Mexicana

This is my favorite Mexican restaurant in the US! you MUST come here. It mig. This is a very cute, little restaurant off the side of the road, it might look unassuming, but it is some of the BEST Mexican food you will eat.

Parking
There's a little parking lot right infront of the restaurant so parking is super easy!

Ambiance
The restaurant is so cute! It has tons of cool art on the walls. The restaurant has a very nice calm, causal and home-like vibe, which is so nice.

Service
The service is 10000/10 amazing! The owner is the sweetest most warm, genuine woman you will ever meet. She is so kind and generous and makes you feel so welcome as soon as you walk in the door! She is attentive and provides extremely fast service and even better conversation! You can tell she works hard and genuinely cares about serving amazing food and connecting with people. Her Mexican food is unbelievable, and she also cooks Persian food from time to time! The other staff are amazing as well, I have never had a bad experience here - everyone is extremely nice and friendly and you will get your food immediately because their service is super fast!

Food
The food is AMAZING. It is some of, if not the best Mexican food I've had in the US. I usually get the Carnitas Super and the Carnitas Tropical Burritos. The carnitas are PERFECT and the best I've ever tasted - it is so charred, salty, savory and just the best texture and flavor you will ever have. The refried beans and rice are soft and fluffy and savory. The white beans in the tropical burrito are soft, chewy and savory and add the best flavor combo with the chipotle apple salsa and corn. The Carnitas Tropical is a must try burrito - so unique and delicious! The chipotle apple salsa provides the most amazing sweet flavor that balances the salty carnitas so perfectly. They also serve complimentary salsa and chips with every order - the habanero salsa is spicy and SO good that I always order a pint of it to go.

They offer the most unique Mexican food that I guarantee you have never tried and they have tons of Vegan and Vegetarian options that are equally as good! This is a staple restaurant for my vegan/vegetarian friends - I don't even usually like vegan food but I love their vegan food.

Their desserts are also to DIE for...the flourless, vegan chocolate lava cake is insane. You must get this. It is so chocolaty and decadent and you can't tell it is vegan. The cheesecake, cakes and flans also look amazing, but I have yet to try.

Overall
This is a must try restaurant and one of my favorite of all time. The location, service, ambiance, and most of all the food, are all amazing and make the perfect experience. I will always love Viva Mexicana, and I'm sure you will too!

Delicious for sure - this is a solid family stop for our family with three teenagers, so burritos get pretty much devoured! Service is super friendly and professional, and we've always left happy - a pick up order was five minutes later than advertised and we were offered a piece of flan, mmmm.

I do have to say that the website is outstanding for ease of ordering and finding what you want - very nice!

Only one major comment for me is that the food is so rich! It seems less traditional Mexican and a boosted with more oil and more flavor. Does that work for me? Sometimes yes, sometimes a bit too much. The mole is truly awesome but as a little snack, not as a full sized burrito. Carnitas, carne, chicken, and the rice and bean are great, and the gourmet burritos are definitely that!

We were greeted warmly by the owner and her staff. The menu is extensive and there is a chalkboard near the register noting the specials for the day. My favorite is their tostada with carnitas, which is a corn tortilla with refried beans, pico de gallo, lettuce and cheese. We ordered the 2-item taco combo meal (1 grilled rock cod and 1 carnitas) which came with refried beans and Spanish rice. We also ordered the carnitas plate which comes with rice, beans and either flour or corn tortillas. Can you tell we love their carnitas?! Their carnitas are one of the best I've had. The meat is roasted and then grilled to perfection so they have a nice crispy texture. They offer a menu for their vegan guests as well as a nice variety of juices and desserts.

There is a small outdoor dining area in front of the restaurant.

Not ypur typical taqueria as far as flavoring of the food, Which is exactly why we come her a few times a year. Our go to is the al pastor which has a citrus flavor, which I love in tacos or over nachos. The chicken mole enchiladas are great as well. Side note they do not use peanuts in their mole sauce, which is nice since my husband has a peanut allergy. I had the coconut horchata for the first time and it was so delicious. The staff is always wonderful.

Ambiance may be 3-4 but so many dishes are a 5! Owned by a Persian woman, the menu is infused with Persian dishes if you're lucky to get there in time. Persian grocery items and pastries are offered too. And the Mexican food rocks my and my vegan boyfriend's boats!

Faves are the vegan huevos (their beans and rice overall are super smooth and yummy), Mushroom Madness burrito, Gratitude burrito and of course their Chile Relleno plate. And one day I hope to get there early enough to try the Persian soup or special of the day!

The server was very kind, service was quick, and the vibe is very casual. However, here's the big deal: the chicken mole is AMAZING!

First, I want to say how awesome this restaurant is! It is one of our favorites as they offer a separate vegan menu which is incredible. This is what made me reach out to them to see if they could help us with catering for our first big fundraiser last week. She gave me a great deal on a vegan taco bar for 50 people. The food was ready on time & I heard great reviews at our fundraiser. The only issue was that I had someone else pick up the food and the girl working the counter shorted us on our tortillas (didn't realize until we got to our fundraising location) so we had to run to the grocery store to buy more. It was a bit stressful, but luckily there was a store close by. Always check the order at the restaurant!

2 very mushy burritos, one tiny bag of chips and watery salsa. Any Taqueria in the Mission District of San Francisco does a much better job!

Horrible customer service. I've been a reliable customer i work at the hospital down the road and I order from here several times a week and I always order the same thing. I spend a good amount of money at this location. The first time I had any issues, they completely messed up my food and put tomatoes when I'm allergic. Instead of correcting the issue they just demanded I pay again for them to make my food correctly. So when I asked for my money back she then consulted a manager. When asked if I wanted my food made again or my money back, I asked for the food to be made again. But of course because they are petty they threw my food in the box half of them were upside down. I will never go here again and I would not recommend it. The place is beautifully decorated and the food is so so but staff is rude and completely unprofessional.

The holiday season for me is not complete without strawberry tamales. I search for them tirelessly, and for some reason, my search is getting harder and harder every year. After posting online about my search, the owner from here reached out that they had strawberry tamales and hubby and I went over that very day!

On our first visit, I ordered one local fish taco, and the strawberry tamal plate. Hubby ordered a quesadilla, and on the side, we had the tres leches cake and some chips and salsa. We started with the tres leches cake and it was absolutely incredible. Honestly that is probably in the top three best tres leches cake I've had.

The fish taco was on point, super juicy, flavorful and packed with fresh flavors. Unfortunately, the tamal that I came for, was just not to my liking, and tasted more like a cinnamon tamal and didn't taste like strawberry at all. The sides to the plate however were really good, with platanos and great northern beans which were delightful. Hubby enjoyed his quesadilla, and it was such a big portion he had another whole meal in leftovers for the next day.

We returned for another meal to see what else they had to offer, and hopefully to get our hands on another slice of tres leches cake. That day however, there were none, so we ended up getting cheesecake flan, which was a huge bummer compared to the tres leches. The texture was grainy, heavy, and disappointing.

I revisited the fish tacos which were as good as I remembered and tasted super fresh. Hubby ordered the beef tacos and thought they were good but nothing to rave about. The chips and salsa were ok, but also nothing notable, as were the sides of beans and rice which were solid but not remarkable in terms of flavor.

Prices are comparable for the area, especially for their huge selection for vegetarians and vegans which is super hard when you want Mexican food. Service was super friendly, warm and fast, and the location is easy to get to, with plentiful, free parking. Overall, a VERY mixed bag- some items I'd give a solid 5 stars, and others I'd give 1 star. We will most likely return for that tres leches cake, and probably the fish tacos...but definitely not those strawberry tamales.