Hernande’z

Its ok. It used to be better. They took away my favourite items. When I asked about it, I was condescended to about taste. I won’t go back.

This is one of those places that tourists never find out about. No effort at all goes into marketing or advertising, and they don’t need any. Service is slow, and that’s almost the point — this is the opposite of fast food. A family member from LA (who knows a thing or two about the subject) tried their burrito and declared it the best of all time. The huaraches are wonderful. So outclasses 99% of Mexican food, that you really can’t go back afterward. I’ve been here about 5 times, and have no evidence to support the negative reviews I’ve seen here. For a small fee, you can hop several tiers on the food chain.

Rude owner, she needs an attitude adjustment. Prices used to be good, they took their best items and stopped selling them because they wanted more money.
When we asked about them, the owner was really rude. We’re not going back again, I’ll walk the extra distance to the Cook Street Villiage taco stand.

Once the city king of the taco, the quality of the food at this oddly managed restaurant has seen better days. Had I been writing 4 years ago, it would have been a 4-​star deal. But today? Not so much.

Most delicious, rudest Mexican food in town. So much of both that I can’t stop going there, even though I’m consistently offended/​sad every time I do. Everything here is delicious.

For many years I loved going to Hernande’z. Their food has taken a big nosedive over the past couple years. Tortillas are now like cardboard; I’m often given spicy pork if I ask for no spice; and the tacos have more cilantro & onion than meat. I also don’t get the new rules — why do the beef tacos include sour cream, but the others don’t? Why not be consistent?
Judging from the Hernande’z FB page, the owners are involved in so many other things and seem to be spread too thin to pay attention to details. The cash-​only policy continues to be an annoyance as well… the owners’ stance seems to be «banks are evil corporate entities and we don’t want to do business with them». So do they keep all their business money in their mattress and pay their retail landlord in cash?! It’s good to have principles, but then don’t be surprised when customers choose to go elsewhere. Even food trucks take electronic payments these days! Sadly, no more Hernande’z for me.

Incredibly delicious and freshly made Mexican food. I highly recommend it to anyone. Have only been there during quiet times so not sure how service is when super busy, but was relatively good every time I’ve been there.

My favourite lunch spot for Mexican downtown! Fast reasonably-​priced and delicious!

I love this place and am a regular. I still want to continue to like it but I’m not sure what is going on here currently. Menu has been inconsistent with tacos missing for a number of weeks. The Burrito Classico has been losing flavour, it has been very thin, being filled with rice which seems very dry. I ordered 3 recently and greens were completely missing from one. If it’s street food, half the fun is enjoying the experience. It’s beginning to lose it’s soul. Prices seem to be higher for the quality. Overall not a positive turn…
I do understand the logic of a small business not using credit cards, the tap water thing etc. but it’s also time to evolve. Most of the businesses who operate on their own terms and don’t go along with customer’s needs, lose them as the customer will go where their needs are met.

I’ve been eating at Hernande’z for years, but have decided to take a break from this formerly fun eatery.
Their service has slipped from «barely acceptable» to «non existent», their menu variety has declined (no corn tortillas for a whole month? really?!) and despite handing over my cash on a regular basis, I have yet to receive a «thanks for your business».
I think that Hernande’z needs a course in customer service and realize that a business functions to serve it’s customers, not the other way round.

This place is like Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi — but for tacos. The food is very good and authentic Central American cuisine (for the love of Pete, DO NOT refer to it as Mexican, or the chef will stop cooking for the day). They make a tasty burrito. However, the owners feel the need to vent their spleens online about how misunderstood they are, with long diatribes defending business decisions and why customers are wrong about almost everything. Tap water? WRONG. Substitutions? WRONG. Want to pay with anything other than cash? DOUBLE WRONG. Serving their very popular tacos at lunch? INFINITY WRONG. That’s right: this is a restaurant that flat out refuses to prepare their most popular dish at lunch time because it takes too long. To be clear, this is not customers complaining about the wait: this is the chef unilaterally 86ing their most popular menu item at lunch because he feels it takes too long to make.
When you weigh the pros (food) versus the cons (service, bizarre business/​menu decisions, no debit), I find that Taco Time in the Bay Centre Food Court is a far superior prospect. I can’t wait to read their defense against «online haters and bloggers» ala Amy’s Baking Co. on their website!

I’m keeping this review very brief… The reason they are a cash only restaurant is that way… when you pay for your food and it never makes its way to the table… they can say… «sorry… we don’t give refunds». and when you say…“but I didn’t get half my order”… they can say., «sorry, we don’t give cash back». Thats what happened to us the first time we went there.
We decided to give them another shot today… (what the heck! I was ready for Mexican food) and out of the two items we ordered… they didn’t have either. (being beef tacos and guacamole… standard items at 5:30 p.m.)
We left and won’t try a third time.: (

A OK Mexican in a food court.
Perhaps the strangest location for a restaurant that I’ve ever witnessed and we had a heck of a time finding it. Based on Unilocal reviews, we went on an adventure that landed us in several spots that didn’t include Hernande’z. We finally found it and after eating there, I felt it was a little overrated and maybe not worth the hassle of the search. After being in Mexico, our standards maybe are set pretty high?
My husband ordered for me as I saved a table with our daughter… so I didn’t really experience the service aspect of things. I think he would have told me if something negative had happened and he didn’t, so I will assume the service was fine.
I had the burrito pollo while my husband had several tacos. Although the ingredients were fresh, I wasn’t overly blown away with flavor. Serving sizes were generous, at least for the burrito. There wasn’t really much on the menu that our daughter would eat.
We almost died of thirst because I am set in my ways and I always get tap water. How expensive is tap water anyhow? Victoria is an island.

Inexpensive, organic, locally-​sourced, delicious Mexican food! One of my favourite places to eat lunch in Victoria. So very tasty and unbelievable value for the money. Really good customer service. A place that I want to support because of their ethics alone, but honestly it’s the food that I go back for. I can understand that the layout is not for everyone, it’s very casual, almost food-​court like. They do not serve certain items at midday because they take too long to prepare, so they have two menus — slow food and fast food. Sometimes people are angry/​disappointed that they cant get their favourite menu item whenever they want and I think this confusion is a source of a lot of their sub-​5-​star reviews. The best!
One thing worth mentioning is that this place accepts CASH ONLY!

I HAVEN’T REVIEWED THIS PLACE? What. Is. Wrong. With. Me.
Even thought it’s been months since my one time visit at hernandez, I still remember it fondly. I was warned about the crappy service and expected some cold shoulders, miscommunication, and I even prayed for a stink eye.
Instead I received swift service and a quirky experience. I stood in line and browsed through their handheld menus. I had all the time of the day and decided to try their slow process, which compared to their fast menu, was a different way of preparing the fixings.
At the counter the nice lady rang my order through and handed me a tarot card. Rather than remember my name (Angelo) I was treated like mysterious stranger only depicted in western sci-​fi detective noir romance novels. I went by the name on the card that had a topless mermaid winking at me. I answered to the name HELENA.
Anyways…their slow food entails waiting for fresh tortilla, toasted on the grill and filled with a bevy of fillings. I was on vacation and in glutton mode I ordered two dishes:
Tacos De Puerco: Beautifully laid across brown wax paper. These were pork tacos stuffed with salsa, onions, and cilantro. I would have been an idiot to leave out the lime provided on the side. It was delicious. Not going to lie, the pork was savoury and fatty, and the fresh ingredients were a perfect match. The toritlla was thin but held together between my stern fingertips.
Huarache de Candelaria: A thicker and larger piece of corn tortilla topped with black beans, seasoned zucchini, onions, rice, salsa, sour cream and shrubbery. This is the dish one orders to diminish whatever doubt of hunger they had. In my case in instilled me with a sense of…“WTF WERE YOU THINKING HELENA?” A very rich and satisfying dish, I loved how the beans and zucchini made me forget the importance of having meat in a mexican dish and let me enjoy the various textures of the Huarache.
Wow. I can barely name any place that has left an impression on me like Hernandez has. Hopefully the next time I visit Victoria, I’ll be able to acquire a more masculine nickname.

If you like Mexican food and you’re in Victoria, you owe it to yourself to try some of this food.
Tucked away into a mall, the restaurant offers two menus. One «slow» and the other «fast». Neither meal will really fly out to your table, but the ingredients are just amazing either way.
Reasonably priced and fresh, this food is can’t miss. The only caveat is to have cash on hand, as they don’t do any debit transactions. There is a cash machine by the till, but it will rob you of some service fees.

One of my favourite restaurants in Victoria.
Pros:
— Consistently fresh, awesome food
— Amazing tortillas
— Lots of vegetarian and non-​vegetarian options
— Inexpensive
Cons:
— Somewhat complex «rules» (e.g. they do not give glasses of tap water)
Overall, i love Hernande’z. It’s a really unique place and the food is wonderful.

When I first scoped out Hernande’z website, I didn’t even really want to go at all. It is actually really terrible and it gives me a headache to even read. A restaurant’s website, to me, should included the absolute vitals, the menu, contact information, maybe a link to their twitter handle, and that is about it. I was completely put off to go through paragraphs of rambling shinfo, and a million drop down menu options just to find their hours and exact location.
Also, a lot of the information included is pretty condescending. Why they don’t serve water, how they feel about restaurant reviews, etc. Also, I have no problem paying for water or bringing my own. But the amount of papers and plastics being wasted by this establishment are many. Charging $ 1.00 for use of a ceramic plate is ridiculous to me. Surely, plating food to stay as opposed to going through so much wrapping is more cost effective in the long run? My mum and I ordered two veggie burritos, as well as an order of chips and salsa to share. We received a generous helping of corn chips, with the tiniest little plastic container of salsa I ever did see. When I asked one of the staff if I could purchase more salsa, she said no, that salsa was not free. It took a long time for me to explain I was fine with paying for it; until I physically held out money in my hand.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Some of my favourite restaurants ever have been little holes in the wall just like this one, with limitations on seating, how they serve their food, etc. However, the reason I’ve always gone back is because of the delicious food and the friendly owners. In this case, I found most of the staff really awkward and unfriendly. The food however, was pretty awesome. Definitely the best vegan burrito I have had in awhile in a restaurant.
Would I go back? Yes. To grab a burrito, then go eat it outside or something so I don’t have to deal with the awkwardness of dining in.

I’m updating my review, because the last two times I’ve been here, it’s just rubbed me more the wrong way. Hernande’z has really good food, it’s true. If that is all that matters, then go for it. They offer delicious selections of real food. I love the huaraches (thick corn tortillas).
My problem is with everything else about Hernandez. They won’t give you a glass of water — even tap water, but they’ll sell you a bottle. They won’t put your food on a plate — that costs extra, but here, we’ll wrap it in paper for you instead. They only accept cash, not debit or credit. The food is slow, so if you need it quickly you have to order from a different menu. There are so many signs about how you as the customer have to be, in order to patronize Hernandez, that it starts to feel like the Soup Nazi episode of Seinfeld. And the prices on some things are a little sketchy — the guacamole was REALLY expensive for the amount you get. Like… shockingly so. That was about a tablespoon and a half of guacamole!
But the food really is delicious. There are just so many other delicious places in Victoria that don’t inconvenience me at every turn and kind of shrug about it, you know?

Great little taco place in a business building. Lots of seating In a mall/​cafeteria style food court (but minus all the other awful, fast food joints) setting. No waiter service, you just order your food, they give you a card and you sit down and wait for the food. There s no ambiance not the food is great.
They call it slow food because everything is fresh, and made to order, in house for you. Their beef is organic but often not available… I can imagine that good quality beef sells out quickly.
Food is hot, fresh, tasty and very cheap. $ 6 for 5 tacos (pork, chicken or vegetarian) or 3 beef tacos. Their corn tortillas are made from scratch and in house — I love that! We have a taco press at home and make our own tacos from scratch too; it’s not hard and such a treat to have non pre-​packaged tortillas.
Hernande’z is a great place to get delicious and cheap food. Great place to feed the family or satisfy your ace craving. Don’t go here on a romantic first date or if you’re allergic to peanuts… Many of their recipes call for peanuts and they can’t guarantee that your meal will be peanut free. However, I believe that their meals are gluten free!
Helpful notes: you can’t order the tacos to go. If you want a plate, it’s a $ 1 extra as food is served on heavy duty, parchment like paper. Cash only, but there’s a cash machine right by where you order. The lady who took my order didn’t speak English well. Don’t eat here if you’re allergic to peanuts.