La Carreta

Love this place! I live down the road and had driven past it for years. Have been there at least 20 times in the last year. The best Margaritas ever– Ask for Carlos!

Everything about our meal was great– fresh, homemade salsa, hot chips, fast service. We had the chicken peluche, chicken chimichangas, and burritos deluxe. It was all fresh and flavorful. We will definitely be back!

Amazing cilantro salsa served with the welcome chips. All my food was great (grilled chicken quesadillas combo), and we had a great experience overall.

Decent food. Good service. Great discounts online. Quick and tasty Mexican food. The location isn’t ideal, but once you find this place, you’re likely to return.

Great experience minus us! After a long day of travel, our toddler was tired and fussy. Every staff member was friendly and attentive. The restaurant & bathroom are clean & tidy. The chips, salsa, & all of our meals were good. My veggie burrito with grilled chicken was huge and delicious! I’m glad I asked for the cheese sauce on the side. The taco salad was ok; more of an assortment of grilled veggies would make it great! Definitely worth a visit if you’re looking for a great deal & wonderful service!

Gave it a try because of the high rating on Unilocal.What a mistake.
La Carreta appears to be a run-​of-​the-​mill Tex-​Mex restaurant. According to the website, there are six locations.
It has a fairly extensive menu, but focuses on gringo-​Mex food like fajitas, burritos, and quesadillas. There are very few truly authentic recipes and the «Tipicos» («typical», aka traditional meals) include dishes like chimichangas, and taquitos, and «peluche» (teddy bear) are clearly Tex-​Mex. This is not meant to be a pejorative term or something inferior, but really meant to describe a cuisine that is locally relevant rather than authentic Mexican.
The place was half-​full of seemingly happy customers and the place gets high marks on Unilocal,so clearly there is a market for this type of food. But don’t expect the flavors and recipes to sweep you away on memory lane to that vacation you had in Cancun. Looking at all the meals at all the other tables seem to be variations of the same things — meat put into a flour or corn tortilla, grilled, smothered in a sauce, topped with service-​pack cheese, and then plated with iceberg lettuce, guacamole, and sour cream, plus sides of Mexican rice and refried beans with cheese.
I was seated and waited. No chips, no nothing. I waited a long time, but the waitress was apologetic for the long wait. I asked what domestic beers they had. They waitress said «Bud Light and… I don’t know.» I leaned back and could see the tap tops that said Bud Light, Blue Moon, and Michelob Ultra. More waiting. Then my meal came in big styrofoam containers. I told her I was dining in and that is why I was seated at a booth with a menu and ordering beverages. She told me I was wrong and that I had ordered to go. Strike one for insisting the customer is wrong.
The waitress took the styrofoam boxes away and a basket of chips/​salsa showed up. Salsa tasted like a third-​party product, not fresh made. A glance to the dessert card on the table advertises churros, flan, and Choco Taco. Choco Taco is a commercial product. I could be wrong and they could be making their own, but I am not risking it given my experience so far.
I ordered «Enchiladas Poblanos», which is described as three chicken enchiladas covered in poblano sauce that contains peanuts (see menu on website). An enchilada, by definition is a corn tortilla filled with meat or other filling and then dipped in sauce and then (typically) baked. Poblanos are green chiles, with medium hot spice. I got two dry corn tortillas with a bit of chicken and nothing else that were broiled black on one side and then plated with the typical toppings. No sauce. No chiles. Hmmm… I had never seen a dry enchilada. Perhaps this was a local variety of enchilada that I have never seen, so I asked the service person what an enchilada was. She said she didn’t know. I asked if this was normal. She said she guessed so. Strike two.
I hate waste so I asked a waiter (since my waitress was clearly not keen to know her own trade) for them to take out the meat and put it into a flour tortillas to make essentially a flour meat-​only-​burrito. More time passes.
A plate with two flour tortillas and meat came back, this time smothered with molé. If you have never had molé, it is a chocolate sauce with mashed peanuts and accented with spice that can — but not always include dried poblano chiles. Chocolate as a savory is an acquired taste, so it is not for everyone. Nowhere on the menu does it say molé or chocolate (read it for yourself, a copy is on their website). I have had enchiladas with fresh poblano sauce. I have also had enchiladas con mole. I have also had enchiladas mole poblanos. Google it and you will see many different recipes — some green poblanos, some in mole. I complained again saying that nowhere on the menu does it say molé or chocolate and that is not what I wanted. They told me that poblano means chocolate sauce to them and this how they do it. I told them poblano was a green chile and that was molé sauce and I don’t like mole and I wanted something else. They agreed poblano was a chile, they said poblano means mole to them, and said I got what I ordered and put down my dish and walked away, leaving me dumbfounded with a take-​it-​or-​leave-​it. Strike-​effing-​three.
Check please.
So TWO HOURS (6:30−8:30pm) after sitting down, I leave angry, hungry, and out of pocket for a meal that I didn’t eat. I even tipped them 15% because stiffing people is bad mojo and I am not a jerk. So others may say they had a meal they enjoyed and I don’t doubt it. But that was the worst service I have gotten in many, many, many, many years. If you want to take a chance at the only restaurant that I have given a one-​star rating (at the time of this review), go here. Try «Mi Cancun» in Morrisville instead, just as cheap, tastes great, and great service.

My husband and I decided to try this place out with a Groupon and we were thoroughly impressed. For less than $ 30 we got heaping portions of food– 2 entrees and dessert. The Chipotle Chicken was soooo good and so were the chicken fajitas. We were so full but couldn’t stop eating because the food was so good. We had to take our Choco Taco home in a to go box. Cute cozy atmosphere and friendly staff. We will definitely be going back.

This restaurant is underrated! I went there on a Sunday afternoon and it was fairly busy. The service was great and it was fast! The food is good — it’s what you would expect. The prices are even better! It’s clean and the atmosphere is great. My mom and j walked out of there paying $ 15 for both of our meals (and that included the tip!) we also walked out full.
I also like that there lunch specials are on the weekend. i ordered a burrito and my mother the fajitas. The fajitas looked great and the vegetables fresh! The burrito tasted like any other burrito I’ve had.

Food was okay. Restaurant was comfortable with good atmosphere and very clean. Service was not great. The cheese dip was not very good… It wasn’t even warm and melted all the way. The kids meals were really good.

Good food and doesn’t break the bank. Great for a group night out! Fun atmosphere too!

Wonderful, again and again. La Caretta must be the most underrated Mexican restaurant in the Triangle. This strip mall location suffers from the ghost of a failed Mexican restaurant some years ago, making the start up of this wholly new restaurant a little challenging. We live across the street and have dined here eight times now, and every time I leave I look at the half empty parking lot and think that I really should write a review. This place is just too good to be allowed to fail. Service is so polite, and all the ingredients so fresh. Our entire family loves it. If you have driven past it, stop just once and try it. You won’t regret it.

We decided to try this place on a whim. Salsa was OK. Nothing fascinating. Queso fundido was very flavorful. Chicken chimi was OK but nothing special. Will be ok as a spur of the moment stop.

This place was authentic looking but as far as the food, not even close the sauce on the burrito tasted like tomato sauce, I was the only one dining I’m and service wasn’t that great. I expected it to be a little different. There wasn’t any flavor to the food. The rice was flavorless as well. I’m from California and that’s where the real Mexican food is, so comparing it to that, it doesn’t come close unfortunately! But I will say this… the churros were off the MF hook lol hella good!!! Yummy

Very caring and friendly staff. A small language barrier resulted in on dish being sent back. Quickly resolved. Will return for sure!!!

Enjoyed the convenience of walking in and sitting down. Looks like they rearranged from the place here a year ago. 12 booths and maybe 10 configurable tabkes. Some outside too. Food was made with fresh ingredients. Portions were decent. Chicken Fajitas filled me up. Managers care (key to success) and of course reasonable price. So while it’s no Mez, they had everything else right. Great little community Mexican fix.

Great salsa and chips. We all enjoyed our meals. Beware of the large beer — it is huge, will need a designated driver after drinking. Like the new décor and ambience.

New to the area and tried this based on good reviews. Very good food and drinks, great atmosphere, good prices. Chips and salsa were homemade, as was the guacamole. Finished the meal with wonderful churros. Nothing negative to say other than the food is more authentic, so not what my toddler would prefer to eat but we’ll definitely be back!

Great Mexican restaurant! I stopped by with a coworker this week for lunch. The food was awesome. I had the steak Grande Burrito and it was huge! Such a great value for the price! My coworker also had one of the lunch specials and enjoyed his. The staff are super friendly and welcoming. I will definitely be back. Convenient location in Cary!

Excellent service, very friendly! Clean restaurant, charming atmosphere, clean restrooms.
We had a chile relleno that was very delicious stuffed with cheese and covered in enchilada sauce.
Also ordered lunch carnitas with verde sauce. Pork was tender and tasty, went well with verde sauce.
Chips and salsa were fresh.
Enjoyed a nice family lunch, recommended here by a friend and neighbor, will be going back to eat with the family again.

Honest very affordable Mexican food with really kind service.
We just had dinner with the family at La Caretta on 55. We have driven by a couple of times and went in today to give them a try and support a local restaurant, but I think we found a new great local alternative for informal family dinners.
The restaurant has a cozy atmosphere, clean tables and seating, nice and friendly service, good food, and all for a very reasonable price. This is not my choice for high end dining, but Their menu has enough options for everyone to find something to their liking.
La Caretta, we’ll be back for future dinners.
Michael