La Fonda De Los Lobos

I have become increasingly unimpressed with this restaurant in recent years as the quality of ingredients has gone down.

I do hate to bad mouth any business, but on the other hand I hate to go to a restaurant and be disappointed. I lived in Dallas for 20+ years, and I can honestly say I have never had worst Tex-​Mex anywhere. They recently changed their menu, and it is not any better. A perfect example of how bad their kitchen is, my wife had tried other items on the menu. She ordered (twice actually) the club sandwich. BOTH times the sandwich was cut into what was suppose to be quarters. It was cut more like in 32%, 32%, 32%, and 4%. How hard is it to cut a square sandwich into quarters? Their food is bland, nondescript, and extremely unmemorable. We go on a regular basis, to play trivia on Wednesday nights. Even with winning free food, I am not sure it is worth it.

I like to go later in the evening to the bar downstairs and take in the karaōke. Some of the singers are great, some are pretty bad, but everyone is having a blast. The service has always been quick and friendly. Drinks are flowing, and everyone is having a great time.
That’s why I go. And maybe this slightly throwback-​type bar with goofy singers and pool tables is your scene, and maybe it’s not. OK. But the reason you should go no matter what scene you are into is the FRIED ICE CREAM. Heavens above, this is the best fried ice cream I have ever had in my life. Sweet and crunchy and cinnamon-​y on the outside, and creamy, cold goodness on the inside. And the ice cream is super cold and solid so that it doesn’t melt into a gloppy mess as other fried ice cream I’ve had. In fact, I think my friend and I took a good 25 minutes to share this dessert, and it stayed nice and cold the whole time.
If you need upscale and trendy and hip, this isn’t your place. If you want a fun, laid-​back atmosphere with great food and superb fried ice cream, come to La Fonda.

Went there on a Thursday afternoon. Got good service, but the food was below average. I’m only saying this because the food was really greasy. I thought it could have been better. I am only faulting the food.

I’m not from the Minneapolis but was in town visiting for the night, and we ended up downstairs on the patio and watching karaōke for several hours.
This is your typical bar. Dimly lit, pool tables filling a third of the space and a small makeshift stage for Friday and Saturday night karaōke. An outdoor patio has a decent amount of space as well as a fire pit that wasn’t on during my visit, but it was the first of August and it was plenty warm out. My only complaint was the gentleman behind us smoking a cigar with the wind blowing it right in my face.
Around sunset we headed inside to watch karaōke kick off. The singers were across the board from tragic to semi-​decent, and many of the people seemed to be regulars. Drinks weren’t too expensive and the waitstaff did a great job of checking up on us.
A tip that was shared with me before entering: «Don’t touch the barstools and then touch your face without washing them first.» I’m a little scared of what this means, but I’m fairly observant when it comes to cleanliness and I wasn’t freaked out. This is a nice little neighborhood bar, and if I’m around again, one that I’d stop in on a Friday or Saturday to watch karaōke again.

Most disgusting Mexican food I have ever eaten. I mean yuk!

We were craving Mexican and my mom suggested this place… bad suggestion mom! We first walked in and the entry way smelled disgusting, like a strong urine smell. The waitress was good, the food was not. My enchiladas, without a doubt had canned meat in the sauce. Hubby ordered a chimi and it was soggy and without flavor and they ran out of desert we ordered. Never again!

Went on a Wednesday evening around 6:30. Service was slow and spotty after ordering. Hard to get more water, chips, etc. Chips were stale and greasy. My wife’s enchiladas were overcooked and all the sauce was cooked off. Probably would not go back.

This place is about as lame as you can get. I don’t know who calls this Mexican, but it’s far from it. Apparently, the family who owns it is not from here and doesn’t keep a day to day watch. The food is horrible. Service is FU, we’re doing you a favor by letting you in here. Margarita? Yeah, I know her. Jimmy Buffet named a town after her! We have a cocktail to honor her, and we use sour mix (epic fail!)
The filling for their chicken burrito/​enchilada/​quesadilla is the same for every chicken dish across the menu… and BLAND! It tastes like could be used in any other restaurant’s chicken soup, chicken casserole, chicken salad, chicken club sandwich… point being: super bland, no flavor and lame!
Let’s go back to the chips and salsa. The most important thing to get out first and fast! This place drops the ball. After 15 minutes of waiting… their chips are bought in bulk and worse than the cheapest over-​salted walmart chips… salsa, again crap!
La Fonda, you need a serious do-​over, remake. Your food is terrible. You need to hire a professional chef. Buy a chip maker. It will pay for itself in the long run. Make your salsa fresh. It will bring people back! Pick up the pace, dramatically! You must have money to burn, because it looks that’s all you’re doing. Huge disappoint

Wtf… It’s cinco de mayo and the service and food is soooooooo bad and slow. But it’s not normally like that. Kitchen staff seems to be just terrible tonight. On the positive… Bar in basement is always fun, service is pretty dec, great margaritas every day.

La Fondas is a great mexican restaurant! I’ve been coming here for 35+ years. The sauce is a family receipe!!! It’s better than any «EL’» Loro, «EL Azteca, «EL» Toro !!! La Fondas prides themselves on freshly made dishes that are authentic, and taste great! AND they use real cheddar cheese!!! None of the white cheese like other restaurants. I love their enchaladas, and the Loborito is a classic for this restaurant!!! If your really hungry the Loborito will fill you up!

Not a great experience. No kids cups with covers, not great with a 2 year old and 4 year old. Both of our Shrimp burritos looked like soup. One side of the burrito had burnt cheese and the other side had a watery consistency cheese. Sadly my wife and I both agreed the chips were the best part of the meal. Service was slow. Décor hasn’t been updated since the 70’s. We won’t be back.

OK, well, um, my quick lunch at La Fonda was probably the best Tex-​Mex I had while on a two week holiday in Minnesota. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I think I feel pretty neutral now that I think about. Minnesota isn’t exactly a hub of Tex-​Mex cuisine.
My first visit to La Fonda was many, many years ago and I was a little surprised this business has survived all these years. The location isn’t exactly ideal, located off highway 13 and only accessible while driving west and the exterior and interior have seen better days.
Two friends and I chose to eat here because we were famished from shopping all day at the newly built outlet mall and wanted something close as to not waste a single more minute of our shopping high feeling starved.
I ordered the «luncheon solo» with a beef soft-​shell taco, double rice, and no beans. The portion size was perfect for what I needed anymore would have been too much food and any less would have also probably been about right. The chips and salsa served throughout our lunch were not very good, actually, the salsa was not very good. The mild salsa tasted like ketchup and the hot salsa tasted like ketchup with cut-​up peppers in it. I’ve yet to find a Tex-​Mex restaurant in Minnesota which serves tasty salsa. I’m still looking though!
Long story short, a nice alternative to the outlet mall onsite restaurant or Jensen’s across the parking lot from Saks. Would I go out of my way to eat at La Fonda? Probably not but then again, I haven’t found a Tex-​Mex restaurant in Minnesota that I would go out of my way to eat at either.

Great food at Lafondas! Been going here for 20 years and the food is always consistent! Order the Fajitas to watch the smoke come from the kitchen to table — great touch! Loborito is next best choice!

My wife and I had a $ 30 Groupon and some free time on a Saturday afternoon, so we headed down across the river down to La Fonda.
It happened to be the opening of a huge outlet mall about ½ mile from La Fonda. It was CRAZY busy! Luckily La Fonda only had 3 cars in the parking lot.
We entered and it has a really groove 70’s feel for it with some Tiffany Lamps. The bar was super cool lining the back. A nice display of taps, they even had Corona Light on tap if you wanted. For good beers, they basically had Guiness and Summit EPA. Shock Top, if you want to count that.
Our waiter was super nice, if not a little forgetful of who ordered what, but it became pretty comical. The chips were store bought I think and the salsa seemed like it was Old El Paso, I doubt it was home made.
I ordered the shrimp enchiladas and a Dos Equis, My wife got the chicken soft taco. I ordered a Dos Equis Amber for the meal and it was pretty good potions, but it was just your basic Americanized Mexican food. Pretty disappointed. Not flavorful at all. I could have used some Cholula Sauce on it, but all they had at the table was Tabasco Sauce? Tabasco Sauce for Mexican? Weird!
The margaritas that people were getting looked good, nice and huge.
I get shrimp enchiladas about once a year, and whenever I get them, they always disappoint. They just aren’t full of enough flavor. The beans and rice were pretty good though!
I finished off the meal with an Angry Orchard Cider. These things are tasty! It is like boozy apple juice. Yum!!!
I took one of the enchiladas home and my wife’s chicken taco. I don’t need to go back here, but it was fine for what it was. American/​Mexican food.

I really enjoyed this place. My fiancé got the chicken and steak fajitas which I continually stole off of her plate.
I enjoy something a little more close to home so I got a bacon cheeseburger which I found to be pretty enjoyable.
They we keep bringing you free chips and salsa. My fiancé found the salsa to be very hot but loved the chips just plain. I thought it was just the right amount of heat but I would just caution you if you brought children there, they might want to hold off on the salsa or just try a small amount until they know they are able to handle it.
Yes the place could use a little makeover but of that is what you are focusing on you need to pull the stick out of your ass and go somewhere else.
Also I suggest going a 30 mins to an hour before the dinner rush at about 6. There is always a line waiting around at the front and wouldn’t want to wait around if you don’t have to.

This place is bad and dirty. My 6 year old said this place smells bad when we first arrived. But I wanted Mexican food, and it sucked NEVER coming back

Great place for cocktails and beers. They had bingo going on and the crowd was fun. The bartender was friendly and fun. Worth a stop.

La Fonda has decent food. It reminds me a lot of Chula Vista in West St. Paul, which is nostalgic for me (my family would go there for birthdays when I was a kid). I went there with a person I PCA for; it’s his absolute favorite restaurant. The staff working that recognized all made it a point to say hello to him, and he was over the moon about the free birthday dessert!
We had an attentive waiter, the food came out extremely fast, and the atmosphere is kitschy but in a quaint way. It’s definitely clean and honestly, the promptness of the staff and food delivery is astonishing compared to other places where you wait for eons for simple orders-​definitely not the case here.
I forgot to take my receipts (have to file them for work) and when we stopped back in later that evening they were extremely nice about getting them printed off for us, so that was a bonus!

Tucked away in Eagan it it very easy to drive by and not think twice. But, I do recommend that if you are in the area you should stop by and give them a try.
My waiter was exceptional! He was quicker than Speedy Gonzales and I was very impressed. He was a younger fellow and very polite. The spicier the better and when we wanted a refill on chips and dip we asked if we could have some peppers on the side. He did more than give us peppers he actually made a spicier salsa just for us.
We order fajitas and a Chico combo plate. The combo plate lacked flavor and appeal and I would avoid buying this again. The fajitas on the other hand were delish and piping hot. I think this place has the best deal on margaritas, 27 oz for 6.50! Aye Aye! I like!
The restaurant décor itself is outdated and old. And the bathroom must have only been 50 degrees (what a chilly toilet seat!) Other than that I did have fun and it is not a bad place to grab a bite.
oh! Free dessert on your b-​day!