Stanley first introduced us to La Michoacana (MEE-CHO-KANA), a taco, burrito and small Mexican grocery establishment several weeks ago. I had neglected to visit, but I got a chance to go last night. It’s located right up the street from Richmond Camera on East High Street. I didn’t know what to expect.
La Michoacana is open from 11AM until 9PM everyday except for Sunday when it closes a little earlier (need verification). You walk into what looks like a little house or small office. It doesn’t really seem like a restaurant with two small tables and grocery racks in the middle of the store. You can purchase standard mexican grocer items such as limes, tortillas and other sorts of things.
Don’t get me wrong; the place is clean and well lit, so it’s a little nicer and more inviting for us who may be turned off by the backroom of El Paso. The menu is in English and Spanish, so you don’t have to pretend to know what you are ordering. We tried a burrito and chicken, pork and beef tacos. La Michoacana had a selection of fresh salsas available to add to your meal. We tried them all.
The burrito was rather plain with just meat inside and beans and rice on the side.
The Tacos? Amazing. I love Chipotle, but damn these are extremely good and they set you back a mere $2 a pop. The beef was too dry, but I was very impressed with the chicken and pork, huge portions, abundant toppings and really good salsas. I highly recommend this place, but just be careful about the wait.
I don’t think this place warrants a full food review, because it’s essentailly take-out. The tables inside don’t seat very many. I will definently make this a lunch/dinner stop and I hope you do too. Any suggestions for anything else on the menu?
Related posts:
- Eating at Charlottesville’s Ventana: A High End Mexican Restaurant
- Aqui Es Mexico Restaurant Review- Go There and Be Enlightened
- Taco Truck 4 Sale
I loved the Taco Loco- beef,chicken,chorizo with all the fixings. Also,the tamales are very tasty. Quick, inexpensive, filling,and yummy . What more can you ask for lunch?
you guys should also try the chicken gorditas, they are awesome and are pan fried to order. Also try the “agua de horchata” it is a sweet rice base drink.
By the way, the owners still own their taco truck, and they are more than happy to attend and cater your next party!
The limes are a good deal, and the $2 soft taco was perfectly snackable. Real food, not the re’al creations for the gringos up the street. Now they just need a patio and a sandwich board on the sidewalk. When you see Joy, look back and across the street.
The spaghetti side that came with my very good carnitas burrito was a bit of an enigma. (Couldn’t tell whether it was homemade — but I was disconcerted to see that the small collection of groceries for sale at Michoacana includes a stack of Chef Boyardee products.)
@4 40 Ounce… Mexicans have as much right as the rest of us to feed their kids tins of utter crap. I personally keep several cans of Chef Boyardee and a can of Campbell’s ‘Spaghetti Os with Meatballs on hand, and brandish them at my kids if they bitch about whatever I slop up for dinner. No matter how bad it is, they know it’s better than that shite and I get the little piggies back troughing again.
/Did someone say ‘Mom of the Year’
and brandish them at my kids
If the cans get dented when you brain your kids with ‘em, you should just throw ‘em out. That’s a botulism risk and could harm your wee ones.
/oh! brandish.
@6: Feedin’ time at the Flooze family?
Linky brokey
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_IFlfMKN-w2Y/SBoW0ZJz4OI/AAAAAAAADyA/3kSgU5-TUa8/IMG_1991.JPG
/if that doesn’t work, I’ll pass you a hard copy at the drug stand in the Pavilion tonight
Drug stand it is then Baby.
Flooze, copy and paste the address. It’ll come up then, but you have to download it.
Nowhere close 40 Ounce….. kid doesn’t have a sippy cup full of beer and a ciggy in his gob.
Oh and thanks Echo… you are just my little helper elf these days. Smoooooches.
Oh, this kid?
Or maybethis one?
@16: That’s gotta be Floozy’s kid.
@15 And such a high quality beer fetcher as well!
@16…. hahaha NOW your talkin’!
This is the new venture of Jose and Elsa (The Taco Truck People).
Jose said they still have the truck for catering gigs. In fact, they have a standing gig every Thursday doing 200 lunchtime tacos for the employees of a company in Crozet.
Here are the particulars:
La Michaocana Deli
1138 E. High St.
Charlottesville, VA 22902
434-409-9941
Hours:
Mon-Thur. 10am to 9pm
Fri&Sat 11am to 11pm
Sun 11am to 9pm
Tacos – $2.00
Tamales – $2.00
Burritos – $6.00 (w/ rice & beans)
Quesadillas – $6.00 (w/ rice & beans)
Tortas – $7.00 (w/ rice & beans)
Enchiladas – $8.00 (w/ rice & beans)
tengo hambre!
New customer, just inhaled three of the tacos (chicken, pork and barbecue). The barbeque with the medium hot red salsa was 17 kinds of awesome, and the other two were almost as good. Double bonus, the parking allows me to scoot down High Street for lunch during the work week. This will be a regular spot in the rotation.
Just had lunch there and although the food was AMAZING the service was NOT! I ordered a juice called “JAMAICA” they served it warm and it is meant to be served COLD. I took two sips and decided it tasted horrible. So my husband approaches the counter and tells them I didn’t like the juice and I will drink a Coke instead.The man at the counter said ” I cant put it back in the juice container because she tasted it and I can’t exchange it for the Coca-Cola” , to make the long story short. They pretty much said too bad you don’t like the juice,it must have something to do where you’re from -( I’m hispanic but not Mexican), we’re not taking the juice back, and we won’t give you your money back. I was really pissed , and they won’t see my face around there again!
Yeah, well it looks like a convenience store inside, and you can’t do that there either. I’ll be going back for real $2 soft tacos myself.
I heard the latin food at the store at the traffic light at E. Market & Meade is good too, deli counter at the back.
i went there once, after reading the raves here. it was gawd-awful. we got the tacos and the enchiladas, and both were really terrible. the beef was greasy and gristly, the chicken dried out, and everything was pretty much cold.
the beans and rice were equally bad. don’t know whether it was just an off day — WAY off — or what. but it certainly scared me off.
yummy.
I went there and it was fucking delicious! I never knew mozzarella and paremesan cheese made the quesadillas authentico but who gives a rat’s ass.
Oh boy, I wanted to like this place SO much. Really love to see the Mom-n-Pop places succeed. From Texas originally and love muy authentico. I’ve given it maybe 6 tries, but no mas.
The tacos are definitely the best thing on the menu, but I prefer the ones at Aqui. The enchiladas are wretched, covered in an ooze of Velveeta-like product (and I actually don’t mind Velveeta sometimes!).
To those that love it, I hope you continue to support them. But I just can’t do it.
La Michoacana is a small Mexican restaurant located on East High Street. I passed it a few times going to work, and I decided to take a look at what the food had to offer. I ordered 4 tacos of asada, and I was in heaven!!!! This is the best Mexican restaurant in Charlottesville hands down!! I suggest for everybody to try this food, it is awesome! They make their own tortillas, and have a wide variety of homemade salsa. The prices are reasonable, and the food they make is well worth it!!!!!!!
i dunno but that yayi chick is on crack!!
i went there and it was dreadful. yeah i like cool, hole in the wall joints, so i was excited to try it, but this place just flat-out sucked. you people are goofballs, all hepped up on your new “authentic” discovery. “ooh! it’s in a mexican grocery so it just has to be good!” while i’m on the subject, aqui es mexico receives the same treatment in this town and it’s nothing more than an over-hyped, sub-par joint itself. extraordinarily average. as awful as guadalajara is, i’d take that crap any day over this junk.
I still eat at La Michoacana at least once a week, and usually have a car load of people eager to join me. I haven’t really had an ‘off’ meal yet, and I’ve been all over the menu. Sorry to hear that you didn’t enjoy your meal; but considering your adjoining blast on Aqui, I’d guess that you simply don’t care for latin food and haven’t figure it out yet.
Please let us know if/when you do find a latin restaurant that does meet your specifications.
Oh, and we’d also love to hear your opinion on barbecue.
HAhahahahah.
A contrasting opinion is fine, but what about it, and Aqui, are so subpar?
at la michoacana, we had tacos and enchiladas. everything tasted like it had been sitting out all day, and then when we ordered, they just slopped it up on the plate. it was, for the most part, cold, including the beans and rice (how do you serve cold beans and rice?). the taco meat was greasy and fatty. the enchiladas were nothing special.
aqui is better, but i find most of the items there unexceptional. and understand that i was one of the first people to go there when it opened up. i’ve had consistently average burritos, tacos, and tamales there. then figured i’d try the specials, only to be similarly unmoved by them.
we went to baja last year, where the food was amazing. found a few places the locals ate and were blown away by just about everything we had. when we came back, one of the more depressing things was revisiting aqui. what a let-down in comparison. the most vivid illustration of that let-down was the seafood soup. in baja, it’s in this light fish broth, delicately flavored with tomato and filled with various seafood. it’s incredible–subtle, but full of flavor–like some ethereal elixir from the sea. at aqui? not so much.
tell you what though: it’s been a long while since i’ve been to either aqui or la michoacana, so i’ll go back, try them again, and see if they’ve improved. if so, i’ll say so. in my post, i wasnt angry with the restaurants so much as annoyed by the people posting on here who were deluded enough to think there was anything exceptional about those places, and their terribly “authentic” fare.
as for bbq, i have no idea what that comment even means, but i grew up in a town in the deep-south with a bbq stand on every corner. i could tell you a good bit on that subject actually.
After visiting Montpelior, we asked where we should eat and were told to try San Marcos, a family owned Mexican Restaurant that cooks all their food fresh – no frozen anything. All of the dishes are ‘authentic’ and custom made to order – just ask for what you want and how you want it. They had a delicious green posole with chicken special over the weekend. Unfortunately Orange is not the greatest location for these folks and they are struggling to make it. We have returned many times, even though it’s quite a trip. We found out that most of the regulars drive from other counties to visit this great place. I guess the locals prefer the “Guad” food offered at another Mexican restaurant in town. If you find yourself up that way, I recommend you check out San Marcos on Hwy 15 – I think you’ll like it. If they do close, I hope they reopen closer to C’Ville.
*Montpelier
Tacos in Harrisonburg Roq!!