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    Fonda Lola

    3.2 (148 reviews)
    ModerateMexican
    Closed 12:00 pm - 8:30 PM

    Fonda Lola Photos

    Business Info

    FONDA LOLA ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Classy
    Moderate noise
    Outdoor seating

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    Recommended Reviews - Fonda Lola

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    Reviews With Photos

    El diabla
    Geraldine G.

    The space itself is really cute and casual. The back patio is a great space to chill in the summer. Wednesday is margarita day so take advantage of this. I had the Lola margarita and was it was delightful . I saw the woman adjacent to me order the el diabla. Unfortunately, the same dish I had did not look as plentiful as her plate which is why I was so surprised when I saw mine. The shrimp itself was full of flavour. The side salad I thought this was a complete afterthought. It has no dressing or seasoning. The rice was hard. Completely undercooked . Knowing that now I wouldn't order this again. Maybe try another shrimp dish? Because of the 2 accompaniments are not good then the tacos are the safest bet. I've definitely had better dishes than this. However, customer service was spot on! Friendly and accommodating!

    Andrew L.

    Came for taco Tuesday where you get 3 for $15. We got the nachos to start and boy are they generous with the cheese. It was very thick and almost congealed, but still tasty, just difficult to eat. We got the pork shoulder, baja fish and shrimp tacos. The pork was so tender and juicy, flavours were great. The fish and shrimp both had an interesting breading and lots of veg. My favourite of the night was the shrimp. The service was great, they refilled our water all night. The ambience was nice and we had a blast just chatting all night.

    Nimish H.

    We decided to try this place since I was looking for something close by and it was a big disappointment. To start with, there was lot of confusion on giving us the tables, despite having a booking and restaurant being half-empty. The service was extremely slow and we had ask for attention. The staff looked confused and kept changing as they were serving. We had Smoked Beer, which was overly sweet and there was no fizz. Adobo Tofu Taco had no flavour, we asked for lime to add some flavour but still it was bad. Desserts took forever to arrive. Overall I will not go here

    Denise W.

    My company had a private event here where they booked the entire restaurant. We ordered drinks and food. I got a chance to try their chorizo taco and shrimp tacos. I found their tacos were ok. I didn't like the soft shell tortilla. It was not soft at all. The queso fundido was the most disappointing. Not sure what had happened to it. When I got it, I was a giant blob that held itself together very well. Forget about dipping a nacho in it. The queso fundido came with some soft shell tortillas so we tried wrapping the blob of cheese in the tortilla and it was not easy at all. The churros was just as bad. It was the second worse churros that I have ever had in my life. It tasted like it was a day old. It was not soft at all. I did like the atmosphere. The drinks options were good. I liked the fact that they have a patio outside in the front and at the back. I had better Mexican food before.

    Sam G.

    Service was 10/10, ambience was 10/10, food was 9/10, drinks were 9/10. Such a great experience! Qe reserved a table but was advised that we could only stay for 2 hours so remember this! Servers were wonderful and so friendly. Honestly went over and beyond. The patio was gorgeous and so romantic. Food was fresh and so good. The cheese on the nachos unfortunately solidified but the chips underneath remained crispy which was a plus. Margaritas were yummy! Did not enjoy the craft beer. But that could just be my inexperienced palate. Will be coming back to try the rest of the menu.

    Tripe soup with chickpeas also flavourful
    Doris L.

    Pandemic takeout service was smooth with Ritual. Friendly staff. QUESABIRRIA CON CONSOME - Strong consommé game! I could use a bit less salt in there. Condiments where needed. I wanted more acid but then what was given. Tripe soup hit the spot on a cold day. I like it but maybe they can source different tripe or have it cleaned better. I am Chinese so, and I know cleaning this part can be hard for less of a dead carcass smell. Some foodies may enjoy it! I don't mind it but I can see locals who don't usually have tripe might now like the strong aroma.

    Shrimp taco
    Sally L.

    Small cute restaurant , not a lot of tables so make sure you make reservations. Came here on a Wednesday and it was packed. They have their $10 margarita special. The spicy margarita was great with a good amount of spice. The Lola margarita is infused with lychee, if you like lychee you'd enjoy this. The shrimp tacos were 10/10, made with tiger shrimp and portions were generous. I like the complimentary hot sauce, goes well with the food. The fish tacos were 7/10. Wish the fish was a tad bigger, I do like the garnish though. Well done on the presentation. Churros were beautifully plated, jus wish it was made fluffier, it was too hard and overcooked. I'd come back here to try their other tacos.

    Fish tacos
    Lam L.

    The environment is comfortable and decorated with a Mexican style, making it great for taking photos. Even the restroom has a unique design. The four of us ordered fish tacos and shrimp tacos, both of which were delicious. The fish was crispy and went well with the vegetables. However, if you order just one taco per person, you may not feel full and may need to order some appetizers. One of our friends ordered the Enchilada de mole, which tasted okay but didn't leave a lasting impression on us. The service is very nice and very kind to us that keep on asking what we need and do we enjoy the food. That's make us very enjoy the dinner:

    veggie salad
    Hetal M.

    first of all - HUGE shout out to our server and the manager at the restaurant for dealing with our paranoia. We were extremely grateful for you catering to our needs. We had reservations and came here as we were both craving mexican food and i will say WE WERE NOT DISAPPOINTED! we were seated in the back patio and were served immediately- we ordered the guac to start and i hit a coke zero - about 15 mins into our meal we started getting harassed by a wasp and couldn't enjoy being outside so we asked if it were possible to move inside so we could enjoy our meal. this establishment is not open yet indoors unless it's raining (which it wasn't - it was a beautiful sunny day) but they made the exception for us and we were beyond grateful. i ordered the baja fish tacos and my friend had the vegetarian salad. We were both extremely happy with our food, i loved the flavours in the fish and sauces! i appreciate the fact that when a wasp found it's way inside and harassed us, the person behind the bar was at our rescue. All in, we had an amazing experience here and definitely would recommend it for the food and service - i'll be back in the fall when the wasps are gone! Thank you for your hospitality!

    Welcome to Fonda Lola
    Peter M.

    Let me tell you a story of how I ended up at Fonda Lola. It's snowing. It's quite early for snow. Glistening black wet streaks on top of asphalt give false sense of comfort. Shrieks of tires spinning in the distance and the smell of exhaust lingers in the cool air. A faint "ding" is heard as a cyclist brusquely brushes past pedestrians. One person displays discontent and waves a particular digit. Is this cyclist a brave soul and champion of green power? Or merely an unstable sot who feels indestructible on his two wheeled machine? The cyclists jumps off and locks his bike outside a bistro and runs across the road. One wonders why he wouldn't just have locked it across the street with him. Perhaps his cranium has frozen. And, by the way, the digit waver was me! As I approach the chained demon machine, a bright halo appears on the ground. The light was rotating and it was trying to tell me something. It was bright. Colourful. Welcoming. It strongly suggest to come in out of the cold. Like a moth to the flame, I am drawn in. I obey the beckoning. I step inside and it will be a great night!!! Welcome to Fonda Lola! As the punsters would say, I am FONDA this place. Take pause here for all the groaning on that one liner. Inside this small and comfortable bistro, I had the pleasure to meet owner, Ernesto Rodriguez. He was nice enough to gave us a quick history and meaning of the bistro. Lola was the name of their Matriarch, their Abuela, their grandmother. The food is to bring back how grandma made it. Fonda means cafe or bistro. So what to have at Fonda Lola? Ceviche, Tacos, Churros and Margaritas! What else!?!? Have a gander at my photos...it's quite the spread. The three kinds of taco that I had was the Shrimp, Smoked Chicken, and Baja Fish. The churro was the heavy, and crispy kind, not the imitators that are a modified donut. Big stand out for me on the food was their Baja Fish Taco - Corn battered basa fish and oh so delish. Drink of choice was La Rosa with Chambord and Hibiscus - I can sip that all day! Please remember that Fonda Lola is an authentic experience. There is no Chilli Con Carne, no Nachos Supreme, no chihuahua asking you if you want to run to the border. The food is real, right down to the their corn tortillas. If you want Tex-Mex, look for a purple sign with a bell on it, next to some old guy that calls himself the Colonel. If you happen to be running around Queen West or you're just one of those psycholing (hmmm...I meant cycling) enthusiast that likes to ride in snow and ice, drop by. I'm so happy that Fonda Lola had a projector spinning their logo on the snow! CHEERS!!!

    Linda L.

    I received tried Fonda Lola after hearing many good things about their authentic Mexican food and great selection of tequila. It's a cozy Mexican bistro in downtown Toronto and the patio at the back is like a secret garden that you definitely have to check out! The restaurant really embodies the Mexican heritage and every corner showcases the story of the founder's background and the Mexican cooking. I tried out a few of their Tacos and I think my favourites were the Baja Fish and Pollo Al Carbon (chicken with chipotle aioli). They have a special every Tuesday which all Tacos are only $3.50 each.

    Mabel L.

    This is an absolute delicious restaurant. @fondalola specializes in Mexican food. Therefore, if you want authentic Mexican food in Toronto this is the place to go. Come on Tuesday for Taco Tuesdays. They have a delicious selection of Tacos. My favorite is the fish tacos. Crispy and delicious. The guacamole is fantastic as well. On Thursday, come for a lesson about Tequila from the owner who has a good background of quality tequila. You can sample some great tequilas for a descent price. Also the master bartender takes great care in his drink creation. The drinks are carefully mixed and he can personally create a drink that suites your taste buds.

    Guac and chips
    Kam P.

    Heard about Fonda Lola's cute patio! The patio was cute however we were disappointed by the lack of taste with the vegetarian and fish tacos. They didn't have any adobo tofu so asked if they could substitute it for veggies and I said yes. However, flavour seemed to be missing. Nice place with a nice vibe and decent service. Just disappointed with the tacos. The guac and chips was good though! Presentation was nice!

    three plates of food on a table

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    La Carnita - Mexican street corn. Was lukewarm

    La Carnita

    3.3(497 reviews)
    2.1 kmEntertainment District, Downtown Core
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    I came here for a last min dinner on a Thursday and it exceeded my expectations…read more There were a few empty seats when we got there at around 6:30 but it started to fill up shortly after. The inside was nice, it was dark with ambient lighting and decorated with a modern and Mexican theme. The waitress was super nice, and the staff were fairly attentive. We got the chips and guac to start. I do wish they gave a little bit more walk because it came in this really small cup so we had to go light on the guac to chip ratio. But overall the guac was yummy and the chips were very crunchy with a nice seasoning. They have a special every day of the week and Thursdays are there crunch tacos, which are hard shell tacos, wrapped in a soft shell taco with some sauce in between, and you can choose between their chorizo or chicken. We got one of each. I liked the chicken more but my partner liked the Chorizo. And all the toppings the perfect Fixin's. They only had three washroom stalls, which were gender neutral, and I thought they were relatively clean.

    I've been checking out Mexican restaurants lately and I feel like La Carnita is the best that I've…read morehad in downtown Toronto! First, La Carnita isn't perfect. You enter the restaurant from a set of stairs outside and the restaurant doesn't look too appealing from outside. Also, the restaurant always seems busy and/or small, so it's always loud and service is slow. With the negatives out of the way, let me explain why I love La Carnita! The food is amazing! Their tacos are on point, and with so many to choose from I can go back multiple times can never get bored. Each of their tacos has something different to offer and each has relatively good balance to them. The balance of freshness and savory (and sometimes sweet) toppings is well done, making me come back for more. The one item that pushes La Carnita over the top is their nachos! Homemade nacho chips with gooey cheese and a generous amount of toppings makes them my favorite nachos in Toronto! One last observation is that the service is always friendly. They may be (very) slow at times but they seem like they always try their best and are always quite pleasant. Overall, I love La Carnita and when I get a craving for tacos and nachos, I'm heading straight here!

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    Hacienda las Américas

    Hacienda las Américas

    4.0(74 reviews)
    1.5 km
    $$

    Some might this this is crazy, but these tacos are better than Seven Lives. Calm down, I wasn't…read moresure if it would live up to the hype either, but this place exceeded every expectation that I could have. Hacienda is located on College Street, very close to Sneaky Dees, in a bit of a tucked away, inconspicuous location. The interior is fantastic and the atmosphere is authentic. There are a lot of reviews that knock this place for service, but that's not really the point of this restaurant. It's a family run place where the focus is food and soccer (when it's on) if you need something, you may need to call the serve over yourself, but that's no big deal cocerning the food. The tacos are the best I've had in the City. At three tacos for $12, it's hard to go wrong. After reading some of the previous reviews, the beef tongue was an obvious choice. I'm not too big in beef personallty, but the meat was so tender and almost melted. Next was the chorizo taco. It was fantastic. The chorizo wasn't overly salty like in a lot of other Mexican restaurants, which made a huge difference. The flavor was deep and rich, and paired perfectly with the salsa. Lastly was the carnitas. It's hard to make carnitas as good as Seven Lives, but wow, these were something else. The carnitas were tender, juicy, and perfectly crispy. The corn tortillas were also made in-house and were fresh and delocious. The servers also bring two sauces to the table - one salsa verde (green salsa) and one hot sauce. Both were great but be careful with the hot sauce, it's a heavy hitter! Pro tip: get a Mexican Coke, it's amazing! Hacienda is the best taco place is the City. Seven Lives is a close second, but Hacienda has them beat in terms of authenticity and flavor. Put this place on your go-to list, it will it dissapoint. 5/5

    The tacos were really good and the people who I assume were the owners were so nice to us. The…read moreplace itself was kind of small, but the waitress helped us move the tables together so that we could all sit together. I got two orders of the pork tacos and one order of the steak taco. Everyone in our party ordered different things from the soup, to nachos, to chimichangas. I also tried the tamarind drink and the mango drink which were interesting as I don't normally order sugary drinks.

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    Mexican cuisine

    Fonda Lola - mexican - Updated May 2026

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