We went to La Nayarita on New Year's Eve with a 5:30 reservation. It was pretty empty when we arrived, but the restaurant slowly got busier as the night went on. The décor is super cute, and the overall vibes were great. The music was excellent, though a little loud at times. The staff were generally friendly, but service was noticeably slow throughout the night.
To start, we shared the nachos birria and the Pasión Nayarita ceviche. The nachos were fine but nothing special, and the portion was smaller than what you usually get elsewhere. That said, they were accommodating and served the beef on the side for the vegetarian in our group, which we appreciated. The ceviche was fresh and tasty, but a bit awkward to eat. A lot of the ingredients were cut into long strips that were hard to scoop, and it really felt like it needed chips or tostadas (which it did not come with).
I also ordered a blackberry mojito mocktail. It was nice to see mocktail options on the menu, which isn't always a given, and flavour-wise it was good. That said, it was quite seedy, which was a little unpleasant.
We also shared the Baja fish tacos and the carne asada. The fish tacos were a bit disappointing. The fish tasted greasy and underwhelming - just not satisfying overall. The carne asada was decent but really needed some kind of sauce. The portion was small, and they could have easily added more mashed potatoes or grape slaw to make it feel more complete. On the plus side, the server let us know the dish came with a free glass of wine, though there were no non-alcoholic substitutions, which was disappointing.
We decided to order dessert, but it took a long time for someone to come back to take our order, and we had the same issue when trying to get the bill. We ordered the tres leches cake and churros, and unfortunately both were misses. The tres leches cake was stiff and dry, and the churros were hard on the outside and very undercooked on the inside.
Overall, I didn't feel like the value was there. I spent over $110 just on my own bill and still left hungry, which is hard to justify. Between the small portions, inconsistent food, and slow service, this wasn't the best Mexican food I've had in the city, especially at this price point. The vibes and music were fun, but it's probably not a place I'd recommend or go out of my way to return to. read more