Good food, friendly people--but $30 for a shrimp quesadilla? Come on…read more
I've been wanting to write this review for a while, and after paying $30 for one shrimp quesadilla, I finally had to say something.
I'm a Napa Valley chauffeur, so I'm constantly driving around the Valley and looking for convenient places to grab food while I'm working. La Luna Market is actually a convenient spot for that. They have drinks, snacks, beer, and a kitchen/taqueria that serves hot food. The employees are genuinely nice, welcoming, and friendly. The people working in the kitchen have that "Tía or Tío you never had" kind of warmth, and I want to give them credit for that.
This review is NOT because the food is bad. It isn't. The food is alright. I actually like their quesadillas, and I love shrimp quesadillas. My kids love quesadillas too.
But $30 for one shrimp quesadilla is absolutely wild.
At that price, I could go to an actual sit-down Mexican restaurant in Napa and get a full meal. And it's not just the quesadilla.
$5.49 for one taco. A super burrito over $20.
When you start adding up food for a family, the prices get ridiculous fast. Imagine bringing three kids who want quesadillas and spending close to $100 on quesadillas alone. At that point, I'm looking at the receipt wondering if the shrimp came with a fucking mortgage payment.
And before anyone says, "Well, everything is expensive now,"--I understand. Food costs, labor, inflation, overhead, all of it. I get it.
But there's something that bothers me about a small neighborhood market/taqueria charging Napa Valley restaurant prices for basic Mexican food.
The reason this especially rubs me the wrong way is that La Luna is in an area where there aren't a ton of convenient lunch options nearby. When you're working in the Valley, driving around, or passing through, you don't always have the luxury of driving another 15-20 minutes to find something reasonably priced.
So when the convenient option knows people are going to stop there because there isn't much else around, it starts to feel like the prices are taking advantage of that situation.
And yes, tourists probably aren't going to blink at a $20+ burrito or a $30 quesadilla. I drive tourists for a living--I see what people spend while they're here. Napa attracts people with money to burn.
But not everybody eating in Napa Valley is on vacation.
There are working-class people who live here. There are drivers, vineyard workers, hospitality workers, construction workers, restaurant employees, locals, families, and people just trying to grab lunch without dropping $30 on a quesadilla.
That's where I think La Luna needs to take a step back.
Your food doesn't suck. Your employees don't suck. Your prices are the problem.
And judging by other reviews mentioning the same thing, I'm clearly not the only person who feels this way.
I'm giving three stars because I don't want to pretend the entire experience is terrible. The employees are great, the food is decent, and the market itself is convenient. But the taqueria pricing is way too aggressive, especially for what you're getting.
La Luna, we love you, but chillllll.
Bring those prices down a little and you'll have a place that working people can actually feel good about stopping at instead of looking at their receipt afterward like, "¿Qué chingados acaba de pasar?"
Por favor.
Much love to the employees, though. You guys are always welcoming and friendly.
Pero este precio no es justo. Está carísimo.