La Hispana

Small not much in here. Dirty and dusty shelves and floors. Would not go back unless someone says it's changed. No fresh goods sold here. Shelves are sparse with canned goods. Cold beverages in cooler.

A good place for authentic Hispanic items. It has all the basic stuff like beans and peppers. La Hispana is also good for getting hard to find things. Fresher than at most groceries. The prices are better here. Basic stuff along with more exotic foods. It has a lot of canned foods like beans as you can imagine. They also have fresher made stuff like salsa and tamales. It doesn't cost that much for the freshness. The salsa is about $2 for a container, and the tamales are about the same. Also they have lots of authentic candy. They have an almond brittle that is crunchy and sweet. It can be hard to find. It's located on State Street where it splits near the train tracks and it's easy to miss. This is worth finding though.

Anytime I make pulled pork or chicken the hubbs stops here to get their amazing rolls! They are crazy affordable too at $0.50 each. So as we are both usually running home from work and getting the kiddos I never make it here - well all that changed on Saturday! The wall of glasses baked goods - I geared up for a delicious taste experience - I picked one of everything with reckless abandon having no idea what anything was - but how could I go wrong right? I went towards the deli counter (I had been in here once before when we were dating) to get the fresh salsa and carnitas that are both to die for fresh - well they didn't have the carnitas but told me they had 7 types of tamales today up front - yes 7! On my way back to the front I grabbed fresh jalapeños and tomatillos - some shredded quesa rayada (very mellow white cheese) - a pack of HAZELNUT wafer cookies (and for $1.19! Suck that you crappy woorman wafers) and some mango nectar - because who doesn't want mango nectar it just sounds sexy! I asked the lovely woman at the front about tamale types and grabbed three that made my stomach scream "that one woman" when I opened the lid for the pot- I also made it a point to grab a package of dried ancho chilies, bay leaves, frozen handmade tortillas (why not!) and a fresh made bag of chips. Now you could say I spent close to $50 but I can say I spent time with a wonderful shop taking my taste buds and self on a cultural adventure of appreciation and really in this life isn't that what we are supposed to do. Sorry I only have the one picture the kids were playing with my phone in the car with Dad - and this one picture is what's left of some rich REAL cocoa donut thing / we also just polished off a raised pink iced coconut dipped cookie and were speeding towards a piece of cookie/cake - hurtling towards calories with a smile!Go. Go today. Go often too - bc its fresh no preservatives so you have to

Amazing little Mexican grocery store and Taqueria! As a native Californian, I'm always on the lookout for authentic Mexican food, and this place really hit the spot. They make their own corn tortillas and do a mean Al Pastor. The chicken tacos were a little dry, so stick to the steak and pork. A little slice of home right in NE Ohio!

One of the previous reviews mentioned tamales, but la hispana doesn't sell tamales. I think she's confused it with la Mexicana on Washington st, which is excellent and does sell house -made tamales.

Turns out the very best taqueria in Cleveland is... in Painesville. Also moved to Northeast Ohio from Northern California and this terrific little bodega scratches the nostalgia itch. And the cook was wondering why I was crying in my pozole...