Mi Vida Gorda

Great service, they were happy to explain dishes to first-time customers. We loved the chicken tacos and pork tinga burrito, both made without onions exactly as requested. We tried both salsas; the green was very mild but the roja was very spicy (even for my wife, who is pretty good with spicy). We also tried toe adjacent spots in Foodlab, for beer and for dessert. The location (1.5 blocks from the Mission Inn) was a plus for walking in the rain.

I came in here with high hopes love patronizing small businesses but unfortunately the food didn't deliver. I ordered a burrito de chilaquiles and was served what felt like a tortilla with a bunch of beans and soggy chilaquiles. Truth be told I can differentiate between the beans and what was supposed to be the star of the show. That's my two cents go try it for yourself.

Just because you slap a mural of Selena on your wall doesn't mean your food is worthy of Mexican/Chicano standards. Never eating here again, the food is a joke. The burritos are filled with all beans and zero meat. I recommend any Mexican hole in the wall joint rather than this place. Whoever owns this place also needs more employees. You have a lunch rush with 1 cook and one cashier, in the heart of downtown where hundreds of people gather during lunch time. Tell me you're cheap without telling me you're cheap. Take down that Selena picture and put the Monopoly man on there instead...money and greed over good quality food.

Service was good, drinks are okay. Very light handed, which was disappointing. The decor is cute though.

Mi Vida Gorda...My Fat Life! This reminds me of a meme I once saw and it couldn't have been more true.It read:"If you had to choose between EATING TACOS everyday or BEING SKINNY, would you choose hard or soft tacos?" That's an easy one! I of course chose being skin... YEAH RIGHT!!! Soft TACOS baby!!! LOLand while you are at it, give me some arroz y frijoles and a Mexican Coke ese.That's Right, Taco's are Life and I'm a better man because of them... Hear me out. Has your stomach ever growled? Have you ever been Hangry??I bet 3 Carne Asada tacos topped with onion, cilantro, salsa and a slice of lime with a side of Mexican rice, refried beans and fresh chips & salsa will make you instantly better.Have you ever been invited to a kids birthday party and you really didn't want to go, but then you find out that they hired a taco man?"Kids, let's get in the car! We don't want to be late to the party!" Exactly!! Have you ever been asked some asinine question like would you rather be skinny or eat tacos everyday?? Yeah, what a DUMB question lolWell, two weekends ago, we found ourselves out in Riverside, California for a wedding that we were invited to. Guess what wasn't served at the wedding buffet ;) It's all good, it was an open bar so we'll let them slide. Anywho....After the wedding was over, we went back to our hotel, took off our finest attire, got back into our comfy clothes and we took a short walk across the street to Riversides Food Hall, the Food Lab. Burgers, Sushi, Ramen, Pizza, Cookies, Ice Cream, Beer, Tacos.....Wait! STOP!!Did somebody say Tacos??? Game Over!!!My fat ass beelined towards Mi Vida Gorda and I got my fix. 1 Asada, 1 Al Pastor, 1 Chicken Tinga Aka, the triple Threat (Beef, Pork, & Chicken) My saying, not theirs. 3 beautiful tacos on homemade corn tortillas, topped with onion, cilantro & a scoop of guacamole. This with a slice of lime, some homemade chips and their finest salsa... I was a happy boy. Tacos are made to order, tortillas are homemade & it's 100% Authentic Chicano food (there is a neon sign that says so). Other than tacos, this place has Esquites (Mexican street corn salad), chicharrones (my fav), Taquitos, Sopes, Tortas, and of course some desserts! See, whether I'm Eating Tacos, buying the ingredients to make Tacos, or I'm outside with a beer in my hand grilling up some carne asada for my tacos; I am INSTANTLY in a better mood and am 100% in my happy place! So, let me Live my best Life... MI VIDA GORDA!

It's located in the Riverside Food Lab and despite having the shortest line on a Saturday, the wait took much longer than the rest of my party who diverted elsewhere to go order food to reconvene. We got the: 1) Skeet Skeet:-It's equites basically, so unless you make any adjustments it comes with mayo, cotija, tajin, butter, and lime. -Can't really mess this up, but it was definitely much waterier than what I would have liked, like the juices from the corn diluting everything and making it soggy. -It's edible, but there's better equites out there. 2) Con Safos Nachos: -You can get this with a choice of chips or fries, and we opted for fries. -It comes with your choice of meat or veggie, and we chose carne asada. -For toppings, you get beans, salsa verde & roja, crema, cotija, cilantro, and cobija de queso, which literally translates to blanket of cheese (so it's melted shredded cheese on top). -Fries were a bit soggy and the dish was much saltier than what I would have preferred, ended up taking too much of this back as leftovers to remake this for our palate. 3) Taco Fuego:-I LOVE Hot Cheetos, so I knew I had to get this. -It's a Hot Cheetos tortilla, crema, choice of meat, pickled onion, cilantro, some melted cheese, and Hot Cheetos crumbs. -For meat, I got al pastor. -Honestly, I need to stop getting suckered into Hot Cheetos things since, any time it's not just Hot Cheetos on it's own (or their Mac n Cheese), the Hot Cheetos flavor gets drowned out by everything else. -This was just alright. With all the other food options and especially Mexican food in the vicinity, I'd skip out on Mi Vida Gorda.

Food: 5/10 I was actually not a fan of the food and the cheese crust they put on top of the nachos. I would definitely not get these again.Service: 7/10 The service was normal.Ambiance: 10/10 The food lab looks super cool.

Food was ok. There are better Mexican food options elsewhere And certainly better food options in the Food LabBut $6 for chips n salsa?! That's ridiculous!

My BF and I were in the Riverside area and decided it was time to visit The Food Lab. Without looking at reviews for any of the establishments on Yelp we just decided to go in and scope the place and choose 3 places to try. Mi Vida Gorda was one of the places we tried on our visit on a Sunday. Their menu looked straight forward and they had these unique cocktails too. We ordered their trio taco plate all asada and for a drink to try we got their "El Sangron". Upon getting our food we noticed we only got 2 asada and 1 other random one which was fine. It was all yummy! The tortilla felt and tasted freshly made by hand and the meat was super tasty. The tacos are a lot bigger than other places I've been to but still, the plate was pricy. I wasn't a fan of the drink I got. "El Sangron" was very bitter and lacking in flavor, well a flavor to keep me drinking it I should say. It tasted a lot like a margarita gone bad lol but I still finished it and was still buzzing lol. After our visit, I was surprised to see they were only rated 3 stars on Yelp. Not sure if I came on a good day but everything was great! Even if it was super busy because of an Anime convention near by.

I cannot brag about this place enough! The guys working were super friendly and really knowledgeable about the menu and gave great suggestions. The vibe is very casual, but still a great place to go on a date. And the food. My godddd the food, is DELICIOUS. Everything on the menu sounds good so it's hard to choose, but whatever you decide to order, make sure you get the esquite with hot Cheetos!