La Olla Mexican Cafe

Had a great dinner there the other night. Yummy food, warm ambience, fast and friendly service! Can't ask for much more.

Food was plentiful, taste was meh for me, nice restaurant - we were there close to closing - the manager stared at us a lot hoping to hurry us thru our dinner and put the door. Our waitress was great.

This restaurant is fantastic. We came on a Friday night around 7 and they were able to immediately seat our family of four. The kids menu has great choices which is a plus. Everything we ordered was delicious. My 12 year old took one bite of his meal and said, "wow, we're definitely going to be coming here again!" The calabacitas were my favorite I've tried. Everything was fresh and flavorful. Our new favorite Mexican restaurant in Marana.

First time trying this restaurant while visiting family in Arizona. I'll say first a small critique, that my carnitas dinner was different - not what I typically receive at Mexican restaurants. That said, it was still very good and I enjoyed trying the new accompaniments. The moderate portion of finely chopped shredded pork had peppers & onions in it, and maybe more seasoning than I expected to taste. It was good. Not the typical large chunks with oil & fat that other restaurants serve as carnitas; this was probably much healthier version! The calabacitas side was very good - I'd never had that anywhere else before. It's a zucchini & corn ... maybe other veggies in sauce or creamed corn? The "tamale pie" was a wedge shaped piece of very moist cornbread with some green chilis & corn in it, topped with cheese. Think "scalloped corn casserole" and you might understand the flavor better. It was delicious. The grilled pepper & scallion garnish - pepper was tender & spicy-hot! And scallion not grilled enough to bite so was tough to try to eat it. I kind of gnawed on it and set it aside. I did enjoy the large hand stretched flour tortilla. In other restaurants I request corn tortillas but this was unique and I enjoyed it. I tore pieces off to wrap pork into it. My husband had the carne asada burro (burrito) it was huge and stuffed with meat. 3 Other guests had: chicken bowl (?) , a huge chicken filled chimichanga, fried tacos with beef. Salsa was delicious!!! Chips were a bit thick so very filling to eat too many of them. Guacamole was good but a bit bland - needed at least salt & lime! I would eat here again with no problem. I rather enjoyed the new experiences with my carnitas dinner. Also of note - the chimichanga was not crispy because of the enchilada sauce on top. That might make a difference to some diners.

We love this place. Everyone is always so nice and they have great recommendations, we've never had a bad dish. Their calabacitas is the best we've ever had. Sometimes we go just to have that and a day drink! Highly recommend!

Before hopping on the road to head home, we stopped at La Olla for lunch. My hubby said he needed one more fix to last until our next visit to Tucson. Again, delicious food and great service! Adding a pic of my tamale *chef kiss* My daughter had the chimichanga and said it tasted great!

We really liked this place! I had never heard of it and a friend took me here. I opted for carnitas tacos and he got the stacked enchilada. Both were so delish! The calabacitas were amazeballs!! Service was excellent and prices were fair. Oh and the house margarita was really tasty.

Always always excellent service and food. Casual atmosphere and quiet environment makes a great dinner perfect!

Took about 30 seconds to understand that La Olla is (as the owner says) "a local, family owned and operated restaurant." The clue? The attitude we got from everyone working there. Even with that, I might've considered a bit better rating, but things went from sour to spoiled pretty quickly.The Wife wants some authentic Sonoran; we've driven past La Olla before, so we figure we'll give it a shot. Hostess tries to seat us at the first table inside the door, and I'm wondering why this is good as I scan all the other empty spaces. The Wife says, "If it's OK, we'd like to sit at the bar; there's going to be too much traffic here." From Hostess' reaction, I'm thinking The Wife had kicked her cat.Oh, well; maybe Hostess is having a bad day.Bartender is having the same bad day. The Wife's seat isn't warm, my butt's still hovering over my stool, and Bartender is demanding what we want. The Wife says, "If it's OK, we'd like to look at the menus first." We're left in begrudging peace for just 60 seconds before Bartender & his attitude are back at us; I order a gold margarita just to placate him.The drink comes, and it's wet. Not much else noteworthy about it.The Wife's first stab at an order gets shot down. She'd like the specialty tacos w/ calabacitas, hold the cheese. Bartender doesn't hide his disdain: "Calabacitas have a lot of cheese, you know." The Wife's surprised because this Mexican squash dish isn't *always* made with cheese, and I'm wondering why he needs to be so snotty. She goes with her second choice (Tamale-of-the-Day); I order carnitas flautas and ask for a Blue Moon to wash them down.The food arrives, and I'm still parched. I suspect Bartender forgot the ale, but then I see him wrestling the keg. Maybe that's why he's having a bad day. I consider changing the order, but he gets me the 16-ouncer before my plate's half-empty.La Olla says their classic Sonoran dishes have "an original twist," but I'll be stuffed if I can figure out what that is. Flautas are near-burnt fried flour tortillas wrapped around over-done carnitas (a SIN!!!) with some guacamole & salsa on the side. The presentation is pretty, but the flavor is pretty standard; same is true for The Wife's tamale. I'm glad I didn't order the far more expensive manchego shrimp.We're done and opt not to order desert; Bartender huffs. The Wife starts to say something about being a discount club member, but Bartender interrupts her -- "Yeah. We don't do that." -- before practically throwing the bill at me. Probably the high point of the visit, even without the $10 club discount; the total's around sixty bucks, and I figure, "You get what you pay for." I forgo my typical over-tip and enter something around 12%.The Wife & I aren't even out of the parking lot before we agree that we won't be back. Tucson's got too many really good restaurants to suffer mediocre food and servers who are really good at making diners feel bothersome.(Interesting side note: The Wife reports to the club that La Olla didn't honor the discount, and the club's response shows the kind of service we'd expect from a small, local, family-owned & -operated restaurant. Live & learn.)

Been there many times and food is consistently good. Service is also always good. The calabacitas - the best around.