La Pinata Mexican Grill - Oxford

I came here for dinner on friday with 6 other friends. Our waitress Mckenzie was quick to serve us. The drinks were good. It is your generic Tex-Mex food. It is a good place to go with a group of people because there is a lot of seating. I will most likely be returning in the future.

We typically go here for Mexican food in Oxford but last night wasn 't a great experience. They wouldn 't honor our $25 gift certificate (we had won in a community raffle) saying it wasn 't from there. The manager even showed me the current gift cards (slightly different) but it was clear that his signature on both certificates was the same. I feel like he just didn 't want us to save the $25 last night. Not impressed. I 'm already boycotting Fiesta Charra because they tried to cheat us on the cost of margaritas last year. I 'm running out of Mexican restaurants in Oxford! Worth the drive to El Reparo in Liberty, IN.

Sometimes, it pays to go in to a place without looking at the reviews. La Pinata is one such place. A co-worker and I ventured off of High Street in search of a lunch place. After my masterful parallel parking in front of La Pinata, we went in for what turned out to be a fairly pleasant surprise. Pros: Ample parking around the area. Ample seating inside the restaurant. Very cheap food less than $7 for a plate of Arroz con Pollo). Cheap seafood $5 +tax for shrimp and fish tacos). Huge menu Freshly made salsa with chips free, of course) Cons: Not gourmet for sure. Service can be slow due to staffing issues, though it was fast on our visit. All in all, don't come in here expecting Tex-Mex on the level of Nada. Instead, La Pinata is on par with most Tex-Mex places. But altogether, I think this restaurant definitely deserves to be much higher than the 1.5 stars it receives so far.

If I had to sum up my experience at this restaurant, it would simply be, "Really?" We waited 35 minutes before anyone even asked if we wanted water. It was a slow start, but I tried to stay optimistic. After placing our order, it took another 50 minutes for some of our food to arrive, but one member of our group had to wait an extra 15 minutes for theirs. I understand it was a busy night, but come on, shouldn’t there be a better system for serving customers in a timely manner? I used to think this place was great back in my college days, but I definitely won't be coming back in the future.

My daughter and I enjoy visiting Mexican restaurants, and La Piñata is definitely the best we've tried so far. The food was incredible and fresh, practically melting in your mouth. The staff was also wonderful and friendly.