Harshath G.
Yelp
I first discovered this small hole in the wall back in 2018 where I fell in love with the place. The quality used to be on-point every single time, and I enjoyed many of their dishes. I introduced this place to many friends as well to support the delicious food and the positive messaging. Back then, I would have given this place a 6 out of 5 -- it was one of my favorite restaurants in Baltimore.
While it has been great that the place has become more popular and thriving since then, it has been sad for me to see the lack of consistency now. I have had one too many experiences in the past year where the orders were incorrect, ingredients were swapped, or dishes were missing items. This has become too frustrating for me. Additionally, while I recognize prices have to increase over time, Cocina Luchadoras has been dropped from my go-to spots, and I have been cautious of recommending it to others for its consistency and value for money.
Ambiance: Extremely casual place with minimal seating inside and outside. The inside is decorated with a lot of vibrant colors and positive messages surrounding female empowerment, which is great! If you're coming here on a weekend, I wouldn't count of having any guarantees that you would have seating available, so I generally plan for take-out. You can place your order at the counter inside, although calling ahead to order is a great idea as they can get pretty busy on weekend nights.
Food: As a vegetarian, it has flavorful vegetarian options with the nopales (cactus), mushrooms, or fajitas on multiple different options. All my non-vegetarian friends have also enjoyed all their meat options.
- Tortas: The tortas are quite filling for their size with a variety of ingredients. Used to be what I usually got here until I discovered some other options.
- Sopes: These have a thick, fried masa/corn base that is topped with protein of choice, refried beans, crumbly cotija cheese, lettuce, and pickled red onions. These are often my favorite dish to get, and you can get an order of 3 with different protein choices.
- Quesadilla: They have a quesadilla that is made from flour base or from corn base, and I definitely recommend the one with the corn base. This is the dish I get most consistently, and is more unique and flavorful compared to most other restaurants. However, some of my frustrations in consistency have been with them swapping out flour for corn tortillas even though the corn quesadilla costs more.
- Tamales: I think they make a set of these, so they could potentially run out. They were pretty good, but nothing I would get on a regular basis.
I think ignoring consistency and price, the food when correct is still a 5/5. I was struggling to decide between 3 or 4 stars -- I have supported this restaurant for too many years deserving 4 stars. Whether or not I will go back much after the frustrations with the lack of consistency is up in the air.