[thakrza]

We are going Friday night--what are wait times like? How is the food lately?

[Angelhair]

See Nick's report of our outing (about a month ago) at Extramsg.com.

I like alot of their menu, especially the starter plates and the soups. Two bits of advice: 1. get there early as there is always a wait. And #2, under no circumstances order the ceviche.

Cocktails are great, and the tortillas are homemade and delicious. Save room for desert.

The wait can be over and hour for a party of four or more on Friday. If you are two, consider eating at the bar or near the kitchen.

[thakrza]

Thanks--would you say this place is better, on par with or worse than Autentica?

Autentica is our favorite Mexican right now--their brunch is truly perfect. And those pork enchiladas for lunch?!??!! Their tortillas rock too. We have yet to go for the pozole.

[Angelhair]

I prefer Autentica.

Don't get me wrong, though, I like Neustra...I just really, really hate waiting.

[thakrza]

Me too. Ugh. My husband and I have sort of promised ourselves we'd finally go, but we love Autentica so much that Nuestra may not end up being worth it, esp. if I have to wait--I go insane. And I make my own flan, so deserts are not what I go to Mexican restaurants for (per the MSG report on Nuestra and the deserts being the best thing about N.C.). Maybe we'll just go to Pok Pok instead!

[loofahgirl]

Do they have a bar/drinks at Autentica?

[thakrza]

I have seen a bar in the back but have not paid attention to if they have a liquor shelf.

[j_schmeckl]

We had some great margaritas at Autentica on our visit. I recall they have a very limited selection of liquors.

We are late diners (rarely before 8pm) and our last visit to Nuestra we got a drink at the bar and waited maybe 15 minutes for a table. We also love the sangria at NC.

[thakrza]

Ah so maybe go have a snack and eat late...good idea.

[Cat Lancaster]

I was there back in February and truely enjoyed my meal as did my two companions. Of course now I don't remember what we had, but I know we split two appitizers and each had our own main course. I do however remember being pretty full after the apps and taking most of my dinner home.

Had no problem with the wait as we went on a Wednesday night at 8:00. And I have to give them credit b/c we were still eating at almost 10 and there were no other customers in the place, but they didn't push us to leave. Of course they were doing the cleaning/closing up routines, but I didn't feel any preasure from the wait staff.

Cat Lancaster

[Daaaaave]

I might have missed some news everyone else already knows about, but I drove by Nuestra Cocina tonight and it was completely shut down and dark. Anyone know what's up?

[ExtraMSG]

They're closed this week for vacation.

[gal4giants]

Pretty sure they do this every year...kinda like us. 2 times a year i believe, just call t confirm vacation days. We haven't been since we changed our days of operation. We made a point to get it in during August, & it was fantastic, as always.

kim @ apizza

[kjcanfield]

Mmmmm, just got back from another wonderful dinner at Nuestra - and get this - NO WAIT!!! I was giddy from the moment we sat down.

The food was flawless (didn't order the dreaded ceviche) - Had two starters for my dinner, the TACOS DE PUERCO and the CHILE RELLENO CON PICADILLO with pork, almonds and raisins. It was a tad spicy for my taste, but I am such a lightweight in that regard, I can't fault the kitchen on that one.
My guy ordered the GORDITAS RELLENAS and loved it, but he did order the tacos as well after seeing mine! The pepper infused margarita is to die for as well.

I know this place seems hit and miss review-wise, but aside from the usual wait, I have never had less than an amazing meal here. Now that the crowds seem to have died down a little, perhaps the long wait is now only reserved for weekends?

[Cat Lancaster]

I’ve had dinner at Nuestra Cocina probably about 4 or 5 times in the last year and most of those meals I would rate as okay to good, Tuesday night’s dinner however, I would only give a ‘so-so’. They were quite busy when my girlfriend and I got there around 7:15, but we were lucky to be seated right away. Within a few minutes our drink order was taken, and a few minutes after that our food order. Both our appetizer and our main courses were delivered to the table shockingly fast, the drinks however took *forever* to arrive.

We shared a starter of the spicy pork tacos which would turn out to be the best things we ate all night. I thought they had a nice depth of flavor and medium spice, and although my girlfriend liked them she considered them to be a little too spicy for her. She however ate two and I ate one, so what does that tell you…

Her main course was the camarones al mojo {garlic shrimp with black beans and fried plantains} which she liked, but found to be very plain. I personally didn’t taste it. My main course was the chultas de Puerco {pork chops in a tamatillo sauce with grilled veggies}. The meat portion of the meal was quite large – two big pork chops – that unfortunately were completely overcooked (even though when I ordered them I told her medium), dry and with zero fat or flavoring to them. I did eat one, but only b/c it wasn’t awful enough to send back but it just wasn’t ‘enjoyable’ to eat. The “grilled” veggies were watery zucchini & yellow squash that tasted as if they had been boiled and then some of the pot water joined them on my plate. There was no trace of grill marks to be found. Once again, not horrible, but not what I would call good either.

Basically a so-so meal. Nothing that would turn me off of them forever, but nothing to rave about either.

Cat

[Sarah]

I think you're right, those pork tacos are the best thing they've got going for them. Although I did really like the camarones, and I'm not a seafood lover at all. When we were there a couple of months ago both my friend and I had some braised dishes, the lamb which she had was absolutely tasteless, even with the garnishes (lime and some salsa I think). My pork was marginally better, though the black beans it came with were really well cooked, I didn't like the pickled onions because I do them at home exactly how I like them so that's what I'm used to.

So, yeah, it was okay, just not worth the forty minute wait.

[footloose]

Nuestra Cocina was my favorite restaurant for a little while, a few years back. After a few dreamy meals though we took a friend of ours, and he ordered - guess what - ceviche. After all our raving reviews to this friend, that cerviche was a bummer. I still love Nuestra Cocina but the next Mexican restaurant I go to will be Authentica.

[ExtraMSG]

I had probably my best meal ever at Nuestra Cocina last night. My wife and I had: chile relleno, ceviche, birria, gorditas, chocolate cake with cinnamon ice cream. A lot of the problems I've had with the place in the past have seemingly been rectified.

Okay, first to the one that is making PF.org veterans go "WTF?!?": the ceviche. I, of course, haven't gotten it since the midscale Mexican reports because it tasted like cat food smells. However, we sat at the bar last night so I could see other orders going out. It's a "ceviche del dia" now and the one that went out was albacore and looked nice. So when my wife wanted it, I didn't dissuade her. It was actually quite good. I can't remember what else was with the albacore, but I think olives and/or capers, tomatoes, etc, with nice chips. Very tasty.

The relleno was quite good. It had a "picadillo" inside of pork, raisins, and nuts. There was a spicy salsa on the outside, I would guess a puree of tomatillos and a dried chile, since it was yellow brown and the flavor suggested it, but I wasn't really paying attention to the details. I was too busy going over various things for work. However, the pork inside was shredded rather than chopped and it gave the interior a bit of a mushy texture. While it tasted good, it would have been better with the truer picadillo.

My birria was a large lamb shank in broth with chard. Diced onions, chile de arbol salsa, and lime were on the side. (These are traditional accompaniments for soups.) The lamb was tender but not mushy and the brother flavorful. The salsa, onions, and lime brightened it nicely. The regular flow of fresh tortillas were put to good use for tacos de birria. I will note, though, that these tortillas weren't as good as they have been at other times. The senorita making them wasn't especially skilled at the job. She was undercooking them and making them a little too thick. Still better than the best commercial tortilla, but there are several taco trucks that do better and I do better at home.

My wife's gorditas were tasty. They had avocado, rajas and black beans put between split gordita shells that had been crisped. There were two of the hefty vegetarian antojitos for the order.

I think Nuestra has, possibly, the best desserts of the midscale Mexican restaurants, though I can still remember the mediocre desserts they had when they opened. My wife couldn't decide but finally went with the chocolate cake and cinnamon ice cream, a dessert I've had several times. Still tasty. Moist chocolate cake and a cinnamon ice cream that is bold, but not so intense it feels like someone took a teaspoon of cinnamon and dumped it on your tonsils. Caramel and chocolate sauces on the plate help.

[Twitch]

Do they have a bar for solo diners?

[Amanda]

They do have a bar. It's small, as I recall, but there might be room for you to sidle up and have a meal.

Best regards,

Amanda