Restaurant Reivew
La Posta de Mesilla
La Posta is a touristy, long running Mexican restaurant in Old Town Mesilla. It is a favorite with tourists due to the vibrant setting which includes a colorful dining room theme, along with tropical fish tanks and an aviary.
The food here is just mediocre, so you must be okay with sacrificing high quality ingredients in favor of a great ambiance. La Posta is located nearby many boutique shops, making it a convenient choice if you plan on shopping and checking out the sights in Mesilla.
Food
La Posta offers your basic Mexican menu with all the usual fare like burritos, fajitas, enchiladas, as well as a few New Mexican style selections. La Posta is most famous for their Tostadas Compuestas dish which originated in 1939. This New Mexican style dish consists of corn tortilla cups stuffed with frijoles and red chile con carne, and then topped with chopped lettuce, diced tomatoes, and cheddar cheese.
Like most Mexican establishments, you are brought out a complimentary basket of chips and salsa. Unfortunately, the chips were hard and stale and the salsa way too spicy. Unlike most Mexican restaurants where you fill up too much on the chips, this definitely is not the case at La Posta as the quality is just not there.
For our entrees we went with the "world famous fajitas" and the Chicken Burrito. Both were very underwhelming. The fajita vegetables were not seasoned right and the humongous wraps they gave you as opposed to the usual small corn tortillas just were not the right size for the fillings. The tortillas did not have that fresh homemade taste. The sour cream and guacamole did not seem all that fresh and the serving sizes were too small for multiple tortillas.
The burrito was just okay, not top of the line or anything and could have used more fillings as well as more garnishing. The beans and rice were also blah. Overall, the food was a bit disappointing based on the rave reviews La Posta has received over the years, leading me to believe that the praise has more to do with the nice ambiance than the food.
Service
Our waitress was very unfriendly and acted as if serving customers was an inconvenience. The food took forever, refills of drinks took forever, getting the check took forever. The horrible service was definitely the low point of our dining experience.
Atmosphere
La Posta is located in a historic adobe building from the 1840's. In operation for over 75 years, it is one of the oldest Mexican restaurants in the country. The ambiance is quite nice with several attractively designed dining rooms, fish tanks and an aviary in the lobby. The setting is casual and relaxed with a fun colorful vibe making it a good choice for tourists seeking an entertaining vacation restaurant.
Final Remarks
La Posta is an okay choice if you happen to be strolling around Mesilla for the day. I would not go out of my way for this restaurant as the food and service are both mediocre. The atmosphere is lively and attractive, and thus, should please most tourists seeking a fun vacation experience.
