Taqueria La Loma

NOTE:  (20 July 2008) We've had a report that this restaurant is having quality problems.  We haven't been able to get there yet ourselves to confirm this.  In the meantime, proceed with caution. -- Joe

Once, it was nearly impossible to find good Mexican and Central American food in the Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti area.  Now there are several great places to choose from.  Taqueria La Loma in Ypsilanti is one of our favorites.

La Loma is a hard restaurant to miss.  Painted neon yellow and orange, the building really stands out along the residential-commercial mix of buildings along Michigan Ave near Mansfield.  The inside is as cheery as the outside, with lots of red, purple, and green.  A TV mounted in one corner plays Spanish-language television shows for the benefit of the large Spanish-speaking segment of the clientele.

La Loma offers the standard taqueria repetroire -- tacos, flautas, burritos, enchiladas, etc. -- all done quite well.  We've particularly enjoyed their tacos al pastor (pork marinated in adobo and spices, usually stacked on a big rotating spit and sliced off -- explanation here).  You can get items a la carte or served with full meals (with rice and beans) or combo platters.

One atypical item: wonderful pupusas, a specialty from El Salvador.  Pupusas are only listed on the menu as a part of a full meal, but if you ask you can get them a la carte for the (as of this writing) fabulous price of $2 per pupusa.

Pupusas at La Loma

Horchata de arroz (a Mexican rice drink flavored with cinnamon and almonds) is probably our favorite Mexican beverage, but be warned (in a happy way):  the large horchata at La Loma is not only delicious but also muy grande.

La Loma serves a great tortilla soup.  Ever since having La Loma's Sopa Azteca, I've been disappointed with other local restaurants' versions of the dish.

Tortilla Soup

And, of course, a Central American meal wouldn't be complete without flan.  La Loma's flan is dense and smooth and large enough to share -- if you can bring yourself to not want to grab the entire thing after the first bite.

Flan

La Loma is a bit out of the way for Ann Arborites, and oddly located for an Ypsi restaurant, but  it's very close to I-94 and well worth the trip.  The food is wonderful and inexpensive, and if that's not incentive enough, La Loma has their own free parking.  (Hey, that's a big deal in the AA-Ypsi area.)

From Ypsilanti:  head down Michigan Ave as if going to the I-94 interchange.  La Loma will be on your right. 

From Ann Arbor: the easiest way is to get on I-94 and get off the Michigan Ave exit.  Turn toward Ypsilanti.  La Loma will be on your left.

You can't miss it.

Taqueria La Loma
(734) 487-9651
1004 W Michigan Ave
Ypsilanti, MI 48197

(If you're looking for directions on the web, you'll find that it's mis-spelled as La Lona.)

Comments

[brian cors]

La Loma is incredible. Sadly, close to nothing there is vegetarian - so my wife cannot go there and experience the yummyness. But indeed, its one of the best in the area. Hands down!

[Barbara (Biscuit Girl)]

My stomach is growling after reading this and looking at the pics. We were going to go out for Korean but I may try to talk dear hubby into mexican.

[Tricia]

We drove by there about 10 days ago and my boys (2 and 5) were quite impressed by the colors! I was intrigued enough to consider stopping for lunch on our way back, but the 5yo had fallen asleep. I guess we'll have to make a special trip out there, now that I know what to expect!

[Tony Chan]

Awesome food website!!! Nice reviews and pictures. I am a student of U of M business school. We have a class project and our project is to create a food blog. The url is www.nicetaste.com. Please come to visit and give us some comments. I will definitely add you to our blogroll. Great work!

--Tony

[KGS]

TV mounted in one corner plays Spanish-language television shows for the benefit of the large Spanish-speaking segment of the clientele.

We went there recently with J & P, on a Friday night. About 2 dozen people came and went during the time we were there, and *not one* spoke Spanish or looked Latino. It was odd, considering this place's rep. Maybe we were just there at the wrong time...?

Good to know about the pupusas, though. P ordered the pupusa meal and we all could had dinner with just that dish considering how much food it is!

[Joe]

What time were you there? I've noticed they're getting more Anglo customers as word spreads, but the last time we were there on a Friday there were tons of Latinos as well.

[KGS]

Typical dinner hour, 7-9 PM or so. I thought the customer population was odd, and even more odd that there were empty tables sometimes (not when we left, but when we arrived there were).

[Joe]

In my experience, dinnertime in Latin America is a bit later than here. I think, but am not sure, that we've seen the predominantly Latino crowd later in the evening.

[Tricia]

Thanks to your review, we did end up going last weekend. The waitress noticed our print-out with part of your review and we got the impression we weren't the first to carry it in! My husband pronounced the al pastor meat as better than Sabor Latino's. Although it was kind of onion-y for my tastes, I did enjoy the tortilla soup. The pupusas were nice - because of the sour cream I preferred the chicken pupusa to the al pastor, but really enjoyed my taco al pastor. The sopaipillas, on the other hand - sigh. Is there any place west of the Rockies that makes the puff ball form of sopaipillas?? I enjoyed the mixture of honey and cinnamon and chocolate sauce, but I really wish they had a different term for the flat "fried tortilla" form of sopaipillas. I guess I'll need to go to New Mexico or El Paso to get a fix!

[Lars]

Hey, I'm glad you found some good mexican food. I couldn't live without it myself, but where I'm at, there's no shortage.

I was gonna ask if you've ever been to Zingermans, but I see it's the first link on your home page :).
I just met Ari Weinzweig (founder) a few weeks ago. Great guy who knows his stuff. I hope to make a pilgrimage to Zingermans some day.

[Francis]

Went to T La Loma yesterday with my son for a late lunch. He had the ceviche tostadas, which he enjoyed. I thought they were just so-so. The seasonings tasted very fresh, but not the fish. I had the tacos al pastor and tacos with chorizo. The tacos al pastor were better. We would definitely go back - with the rest of the family.

While the tastes were fresh in my memory, today I happened to swing by Taqueria Lupita in Mexicantown, Detroit. The tacos al pastor at T Lupita are much better (and cheaper). But then you have to go all the way to Detroit........

[Kitchen Chick]

Francis: I agree. Lupita is wonderful.

[Jay]

I went to La Loma today and it was fantastic. It's the best Mexican food I've had in Ann Arbor. I had tacos, pupusas, and the sopapilla con helado - all were great. The staff was extremely friendly. It was a very nice experience.

[kate]

Sounds so good. But you didn't answer one very important question: Do they have margaritas?

[Kitchen Chick]

Kate: no, it doesn't serve margaritas.

(I've never seen margaritas at tacquerias either in Michigan or Austin Texas, which isn't to say that there isn't a tacqueria out there serving alcohol, but I think of tacqueries as being more similar to diners than restaurants.)

[Joe (Kitchen Chick's husband)]

I'm not sure Taqueria La Loma has a liquor license. You might want to call and check.

[guth3]

Taqueria La Loma is absolutely one of our favorites! They DO NOT have a liquor license, but the cook did inform us one time that we could BYOB and that would be just fine.

[Crystal]

My husband and I lived in Oregon for 6 years where there is a very large population of Mexican immigrants. There were lots of really good authentic Mexican restaurants around and we were spoiled. After moving back home to Michigan, we were disappointed with the Mexican food scene. But La Loma delivers! Now it's the only place we go when we crave Mexican food. GREAT stuff. Very authentic. And the service is awesome.

Everything I've had is so good. Particularly though, we've been really impressed with the tortilla soup.

In fact, we're getting takeout from La Loma tonight. I can't wait. I think I might have to try the pupusas!

[ufotofu]

I'll have to try TLL soon. My wife and I are currently on a Mexican food kick. We recently discovered La Casita (34639 Ford Rd, Westland, a couple of miles down from Ikea), a pretty well stocked Supermercado for all your chili and Mexican grocery needs if you don't want to trek all the way to Mexicantown. There's a pretty decent taqueria there also. The proprietor introduced us to some excellent stone ground and preservative free corn tortillas (and gave us a free package) made at the recently opened Ann Arbor Tortilla factory, which is in an unassuming industrial complex near Lowe's (3729 Trade Center Dr). The place is mostly a Mexican style Western union and express package delivery office, but they also sell very fresh tortillas, real tortilla chips and papusas (frozen).

[Kitchen Chick]

Thanks for the tip about the AA Tortilla factory! Good fresh tortillas are wonderful.

[Tricia]

Fresh tortillas - be still my heart! (Although the brand from Adrian is pretty good.) That would be the Lowe's on Carpenter/Ellsworth, I see from google maps.

[Randi]

Robin always wants to go to Qdoba when we're in AA. I'm dragging her here next time.

[Kitchen Chick]

Tricia: what is the Adrian brand called?

Randi: give us a call if you want dinner company at La Loma!

[ufotofu]

For those willing to go to Mexicantown I discovered two large Supermercados. E & L specializes as a meat market (with a decent assortment of fish as well) as well as a fully stocked Mexican grocery store, located at 6000 W Vernor. I was most impressed with the recently (last August) expanded Honey Bee at 2443 Bagley, which is on the east side of I-75, so you have to take Vernor to get there. It's quite big (7000 square feet) and has great fresh vegetables as well as meats and dry goods, spices etc. Both have oodles of fresh tortillas, and have hot tamales (better than Evie's), carnitas and barbacoa among other take out items.

[Danilo]

For vegetarians, ask for "vegetarian botanas" o "botanas de vegetales". They are similar to the "super nachos", but no meat. They load it up with all the fresh veggies they have, including the usual beans, sour cream, etc toppings. It makes for a yummy meal or a good plate to share with others.

[Tricia]

Kitchen Chick, Camacho is the brand of tortillas made in Adrian. We get ours at Busch's, but they're probably available at the other chains in town.

[Kitchen Chick]

Thanks Tricia. As it turns out, that is the brand I buy when I don't have any tortillas from Mexican Town in Detroit. I just never looked closely at the factory address!

[Richard]

Another great place if you're ever in the Livonia area is Old Mexico on five mile & harrison, very authenic food.

[KL]

Although some of the food we had at La Loma was pretty good, some of it was to be avoided. The Sopa Azteca was good, and the burritos looked excellent; the flautas looked fine too. Avoid the Tortas (Mexican Sandwiches) which are boring and not very flavorful. Also, the Pastor meat is pretty fatty and gristly so if you don't enjoy that, skip the Pastor! Overall a mixed experience, but I would go back and try some of the other dishes, especially the burrito.

[Tricia]

I'm wondering if they've changed ownership or cooks. The pupusas are no longer on the menu and not available (at least not that our waiter knew about). The tamales were pretty good, but overall the quality did seem to have deteriorated from previous visits we've made.

[Jason]

wait, this place is still open ?

[Jim M]

It's been closed for several months.

[Joe, Kitchen Chick's husband]

Yeah. I've nuked the spam comment.

[Liz]

Um those aren't pupusas. Those are Mexican gorditas. I am both Mexican & Salvadoran & I promise you that's not what pupusas are supposed to look like. The restaurant can call it what they like, but the picture & and some of the comments about what's inside them tell me straight away that those are gorditas. I'm not being critical. Just trying to provide correct information.