The history of Mexican food in Spokane isn’t necessarily a pretty one. Granted, these days we can enjoy high-quality choices like De Leon up north (and downtown) to Guerrero in the Valley, but as a whole, we can look back at a world filled with giant burritos with dull salsa and cups of sour cream.
One of the spots that fairly early on was closer to being authentic than most places in town was La Katrina Tacos. Sure, it wasn’t De Leon, and probably not the first place to make decent Mexican food for that matter, but they did serve up some very nice carne asada, as well as nopalitos. Then ownership changed, La Katrina went downhill, before it finally closed.
Now new owners are giving it another try in La Katrina’s old space. Hacienda las Flores does not seem interested in following the current trend of being big on authenticity, but rather aim at serving everything as large as possible. And I mean everything. Even the water and horchata are served in some of the largest glasses I’ve ever seen. And the burritos? Well, it’s back to the traditional American-style burrito, at least size-wise.
Yeah, there’s a lot of sour cream there, and the guacamole isn’t something that will set the world on fire. That’s not to say the burrito is offensively bad as such—the chile colorado actually had a bit of flavor to it—but when there are places are starting to pop up around town that actually feel like individual and unique experiences, I can’t help but wonder if Hacienda las Flores will fall between the cracks. This particularly when Guerrero and Tacos Tumbras are relatively close by.
Hacienda las Flores, then, is not awful, just a bit forgettable. The service is OK (although a waiter just looked strangely at us when we asked what “jamaica” was, and just replied it was a Mexican word) and the lick of paint spruced up the location compared to its La Katrina days.
Even so, I can’t foresee ever going back there.