Tequeria La Patrona is a truly authentic Mexican California Taqueria-style restaurant located on Lynhaven Parkway in Virginia Beach.

Upon walking into the restaurant, the atmosphere felt electric, Mexican music played in the background, and the waitstaff moved quickly from table to table, carrying hot plates, drinks, and chips. The lighting was dim, giving it a homey but mysterious vibe immediately.

The restaurant’s menu offers a wide variety of food, including appetizers, quesadillas, birria, tacos, and tortas, to name a few. Although the restaurant may be best known for its street tacos and wild house-made margaritas, they also introduced the extremely popular meat Birria to Hampton Roads in 2020.

With such an extensive menu, it is hard to go wrong with any food choice. We knew automatically that the restaurant was popular, but happily discovered that it was crowded on a random weekday evening. Customers always return for great service and even better food, especially to a place they are comfortable and where the wait staff knows people by name.

Seniors Jacob Palmerton, Rex Miller, Alex John, Hank Brown, and Nate Wallace were joined by sophomore Trey Miller to experience the cuisine offered by La Patrona. The six food reviewers shared Horchatas, Tacos, Quesadillas, Birria, and more as they plowed through the variety of Mexican food.

As food reviewers, they are required to rate the different dishes they order. It was not even a little bit surprising when every item that was taste-tested earned a rating between 7 and 10, reflecting the authenticity of the restaurant and the chefs’ professionalism and knowledge of the food.

In the end, Palmerton, the Miller boys, John, Brown, and Wallace decided La Patrona was not a one-and-done dining experience and look forward to returning in the near future.