Tacos, Tortas & Tequila

I came here for lunch today and it was really good! The portions are large and inexpensive so you can easily get filled without breaking the bank. I tried their brisket taco and their garlic shrimp taco. Both were delicious! My boyfriend had the carnitas taco and he loved his as well! This restaurant does a great job of making sure everyone is socially distancing and that everything is clean. Our waiter was also really nice. We had a good time.

What a find! In 8407 Kitchen Bar's old space (that was a loss) it's a lovely restaurant and the food and drink is excellent. The margaritas are super fresh and not too sweet. The plantain side is so so good - caramelized and served with a slightly savory, creamy sauce. Mmmm. The smoked brisket enchiladas with mole - holy mole - seriously good, as is the wonderful street corn. The churros are delicious. The one missing there is that wonderful dark chocolate sauce usually served with them. Their version is more milk chocolate swirled with caramel which just doesn't quite do it for us. But overall, really great. The service was friendly, there is indoor seating and limited outdoor seating. A parking lot is 1 block away. Kid friendly.

First let me say that Buena Vida and Tacos, Tortas, and Tequila are the same place: Buena Vida is upstairs and TT&T is downstairs. This confused me at first because I thought they were 2 different places. I've been to both one time each and both have delicious food!! You can read my review of TT&T on their Google Maps page (hint: I gave it 5 stars too lol). This review of Buena Vida comments on the food, drinks, and service during brunch hours: A friend and I came for brunch on Saturday around 1:30pm and it was great!! We didn't have a reservation, but it was like a 5 minute wait. Brunch is $35 for unlimited food (anything on the menu) and alcoholic drinks, and $25 for just unlimited food, or you can just order a la carte. For brunch they stop seating people at 2pm and they stop serving food at 3pm. I think I heard one of the waiters say that last call (for the bar) was 2:30pm, but he might've been saying something else. The food was absolutely delicious. My favorites were (1) the bacon and avocado quesadilla, which is a cheese quesadilla topped with egg, bacon, tomatoes, avocados. And tbh I mainly loved it because of the cheese quesadilla -- I could eat it without the added toppings. (2) The spicy milanesa, and (3) the plantains. But everything I tried was delicious! (Though I wasn't a fan of the Mexican chocolate cupcake). The *brunch* drinks (my review isn't on the other drinks) were subpar to me. I ordered the mango mimosa and white sangria, and they just lacked flavor in my opinion. My friend had the strawberry mimosa and there was absolutely no strawberry flavor in her first one -- she joked that they just put red food coloring in the drink haha. Her 2nd one had a hint more of strawberry flavor, but it still wasn't enough in my opinion. As far as service goes, this place is the best of the best! As soon as we walked in every worker said hello. We only had to wait 5 minutes for a table, but the hostess was apologetic -- I think for no reason because we didn't have reservations and we legit were only actually waiting for like 3 minutes, so she had nothing to apologize for! As we're going up the stairs and to our table, all of the workers (waiters, busboys, etc) we passed greeted us. What I REALLY loved about this place is the teamwork and overall dynamic of the employees. ALL of the waiters were very proactive. They would walk around and pick up empty plates they saw on people's tables, even if it wasn't one of the tables they were waiting on . A waitress (that wasn't our waitress) stopped by our table and asked if we wanted to order anything else, and then she took our order for more tapas. Like the teamwork here is freaking awesome!! I've worked in a restaurant before and we didn't nothing like that, it was basically every person for themselves. But you can really sense the supportive environment at Buena Vida.

This restaurant is wheelchair accessible and very accommodating. When my friend and I were looking for a table that we liked, the staff immediately offered to bring in a table from outside that would work better for us and when it was a little wiggly, they fixed it in seconds without us having to ask. My friend is a vegetarian and loved her cheese tacos. I got the chicken tacos and really enjoyed them. As a nice surprise, the host brought us mango sorbet from the chef and it was delicious - thick and refreshing. Definitely will be back.

Excellent brunch option in the DMV - wide selection of drinks, bites and desserts for just $35, and free parking in the nearby garage to boot! What you must have: spicy fried chicken, chilaquiles, shrimp and chorizo grits, and abondigas. My friend, who never eats dessert, raves over the churros but I prefer mine a little softer.