Victoria’s Tortilleria Gets Two Stars

We’ve passed by Victoria’s Tortilleria several times before and have always wondered about it.

We decided its location would make it a great place for a quick lunch near our office on Thompson Street in Springdale.

Plus, we knew we could probably catch our favorite Spanish-language soap opera there. We were right.

We weren’t sure if we were supposed to order at the counter or sit down and then order. We stared blankly at the Spanish menu on the wall, secretly cursing ourselves for not retaining more information in our college and high school language classes. Then the woman handed us a menu in English and we ordered.

We sat down and watched a woman make tortillas behind the counter. We were mystified as to why we weren’t served the same homemade chips being sold at the register, but rather what tasted like store-bought fare and salsa out of a jar.

One diner ordered the enchiladas ($5), which came with rice and beans. She liked the homemade tortillas wrapped around what we’d call cheese enchiladas, but other than that, the food didn’t stand out.

The other diner ordered a sopa ($2) with carne asada beef. The fried corn tortilla shell had the thickness of a thin crust pizza. She said she could have eaten five of those with just cheese and sour cream, but the rest of the toppings were just O.K. She said she’s had better carne asada at other joints in town, but she liked dipping it in the spicy red sauce available on the table.

For dessert, one brave diner bought a chile and lemon flavored frozen dessert on a stick ($1). She thought it tasted more like spicy salted ice, rather than lemon, so the two diners headed next door to the Mexican bakery for some cookies. We’d recommend any one of the treats from there, but especially the churros, or deep-fried sweet dough coated in sugar.