Villanueva - Merrill

I want to start by saying that we had high hopes for this place as its Google rating is a 4.5 star. Especially since it is so close to home! We went in there with open minds and excited to eat some Mexican food. I do have to say the atmosphere was cute and it seemed very clean; which is always a good start! Cute paintings and it felt open and not so dark and dingy like other local Mexican places. We picked where we sat and were the only patrons the entire time we were there. The waitress was average for Oregon waitresses, but very nice. That being said, there was A LOT wrong with the food… For starters, the chips and salsa that came out looked ok at first glance. But all it took was a single bite into the chips to know that they were either really old, or the oil they were fried in was. I ordered a horchata and when I drank it I almost choked due to the amount of powder floating around in it. I could tell it was the mix horchata and when it settled there was almost 2” of sediment at the bottom. My kids ordered a beef quesadilla, chicken quesadilla, and the enchiladas. Both quesadillas were surprisingly flavorless, and very dry! The enchiladas were 3 tiny corn tortillas and didn’t look like they were worth the price. I have never had enchiladas that look like that but they absolutely could have been normal. I didn’t get a chance to personally try them like I did the quesadillas though. I ordered shrimp and onions sautéed in garlic butter with flour tortillas. The shrimp tasted very fishy and were probably the already cooked and frozen kind based on how chewy they were. They also were pretty flavorless except for the fishy-ness. My husband ordered the steak chimichanga and it looked amazing. After a single bite though, his face turned up and I could tell there was something wrong with it as well. He said it tasted like it had been fried in really old and dirty oil. The more he tried to muddle through eating it the greener he looked. He only made it about halfway through before he had to stop, and is currently being racked with severe stomach pain. When paying for our meal $78 total for 2 kids meals and 3 adult meals) he mentioned to the waitress that the oil tasted really bad. She said that they had just changed it yesterday. If that is the case I hope they are cleaning the actual fryer and not just replacing the oil. That or they need to look at the actual oil they are using. All in all we were very disappointed with our experience. The food looked nice but didn’t taste nice. I hope it was just an off day for them and that this isn’t the food they typically serve. But we will never go there again. My husband, one of my children and I are all having severe stomach pain and I’m just hoping we don’t get food poisoning at this point.

I have no complaints about any aspect of this restaurant. I would definitely come back if I lived nearby, but it was an excellent place to dine and relax during a long road trip.

Great food , we ordered burritos and tacos hard and soft and enchiladas. All was tasty and delicious, and serving size was plenty.

OMG!The food here is fantastic!The customer service is top notch!The cutest little family owns it.I had the pleasure of meeting this wonderful family.They made it through COVID and are still here.If you want an authentic really good meal, come to Villanueva!You will not be disappointed.No matter what dumb pop up shows up, I will always be loyal to the little mom and pop shops that fought to make it through a pandemic.Thank you for great food, customer service and comfort.

Glad we were able to stop here from a long car trip. Great food ?