Cristian García, Class of 2021, is from Tampico, a city in the state of Tamaulipas in Mexico. His search for authentic Mexican food in Abu Dhabi began during Marhaba itself. “The first place I went to was Little Mexico, because you know it's in the name,” he said. “Of course, it was Tex-Mex.”

He then kept looking in several places, including El Sombrero, Taqado and Burro Blanco. But all of them were Tex-Mex. “I’ve got nothing against good Tex-Mex,” he shared. “Good Tex-Mex is good, like Burro Blanco. Amazing Tex-Mex. But it's not Mexican.”

At some point by sophomore spring, García gave up on finding authentic Mexican food in Abu Dhabi. That is, until one day last fall, during quarantine in September, he was going through the Facebook page Best Bites Abu Dhabi and found a Mexican place called La Patrona.

Initially, García figured it would be just like the other disappointments. “But I went through the comments and I realized, people are asking questions in Spanish!” he exclaimed. “More specifically, in Mexican Spanish. And I was like ha!”

Owned by a Mexican, La Patrona is located in Al Nakheel Hotel Apartments by Mourouj Gloria, Al Dhafrah, Opposite Al Falah Plaza, in Muroor.

My Friends Outside La Patrona (Photo Courtesy of Kaashif Hajee)

“I know it's in a very shady place,” noted García. “You wouldn't expect a really good experience from going there like from the looks of it.”

When you enter the hotel apartments, take the elevator and go to the Mezzanine (M) floor. Then you will see the restaurant, which shares its space with the general buffet meals for the guests of Al Nakheel Hotel Apartments; both times I went, however, it was completely empty. While the plain white table cloths and chair covers did not add much to the ambiance, the restaurant was clean and hygienic.

The menu mainly contains different kinds of tacos, with chicken, fish or beef, all accompanied by a range of salsas. Each has a unique flavor, and a different kind of sauce. “Every single dish we tried was very or pretty much exactly like back home,” recalled García, who has been there twice since the winter break alone. “One exception being … Chicken Pastor, which means shepherd chicken. Normally it's not chicken back home; normally it's pork.”

I loved the Chicken Pastor, though, which has chicken breast marinated with Pastor sauce, garnished with fresh pineapple.

The Menu at La Patrona (Photo Courtesy of Kaashif Hajee)

García’s favorite was the Taco Patrona, which has a smoked Rib Eye, refried beans and melted cheese, topped with grilled onion and green salsa. “The reason why is because it's very much close to the kind of tacos we'd like back in my hometown,” he shared. “I enjoy them all, really honestly, like they basically encompass all parts of Mexico.”

One of them – the Taco Acapulco – for instance, is from Acapulco, a beach resort town on Mexico's Pacific coast. This one has battered fish, melted cheese and refried beans, garnished with La Patrona’s coleslaw salad on the top and chi-chipotle salsa; it was, hands down, my favorite one. “It tasted very authentic,” said García. “I was very impressed.”

Even the Briskrust and Guacamole is excellent, with pulled beef brisket and cheese crust inside a flour tortilla, served with guacamole and Mexican craft salsa.

The Tacos at La Patrona (Photo Courtesy of Kaashif Hajee)

La Patrona also serves a range of Jarritos, a Mexican soft drink brand, in lemon, mango, pineapple and cola flavors. “It's a nice touch,” said García. “My love is the tamarind flavor which they don't offer, but the pineapple is pretty good.” My favorite was the lemon flavor.

For dessert, they serve Arroz Con Leche, a traditional rice pudding, which I absolutely loved: it’s cold, sweet and has a strong cinnamon flavor. They also serve what they call an Impossible Cake, which in Mexico and other parts of Latin America is called chocoflan. It has a fluffy chocolate base with flan – a caramelized custard – on top. I didn’t like this too much; I found the chocolate base too thick and dry, and the flan too thin.

The Arroz Con Leche at La Patrona (Photo Courtesy of Zomato)

“Everything is very well done,” remarked García. “And you can also see that the owner does everything with love.” He recalled, for example, that if you order food to go, it comes with a QR code with a playlist full of Mexican music. “Enjoy your authentic Mexican food with your authentic Mexican music,” it said. Unfortunately, however, La Patrona does not deliver to our Saadiyat campus.

“The food is way better than their location – they have an amazing product,” concluded García, adding that if it were a food truck somewhere, it would get way more footfall. “Even though it’s very authentic, it's also very approachable, like it's something that most tongues would actually really enjoy.”

La Patrona has a Taco Tuesday deal, serving 10 tacos for 100 AED. I was utterly satiated with just five of those gloriously filled tacos – it’s a great deal for authentic Mexican food. I don’t know about you, but I think the NYU Abu Dhabi community could certainly do with another place to eat at on Tuesdays.