From Street Tacos to Molcajetes: A Review of La Curva in Salina

La Curva offers a flavorful local option for Salina Diners 

For students looking for a sit-down Mexican meal in Salina, La Curva offers an extensive menu, generous portions and a location just south of downtown at 550 South Ohio Street. The restaurant serves a familiar Mexican-American favorites alongside options such as street tacos, quesabirrias, fajitas, seafood dishes and specialty platters. 

A Casual Setting for a Comfortable Meal

During a visit on Sunday, September, 27th I arrived around 2:00 PM with another guest. The restaurant was moderately crowded, seemed to be filled with more sports fans due to it being NFL Sunday. We were seated almost immediately when we walked in through the doors. The dining room felt dark and gloomy almost, the music was very faint, the temperature was very cold and the energy seemed a little down. This created an atmosphere that didn’t make a late afternoon lunch seem to pleasant. 

Flavor Takes Center Stage

I ordered an item that was part of their “New Platers” menu, the La Curva Special. This consisted of grilled chicken, steak, and shrimp with onions, bell peppers, and cheese dip served over rice. This item was priced at $24.99 which is a little higher than average of their other dishes. So with this price expectations were high. While my dining companion order the shrimp cocktail. Outside of the main dishes we had order a large queso, 1 soft drink, and 1 “Cantarito” (mixed alcoholic drink). Our food came out a pretty reasonable time, about 10 minutes after we ordered. My main dish however did not seem to look as proportional as the photo on the image showed it to be. The portions seemed to be way smaller. 

The strongest part of the meal was the “Cantarito” drink and the queso. The queso was great to dip our chips in and as well as complementing my main plate as well. As for the main plate itself the steak was pretty dry and once again in small portions. The chicken was the best part of the main plate as the chicken breast was juicy and had just the right amount of seasoning to make it stand out. The rice that came along with La Curva Special was cold and not very savory compared to other times that I have visited. Overall the meal was decent but wasn’t as good as I thought it could be due to my impressions from my past experiences. 

Service That Shapes the Experience

The service was very good at the start and throughout our meal.We had 2 main waitresses who were continuously coming up and asking if everything was good and if we needed anything else. This was good to see and I do not recall one minute that my drink or chip basket were empty. The total for the meal came to be about $73 before tip, which was a right around what I was expecting for the amount and type of items we got. Now at the time of the check is where the service and my impressions overall started to go downhill. After me and my dining companion were done with our meals we had requested the check. This took about 15 minutes to just get to us. The waitress was very apologetic about the situation however it did take an additional 15 minutes just for her to run the card and bring us back the receipt. To her benefit she did say that the whole restaurants computer systems had just rebooted and they needed to wait for them to load back up. 

Overall, La Curva is a decent choice for visitors who want a broad Mexican menu and a casual sit-down experience in Salina. It’s menu ranges from street tacos and quesabirria to larger platters, so it can work for someone seeking a quick lunch or a more substantial dinner. La Curva is open daily, with later closing hours Thursday through Saturday according to its official website