Ernesto's Taqueria - Valdez

It's now called Ernesto's Latin Cuisine. Not worth a visit. I asked the waitress if they served margaritas. She said yes. Then I watched her pour a mike's hard margarita into a glass with a salted rim. Apparently they don't have a full bar, so a real margarita was not possible. I would have loved to know that BEFORE it arrived at my table. Food, not great, prices comparable to other places in town, but seems steep for Mexican, excuse me, Latin, cuisine.

We went from Gakona to see Worthington glacier and after the hike and walk around the area we got pretty hungry...we realizes that Valdez is a decent sized town and we must have some food options. We drove to Valdez and were looking for places to eat...we ran into some locals and they suggested ernestos is a good place to go...so we did When we went in..the owner greeted us and sat us at our table. We told him two of us are vegetarians and the other 2 eat chicken...so he suggested that veggie guys order the fajita burrito and couple of options for the chicken eaters... The food arrived and essentially he just stuffed some veggies in a tortilla and put some more outside and broiled them with cheese on top..DELICIOUS...I loved it...my friends who ate the chicken dishes loved their dishes too... The place is kind of small..and the owner is kind of uptight but he knows EXACTLY what he is doing...we ate till we could eat another bite and got out...oh btw..chips are good but u got to pay for the refills..: ..dont know why...but overall we loved goin here and would definitely recommend it

Yay for Ernesto's in Valdez! Was a little skeptical because of the low reviews for Ernesto's in Anchorage, but this place measured up to decent tex mex! Came here for lunch with a comrade in arms against corrosion, basically a coworker/friend. The door was opened for us and we entered a delightfully decorated little Mexican restaurant that has a lot of reds, fake brick, and nice wooden bar. The space is small, but well used with a view of the kitchen through food-passing-window. Upon entering and sitting we were greeted and chip and salsa'd. Little darker corn chips, and had to ask for hot salsa as they only gave mild. We had received menus when the cook came out and told us in his second-language-is-english way the daily special which was carne asade with choice of beef or chicken, with rice and beans, and choice of corn or flour tortilla. Yes please! We both ordered that, he the beef and me the chicken.. What came out was surprisingly good. The rice and beans were so-so, but the meat was perfectly cooked and so was the onion and garlic. There was even grilled cactus. Our server was young and attentive, and when asked how things were I would sing praises in of the food operatically, in time with the ethnic Mexican music piping through the speakers. Both dishes came to $23, and we drank water. The cook was excited and came out a couple times to ask how it was, and even ran to get a hot chili sauce he made when he asked if I like spicy. Food was good, but the experience was great. Good times, or I mean ole'!

I am a Mexican cook in a restaurant in Anchorage, I tasted Ernesto's food 2 days ago and it was the worse Mexican food I ever had in my life. I am so desappointed, instead of 3 stars I would give them 3 xxx. I am so sorry being honest, but this restaurant is given bad reputation to Mexican food in Valdez.... He dicho...

I definitely did not come to Valdez for the food, but this could and should be better. While the waiters were friendly, they were way understaffed. What was labeled as a margarita was actually mike's hard lemonade, which we only found out after telling the waiter our drinks were weak. $18 for steak fajitas with perhaps 3oz of steak.