Big Portions, Bigger Flavor: La Hacienda Is Worth the Detour

If you’re driving south on S.C. 707, you’d miss one of our favorite new Mexican finds.

No, La Hacienda isn’t new. In fact, it’s celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2026 and will almost assuredly have plenty more to follow if the clientele has anything to say about it. But you’ll have to excuse us and plenty of others for missing it.

Learn from our mistakes, beginning with appearances.

Because La Hacienda isn’t a stumble across it and give it a try type of joint. It’s tucked into the side parcel of a small strip mall anchored by a grocery store and a number of other businesses that tend to turnover as quickly as the tide goes in and out. But there, for some time, the steady stream of patrons heading in and out of the front door gave us enough pause to finally do what we can only now call the right decision.

The decor looks like so many other Mexican eateries. The menu, too. But we’re big believers that presentation, taste, timeliness, friendliness and price all have to matter.

It clearly matters at La Hacienda, too.

It checked every box and then some, among others, I’ve found something here we haven’t seen anywhere else. For as many burritos and enchiladas as I’ve had across the country and more specifically close to home, the Vegetarian No. 9 combination was as stout a combo plate as I’ve ever had. It includes a potato burrito and a spinach enchilada. And it was hell yeah good.

When we took a crowd back a few weeks later, I ran it back.

I can’t explain why it worked so well nestled next to a bed of rice, but it surely wasn’t the Margarona talking (if you don’t know, find out what I’m talking about here).

I’m not expecting my tastes to mirror yours, which was part of the reason we brought plenty of friends for round two. Our table of nine somehow was seated on a Saturday night in about four minutes – still can’t figure that one out. And as we rattled off food and drink orders, it just so happened that everyone got something different.

Steak, ground beef, shrimp, cheese, beans and more, and best yet, everyone got exactly what they wanted after combing through a six-page menu. Only one of those pages was dedicated to drinks. Did we mention that our tab, with a few alcoholic beverages, was south of $150 for the entire table? Yeah, that part matters, too. La Hacienda