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Trail eats: La Hacienda

Graphic created in Canva by Grace Lovejoy.
Graphic created in Canva by Grace Lovejoy.
Grace Lovejoy
“So delightful, that I had to order a refill”

La Hacienda is a restaurant that comes to me as a classic. The meals there are not the best but are still highly gratifying. 

I ordered the same Carne Asada I get every time I visit, with a side of corn tortillas, refried beans, salad, tomato rice and guacamole. The food tasted very good and certainly left me very full. I ordered a virgin mango margarita for my drink. 

The price for just the meal and my drinks was slightly out-of-budget for a teenager. However, I enjoyed my meal and drinks which made me leave the restaurant plenty satiated to make up for the high check.

“I will get it again”

This would’ve been my second time going to la Hacienda but I ended up getting the same exact thing as last by accident. However, it was just as good as last time. 

I had gotten the 3+3 burrito pleasure which is like three burritos. One with cheese, one with chicken, and one with beef. A good variety if you ask me. Even though this is my second time getting the same thing I would still say that my meal has been good both times.

I decided to get a different drink then what I normally do. Normally I keep it plain and simple with a good ole fashion lemonade. However, this time I got a virgin margarita. Two of them in fact. I started with a strawberry then I got a mango. Both of them we’re go and I will get it again.

“A nice and quick bite to eat”

The first time I ate La Hacienda I did not like it. Though, throughout time I have started to like it. 

Before the food came out, we talked with the waitress a bit and she was very nice. As many times as I have gone there, the service is always 10/10. The food came out quickly behind the appetizers so I would say their speed of service is great as well and there is never really a delay.

I ordered Carne Asada for the first time. I usually don’t get anything besides a nice crispy Mr.Pibb and the chips that are complementary. The meat was tender, soft, and had great flavor. It came with other types of things like the tortilla but I personally just liked the piece of meat and did not make it a taco or burrito. The food itself was fantastic and left me feeling very full. For my drink, I got a nice ice cold crispy Mr. Pibb. Now I love a good Mr. Pibb it just has so much flavor and the nice feeling of the acid just makes me happy. 

I would definitely recommend La Hacienda to people looking for a nice and quick bite to eat and especially if they are looking for good Mexican food.

“It hits everytime”

This isn’t my first time eating at La Hacienda but it hits the spot everytime. For my appetizer I had queso, bean dip and a mango virgin margarita. That bean dip is so amazing, I ate the whole thing. 

For my entree I got the La Hacienda dip. The dish was basically steak, shrimp and chicken covered with cheese dip. The meat was well seasoned and the cheese was basically like the queso but it was so melted it was like liquid. Usually it’s thicker, but I liked it how it was. 

I usually use my corn flour tortillas to make burritos but this time I did not. Service was great. Our server was very quick with our orders as well. Definitely a Peachtree City restaurant I would recommend for any newcomers. Not only for their food, but also for their very colorful and uniquely designed restaurant.

“Not a wow, but not a disspointment”

Before beginning, I’d like to put a little disclaimer out there: I definitely was out already full off of the complimentary chips and salsa… 

For my meal, I ordered a chicken quesadilla and pink lemonade. The lemonade was just a standard pink lemonade, meaning it didn’t wow me, but it didn’t disappoint either. I can’t be mad at it. For the chicken quesadillas, they were about the same as the lemonade as far as its “wow factor” goes. I wasn’t blown out of the water, but it was still a fairly decent meal. Usually I’m a huge fan of chicken quesadillas, but I personally prefer them when the chicken is not shredded. Overall, I’d give the food a seven out of ten. It tasted fairly good and it made me full.

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About the Contributors
Grace Lovejoy
Grace Lovejoy, Editor-in-Chief
Grace Lovejoy is serving as the Editor-In-Chief for the 2025-2026 school year. This year Lovejoy is a senior and this is her fourth year on the Trail staff. Last year, Lovejoy and other editors traveled to Philadelphia for the National Scholastic Press Association’s Fall Convention. Lovejoy has won 3 Best of SNO pieces, including her first piece “Collision course: teens and golf cart accidents in Peachtree City” which was the first for the Trail.  Lovejoy has been involved in theater for 3 years and has performed and worked backstage on numerous shows. This year she is serving as the Vice President of the Ambassadors club.  Lovejoy is eager to meet the new staff and have another successful year on the Trail.
CJ Boxhill
CJ Boxhill, Multimedia
 CJ Boxhill is serving as Team Multimedia for the 2025-2026 school year. Boxhill has now been on staff for two years and served as Team Multimedia for the 2024-2025 school year as well. Boxhill won a Best of SNO award last year for his podcast Red Blue and A Lot To Do with co-host Ava Flores which was the first multimedia best of sno for trail. Boxhill was also a part of the team that won Distinguished SNO site last year. Boxhill has also won a superior award alongside his peers for their staff editorial at GSPA. Boxhill is a current member of the Spirit of Mcintosh Marching Band, he serves a leadership role as percussion leader in the band. He also served as the Vice President of the Skills USA club. Boxhill has won two Rookie Of The Year awards and also two Student Choice awards. Boxhill made silver academic recognition these past two years. He is also a Mcintosh ambassador. Boxhill is also involved in the Tech crew for Mcintosh Theater. Boxhill has been working at Carrabba’s Italian Grill for the past seven months and serves as a certified trainer there. When Boxhill is not working or at school he enjoys playing video games, hanging out with his friends, or learning new music. Boxhill is very interested in politics and law. Boxhill is the last of his family to attend McIntosh High School, his sister Davian and Cousins Katrina and Chris have all attended McIntosh. One of his biggest goals in life is to be elected as a future President of the United States. Boxhill is excited for the upcoming year and working with new faces.
Maddie Hines
Maddie Hines, Social Media
Hines is a Senior at McIntosh and this is her third year on staff on the Trail. This year she serves as the Social Media Manager as well as her continuation on Team Multimedia.  In her freshman year, she was Vice President of her class. Hines is currently a McIntosh Ambassador and has also done debate at the state level. Hines is interested in things like creative writing, film and law. In fact, from 2017-2019, she spent three weeks of each summer staying on campus at Emory University for this summer program called SIG (Summer Institute for the Gifted.) There she took classes like song writing, filming, working a camera, creative writing, things of that nature. At Emory, she was able to see what life would be like as a college student. She hopes to obtain some degree in law as well as journalism in the future. In the 2024-2025 school year, Hines was awarded Superior at the GSPA Spring 2025 Convention for her podcast episode “Putting the U in HBCU” where she talks about historically Black Colleges/Universities During her free time, she likes to play volleyball, bake, watch movies, and spend time with friends and family. Because she is new on staff, she hopes to learn new things and new life skills such as responsibility, punctuality and reliability.
Yasemin Kalpakci
Yasemin Kalpakci, Features Editor
Yasemin Kalpakci is a senior at McIntosh High School and currently serves as the Features Editor for the McIntosh Trail. She joined the Trail staff in early 2024 and was part of the staff that won the SNO Distinguished Site Award in both the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 school years.  In addition to her journalism accomplishments, Kalpakci has also achieved success in other areas. She won a nation-wide best of SNO award for her story, “McIntosh honors Vinny, the service dog of teacher and veteran Christopher Judy.” Kalpakci also won an All-Georgia award for her Critical Review, “Opinion: ‘I was a bad girl’ but was she?” and a Superior in Health/Medical Reporting with, “SOS: ending the stigma around finding help.” In addition to her journalism accomplishments, Kalpakci has also achieved success in other areas. Her art has been published on the board of education in the 2023-2024 school year.  Kalpakci has been involved in the Beta Club since elementary school and is an active volunteer at animal shelters and various school activities. She was instrumental in creating her old school’s World Food Club, promoting cultural exchange through food.  Outside of school, Kalpakci enjoys listening to Lana Del Rey, reading AO3, binge-watching Gilmore Girls, and spending hours on Pinterest. Like many high school students, she’s uncertain about her future plans but hopes to figure it out soon.
Nyla Kërr
Nyla Kërr, News Editor
News Editor, Kërr is spending her third year on the McIntosh Trail. Kërr has always been passionate about writing and has been honing her craft for the past seven years. In her first year on the Trail, she earned a Superior rating on two of her articles at the Georgia Scholastic Press Association. She was a member of the first Trail staff to win a School Newspapers Online (SNO) Distinguished Site award in the 2023-2024 school year. The Trail won its second SNO Distinguished Site award in the 2024-2025 school year. Kërr has also contributed to award-winning journalistic pieces such as the house editorial “The Possibility is Never Zero”, which won a Best of SNO and an All-Georgia at the 2025 Georgia Scholastic Press Association spring convention. Additionally, Kërr has been recognized for high honor roll and has received academic awards for outstanding achievement in biology, anatomy and English. She has also been awarded the President’s Award for Educational Excellence.  When she is not buried deep in her classwork, Kërr enjoys spending time with her family, playing the guitar and doing calisthenics. 
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