La Bonita Restaurant Wellington — Restaurant in Ottawa

It’s extremely unfortunate that I’m here leaving this review, I was really hoping for a decent authentic Mexican meal. This was definitely not it. My wife and I have spent many years travelling Mexico, South and Central America and all of the Caribbean. We’re foodies and always have an open mind and pallet.

It wasn’t very busy during our visit on a Saturday afternoon, our server was cold and uninviting. Not a single smile during our entire meal. She must’ve been having an “off” day. We sat at the table by the front window. The constant noise of the juice/cocktail blender by the front door killed the vibe from the other otherwise nice atmosphere and eclectic decor.

We started with the Tacos Dorado which came to the table in under 4 min. That. Was not a good sign. The tortilla shells were barely cooked (raw and doughy). Definitely not fried and crispy as described on the menu. The chicken was not hot and had a foul taste. It was not edible. The beef had better flavor, but was tough and hard to chew. We explained the situation to the waitress and she took the plate away with one and a half bites eaten . This is the first time we’ve had to return a plate and many years. None of our comments/complaints where ever relate to the kitchen or management. We cancelled the remaining dishes and left. Perhaps we can give them the opportunity to redeem themselves, However, the first issue was that bad. Our bill arrived at almost $50 For a margarita ( Which we would’ve given a 4 out of 10) and an embarrassing Taco Dorado dish. My wife voiced her concerns to the manager directly, he removed the $30 for the Tacos After confirming with the waitress, we did in fact send the dish back.

I speak fluent in Spanish, and was able to communicate directly to the cooks through the open kitchen window. They smiled and shrugged their shoulders as they were putting up some other dishes that actually didn’t look too bad. Perhaps we simply chose the wrong menu item. We drove all the way in from Richmond Ontario, I don’t think we’ll be doing that...

Just had lunch the Wellington location and I'm off Mexican cuisine for a while now. Ordered the quesadillas and was served what appeared to be 3 soft shell tacos with only dried pork and what appears to be pre-shredded non-name cheese inside. Also ordered what I do not recall the name of and it is not on the online menu but in the picture on the menu it looked like 3 tacos pressed with an array of garnishments. What was served did not resemble anything like it and it was swimming in so much grease I had to tilt the plate in an effort to drain. I only ate 2 bites before deciding this was not for me. The black beans is a puree made of 15% black beans (I think) and 85% salt. Not once did a server come over to check in or ask if we wanted more water/drinks in the 35mins it took from ordering to the arrival of the food and there were only perhaps 6 other customers in there. They also just brought the food over without asking if there was anything else we needed. Such a shame to waste $82 on food that we could not eat and figured for $25/$26 per plate we figured it would be worth it.

The standard hard shell tacos at the table next to me looked great however.

I've gone to the Gloucester location a few times and it was always the best Mexican food. What happens at the Wellington location is...

The deco is fantastic inside with attention to detail. The deco outsiide is a little tacky, but catches the eye.

The service is not quite good as they seem to be always in a rush and do not stop for a second to listen to clients with attention.

The 'sopa azteca or sopa de tortilla' was simply terrible. Such a shame because it's quite an easy soup to make. The tomato base was made of canned tomato pure (or it tastes like so) and it was way too thick, and the tortilla is too thin and scarce.

The 'pastel tres leches' was also terrible. Super dry as the sponge is way too thick to absorb any of the leches. The sponge also tasted old.

The 'flan' (creme caramel) is VERY good. The touch of serving it with some fresh fruit is also a nice addition.

The 'tacos dorados or flautas' were quite ok. They could be better rolled and fried, but I truly valued that the beef was shredded (not ground) and was nicely seasoned without any unnecessary spices. The accompanying sauce should be hotter, though.

The 'enchiladas de mole' with chicken were VERY good. I guess the mole is Doña María and that is an intelligent way to keep in consistent and tasty. To serve them with raw onion, cheese (feta, never mozza or yellow) and cream is...