Puerto Mexico, Tacos and Mexican Products — Restaurant in Vancouver

Puerto Mexico just keeps getting better and better. More grocery items for take home, for one thing. My family and I agree: the carnitas tacos here are the best we've had anywhere. My granddaughter just spent a week at a Mexican beach and came home longing for Puerto Mexico carnitas! They are the absolute bomb!

Don't want to take anything away from anywhere else, but compared with a recent lunch at Lucha Libra downtown, where 4 carnitas tacos were $21, Puerto Mexico's 4 for $16 carnitas are better (cheaper on Taco Tuesday). The flavour is out of this world. And you know they are made fresh right there as you order them. The corn tortillas are soft and fresh, the topping is fresh, pickled red onions and fresh lime... I'd be eating them right now, and I know for a fact two members of my family are there eating them right now!

The vegetarian member of the family swears by the veggie options, especially the mushroom. We've never had anything there that wasn't swoon worthy. And made by the loveliest, friendliest actual Mexican people who know what they are doing.

It's not a sit-down restaurant per se, more a takeout with stools at counters along a wall and the front window for waiting or eating. We always eat-in and it's a charming place with loads of Mexican posters, art, piñatas, etc.

Lots of authentic Mexican food products, sweets, drinks and stuff in the fridge. We are lucky to have Puerto Mexico in the neighbourhood. Long may...

It's never easy to leave a bad public review, but I am Mexican an this is the least authentic taco place I've been to in the area. Even though the owner seems to be from latin american (and a nice guy to be fair) he is not making any effort to make authentic tacos. e.g. ground beef for Suadero, extremely watered down mole type product, etc. The result, very low quality food while still paying 4 dollars per taco.

Anyway, beyond the taco quality, what mostly makes this place get only two stars is that after me and my friend had ordered our tacos, the owner did not want to serve us tap water, allegedly because it's not good enough for human consumption. He insisted we bought drinks from his fridge 🤦. This practice was common in Mexico to make people buy soft drinks but now has mostly been banned in the country. As far as I know, in Vancouver all restaurants must also offer clean tap water to their guests (like specially If it's 30 degrees outside like today). Also, if the water is not clean what are you using to cook/clean?🤷

If this person starts offering clean tap water (like any other dine-in restaurant in Vancouver) and at least tries to use quality ingredients I will be more than happy to change...

We were actually in the pasta place next door which is associated with Puerto Mexico restaurant. They serve Italian food. Mostly pasta dishes. The owner used to work at an Italian restaurant and decided to open a restaurant next to the Mexican restaurant. I believe he used to work at the Mexican restaurant before opening the Italian restaurant. I ordered pasta putanesca with shrimp. My wife ordered gnocchi pasta. I had a jarritos drink with my pasta. The food was tasty and mine had a bit of spice which I like. The downside is that the pasta was served in sturdy paper bowls with plastic forks. Some things seemed like an afterthought. The service was slow as there was only one person working. A kid from the Mexican restaurant came over right before we were leaving to give us the tab. Then we paid. My wife mentioned that maybe the reason everything was served with disposable plates and cutlery was because they didn't have a dishwasher. Same as the Mexican restaurant. Overall the food was good, and the service was slow. For a start I think it requires a bit more improvement to make it a good restaurant. It will work well as a take away...