Puerto Nuevo Fresh Mex & Seafood Abingdon VA — Restaurant in Abingdon

This reviews covers two visits to Puerto Nuevo (PN). One with the whole family of four and another with just two of us.

TL/DR: PN makes delicious food that's familiar to American eyes but with flavors far superior to a typical Tex-Mex restaurant. Stick to the core dishes and you'll be deeply satisfied.

Puerto Nuevo is a gem snuggled in out of the way Abingdon. They create dishes with familiar ingredients, beef, chicken, fish, tomatoes, vegetables, that all seem right if unremarkable. There are none of the "fancy" ingredients like lengua or brisket that one might consider a feature of "authentic" Mexican food. But they have magic.

Although the ingredients are common, fresh, and of good quality, their preparation (grilling), seasonings, and sauces are absolutely and unexpectedly top tier. In particular, their grilled chicken in the quesadilla, fajitas, and El Burro de la Roqueta was fantastic. Juicy, great sear, and in the case of the Burro, smothered in one of the most savory and delicious sauces I've ever eaten. It was stunning how good the combination was and before I knew it, every last bite was gone.

The beef in the fajitas was very good if a bit small and shredded. Still, tasty and enjoyable.

The sole disappointment was the calamari appetizer. Squid rings came with a red sauce and fried stuffed japalenos. The calamari was dry and rubbery with a hard breading that had little discernible flavor. We didn't try any of the other appetizers but based on this experience, stay to the fundamentals and basics.

They forgot to enter our drink order and when we told them, they gave us a virgin version for our ride home. Also, the men's urinal was filled with citrus slices and rosemary sprigs. Unexpected but pretty cool. Interior decor was understated but with flourishes of old style photographs, lighting, and trim. Authentic enough to set a comfortable environment.

So in sum, Puerto Nuevo makes amazing, delicious Mexican food, you'll be served by friendly waitstaff, all in a welcoming and warm setting. Highly...

I had planned to give 5 Stars until I got a text from my bank today showing they had charged my card not only the purchase amount of $ 67.61 but that AND the total with my more than 20% tip of$14.00 which came to $81.61. So they charged me the $67.61 + the total with tip of $81.61 for a grand total of $149.22!!! This was not a mistake. It’s clearly written in the appropriate places the tip amount and the total amount. My card services bank person was a former back if the house finance manager for a restaurant and also agreed this was not a mistake. I called to request a refund and correct charge, they remembered me as my mother was on a walker and struggling (she’s terminal and it was a miracle she could go to her chosen place for Mother's Day) the guy listened, said yes and then hung up on me!!! Further conviction these charges were NOT a mistake. The food was great, service mediocre, place ‘seemed’ clean, great renovation on previous Harbor House. I arrived early before opening as my mother suggested I get us a table before it got crowded. Staff were arriving after I did just before opening. Their behavior on the parking lot before entering and opening was not only CRAZY but disturbing. One guy got out of his car and was getting dressed in the parking lot, smelling his vest and having others smell it before putting it on. I thought wow, not too sure about this. However Mom insisted they had the best seafood and it was clean and service was good. It was to honor her, I’d pay whatever for her preferences and honor. However...this was a ridiculous charge snd experience! Buyer beware. Use cash or keep check on your cards. Oh, all the staff parked up front! Not customer centric at all. Normally I do not write reviews except on Amazon unless something is exceptional in a good way, or a negative way....

This was one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had in a restaurant period!! I have never ever been somewhere when you tell them oh you ordered something else and they take the plate away to turn right around not a min later to bring the same exact plate right back to you so needless to say I only ate the portion of chicken quesadilla that I had and didn’t touch the rest yet I was fine with paying for the whole plate since I did eat some of it but then my son ordered a ribeye steak and let me tell you this is NO RIBEYE STEAK IT WAS PAPER THIN AND ABSOLUTELY TINY COMPARED TO WHAT IT SHOUKD HAVE BEEN…. My son did. It touch the stark except for one bite he tried and it was so bitter with char u couldn’t even try to eat it and to beat it all they would not give us a refund for at least the ribeye steak meal which was about $25 and then the real topper on the cake is that they coke around and offer you fresh guacamole but forgot to tell you that they are going to tac on $10 extra dollars just for guacamole which I thought was a kind gesture of the restaurant but they should at least tell you they’re going to charge you for it but the customer service was horrible horrible like o said they took away and broght back the. Exact same plate of food and would not give us a refund for the steak Meal after it was still completely sitting there untouched… $160 later We would have loved to have came back and spread the good word about how good some of y’all’s seafood boil was and just how good the place was in all if we would have just got the customer satisfaction that we desired and deserved even after arguing with the staff up front…. Yes arguing … they would not take the uneaten steak meal offf and there fore we had to pay $25 …. At least it made the dog a...