Buena Vista Mexican Restaurant & Cantina in Ardmore — Restaurant in Lower Merion Township

Went there last night for the first time, and it won't be the last. Spacious, decorated with gorgeous Mexican-themed art, including beautifully-painted carved backs on all of the chairs. Far more variety on the menu than Mexican-ish restaurants like Qdoba and Chipotle, which is why we settled on Buena Vista rather than one of those chains.

We ordered guac & salsa, to start, my wife ordered a Burrito, I ordered Flautas ("Corn tortillas rolled and stuffed with chicken and cheese. Deep-fried and served with lettuce, pico de gallo, guacamole, and sour cream"), and I ordered fried cheesecake for dessert.

The guac, salsa, and chips were top-notch; my wife reported that the burrito was delicious; the flautas were unique and delectable; and the cheesecake was one of the best desserts I've ever eaten. Don't picture a wedge of cheesecake: it's a roll, fried, cut into four chunks, and served with excellent ice cream, whipped cream, and drizzled chocolate. My wife made a "yuck" face when I ordered it -- I have to admit, even I was expecting it to be interesting but not necessarily good -- tasted it when it arrived, and immediately took and ate half. Mopped the plate with the lest bite of the roll.

Service was prompt and courteous, and food was cold or hot as appropriate -- fresh-made, not lukewarm after sitting on a steam table.

It's a family-owned restaurant; there are only three locations, not 100. The owner was on-site and keeping an eye on things, and was able to explain that the pineapple-looking things painted on our table were Agave catci, and the long-handled things in the hands of the workers were long knives for cutting off the Agave leaves for Tequila. Highly recommended.

We'll certainly be going back I'd like to try other things on the menu -- the Mole Chicken looked good -- but the flautas were so good that .I'm tempted to order them again. And I'm definitely ordering the...

My experience at this restaurant was overall negative. My girlfriend and I ordered chimichangas. She ordered a vegetarian one with salsa verde on top and I ordered one with al pastor, mole on top, and added guacamole inside. When the food was brought out by a separate waitress, my girlfriend’s chimichanga had no sauce on top, my sauce was on the side, and my chimichanga had no guacamole inside. Then, a third waitress came by to check-in and we told her that my girlfriend’s meal was missing sauce and that mine was missing the guacamole. She brought a side of guacamole for me and no sauce for my girlfriend. When we received the check (which we waited over 10 minutes for after our leftovers were already boxed), we were charged more for the chimichangas than the menu stated, and were charged additionally for a side of mole sauce, a side of guacamole, and a surcharge for using any type of card. I told the waitress that our food was incorrect again and that we were being charged the wrong prices (we were charged $1 for a side of sauce and $5 for a side of guac, while sauce is included in the price of the chimichanga and adding guacamole to one is $3, according to their menu). The waitress told me that I was wrong about what the menu said a few times and took my card. I heard her speak to the manager about our concern, and, when the check was brought back for us to sign, nothing had been changed. The manager didn’t bother double-checking the menu...

It sucks because I had high hope for this place. When we walked in, they were already cleaning up because it was dead. We asked them more than once if they wanted to just close, but they said come on in. We ordered cocktails, and my girlfriend got hers, but mine was nowhere to be found. Keep in mind it's just us in the restaurant. They took our food order. Still no drink. Our wings came out. Still no drink. At this point my girlfriend was ready for another drink, but the bartender was sitting down on her phone. The food came out, and I finally got a drink. Was it good? No, it was Meh. Now for the food I had high hopes on. The wings are just normal frozen pizza store wing dings covered in sauce. But the mango habanero sauce was delicious. We also had the chorizo chimichaga and the nachos. It was good but very under seasoned. I've never had bland chorizo before, but they made it happen somehow. Overall, this place has potential, but they are lacking in customer service, and the food has no extra umph. My advice towards not having an empty restaurant on a Saturday night. Improve your customer service skills and add some love to your food. It lacked flavors but had the potential to...