Puerto Vallarta Newington — Restaurant in Newington

We are a family of foodies, eat out a lot, and we seek out the best restaurants in various food traditions in any place we have lived. For us, Puerto Vallarta in Newington, CT, is the best overall Mexican restaurant in the Hartford metropolitan area. We lived many years in Arizona and Texas that also have some great Mexican restaurants, so we can do a meaningful comparison here.

We rate them the highest mainly for the food followed by the ambiance, and the service is about average (which is not bad, but also not the best as getting the waiters attention can be difficult at times as this is a busy place, though they should improve in this area.)

Here’s a summary of the food we like the best: a) Fajitas: We prefer the beef but chicken is also great. Best tasting fajitas. We order extra salsas of various kinds (free) for the fajitas. Huge portions; two of us can’t even finish the Fajitas “for one”; so we roll some leftovers and eat it next day cold right out of the fridge, yummy! b) Mexican Rice and Refried Beans: Absolutely the best! c) Taquito Lindos: Taquito appetizer dish. We order combination chicken and beef. Wonderful taste. d) Chile Relano: Great small dish very nicely prepared. … And lots more!

This is the best Mexican restaurant in greater Hartford and...

Terrible experience. I went earlier in the evening with my family to celebrate my niece’s graduation. We were attended by a decent waiter, but he did not look pleased serving us. It almost felt as if we were inconveniencing him. But this isn’t why I’m writing this or giving it one star. There was a waitress tonight with blonde hair. I asked her very nicely where the bathroom was. She was not pleased of the fact that I asked her this because she wouldn’t even look at me. When she told me directions, I asked if she could show me where the men’s bathroom was because I was not familiar with the place. She completely disregarded my request. Towards the end of our dinner, I asked her if she could provide us with to-go containers because I had extra food. She had a very cold attitude about it. Then I asked if she could provide us with a salsa container because I wanted to take the rest I had, home. She said “speak to your waiter”. Wow. Paying customers and that’s the response we got. Overall, she made me feel very unwelcome and uncomfortable . I will be following up with the manager and owner because this is not okay. We spent $50-$100 per person and I’m coming from New York to celebrate something beautiful but she put a damper on...

I will never ever order from PV ever again. I have been ordering and eating here for years. And this is now the second time this has happened. I called in a burrito when leaving my mother’s house so I could pick up the order on the way to my next destination. Apparently they called me back because they couldn’t understand over the phone what I ordered the “ burrito Villarta” …what they should’ve done was put someone else on the phone that could take the order/understand me better. I speak English and while although i realize there is sometimes a language barrier, the staff should not take an order or hang up when they aren’t sure what the order was. Again, this is the second time this has happened. When I got to the restaurant to pick it up - a young new employee explains to me that she couldn’t understand what I was saying and so the cooks hadn’t even started my order. And today, I had a very important meeting to get to and I had to wait while they prepared and cooked my food. This completely defeats the purpose of me calling in ahead of time so I could grab my food and go. I was late to my meeting and very disappointed this has now...