Picante’s Canaan — Restaurant in North Canaan

This place is easy to miss. The sign outside is hard to read and not very eye-catching. With the flags along the road, one might think it's a car dealer. Ah, but go when it's quiet and not only will the service be friendly and attentive, the food will sparkle taste buds and fill the belly.

We went for dinner at around 6:30 and an early crowd was on its way out. Our timing was just right. Our drinks and food came promptly. But shortly after our entrees arrived, 3 different families came in one after another in parties of 8, 4, and 4, and they all ordered alcohol, i think margaritas because the guy who had taken our order was no sooner behind the bar filling out drink orders. There was only one other server.

But the drinks... Yes to the margarita. Delicious and fresh, not with artificial sour mix but with real citrus. I had lemonade, which was fresh and not too sweet.

And the food... yum. The salsa has a little smokiness (chipotle?) which made the chips go down way too fast. I ordered a vegetarian molcajete, a hot mortar bowl filled with rice, beans, and vegetables. I took the leftovers home and had the rest for lunch the next day. It was too big for me to finish at dinner after having the best tostones I think I've ever had at a restaurant. The tostones were served over a pad of guacamole.

The only thing i didn't like about the food were the flour tortillas, which i mostly didn't eat. I react to xanthan gum and guar gum and they were too stretchy to not have one or the other. But it's hard to get flour tortillas these days without it.

We will definitely be back. I hope they figure out the serving staff situation soon. Maybe if we all order takeout, it will help their business grow and become...

I'm really hoping that this past Saturday the 16th July was a totally off night for this place because my local friends say it is delicious. Our first time going there. We arrived at 7:10 pm and there were about 20-30 other customers there. At about 7:40 we flagged down a very young man waiter to ask if we could get some water and put in an order...30 minutes after arriving. He takes our order and close to another 30 minutes go by. He comes to the table and says, Sorry, but did you already put in a drink order? We said Yes, restated the entire order and could see that the 3 very young men were quite busy, but another almost HOUR goes by, all customers have left at that point, and he comes back to our table and says Sorry but did you put in a food order? (You've got to be kidding) Worst floor management I've ever seen. The food finally arrives, we are starving, but choose to take it to go. We ask if there is anything they can do to discount/ comp our meal since we waited about 2 hours!!!! They comped 1 beer. Terrible way to do business. Our local friend was so disappointed that this was our first experience since the friend had said it was so good. We sympathize with the possibility of being short on staff for the evening, but come on, close down some tables if you can't keep up. Really don't know if I'll...

First off. I've eaten here plenty of times. This time was awful. Just terrible. I will NEVER go back. Ordered Flautas, a steak burrito, a chicken burrito and salsa with chips. The best part of the meal was the salsa and chips. The flautas were $10 for THREE and covered in shredded lettuce topped with cheese, but the best part was the BONE I bit into while trying one. Upon opening my chicken burrito, the entire thing was rice and beans with hardly any meat - and the beef burrito had a HAIR in it. I'm beyond PO'ed and disappointed. I've never had an experience like this at Picantes before and I don't plan on having it again. I will make the 40 minute trip to Torrington the next time I...