Las Botellas — Restaurant in Riverton

Buckle up ladies and gentlemen, when I finish describing the rollercoaster of emotions I felt while dining here tonight, you’ll wish you hadn’t chosen door dash for the third night in a row.

Firstly, it’s important you understand I am Texan. (The down to earth Austin kind, not the bourgeois Dallas or uppity Fort Worth type) Latin food is (or was rather) a staple in my diet until I relocated here eight years ago. I tried for the first few years to find a Mexican food restaurant that could satiate my desire for anything that could even remotely resemble good Tex Mex or authentic “south of the border” Mexican. I was let down time and time again with every good hearted suggestion the nice people of Utah offered, never having the heart to tell them that the red and blue lizards were worse than that other local greasy favorite that only seems to be busy at 2 am. (If you’re from here, you know.)

I gave up, i stopped looking as the days turned into nights and summers became cold cold winters over many moons. I saved myself like a reborn virgin for any trip back to Texas and would gorge like it was going to be my last meal. That is…. Until tonight!

The suggestion was made to try Las Botellas by a friend of mine who knew i had given up hope long ago. Not expecting much, i was immediately greeted with a very relaxed and even pleasurable atmosphere. It was busy but not cramped, the decor was above anything you might expect to see in a shopping center, and the music was authentic, but still relevant and young.

We were taken to one of the very handsome tufted leather booths in the back with a great view of the entire restaurant. From there, i could see that the guests all truly appeared to be enjoying themselves. Some were celebrating birthdays, some were on dates, others appeared to know the place was good and have clearly been gate keeping since its opening.

After a few minutes of looking over the menu i decided to play it safe and ordered the crispy chicken burrito. No mess, no fuss, no changes to the item or its sides. Honestly, i hadn’t even thought to look at the sides it came with because i did not have high hopes as I mentioned before. One bite was all it took. One fork full of the corn esquite side and I knew i had found the holy grail of Mexican food in Salt Lake Valley, no… in all of the western United States!

I moved on to my Baja potatoes in disbelief, this must be a mistake. I dunked one in the red guajillo sauce and dispelled any doubt i was hallucinating. After a lot of very vocal mmm’s and some slight happy dancing i moved into my main dish. Its perfectly crispy exterior was like a well wrapped present you had asked Santa for year after year and just under its surface, well that was the treasure at the end of every rainbow you dreamt about as a child. I fell in love, i changed my religion, i would have given up my right to life, liberty, and any pursuit of further happiness to taste that first bite again.

I ate everything, if my friends weren’t there, i would have licked that plate clean. The server never dared to offer me a box knowing i wouldn’t leave one tiny morsel behind. So, i have done the only reasonable and logical thing i could think to do, i renounced my Texan heritage, quit my job, and have decided to move in to the underside of this very booth to live off the scraps of others that fall to the floor until they have me removed for scaring the guests or illegally squatting in their establishment.

I will pray my thanks tonight for every bite of food that had been kissed by Gods favorite Latin angels and the friend who restored my faith in all that is...

If you are looking for a Vegas style restaurant without having to go to Vegas, this is the place for you. You immediately walk in and get serenaded by overly loud music, night club style vibes, and some pretty amazing decoration. All of the seating surrounds the bar, which makes it seem more like a nightclub than as a restaurant. Making a reservation was a bit rough. I had to email in due to the website not being user friendly.

Upon arrival, there is a red carpet and back drop available outside for pictures. We checked in and was almost immediately seated. Patrons dressed to the nines and very classy, again cue Vegas night club. Once seated, we were presented with our menus at which time we place our drink order. We were then approached by our ambassador, a.k.a., the waiter, where he took our appetizer and entrée order. The appetizer came out immediately promptly followed by the entrées with very little time in between to enjoy the appetizer before we were served our main meal. At that point we were approached by the manager, and asked how everything looked. Our response was “besides having our food, and still waiting on our drinks, everything looks amazing”. The cocktail menu provides a wide array of options. Unfortunately, not all of the drinks come out the way they are presented on the menu so be aware.

Lucky for us, the food was absolutely amazing. Flavors, quality, and overall presentation is what I would expect from a restaurant I go to in Las Vegas. Delicious but small portions. For the price, expect to walk out hungry.

There was a gentleman walking around with a camera, which again leads to the Vegas feel, but no indication as to what his purpose was. He never approached anyone around us, ourselves included. However he did follow the fire dancer around. She came out twice during our visit, walked around the bar once each time and went back into the back.

The ambassador was nice and polite, and handled things well, but overall they were not very attentive. There was no personalization and because of how loud it was they (we had multiple servers) were hard to hear.

Paying for the bill was nice, they came with a handheld device ready for the card and you could email the receipt. Very eco-friendly.

From arrival to departure we were there maybe 40 minutes. Short enough that even our kids commented on how short of a time we were gone. I’ll give them a point since we did save money on a babysitter. Overall, it was an enjoyable experience. However, for a date night this is not the place that I would recommend. It is definitely a little too loud and rambunctious for a more intimate style dinner.

As a recommendation to the managers I would probably not have your bussers using a spray bottle of cleaner to clean tables off when people are eating less than 3 feet away. Not trying to be harsh with this review I do believe that there is some amazing potential and it is worth going to once, but we probably would not return...

Las Botellas attempts to be a modern, fusion, upscale, progressive Mexican restaurant but fails to impress. It's quite disappointing as they do put a lot of effort to "show off", whether it is the interior or the presentation of the dishes. And to some extent, they succeed in raising your expectations. But even so it cannot overcome the bland food.

Atmosphere is great but perhaps over-done. It has this modern, Restoration Hardware vibe with nature and tree themes. Perhaps even a bit confusing but visually pleasing. They were playing some Indian music though, which left us a bit confused. It's almost like they threw in everything they knew that was hip and upscale. Either way, great effort and if you were on a date night, you'd impress whoever you took there.

My party ordered a variety of food but overall, everything was bland and had no character. It's almost as if the chef didn't have confidence or quite didn't understand how to communicate with the balance of flavors. Nachos had some heft, but bland. Guac seemed fresh, but bland. Black bean dip with oxaca cheese on top, again, bland to a degree I thought I was dipping ground up cardboard drizzled with leftover glue. Oh, they were presented well on nice dishes and cookware. Pleasing to look at, but bland everwhere.

What was ultimately not forgivable though was my burger. Now this was priced at $26 so I'm expecting something great. Brioche bun was stale. The meat patty could "pass" but no seasoning. Just bland. I have no idea what all they added on top of the patty with oxaca cheese, including some Mexican spices and red onion... to be frank, I couldn't care less cause they were all fused together into a wet cardboard layer that just destroyed the texture of the bite. Added absolutely no taste and was just bland. Even more so, the potatoes that accompanied the burger. I have no idea whether they were tater tots or just potato cubes on a skillet. Some weren't even hot. And again, no taste. It's almost as if the entire restaurant ran out of salt and pepper.

The saving grace was the tres leches cake and the housemade hot sauce - they called it "Fresco". Oh and I guess they have a decent selection of tequila.

Las Botellas is not worth the show and visual overload. Won't...