Puerto Nuevo Mexican & Seafood restaurant — Restaurant in South Carolina

There are plenty of Mexican restaurants to choose around Anderson and this wouldn’t be my first choice. The best thing about this one is convenience off the interstate. It does have a little nicer dining room than many other Mexican restaurants since it was previously a Fatz Cafe.

The food might have been better if it had been warmer and fresher. The portion was good and I like the way the tacos were served with onions and cilantro on the side to add as I please. I think the flavor of the food was ok but it wasn’t “hot plate” or even very fresh in my opinion - like the meats and sides had been on a warmer for hours and the warmer wasn’t even warm enough.

The prices seem a little higher than other Mexican restaurants too. Again the portions might be a little bigger but that probably depends on the dish.

We had to ask multiple times for things we needed at our table - like more salsa which we never did get and a side dish we did get but also not warm.

I imagine I’ll try this place again at some point since I live in the area, but I can name three or four other places I’d drive a little further to based on this first impression.

…..

Came and tried this place again and I probably won’t be back. This time the food was better. Tried the seafood and it was pretty good. Mexican and seafood is an odd theme combo but the seafood was good.

The service wasn’t really any better unfortunately. And this time I observed a disdain for cleanliness that is unacceptable for me.

I watched as the table beside us was cleaned and it didn’t seem too important to make it welcoming for the next customer.

Also the...

Ok, I love promoting excellence or even genius thinking. But so far Puerto Nuevo Mexican & Seafood is thinking a little bit outside the box only a little bit by adding the Seafood menu because Anderson needs another seafood choice. But it's not enough to offset the middle of the road Mexican style food I have enjoyed there so far. It was as good as any other Mexican Restaurant. I am writing this review to keep a place for future updates. It was good enough to try again with a different menu item.

And I did try it with a different menu item... It's now one of the better Mexican Restaurants in the area. I've added back a star.

Ok now I am taking back a star! They have started to pull a fast one with the check. They are preemptively adding a surcharge to ALL checks for using a credit card. They are hoping the customers don't look at the fine print on the checks and just pay at the table without noticing the extra money they are stealing. They have a weird name for the extra charge that doesn't imply it's removed when paying cash. Bad...

Traveling through the area tonight and decided to try this place out. Keep in mind I travel a lot and have tried tons of Mexican restaurants all over the world and this place was HANDS DOWN the absolute best Mexican restaurant I've been to. Me and my husband literally ate everything (which we never do) now we are so full we can barely breath. Lol but seriously we are highly highly satisfied!! Amazing Texan quesadilla and cheese dip was phenomenal better then anywhere else. Awesome salsa bar. Even the rice was wonderful and I usually ain't big on rice but it was soooo good. Beans were good too. This should 100 percent be a 5 ⭐ restaurant!!!!! Y'all even managed to outdo our favorite Mexican place in Florida!!! When in the area WE WILL...