La Tolteca Poconos — Restaurant in Stroud Township

This is the final update (third experience): Stopped with the family for lunch. We all ordered off the lunch menu but we were all, except for my wife, charged for the dinner menu prices. When we asked why the waitress stated we ordered off the wrong menu. It was 1:00 in the afternoon. Also the food was once again less than mediocre. Some way too salty, some way too spicy. Extremely disappointed altogether.

Update: we decided to try this place for a second time. This was a much better experience. The waitstaff from the hostess to the waiter we friendly and service was quick. The food was much better. Guac was still made with spatulas but was mixed much better this time. I ordered the same chimichanga dish and although the shredded beef was too spicy for my liking, it was still very good. I will definitely be returning for a third time as the prices are reasonable and the service and food were both much better!

To start, this place is not authentic Mexican cuisine as it’s tag line suggests. It is 100% Tex-Mex. That said, the food was mediocre at best. We ordered guacamole to start which was made table side in a mortar but with 2 spatulas instead of the traditional pestle. Too much lime was used in my opinion but over all it wasn’t terrible. The lack of pestle left a lot of avocado chunks which is also not my favorite. I ordered a lunch special shredded beef chimichanga, which was burnt to blackness on both ends and completely lacked the traditional crispiness on the tortilla even though I ordered it crispy. The shredded beef was extremely dry. It was served drowning in cheese as were the beans that accompanied the dish. My wife ordered the lunch special beef fajitas. These were served on the traditional hot cast iron platter and came out sizzling. Shortly after arriving and after my wife began eating, the waitress came to our table and told my wife she needed to be careful of the hot skillet and began using her hands on top of the dishes to rearrange the plates in a manner she deemed fit. My wife was looking at me, fork in hand, food in mouth, and I know she was thinking, why is this lady touching my food which she then verbalized to me after the server had left. The fajitas were otherwise good and were decently portioned along with sides. The beans on her plate were also served drowning in cheese which was a bit overwhelming. The prices were on par with most establishments of this type although the food quality overall was not. If you are craving Tex-Mex, this place should satisfy, but be prepared for staff that is not properly trained for food service and I would venture to guess inconsistency in food quality. I was torn between rating this 2 and 3 stars, but the semi-long wait for the main courses to arrive, the touching/rearranging of all three of my wife’s plates after she began eating, and the lack of an amazing guacamole recipe that should be a staple to a restaurant such as this seals the deal at 2 stars. I will update this if we decide to try again although my gut tells me...

We had my wedding anniversary trip for the weekend with my family we came to eat here when you walk in is nice and clean. When we where taken to go sit we noticed it was empty except for the right back corner. The old ladies wanted to sit us in the middle tables with hard chairs and my mother ask since it’s basically empty and there was couches tables available that we wanted a table with couches right away the lady made a face and said no my mom said why not there’s plenty and we prefer it she said let me ask the person in charge and right away the lady in charge said yeah of course. Omg when the waiter came named Mario I’m telling you we have never had such bad experience and sarcastic funny disrespectful attitude and rude comments towards us and bad treatment. First of all remember this is the first time we have ever been here. He came introduced himself and we ask like every normal person what’s there best plate and drinks and he in less than a second cut us off saying to hurry up and order our drinks because he was so busy and that he had so many orders we all look each other like what ok he than proceeded to leave and said he will be back. He came back took our orders. Drinks came which where passion fruit mojito and mango margarita and they are delicious I will highly recommended. Food came and omg one guy basically finger was inside the beans plate and we said ok we are going to make a big deal out of it. Waiter Mario kept asking if everything was good we said yes. We finished our drinks and we decided to ask for another round this time 2 mango margaritas and 1 passion fruit mojito and 2 coronas. Our drinks came , he came with a wrong order he messed up our drinks he bought us 2 regular mojitos and 1 mango margarita we told him right away and he said sorry I can’t take them back because they are going to charge me for the mistake and I get paid $2 and something cents by the hour and we told him we didn’t order these drinks you got it wrong and he said yeah but I’m not going to take them back because I get charged for them and I have to pay the old lady who sits the people down what money will I stay with. So he refused to correct the mistake he did and my brother in law got fed up and said ok leave it I’ll drink the wrong drink. Then we ask for the check he gave it to us and when he left the check said don’t dare to walk away without paying I have security upfront and was like what. We said how rude we proceeded to divide the check between my family and these Mario guy kept coming every second and I told him we are dividing the check. I don’t understand why he thought it was ok to treat people like that. The bill was 280 and we had no problem paying it he also said we could used lots of help here there’s a lot job to do like really dude. We are non conflict people but it’s not okay that they have these type waiters treating and discriminating people why he didn’t treat or did these type of comments to the other people we didn’t hear him say anything like...

My sweetheart and I waited for a long while for this restaurant to open. We were happy to see it was now time to experience what we waited for. All of my review will be constructive in hopes they will take under advisement. The entry / host stand needs to be re thought. As soon as you walk in you wait right at the host stand with no room for guests entering or leaving. Lighting - Turn down the lighting in the restaurant. Needs to be softer and window coverings would help as well. Just felt as if we were sitting in the middle of a department store it was so bright. Hostess was new as to be expected with just opening but she had no personality. Set the menus on the table without distributing and failed provide any conversation. TIP JAR on the Guacamole table service was a bit in the face and should be removed. Tipping for good service is and should be expected but do not put the jar right in front as if you expected to tip. Also, the table service cart is way to big & stainless steel. See what Chili's uses for this soften the cart up with a dark wood cart or even a cloth covering. Once food arrived - Young man was placing plates on the table and expressed how hot all the plates were. As the plate became to hot for him to touch with his hands, he pulled the bottom of his shirt out and grabbed a plate to serve to us. So many things wrong with this!! Give your servers something to handle the warm dishes with please. Decor- please take the time to evaluate. You are missing so many art pieces to fill in the blank spaces around the restaurant. Food quality will improve I am sure, however the fish tacos really need to be re thought out. These are absolutely the worst!! Asking for sour cream will cost you $1.00 on your bill. However, they did not deliver to the table. Had to have the bill adjusted. I would think this should be included with the meal.

I look forward to coming back to try again in a few moths with the hope things...