Puerto Vallarta Restaurant

Doesn't Recommend

ubermd

Joined 7 years ago

Avoid at all costs. Certainly one of the worst resaurants I've been to in the city.. While walking in the river north area, I recalled going to a previous mexican restaurant here and that is was decent. But, I was wrong. First impressions were good, the chips and salsa were excellent. Anything good to say about this place ends there. First ordered was a sangria. The sangria came straight out of a plastic bottle and tasted like coolaid with vodka. Worst sangria in history, even worse that it was $15. After it about made me sick I tried to get a margarita and realized why they were so inexpensive... enough said. So, I thought they just didn't know how to make drinks... Then the salad came out. It lacked any creativity or effort in any sense of the word. I ordered a mango salad; it was a sliced mango lying on pre shredded lettuce like you would get at taco bell. Sadly, this was the best dish we ordered only because it was like eating a straight mango. Another $10, this time for a cut up mango. The taco salad oh the taco salad. Taco salad in a public school cafeteria made with Sysco bulk bought food puts this to shame. The beef was obviously sitting in a pan for days cooking down to a mush, and the vegetables hadnt seen nature probably in their whole lives. Tomatoes had absolutely NO flavor, particularly for the summer time. Onions were tasteless mini-cubes of oblivion, and the shell, it was stale. Its pointless to name the other dishes... But from what I can tell the vegetables taste like something out of a can and the quality and creativity of the food is like a child mixing up something on the stove for the first time. Dishes lacked flavor and any valor or confidence. I attempted to order some salsa for the dishes ending up with only another $2 to the bill. At the end of the dinner, I was motioning to people entering the restaurant to leave. After not being able eat anything I eventually just had it wrapped up and gave the food to a bum with $60 less in my pocket. It did cure my hunger however by giving me a revolting stomach ache.

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CMChico

Joined 10 years ago

You didn't expect a crowd?. A group of us visited PV on Cinco De Mayo 2006. We waited over an hour for our food which arrived on hot as heck nuked plates. So we waited that long for microwaved food. THEN, to our astonishment, our bill was $2 more per entree, for a total of $10 more than we expected. We checked the prices against the menu and when we brought this to the attention of the hostess/manager, she told us that we got old menus and she would bring us the new one (with the jacked up prices) which she never did. A quick surveillance of the restaurant showed that mostly everyone else was looking at old menus, too. A con job and average food -- not my idea of a good time.

Recommends

Contributor

Joined 10 years ago

Traditional Mexican fare served in a casual, corporate-friendly River North location.. In Short
Blue and yellow walls welcome diners into this not-quite-kitschy Mexican place, where area business types gather for working lunches and after-work margaritas. The traditional Mexican menu offers tacos, burritos, enchiladas and the like. Start with the appetizer platter, brimming with quesadillas, chorizo, nachos and more. Chicken enchiladas and steak fajitas are good bets, as are shrimp in spicy diabla sauce and chicken mole poblano. Flan is a good finish, drizzled with chocolate and caramel sauce.

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richard128

Joined 9 years ago

Good stuff. I don't usually post reviews of places, but I have to give a shout out to my favorite Mexican restaurant in Chicago. Probably the only place in River North/Downtown area that serves authentic Mexican food that is also *very* good. The margarita specials alone are worth the trip, and I've never had a bad dish here. Service is also very attentive. I am always satisfied after a visit here.

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lotus2221

Joined 9 years ago

Good for 'ritas and tasty Mexican. The food is great! I had been in search of good Mexican in Chicago for some time, so when I found this place, I was very excited. Whenever I go out for Mexican, I will come here!

Recommends

peterbehle_citysearch

Joined 11 years ago

Everything's OK.... Nothing outstanding here, but most items on the menu are pretty good. I had chicken enchiladas with a spicy nortenas sauce. I went out on a limb and got a Coco Loco--a rum-based drink that came out bitter and looked like a big blue Slurpee.

Doesn't Recommend

jameswevley_citysearch

Joined 11 years ago

stinky. The food and drinks at Vallarta are fine, but, there's a strange odor of fried tortillas and grease that dominates the place. When you leave, you positively wreak of the restaurant. I wouldn't recommend taking a date here for this reason.