Address:
Puerto Vallarta
2800 Scottsville Road
Bowling Green, KY 42104
(270) 782-6264
The Dish:
Chips and Salsa (Appetizer – Free)
Combo 8 (Taco, Burrito, Rice/Beans)
Diet Cokes
$8.65 (Tax and tip included)
Grade: 1 Fork
One of the few restaurants that I went to while visiting our corporate offices in Bowling Green. My host (at the office) pretty much invited me here saying it was one of the better Mexican’s around. It might have been, but I did not want to look out of place ordering something that I normally would so I opted for the business casual combo meal.
Ambiance: When you think of Puerto Vallarta, you should be thinking of the tropical paradise that is situated on the West Pacific in Mexico. Now I could break into a Shawshank Redemption moment here but I won’t, however I did not get the feeling that this was a tropical paradise. To their defense it is hard to accomplish something of that feel when you are in a strip mall. Anyway, standard Mexican decorations were abundant, and thankfully the air conditioning was working because it was a scorcher outside!
Menu/Price: Pretty inexpensive from what I saw, very few things were over the $10 mark. However I think they have a different menu for lunch and dinner, and I was on the lunch menu. I would be surprised though if the dinner menu would be lower than what I would consider to be the norm, given that the area Bowling Green is in has a lower cost of living that where we live in Iowa. The choices were plenty and typical for a Mexican restaurant as this one.
Meal: Good thing they had chips and salsa because the size of my meal just did not do it for me. Perhaps that is why it was really inexpensive, or maybe I was just really hungry. Either way the chips and salsa really filled that void. The combo itself was pretty basic, nothing to exciting. The taco was good enough that I wished I had ordered the combo that came with three tacos. The burrito was actually a cheese and meat enchilada, or at least what I would call an enchilada. Either way it was decent. The rice was cooked, but cooked to a point that they were almost dehydrated again. The refried beans were good as chip dip, but a bit too runny to eat with a fork.
Service: No real problems here, drinks and food came promptly. When I asked for a receipt (for corporate reimbursement) I got a weird look from the guy running the cash register. Another came up and wrote on a small piece of paper the date and amount (pre-tip) with his signature on the Manager Signature line. It was a bit awkward, but not really helpful for my uses.
Overall: Maybe I am being a bit unfair here, but I went with the 1 Fork middle of the road rating because they might actually be better than I thought, but given the circumstances I did not feel comfortable exploring the menu as I normally would. If I make it back to Bowling Green, I’ll try this place again in the evening and perhaps they will get the 1 Fork, 1 Spoon grade.