Review Taqueria Playa Tropical - New Westminster

This place is amazing! The wait to get in was a bit long, but it was well worth it! Our waiter was super friendly and very helpful for helping my friends and I pick the most delicious menu items. The food came out super quick and it was so good! I got the tacos and my friends had the monster burritos which were HUGE! Best bang for your buck! We also got 2 pitchers of margaritas and they had many flavours to choose from. I HIGHLY recommend going here! I will definitely be back!

They work hard to keep the flavors authentic. Cheap tacos ($3 each!), plenty of interior seating, and pretty good cocktails. You get what you pay for: nothing fancy here/over the top presentation but flavors are solid. I would try the plate or monster burritos next. Service was adequate. Minimal free spots in the back, pay parking on main street but if you’re willing to walk block there’s free residential parking around. Cash or card accepted.

Our new neighbourhood favourite! We always wanted to try this place and it was worth it. We shared a platter for dinner and churros for dessert, and it was more than enough food for two. Great proportions, delicious and tasty food - we will definitely keep coming back!

Just had lunch here & omgoodness! It's been on my list of places to try & I really wish I had come here sooner, but better late than never right?! It's a bright spacious restaurant with well spaced out tables. The service is friendly & inviting. We order 2 Pollo Asada Platters (one with a side of mole) & 2 Carne Asada Platters. These platters easily make two meals for a small eater & one delicious feast for a big eater. Everything is well prepared & absolutely delicious. Their mole 🤯. We capped off our meal with Tres Leches & Churros. They make their Churros fresh to order so it takes about 10 minutes, but trust me it's worth the wait! They are literally the best Churros I have ever had. This place doesn't need any publicity as it was packed the entire time we were here. Do yourself a favour & check it out. This is a great little gem in New West!

If you love authentic Mexican food, you can’t go wrong here. We tried a bit of everything. We had the ‘appy trio’ which was delish. A nice way to sample the guacamole, ceviche and salsa. The main meal we had shrimp quesadilla, shrimp enchilada, Choriqueso (Mexican chorizo) quesadilla, & Steak. The original steak order came out as tough & hard to cut through the meat. They were willing to get it right by preparing another cut. If you order the steak, make sure you ask for the thin cut. Someone had the chicken and veggie soup which was a huge serving. They even have a kids menu which is a bonus! The real deal is when they offer week day specials from Monday to Friday. On Fridays go for the full meal deal - MONSTER Burrito for $12. It was humungous, enough for at least 3 meals. If you’re into some Latin music, visit on a Friday or Saturday night from 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm for live music. There are plenty of drink choices too! Be prepared to wait as it’s probably the best Mexican food around.

Food was amazing good quality and quantity. Staff was very nice and polite. You have to visit the place for these enormous margaritas my favourite “lime Margarita double shot”

Top notch Mexican restaurant. Great atmosphere, outstanding service and excellent food. It reminds us so much of the Mexican restaurants when we were in S. Texas & S. California. Every dish was prepared fresh with quality ingredients. This is a restaurant that we will visit often. Highly recommended.

One of my favourite Mexican restaurants. Their tacos are really good but I love their rice and beans plates. Their monster burrito is the best value meal. This place is always busy with 15-30 min waits.

Awesome Mexican food! If you haven’t been here make sure to add it to your list. We have ordered different dishes including the flautas, burritos, and tacos. Portions are huge so you will with a full belly. Service is good and prices are fair.

Fantastic food and accommodating staff. Carne asada good choice and the beef barbacue tacos are reason why I will be back. Definitely worth the drive.

The new waitresses are unfriendly and do not give a rat's behind for any customer service. You have to approach them and they don't even bother to stand up to greet you or nothing.... they are also busy talking among themselves while the customers just wait for them to stop chatting! So rude! The food was better before. My partner had some tacos and the one carne al pastor was more than half grease and cartilage. Gross! The shrimp tacos had most of the tails unpeeled! If you ask an extra tortilla for teh tacos they charge you $1.00! Ridiculous. They should learn a thing of two from the real Mexican restaurants across the border, where tostadas are endless and the dishes huge and well served.They offer you just a handful of tostadas when you seat on a table. If you want more they charge you which it is ridiculous. The food is not even all Mexican as they have people from all over Latin America working there. Their customer service SUCKS. Ay Picante in Sapperton was way better and cheaper, and the staff were wonderful. It is a pity the owner of the building close them down after just two months because of his huge rent. That was the best Mexican food in New Westminster and you could get full including a drink for $8.00-10.00 CAD! They were the best. Taqueria Playa Tropical has a lot to improve in their food quality and service.

its an ok place . but everyone who eats there and gives it 5 stars must not really know TRUE AUTHENTIC LATIN food . its decent here . it is semi clean- THE WASHROOM DID NOT HAVE HOT WATER- IM PRETTY SURE THAT IS breaking some by= law. live music is nice - but be sure to have them play when you advertise. they advertise 630 t o 900- they did not. and by the way - the chips taste good and the little sauce you put out is quite good- however - it looks very tacky and cheap to pile up a little pile in a teeny tiny bowl- you might as well not hand out chips at all. (or do a little research and find a bowl that can take little chips but looks good still ... you know ! We asked for more because we loved the sauce- but they charge you for more- would have been nice to know before ... and only few are providing great service and great smiles... the ones that you would think would be and should be smiling do not - last and final time i ate there - the servers did not smile once and had to get servers attention- this place is good - decent- just need to work on treating everyone like we mean something. There are a few who are not putting out a vibe of entitlement but not all. like i said it is ok ... but need to work on some things. :) a different visit i had - the chicken was too dry - i feel like i cant complain at all directly to them... gave it few chances... no longer for me .. in New west you people need to find or someone needs to make more restaurants! i was not impressed - it was little things here and there --- you know what i mean --- we ve all been to a restaurant where we expect to be treated well.. and not have to wait 20 minutes to wave down a server to get our check... GOOD LUCK TO YOU .... train your servers to smile and be kind and attentive - and we tip accordingly and we bring friends- but this place needs to see the bits that are missing here and there - then it will and can be better. thank you .  but at least - i havent gotten sick here .

Yo he sido su cliente desde que abrieron y he recomendado y organizado celebraciones en su restaurante varias veces.   La comida sigue siendo de muy buena calidad y buen sabor, pero el servicio esta bajando de calidad:  el miercoles pasado fui con mi hija que vino de Victoria y tomo 30 minutos para que nos tomaran la orden y otros 30 para que nos trajeran la comida... pedimos una carne asada y un pescado salteado...las tortillas nunca llegaron aunque les recordamos, pero solo habia dos meseras y un chico que medio las ayudaba a traer el agua y los menus....Si  me permiten el consejo, podrian tener mas gente sirviendo para que los clientes queden satisfechos y no lo piensen antes de ir la siguiente vez...ahorrar unos cuantos dolares les puede costar muchos mas...como va a ser que las pobres meseras tambien tengan que ser cajeras (habia una gran cola para pagar)....Yo quiero que ustedes sigan teniendo exito y que sigan ahi por mucho tiempo, pero les pido que chequen como dar mejor servicio.  Atentamente   Aurora Bach

Super love this place and their food! We hope they can accommodate more people. Their food is just LOVE! I’ve been eating in a lot of mexican dining places but this one is on my #1. We will return here soon.

Delicious food! absolutely a favorite local restaurant. The portions are generous and are well priced, the live music on Friday nights makes it such a great environment.

Soooooooooooooooooo good!!! Food is just heavenly amazing. A must go for Brazilians to get food that tastes like home. Great latin vibe and music.

I use to love this place and it was my go to for good Mexican food. But ever since they expanded a year ago the food quality just isn't the same. I've gone back multiple times and it's just not cutting it anymore. Good but not great.

Absolutely amazing authentic Mexican food! <br/>Had the tostadas this evening. Tender crunchy and fresh. Perfect balance of meat beans and toppings. And HUGE portions. <br/>100% recommend this restaurant to everyone.

Had the choriquezo quesadilla. It was so filling and it was really packed with bold flavours and I love that as soon as you come in here, they immediately give you some chips with salsa to start with. This place gave an authentic feel of Mexican foods and it's definitely a must go!

I went to this place with my parents and friends and the food was okay, but the service was horrible, very poor. The waiter/ess were with an aptitude, discourtesy with us but very BROWN NOOSERS with caucasians. Typical latino service for the own community. If you are "white" then the service will be great, but if you are latino then the service will be horrible.

Wendy and I have recently been on a bit of a quest to find the best restaurant in New Westminster.  We tried some of the overly hyped restaurants at the River Market, but somehow this lesser-known gem slipped our mind.  Taqueria Playa Tropical is an authentic Mexican restaurant on 6th St. that we have been frequenting for some time, and have had a review in the draft stages for a year now (!!).  The pictures below are from a mix of visits during this time period, so please excuse the older, lower resolution ones.

If you love Mexican food, you'll absolutely love this restaurant. Of all New West's food gems (and there are a lot!), Playa Tropical always stands out for me and has been a longtime favorite!<br/>I'm not a vegetarian, but definitely not much of a carnivore either and often opt for veggie dishes in general. My personal favorite menu item is their vegetarian burrito, which is wrapped in an 11" flour tortilla and wow is it STUFFED. I couldn't believe that they hadn't mixed up my order and given me a Monster Burrito (upsize option) by mistake!<br/>On top of that, the guacamole and pico de gallo are always on point, very fresh and so so delicious. <br/>My girlfriend and I try to visit every time we get together in the area, they have a great dine-in atmosphere and are always busy, and I believe they also have live music some evenings which I can only imagine would be really fun considering it's a spacious, bustling and very lively restaurant to start with. <br/>Awesome place to have dinner with friends or family, date night as well!

Very unique place. Good, authentic Mexican food with a good environment for a small restaurant. We went on a Saturday night and they had live music. Good idea to make a reservation if you REALLY want to get there on a busy night. At some point there were over 15 people on the waiting list.

• ample street parking available<br/>• busy on a Thursday evening<br/>• small serving of chips to start<br/>• chips are not freshly made (I don't think), extremely salty: you can see the salt particles on every chip - not my fave<br/>• Tacos trios carnitas plate was good for $12, good for sharing if you don't have a big appetite<br/>• Choriqueso (Chorizo with melted cheese) topped with guacamole was ok. I'm glad its not fatty and oily. Some part of the meat was still pink, we had to send it back and they gave us a new one and took -$2 off the bill. Good on their part<br/>• service not the greatest, water wasn't refilled promptly considering how salty the dishes were. <br/>• part of eating out is the high salt content on the food but salt level was 9/10 for this place. Will I come back again... extremely unlikely. <br/>• lively ambiance though, live music Fri & Sat evenings

Very busy, could maybe use an extra server or two but they still were able to manage. Tacos were delicious, prices are good, would certainly come back to try the Burritos or Enchiladas.<br/><br/>Best Mexican food in the suburbs?

The food was absolutely delicious and had an incredible depth of flavor. The prices were very reasonable. I was very interested to see such a large demographic of people there- babies to elderly people of multiple ethnicities all enjoying their meal. The interior could use some updates to make more eye appealing but otherwise was excellent

Love the food and we try something different every time.  Current favorites are Carnitas Tacos and the Monster Burrito (which is a great value!).  Staff are always friendly and food comes fairly quickly (depending on how busy it is).  We enjoy the live music on Friday & Saturday nights as it creates an upbeat, fun atmosphere.  Highly recommend this restaurant for casual dining!

i've ranted on other reviews on how chain restaurants put an emphasis on how the staff looks rather than the quality of food. this place has got a great balance. the food is great and the wait staff is easy on the eyes. great place

This is probably the restaurant I crave more than any other. Reliable, authentic Mexican food. Well priced, fresh, and SO GOOD!!!!!!! Have tried a good deal of the menu and yet to be disappointed. ..favourites are definitely the mushroom tacos and veggie burritos

I had the monster burrito. It was flavorful, authentic and very filling. The service, however, does need some work (had to wait a long time for the bill). All in all a solid joint.

This restaurant gives me mixed feelings. First of all the food was downright delicous and authentic. On the other hand the service was absolutely poor!! I have been to this restaurant at least three times, giving them another chance each time, but the third was definitely such a big turn off. The staff was very unattentive and hard to grab their attention. Especially when it came to asking for the bill I was completely ignored. After 10mins later the waitress finally got my attention and brought the bill. Overall the prices are great and super affordable for their food. This restaurant is normally always packed, it was just unfortunate for my experience. Therefore I haven't been back in at least a year so hopefully I can try it out again and that your experience their is a lot better than mine!

love their food

The food is great and I would have ranked it much higher if it was based only on the food, but the service here is terrible. Waited so long for anyone to come to take our order and in the end I had to wave the waitress over. The food also took a long time to arrive. I've been here twice and the only reason why I come back is for the food - the poor service leaves a bad taste in my mouth though.

This is where all the Mexican people go, so that's one hint that the food must be good. And it sure was! I ordered the ceviche and their fish tacos. The flavors were really good and everything tastes very fresh. My hubby ordered the steak fajitas. It was really good. Maybe even better than my tacos!

We ended up leaving the place since the servers weren't even paying any attention to people who were like in group of two. They only were attending to large groups. What a waste of time!!!! Don't ever go here!!!!

The food was very good. My shrimp fajitas was on point as well as my son's carne asada. I must add that one of the waitresses blatantly flirted with my boyfriend and ignored me. Wasn't quite sure how to take that!<br/>I just remember that I approached her the first time speaking in Spanish and she mentioned not to understand it. My partners food was lovely though.<br/><br/>In pains me to say that the food was very good but I won't go back for obvious reasons.

Overall, I like the food here.  Last night was maybe my 5th or 6th time there.  The bean soup is very good, as are the burrito's.  Oh, the Margaritas are very good.  <br/><br/>The one problem I have with this Mexican restaurant is the same problem I have with every other Mexican restaurant I've been to in Canada.  Enchiladas is my favorite Mexican dish.  The main problem is they don't use enchilada sauce.  They use salsa. To quote the Mexican owner of a Mexican restaurant in Bellingham, "then they aren't enchiladas". I don't know what the problem is here.  Why can't they use enchilada sauce?  The other thing is that they use very little cheese.  The top of the enchilada should be smothered in cheese.<br/><br/>The enchiladas were good for what they were.  The rice was very good, as were the refried beans, which were made from black beans not pinto beans.  I liked that.

Like so many others the food here is decent (not great) the portions are generous but to be honest everything taste the same. Doesn't matter what you order it all taste the same. Order a rice dish it is all the same except for the meat. Also the place seems to relaxed. I don't mind going to a mom and pops operation but this place is too relaxed. Bottom line i will not come back and would rather try other mexican restaurants. This place is not authentic at all more like the mcdonalds of mexican food.

Bit of a let down. <br/>First the chips. Any restaurant I've been to across North America will give a basket with sauce on the side, refills free. This place serves a minuscule ice cream dish with squeeze bottles on the side. Refills for the ten chips cost 1$. <br/>Nachos plate. Worst I've ever eaten we didn't finish it. It was primarily topped with lettuce. I've never seen that on a nachos plate, presumably because it's a cheap filler.<br/><br/>Monster burrito was large, again filled with lettuce and a flavourless carne asada.  <br/><br/>Not even a soda fountain, can drinks served in the can. <br/><br/>All in all....spend the time to go to Bellingham and have a good Mexican dinner.

The place looked kind of shady from the outside but as soon as my partner and I stepped in, we saw that there were a lot of people inside who looked to be in good spirits and enjoying their food. We got seated promptly and ordered pretty quick after that. I ordered four tacos- the champinones, camaron, carnitas and choriqueso. All of the tacos looked like what I was expecting for $2.50 per taco- except the camaron taco. It looked really disappointing- it appeared as just a small soft taco with TWO medium sized shrimp on it. Didn't look presentable at all. However, the flavour made up for it. Whatever sauce they had been in made up for how ugly it was. The other three tacos were flavourful and the value was good. The place was quickly suggested by a friend of my partner and I after hungrily looking for a place in the area to eat. We thanked him for suggesting TPT and we're likely to return in the future, as well as suggest it to others!

I had read good reviews about this place and happened to be in the neighbourhood when I had a craving for a burrito. Shortly after I was seated, I was given tortilla chips and 2 types of salsa: 1 red and green to munch on as i perused the menu. I ordered the Carne asado burrito. For a dollar more, rice and beans can be added. Since I'm trying to cut down on the carbs, I opted for without. I thought it interesting as the burrito was served without the ends wrapped inwards (I will take a pic next time; yes, there will definitely be a next time). On the plate there was guacamole which I found surprising as many places offer guacamole for an additional charge. Good prices, decent food and friendly waitstaff. <br/><br/>

Very authentic and fresh food. The tacos has a wide variety of selection and the burritos are quite big. The staff are extremely hard working and sometimes over worked as they seem short staffed. This could be because this place is always busy. Get ready to wait for a table as this is one of the hottest restaurants in new west. Order the flan in advance as it's also a favourite

Great mexican food here, I don't have the picture came here on lunch, ordered a few tacos and lunch meal.<br/><br/>ordered barbacoa, carne asada, pescado, camaron. and it definitelyt asted great, I definitely love the pescado, as it's well seasoned, not too much but it's still very good.<br/><br/>overall i would say this place serve a very good tasting mexican food. and overall i love the spices and amount of taste in food they serve in here. will definitely come back again for a quick lunch if time allows.

I've never experienced a local restaurant like this, it's the first restaurant that gave me chills with how amazing it tasted. WOW. <br/><br/>The tacos are smaller than your usual, but get around 3-4 to satisfy your hunger. <br/><br/>Highly recommended.

The food was very good!!!  Restaurant was very busy but food came fast and was delicious. The prices were good too. This was my first visit, but I will defiantly be back soon.

They have improved since my last visit! We found the food much more flavourful, more satisfying, and in general the experience was more enjoyable! The server was attentive and the food was so tasty, hot, good amount of spice, and still a great price! We will be back many more times!

This was by far a mediocre experience. Food was forgettable and service was absolutely atrocious. It seemed,unless you were a personal friend of the staff you were faceless. Nobody seated us, there was no sign stating otherwise. The bus boy finally took pity on us, and gave us a table up front. Waitresses and bus boys passed by our empty table constantly. Finally, again, thank you bus boy. He took our order. After they corrected and executed our drink order, we waited for dinner for about 20 min. In the meantime, we found the "friends" tables around us, got their food. When it did finally arrive, it was extremely overcooked and pretty much flavorless. We had three different people at our table, dropping drinks and food, not one asked us how we were, or if we needed anything. Mr. bus boy was the only one that made eye contact with us. The kicker was that it wasn't even very busy. Well, thank you bus boy. Thanks to you, we ate and drank tonight. I hope you got the subpar tip we left, because it seemed you were the only one working for it.

I never thought I would be wowed by mexican food but WOW! Amazing service, and even better food! We went to celebrate my friend's 20 year Liver transplant and the bill was like $400 for 8-10 of us (with plenty of booze)! Funny thing was that the waitress said that two other parties came there in the past 2 weeks celebrating for the same reason haha! One thing though, the lighting was a little harsh. The cover wasn't on the overhead bright lights so I looked like a weirdo wearing my sunglasses to keep the brightness off haha but no big deal. Sexy low lighting at night would be nice though :)

Whenever I see carnitas as an option, I have to order it and I am glad I did here because it was delicious. The pork was very tender, moist, and flavourful. The tacos were stuffed full of fillings and topped with fresh salsa and a scoop of guacamole, which was a nice touch. Side of Rice and Beans. Unfortunately the tacos don’t come with sides, so I ordered an extra side of rice and beans.

I had high hopes for this place. Just finished eating our take out. First I will say this, my wife is Mexican and I spent nearly three years in Mexico with her. We know Mexican food. The food was decent at best. <br/><br/>We ordered 10 tacos, a kids meal and fajitas with a side order of 3 tortillas along with the two horchata. We didn't get the tortillas (3, which is just not enough) for the fajitas nor did we get the side order of tortillas. So we were out 6 tortillas. Eating fajitas with just a fork sucks. Also the fajitas were swimming in a pool of grease. The tacos were pretty dry. The horchata is like what we can make at home. The guacamole on the carnitas tacos was just avocado with a bit of cilantro and maybe a bit of lime juice. I make better guacamole.<br/><br/>On to the service. It sucks overall. They are like chickens running around with their heads cut off. There were a couple servers who were good, took care of me and were nice. The rest was chaos. Yes the place was a bit busy but really they had too many servers. Cut the team in half and train them proper. They need a damn manager in there. I mean what is going on? The guy before me who was picking up his order was asked if he wants salsa. I wasn't asked if I wanted any. I watched a couple of the guys messing around with what turns out to be our horchata, they seemed to be testing to see if enough was put in there or something. But what they hell are they doing playing around with people's food? They forgot the tortillas as mentioned. When my order was given to me it was just dumped on the counter in front of me and the guy just walked away without saying anything. I had to ask another server if it was my food and they barely answered me. Nobody went over the order to make sure it was correct (otherwise I would have the damn tortillas). And after all this I am pushed for a tip? It was a pick up order! You guys didn't take care of our drinks or provide some nice experience... what the hell do you deserve a tip for??? It was a crap experience!<br/><br/>We spent $51 and feel like ordering more food from another place because we didn't eat enough. That is too expensive. I can get more food from Yianni's and spend $10 less.<br/><br/>So I call to see what they will do regarding the tortillas. My option was to leave my name and number and hope the boss calls me back or to get back on the bus and go pick up 6 tortillas. I'm hoping the boss calls.... once he gets back from vacation. Take note boss: the only reason the place is successful is because the restaurants in New Westminster suck in general and this is the only Mexican restaurant.<br/><br/>People, you want good Mexican food? Go to Adelitas restaurant near 33rd and Victoria. It is worth the drive or bus ride. We have been there and would go back. Will not be going back to Taqueria Playa Tropical.

Don't let the appearance foul you, this place serves some pretty solid mexican food. The service though is lacking and the complimentary chips are a bit tasteless

Terrible Service. Thought we would try this'd place for dinner. Waited for about 5 minutes before we were seated, which was ok as they were busy. Got our menus and a bowl of tortilla chips, then waited 15 minutes for someone to take our order- no one came. Got up and told someone we would like to order, they nodded and said ok. 10 minutes later, still nothing. Someone came and have us water just as we got up to leave after 25 minutes of waiting. No matter how busy you are no one should wait 25 minutes to have their order taken. Heard they have good food, but may take a while before we try it again.

Dinner for two tonight. The tacos were delicious, ordered 3 as they are 2.50 each. Also ordered guacamole with chips as an appetizer, although we had to remind our waitress that we had ordered it. Reading the reviews previous to coming here, I was sort of expecting the sub-par service .. If you are in a hurry, I could see it might bother someone. Unfortunately lived up to the reviews. Bottom line- food was delicious. We drank Paloma's which were also very delicious. I shall be returning to check out the live music!

Terrible service. I'm from LA, so I am picky about good Mexican food. Turns out the owner is from El Salvador, not Mexico. The food is ok for this area, but nothing to write home about. The service, on the other hand, is absolutely awful. I have gone three times to give them the benefit of the doubt, and because I live nearby. I've actually gotten up and walked out on one occasion (my last) because my friend and I waited for 25 minutes and not servers came. On a prior occasion, another friend and I were there for 2.5 hours. It took us 20 minutes to get the attention of a server, an hour to get our food, and we ended up waiting for ANOTHER HOUR to get our bill. They didn't bring it, so we had to go to the front to pay. There is one server who is wonderful, but she seems to be the only one on the floor. The other women stand behind the bar chatting, drinking, and eating. When asked to do something- like wait on a customer- they're rude. In fact, I have never had worse service at a restaurant while living in BC. I would not recommend.

Service is non existent. I have been here four times & although I have tried to give this resteraunt a chance, it keeps on disappointing. The only thing that is consistent is the horrid service. Tonight's waitress was so rude from the start, that she had us walking out the door & heading to the River's Reach for some fajitas within two minutes of introducing herself.

Went there with a group of 7 on Sunday April 19 2015. The host that greeted us seem unsure of what she was doing and she was very unprofessional.<br/>She sat us then we waited for a good 10 minutes till I ask who our server was. We got one Female server that went by our table and dropped one glass of water to a group of 7?? lol we were just looking at each other confuse as she never said hello, she did come back and gave us 6 more glasses a few minutes later.<br/>Then we had a guy taking our order, he seem better than the previous two staff members. We got our food but not in the right order so we had to figure out which one was our meal. We ask for more chips, never got them. We got our bills partly separated and the girl told us to figure out the Bill our selves. The only good thing about the place is the food.<br/>Prices and size are alright.<br/>It looks like the staff haven't been trained properly and they act like they are running a fast food restaurant instead of a real one.<br/>It's too bad.because of that I would not go back to it.<br/>P.s never saw any manager or owner to talk to for the 2 hours we were there.

Well I have finally had the chance to go and yes I can say it was worth the wait. Service could be improved but other then that it is a really good place and worth checking out. Try the enchiladas!

Truly Awesome. You know when a place comes recommended by your friend's Mexican wife that it has to be good! Playa Tropical does not disappoint! It really hits the spot when you just have to have Mexican food and can't drive south of the border. In my opinion, this should be on the must try lit for greater Vancouver. No Joke. Special mention to the Fish platter.<br/><br/>It's good to finally see food of this caliber in Canada.

Great prices, fast with huge portions. I see a lot of reviews complaining about the service but here, you get what you pay for. When you walk in, you can obviously tell that this is not fine dining. The prices are amazing, food is tasty and the portions are huge. We went Valentine's Day evening. It was really busy but we were seated in 5 mins and our orders came in under 10 mins. We enjoyed it. My husbands monster carne asada burrito ($12) was so large it resembled the size of a small newborn.

Best Mexican food in BC. This place is amazing, we are regulars. The food is delicious, cheap and has just enough spice. The only exception is the service. They need some more servers!

Place gets packed! Super cheap prices! Reminds me of Mexico. You wouldn't come for the ambiance as decor is pretty traditonal. Food tastes great!

Amazing!. Best mexican food outside of Mexico in my opinion! Always busy so expect to wait but the food is well worth it! Service could be faster but hey, they're always packed so it course they can't be perfect. Been coming here for years and the food never fails to impress!

Second time here; food was much better this time since the last time I went. Last time I went was before the expansion/renovations. Always a good sign when Mexican people are eating here.

Nobody Knows How Badly I want REAL Mexican food. And this is far from real Mexican food....our whole experience here was gross. This is a cheap, run-down sports bar type place...in a somewhat sketchy area of New West. They should stop advertising as Mexican food!!

Double charge. Won't come here because they are cheaters

Seriously so good. The nachos are to die for. Mmmmmmmm and they have Negra beer!!! Win!

They are in the entertainment coupon book. the rules stipulate that up to 3 coupons can be used at a table of 6 or more people. yet they have decided not to honor it. the manager/owner didn't even choose to speak to us. was very very very disappointed!!! will not be going back.

Pastor Taco(Left) Pescado Taco (Right). Fantastic!

Not very good food.. service even worse!. First thing is a warning to everyone who eats here!<br/>Check your bill well as they double charge you on items.<br/>I have been 3 times now and 2 times they charged 2 times for the same drink. I will not go back for this reason..once I can see is a mistake but twice on the same drink I think not. The service is non existent in this restaurant the servers walk by you like you are not even there. As for the food just OK..<br/>I read all the good reviews and am scratching my head???

A little empathy can go a long way. First, I'll mention the positive. It's great that there's a family-friendly Mexican restaurant in New West. (Ole Ole is good but it's smallish in space and in portions). There was live music when we went there. The place was spacious, and while I wouldn't call the seating comfortable, the wall artwork created a nice atmosphere.<br/><br/>The food had its bright spots. Our burrito was tasty. Next time, if there is a next time, I may try the monster burrito. The quesadilla with the mushroom filling was delicious. The dessert and the rice drink felt authentic and complemented the meal well.<br/><br/>As for our full order of nachos: well, it may have been up to the restaurant's standards. It wasn't up to ours. The nachos were very soggy.<br/><br/>And that's where the problems started. Customer service 101: if a customer has an issue with a dish, you can do several things. You can provide an informed, empathetic perspective as to why the dish is the way it is. You can offer to replace it. Or you can offer to replace it with a different dish. None of those were offered, though, and the server's attitude left much to be desired. The words "I'm sorry you feel that way" came out so bitterly that it would have been better not to say anything at all. We sent the dish back.<br/><br/>To provide context, we came at 5:30 pm on a Mid-November Saturday. So it was a busy time, and one can make allowances for that. For a half hour stretch no one checked on our table; maybe it was intentional, but maybe not. We flagged down another server to inquire about coffee, only to be forgotten again. OK, no problem. It's busy, and these things happen. <br/><br/>Then the bill came. We were double-charged for one item and we were charged full price for the nachos which we had barely eaten. They redid the bill but still wanted to charge us half price. So I asked to speak to the manager; it's only fair to give a manager the chance to turn a sub-par experience and bad internet review into an OK one of each. The server finally scratched the nachos off the bill rather than get the manager, and her attitude throughout was totally devoid of any empathy.<br/><br/>Which is too bad, since the service is the face of the restaurant.

Decent Mexican food but sorta plain.

Don't bother. If you want to wait for nothing go here. Put our name down which is weird as most places at least say hello and take your name. Then 2 groups got seated before us because the lazy or incompetent waitress couldn't keep it straight. After half hour someone finally came over and asked if we were waiting for someone and we just left. Wish it was possible to give zero stars for very bad service. Waste of time.

Don't bother. If you want to wait for nothing go here. We put our name down and sat down which is weird as most restaurants at least say hello and take ur name to keep some sort of order. 2 groups got seated before us because the lazy or incompetent waitress couldn't keep it straight. After close to half hour she finally came over and asked us if we were waiting for someone and we just left. Wish there was a way to rate 0 stars.

A great find. My friend and I tried Taqueria for the first time tonight. We were not disappointed. I had a chicken enchilada and a margarita. The enchilada and the sides were very flavourful. I've often found that the black bean side tends to be pasty and tasteless. Their black beans were delicious. My margarita hit the spot. My friend had the steak and it was cooked and seasoned perfectly. Though it became quite busy while we were there, the service was excellent and quite attentive. The only complaint is that they forgot my friend's margarita order.

Awesome place with great food, great prices and friendly service. The appies, tacos and enchiladas were all amazing!

Love it. Good food, a little slow but worth waiting for! Thanks for all the good laughs.

They serve Pazole and that's all I needed to know.. I live in New West and I love Pazole. No more major expeditions for that soul restoring broth of the Gods. That's good, right? Yes, it was good, not stellar but for a guy way too long away from Cozumel it was heavenly. The pazole was rich and mild with tons of pork and hominy. The garnishes weren't what I was expecting. Normally there's be raw onion, radishes, cabbage and lime. Got the lime OK and then lettuce. I actually preferred that over cabbage, but the onion and radishes were AWOL. The crisp tortillas weren't; they were steamed. Not to worry, torn up and added to the broth they were fine. The house made Chorizqueso appetizer was delicious too. Downed with a couple of appropriately frosty Tecates and I was good to go. I'd probably be tougher on the place but now that I have found Pazole and Menudo close to home I'm too blissed out to be critical. Service was brisk and friendly on a busy Friday night. The musical duo was great too. All that was needed was a beach. 6/10

Bad bad service. Decent food, TERRIBLE service. server's take forever to bring menus, they don't check to see how the food is or if you need anything, they take forever to bring the bill. one night my friend and i went, there was a line out the door, so we asked the waitress for the bill so others could eat. she never returned. 35 minutes later i got up and went to the bar and asked to pay. oh, by the way, that's not the first time that has happened...

Yummers. I've been here 3 times and each time has been good. Waitresses were able to ensure that my meal was gluten-free which is important. If you are vegetarian like me, you might want to be careful. I assumed the rice was ok however last time the waitress told me it contains chicken in the seasoning. I would have avoided it had I known. The lime margaritas are delicious, as are the chips and hot sauces.

How is this place getting such great revues? Chips were stale. No sauce and when asked was given a container like the cooks use. Rice was precooked (when?) and stale. On the plus side the beans were good. No salad or vegetables to speak of. There was something up with the ice cubes. Look closely because there are what looks like black/pink dots in them. Tortillas are homemade and the fillings were good. Service is slow and double check your bill as ours was off by over $10.

Sooo good, good service. Great prices. Will definitely go back and take people with us. Recommend it.

We heard it was a good restaurant through a friend, so we went without thinking twice to read any of the reviews or comments. The food was fine even though they were a bit pricey. However, I'd never go back because the service was terrible. For whatever reasons the servers weren't around and it wasn't even busy!! They didn't seem friendly or welcoming at all. If you crave Mexican food and can't get it anywhere else just order take out from this place.

Decent food. Poor service.. Decent food, although sometimes flavour is lacking/not consistent. The prices are good. Quality of service is pretty poor. You often feel ignored, not knowing if the wait staff know that you are there. A simple "we'll be with you in a moment" would do wonders to alleviate any doubts from customers waiting for service. Trying to get your bill so you can pay to leave is almost impossible. We've been to Taqueria Playa Tropical on several occasions and although we've encountered friendly staff (when you actually get their attention), the lack of basic customer service skills are enough to make you not want to return.

Sorry, just Bad, Bad, Bad!. I'm sorry. Maybe I don't know what 'Authentic Mexican' food really tastes like?! We got Chicken Enchiladas and Chicken Flautas. No flavour.. at all. The rice was cold and boring. The beans were cold and gritty, boring. The tortilla the enchiladas were rolled up in were soggy any doughy. Sorry, just Bad, Bad, Bad.<br/><br/>We have been going to Dos Padres in the Fairhaven District of Bellingham for over 30 years now, and would often make the drive JUST for dinner. That is Mexican food like you have never had! When we read the reviews here, we thought "at last, a good restaurant close by!" Nope.... don't even feel like we had dinner, just disappointed. Tomorrow night we're driving down to Dos Padres again to get this taste out of out mouths!

QUE RICO!!!! Been going t.... QUE RICO!!!!<br/><br/>Been going to the Playa Tropical on a regular basis for almost two years now. It's a great little (recently expanded) place for lunch or dinner. The food is always delicious and nicely plated, fresh and plentiful. If you're lucky and chef Victor was in the mood, the mole is the best! And occasionally they have the most wonderful Tres Leches cake. Sometimes the food is a bit slow to arrive but good things are worth waiting for. The staff is always warm and friendly and I'm always given a pleasant welcome. The prices are more than fair and I often have to take home a doggie bag.<br/><br/>Fridays and weekends there's live music, and if you're not there before 5:30pm be prepared for a lineup. Again, worth the wait. <br/><br/>If I have anything bad to say it's this: they don't have mole or Tres Leches on the menu often enough.

This is one of my all time favorite restaurants but I have to say the service is aweful. I've been here at least 20 times and have never had good service..ever. The only reason i keep coming back is for the food, it's amazing! They can really benifits from training their staff, or hiring professionals.

Newly renovated and expanded. They just expanded three weeks ago, taking over the space from the previous laundromat next door and opening up the wall. Seems brighter inside now.

Customer. Good food, good flavor but could benefit from faster serving of the food.

Good Mexican Grub.. Just finshed having a great meal at Taqueria. I had the Carne Assada plate and my friend had the Monster Burrito. Ordered a guacamole starter too. The starter came with the main food but it tasted really fresh. The portions are large. The food is tasty. My steak was cooked the way I wanted. The service was good. And the food came to us fairly quickly. The staff did take a bit of time to get us the bill. All in all a good little restaurant in New West.

Simply awesome! Their nachos were really good. They messed up a order mistaking vegetarian for chicken and they were really nice about it and replaced it with much apologies. The service was great, the food was great (I was so full afterwards) and the price was great. I would definitely go back there again!

Very very bad service , no menu no water no hello .food is so so . <br/>Only reason we went to the Mexican resturant is 5 blocks away ,owner should train the waitress, We well NOT go back.

This place has delicious food and drinks but the service is terrible! If that was my restraunt those servers would no longer have jobs.

Really bad service. Let me start by saying this was one our favourite place. There were a few things not that great, like hard wooden chairs and it takes longer to get your bill than it is to get your food, but the food is excellent despite not having a lot of choices. However, we were there tonight and it was busy. Our names were first on the waiting list. There was a party of four next, then a party of three. We were told 15 minutes and after waiting 20 minutes we were told 15 to 20 more minutes. Finally a party of two and a party of 3 left. Hostess told us we would get the next table. After about 10 minutes we were told that those 2 tables were now reserved. During all this they seated the people who were third on the list. Now we would have to wait another 20 minutes, we left in disgust as did the party of four behind us. Terrible treatment but didn't care a bit. DO NOT GO THERE!

5th time here and no complaints. Good varieties of basic Mexican food, well cooked and served. Tacos are authentic and tasty@ a toonie each

Food was okay but service was terrible. How hard is it to have a sign that says seat yourself? Three tables that were seated after us were served before us and then when they finally brought our order it was wrong.

Not very exciting. We didn't feel like cooking tonight, plus I like to support local restaurant in the New West area. So after all the good review decided to give it a try. We were disappointed. The food was not very authentic. We ordered an assortment of tacos, quiessada and rice. The pork taco was decent, steak one was dry and the rice was just boring, no flavour. I expected at least fresh salsa but it came in a squirt bottle. Food prices are reasonable but I expected a bit more quality and more authentic tasting. Will not go again.

Great Experience. We really enjoyed our dining experience last night. Lovely down-to-earth little Mexican place with live music, tasty food, and happy upbeat staff. A little gem in New West.

I read the negative reviews after I had tried this restaurant. I live 2 blocks away and kept seeing it always busy so finally I tried it last night. Clean, small and there was a man playing Spanish music on his acoustic guitar. Waitress was very nice, explained some of the dishes I was inquiring about. <br/><br/>I ordered the burrito with red sauce which was on special for $11. It was so large and cooked well, tasted so good, more cilantro then others might not like but I love cilantro so I didn't mind. I didn't order any drinks, but when I saw others ordering margs they looked good.<br/><br/>It was full when I got there but the food came at a reasonable time. When I asked for the bill, they only have one portable debit machine but I didn't mind waiting as I was so stuffed from my meal.<br/><br/>Definitely will go back again. Not sure why so many negative experiences, but I still feel people shouldn't rely on those, just check it out, if you don't like then you can try something else.

Mmm delish! We had some michiladas margarita drinks we so good. I ate the pescada sealtadas and it was top notch fish. Definitely coming back

Horrid. I really wanted the glowing reviews of this place to be accurate, but unfortunately we had a really bad experience here. My carne asada (steak) burrito had a tough, chewy, thick, stale flour tortilla wrapped around it that was cold! The steak was barely edible - I spit most of it out because it was full of sinew and fat. There was hardly any cheese, TONS of raw onions, the beans we ordered on the side were runny black and had a weird sour cream design on them... I dunno. Even the free chips were disgusting. I think this place makes money on their Mexican beer and margaritas. Pass!

Very great Mexican food. Come early. The Cameron shrimp tacos are the best, along with Chicken quesadilla and beef burrito. Service is probably a seven depending on your server. But I always go back.

Excellent ceviche, tacos very tasty and service was great. Dont get what the previous reviewers were talking about service problems.

Its too bad the waitresses are so terrible at their jobs, because the food is so authentically good.

I've seen glaciers move faster. I can sum up this restaurant in 3 words. BRUTALLY - SLOW - SERVICE. <br/>I was quite surprised to discover that it takes 90 minutes to make a burrito and soup, but apparently it does at this place. <br/>No apologies for the ridiculous delay, nobody checking on us during the ridiculous delay. The worst part is they weren't even that busy. I'd hate to think how long ti took when the place was crowded. <br/>The worst part of the whole ordeal was that the food was just okay. For a wait that long, I would've expected something better.

As Soon As we got there, I knew the service would be horrible. We werent greeted at all because there clearly wasn't enough staff. The meals were fairly decent for Mexican. But again, afterwards we waited for our bill for another 20 mins because only the one server out of the 3 that were working didn't know how to print bills!!!!! Food=decent...Service=FAIL.

JUST UNACCEPTABLE!! went there based on all the good reviews but very disappointed because they forgot to cook our food. it was busy so we patiently waited almost 90 minutes before asking when we would be getting our food. they forgot about us! the food was brought out shortly after that by the cook herself and she apologized. thought they would have at least given us a discount or a free dessert but there was nothing for the bad experience we had. not even a thank you for coming. we didn't want to leave a tip because the service was horrible but we didn't want to waste even more time waiting for change. so they got a good tip that was definitely not deserved! besides that the food was just ok, nothing authentic like we were expecting.

DOESNT TASTE LIKE REAL MEXICAN FOOD.. Hi i went to Mexico over 5 times. The food in this restaurant doesn't taste like real mexican! the employees are very rude. We wanna give it a second chance, so we went back but this time with a mexican couple, we were disappointed again!!! People don't know real taste of mexican food, that's the problem.

OLA!. Love, love, love this place. It's quaint, great service and the food is tasty. My favourites are the choriqueso taco, the salsa (try the shrimp cocktail), and the margueritas! Friday night we were there for three hours enjoying the food and the music. Our new favourite haunt! In fact, my husband is on his way there now to pick up a take out order!