Vallarta’s Mexican Resturant

It’s been years since we visited this location. It is as good or better than it used to be. My hubby and I shared the Molcajete and it was out of this world. Believe it when I say, it was enough for the two of us and it was so filling and delicious. The presentation of this dish was so unique. I am not sure what kind of a «rock» the serving «dish» was. It kept the food hot and bubbly forever. I loved every bite of the chicken, steak and shrimp in this dish. Even the veggies tasted so good. I have tried many dishes at this location. They are always fresh and tasty. They have the best Margaritas in the area. I love their strawberry Margaritas. They have specials all the time.
If you want to impress someone or want ideas for a special dinner date, go to Vallarta’s and try this dish — Molcajete. (With some margaritas). You will not be disappointed!

This place is hit or miss. This particular location is good all the time. The service is always pretty decent and the staff is friendly. The food is good for Mexican food. It’s no Miguel’s in South Tampa. But it is good for Lutz!

One of our favorite local Mexican places. Monday & Tuesday night $ 1.00 tacos. They have a great chicken soup and fajitas for two.
The one on Dale Mabry has a daily noon buffet that is yummy!

I really wanted this location to be good so we didn’t have to drive to one of the other locations but the food is just not the same. The staff is very nice at this location and a very clean place just needs a little work on the food.

DO NOT EAT HERE!!! My daughter & I got food poisoning from their BAD meat! My daughter had 3 tacos… could not even eat them because the meat was so bad. Unfortunately she is only 12 so she did not speak up until we got home and she was throwing up every where. My husband and I have had stomach issues from the chicken enchiladas & shrimp. I’m calling the health department next!

I’ve eaten at both this and the Wesley Chapel location for years. And honestly, when I walk in it’s like putting on an old pair of comfy jeans.
But at some point, the jeans are just plain worn out and no longer suitable to wear. That’s how I would describe Vallarta’s: just plain worn out.
I’m pretty much done here. They’ve done nothing to show any creativity in their menu/​food. The food all tastes alike, regardless of what is ordered. The dining area is long-​overdue a serious cleaning and make over.
I really do enjoy their salsa; it’s made fresh and usually has just enough kick to make it interesting. But the the chips are another matter. Always served warm, but unless you just happen to get a batch that was cooked in fresh oil (which is ALL too infrequent) they’re really kinda nasty. And I can excuse all sorts of transgressions, but any Mexican restaurant worth it’s rep will always find a way to at least give you fresh chips.
There are too many casual dining options in the Lutz/​WC/​LandO area anymore to accept mediocrity. I’m hoping the Vallarta family reads these reviews, chooses to step up their game and give us some quality Mexican food! (…or is that an oxymoron??). When that happens, will somebody please let me know?

If you want some down and dirty Mexican food this is the spot. Everything is delicious, the prices are fair, and the service is normally good. We’ve been there in the dead of mid afternoon to the boom of May 5… and the food is always served in a good time frame and comes out hot. Happy hour margaritas and tall beers are awesome also. We truly enjoy this neighborhood restaurant.

We went in for a late dinner at 8 pm as a group of 7. We waited AN HOUR AND A HALF while 5 other tables seated after us continued to receive their food and some had even finished and left before we had been served. Finally HALF of our tables’ food came out and we waited another 20 minutes for the rest of the food. The manager, a tall skinny guy with a bad attitude, said there was NOTHING he could do, so I told him to take our food I’d rather give Taco Bell my money, a FAST FOOD place where I receive better service and more appreciation for our business. He took all of our plates and even snatched a plate from my 8-​year-​old son mid-​bite and threw it out rather than apologizing and maybe crediting something on our bill or taking care of something next time. He OBVIOUSLY does not know how to run a business and doesn’t care about the customers. We frequented that place but I WILL NOT be back. RIDICULOUS.

Tried this place several times thinking it was just what I ordered but No! Food is defiantly bad. They do have great top self margaritas. Do not plan to go back.

There’s really nothing to get excited about this place but my wife and I like it and eat there once or so a month. It’s clean, the service is usually pretty good, the marguaritas are very good and the food’s not bad. They do have a great appetizer in their Queso Fundito dip which I always prefer to the salsa – nothing wrong with the salsa, this is just much better.
I’ve given up trying to get them to make cheese AND meat enchiladas after many unsuccessful attempts. Now I just get one cheese and two meat enchiladas and combine them myself. I’m sure it wouldn’t be difficult but I can’t seem to get my servers to communicate my request properly back to the kitchen. So I have to have them their way and not my way. It’s okay, though; their way is good too.
Unfortunately, we have no small Mexican family restaurant choices in this area so if you have to dine in a corporate chain place this one is better than most.

I really wanna like this place but the beef they use isn’t fit for dog food. Yes they’ve been around for a long time and yes people continue to eat here but that’s because there’s no competition in the area. Order chicken or shrimp but stay far away from the beef. Yuck!

I had the quesadillas. They where pretty good. Service is friendly. Nice restaurant, neat décor.

I don’t know what everyone else is talking about with their reviews. I absolutely love this place. The food is amazing and I just recently moved to DC and I compare every Mexican restaurant I eat at to this place. Every visit home, I will stop by for some delicious chips and salsa. I order the bean burrito with queso dip and red sauce, to die for it’s not on the menu, but it’s pretty darn delicious.

The $ 1 tacos are horribly disgusting. I couldn’t even pick one up without having it fall apart because of how immensely soggy the taco was. After I forced myself to clear about half of the plate, all I saw on my plate was greasy WATER. Not even juice from the meat, but it looked as if the chicken I had inside my tacos were soaked in a greasy water broth, and the chef just slapped it onto cheap taco shells and served it that way. Our waitress never visited or checked on our table when we were running low on beverages. She didn’t come by even once for the 30 minutes we sat there after dropping off our food. She also rushed us to pay (Gee, wonder why.) before we got to even eat.
Overall, extremely bad quality food and bad service. Do not eat here.

Not a place for to eat, but there happy hour seems great. Maybe a beer and some nachos type of place?
I will certainly give that a try, but they can keep there tacos and horrible guacamole !

I visited Vallarta’s in Lutz for dinner and had great salsa. The tostadas were loaded and tasty. The margaritas were overpriced but decent. The atmosphere was a little dark for my taste especially on the bar side of the space. Ask to sit in the room you walk into when you come in and it will be more open and light. Service was very average but not terrible. This restaurant chain is know for decent food at cheap prices and they delivered. Avoid the bathroom as it is not clean. I would return.

Went there for dinner last night and didn’t have a good experience. Our favorite meal, the mocaljete, had increased in price a great deal for the same amount of food. They also seem to have changed the recipe, it was a lot spicier than normal. The heat was overpowering and I couldn’t really taste any other flavors because of it. It only came with three tortillas, so we asked for more. The waitress brought us three more but failed to mention that there would be an upcharge. Then, she disappeared for what felt like half an hour. Since we didn’t seem to be getting our check at the table, we headed toward the front register to just tell them what we ate.

Luis is da man! This family owned chain restaraunt has been a staple to our family for many years you can always count in friendly service, great tasting food that is always fresh and hot. Prices are reasonable and they are clean locations. The 2 things that I can address is 1. Consistency of portions can vary greatly per visit. 2. At times the steak served in the fajitas can be a bit heavy with fat and/​or grisel. Would love to see the steak be of a little better quality. Now in the other side I don’t think you can go anywheres in Tampa and find a bigger or stronger Margarita. Overall a great Mexican meal experience. Give it a try.

This place is great. It was busy, I had zero issues with service. The food was excellent, the margaritas were huge. I will definitely be going back! My wife and I went had 32oz margaritas and both had meals all under 40 bucks!!!
I lived in El Paso, TX for a few years and have eaten my share of authentic Mexican cuisine; this place is great.

We’ve been here 3 times over the years and each time we’ve been disappointed. The food has been bland and just smothered in cheese… so much that it left the food just a big goopy greasy mess. Service was slow, we waited forever for our drinks, and check.
Third time was not the charm and we certainly won’t be back.