Puerto Marquez

Very good prices and excellent food. Must try their 50+ dollar sea food platter it’s the best!

This hole-​in-​the-​wall joint gets major props for the best service I’ve received in a long time.
I had never visited Puerto Marquez before, and did not realize they specialize in seafood. I asked for a takeaway vegetarian entrée recommendation. The woman explained they can make a veggie & bean burrito, but it will take some extra time. When I arrived to pick it up, she explained they made everything fresh to ensure it was purely vegetarian and seafood-​free. I really, REALLY, appreciate the extra care they took.
The food itself was well-​packaged and presented nicely. I only regret they covered the heavy-​duty paper plate with tin foil which tore as I cut the burrito so I had to take care not to eat any tin foil. They even included a separate cup of salsa to keep it cool.
The burrito was very good (but not the best ever), with healthy sides of guacamole, sour cream, rice, and beans. I ordered a side of guacamole and chips which was EXCELLENT. I suspect the chips are made in-​house. The guacamole had large junks of avacado and tomato — just like I like it! My total was $ 10.95 + tip.
The interior was better than I expected from the outside. The restaurant is located in a junky Latino mini strip mall with a 7 – 11, Latino clothing shop, etc. Inside is a roomy, colorful space. There are both booths and tables. The tables have really fun, colorful, carved chairs. This would be a fantastic place to meet with friends or have an adult birthday party dinner.
The excellent service will definitely have me returning to Puerto Marquez.

Nice little hole in the wall. Good folks that are working there. Our waiter suggested we get the seafood plate they have been famous for so we thought what the heck. He also suggested his margaritas are pretty good and I thought what the double heck. And that’s how it all went down.
Their salsa is pretty decent. I particularly like their green salsa. Their chips come with bean dip as well which is a nice touch. We got fresh hot chips and there weren’t any broken ones either.
The seafood plate was huge and they put it on a centerpiece so you could share it by spinning it around if you had to. The seafood itself was ok. There were shrimps (your choice of with or without the heads), some octopus, fresh crab legs, and fried tilipia with white rice in the middle and sauteed green peppers/​onions. It filled us up that’s for sure. Maybe we will come back and try more of what our standard order is so we can compare better. The jury is still out on this one.

Chips from a bag ! Taco Shells from a box, don’t even get me started with that — authentic tacos aren’t in hard shells, just sayn.
I did like that they brought bean dip AND salsa to complement there store purchased chips. Margaritas were meh.
I’m mexican and I grew up with a mother who knew her Mexican food and had it down to a science. My enchiladas were bland, unseasoned. Same can be said of my taco with dry chicken meat. Had food that tasted like that came out of my moms kitchen she would’ve thrown it away and started over. You could get better quality for cheaper at a taqueria. I was one of 2 customers in this place… never a good sign. but now I know why.
Whoever thinks this is authentic. or even good mexican food should let me cook them dinner.

Went back for round 2. Was just as impressed this round with my new dish. It was a fillet of some form of white fish in a red sauce with shrimp, octopus, onion, tomatoes, garlic and green peppers. Similar to Veracruz style, but a little different.
Delicious. I was planning on taking ½ home for another meal (it was a big plate of food), but I ate the whole damn thing.
Upon reflection and return to this establishment, I have to agree with Rick r. In terms of this style of «chips and salsa» Mex restaurants, this is by far the best I’ve had in Portland. It still reminds me a lot of eating in the seaside spots down in PV and Cancun.
Next time I go back, it’s all ceviche. I’m looking forward to it.

For your convenience, located near Mr. Peeps adult bookstore. So that is where the neighborhood cat got his name, because I was wondering!
For kicks, let’s start this review with a discussion of the sound system and music in Puerto Marquez. I am flummoxed as to what they are trying to do here. In the kitchen they were playing some highly decent ranchera and cumbia, actually really good stuff.
So in the dining room, you have four T.V. screens. On two of the screens is a Spanish infomercial channel. On the other two is a Univision telenovela. The audio from the Spanish infomercials is piped into the dining room. So what you have is a real cacophony, the infomercials getting sort of washed over by the kitchen music. Hey, they should let us patrons enjoy the cumbia too. I want to hear it too! La cumbia is healing to the soul.
I think the waiter and the cook used to work at Julia’s in Seattle. Most of the time they were just standing there watching the silent telenovela.
What does set Puerto Marquez apart from other Mexican joints is they do have a huge list of seafood dishes — for example, three different octopus (pulpo) dishes and three different whole fish options.
They had a very nice green sauce that somehow simultaneously combined a cold cucumbery flavor with a hot chili taste. We started out with aperativos of quesadillas and tacquitos. They put yellow (cheddar) cheese in the quesadillas. Major black mark. It is a cardinal sin to use yellow cheese in authentic Mexican cooking. The tacquitos were OK, but came with the usual crappy shredded iceberg lettuce and bits of raw tomato that you find in Americanized-​Mexican restaurants.
Inexplicably, they do not give you a knife, so when we asked for knives, the waiter had to rustle around the kitchen to find us some mismatched steak knives.
I ordered the Filete Margarito (cheese and shrimp over a fish filet) and JP one of the whole fish. Both dishes were way oversalted (but cooked properly). The rice was quite good. It was saffrony in color and had these delightful bits of marinated carrot. Both dishes came with standard ho-​hum refried beans topped with a little melted cheese.
JP took a few bites of his whole fish, pondered for a while, and then said that after all is said and done the best whole fish he has ever had is at the Malay Satay in Bel-​Red Overlake. He prefers steamed versus fried. There, you get to PICK your fish from a fish tank while it is still swimming. Note: the Malay Satay on 82^nd does not have this fish option.
Unfortunately, the jugged-​up music, salty food and restaurant being just a little too grubby hurts my opinion of Puerto Marquez. Significant improvement are required to bring this up to three stars. I don’t care that the Willamette Week dubbed this place one of the top 100 local restaurants.