La Tolteca

Great food, excellent friendly service. Only drawback and i personally think it adds character is that communication can sometimes be a challenge depending on who your server is. I’ve been here many times at different levels of capacity and the food always comes out quickly and is delicious, the restaurant is decorated how i can only guess Mexico looks everywhere.
Also a large parking lot that is accessible from two different roads.

Mediocre service, tolerable food, dining room is clean but rest room isn’t usually.

We stopped on the way to the Dells. Good food. Friendly service. Very reasonable prices. We will go back

2 stars for food, 4 for the drinks. Their food is typical Tex mex, nothing that memorable. Chips and salsa are great! Order white sauce with then. It’s a mayo ranch like dip, great! Their fajitas, shrimp dishes and strawberry margaritas are the best! Monday and Tuesday is cheaper margarita night. Sit at the bar, the staff are very friendly.

I have been coming here for the last 2 or 3 years and it used to be wonderful. However, the last 3 visits have been super disappointing. Customer service leaves a lot to be desired. We had very little interaction with our waiter at our last visit because he spent most of the time we were there behind the bar either talking to other servers or on his phone. Our order didn’t come out right either so it was a pain trying to get him over to try and fix it and then getting drink refills took almost 20 minutes because he never stopped by to see how things were going. If he was busy with other tables I would be more understanding; but he was literally doing nothing. Another customer actually went up to the bar where he was and asked for a refill. We saw lots of staff on their phones and standing around, in fact.
The food is good, I just wish the customer service was as good as it used to be.

So disappointing! This used to be our go to place. The food is still good but the service has been horrible our last five visits. We’ve even tried different times of the day.
Maybe the owner/​manager should spend time on premise so the staff can provide better service and stay off their cell phones, and not play cards!
Time to find a new restaurant!

Pretty weak for what we expected. We sat down and the waiter came over pretty quickly. We ordered. Just simple stuff that any gringo could whip up in the kitchen. Two of us ordered some cervazas. We drank. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. We watched 5 or 6 muchachos standing around shooting the shit. 50 minutes, and I finally had my tacos. No beans or rice. My buddy ordered steak fajitas and they brought out some BULLshit. Looked like pigs in a blanket. Not a good idea to eat here. We were just 4 guys, trying to see some hoes at the swim up bar at kalahari in the dells. We will never return. Jimmy johns is just next door. Freaky fast, freaky good.

took my daughter here last week. it wasn’t the greatest but edible. I’ve had better from a Mexican lunch truck. LaTolteca is way too Americanized, It doesn’t even taste like real Mexican food, I sure do miss the south west, only place to get real Mexican food. Only thing they really got going is the atmosphere and the salsa. a few yrs ago they were better but now it seems so bland and just thrown together. Horchata tasted like dirty dish water with ice.

We love visiting this restaurant for the authentic feel and flavors of thier food. We enjoy thier margaritas. Most places premix theirs and it is always mostly the margerita mix. Not here. They taste great, so good you have to limit yourself. There chips are always warm and fresh. The salsa is so good we usually buy a container and take it home with us. Friendly staff that doesn’t make you feel out of place if you are not used to eating out at a mexican restaurant. Or a business where they dont speak English. They speak English just fine. They have there food dialed in. Try the Lindos Special. It is a good mix of all the goodies. Our favorite on the menu. You will not be dissapointed.

La Tolteca is by far one of the worst Mexican restaurants I have been to. My co-​workers and I decided to stop in after reading some reviews here on Unilocal.After being seated we ordered some drinks, I had the horchata and my colleagues had coca cola. My drink was definitely a store bought pre-​mix of what I expected to be hand made horchata. I dismissed it, saying to myself that because of the location of the restaurant, most people would not even know what horchata is, let alone order it.
Two of us ordered the steak taco dinner and the other ordered the flautas. I asked our waiter if they make their tacos with grilled skirt steak and he said they hand cut their meat in the back. Well… When the tacos came, we were less than impressed. The meat in the tacos had the consistency of hamburger meat and tasted like hamburger as well. They provided us with sides of rice and beans which tasted fresh out of a can.
We spoke to the waiter and told him that the food was no good and we would like to speak to the manager if possible. He proceeded to argue that the food was authentic and freshly made, we told him once again we would like to speak to the manager. We were pointed to the register where the manager was and expressed our complaints to him. The manager proceeded to tell us that he has had the restaurant for 10 years and never had any complaints. After a few minutes of arguing with the manager in plain sight of all the patrons in the restaurant, which was very unprofessional on his part as a manager of a restaurant, we were asked to leave and never come back.
There was no attempt to rectify our concerns of the food quality, there was no professionalism from the staff. I would not recommend to go to this establishment unless you do not know what «authentic» Mexican food is. Taco Bell down the street is a better alternative.

My boyfriend and I decided to stop here after we exited to get gas. I’m from Texas so I’ve been to many authentic Mexican restaurants in my life, but I must say, La Tolteca was one of the best. Great prices, food, and service. We are very impressed and will definitely be stopping here again.

I have been here so many times and have always been pleased with the food and service. I came on a friday night and was so disappointed. I am not easily disappointed either. Our server never checked on us once. We sat for close to an hour waiting for our food. People who came after us were served first. We waited probably an additional 20 minutes for a box and our bill after we were done. I will say I will never be in there again on a friday.

Great food. It would be a little more helpful if servers all spoke a bit more English. Otherwise great ambience! Bright colors everywhere very fun.

Always delicious, prompt, and great service. Had the best service I’ve had in a long time here today. Waiters name is Tony.

A pretty decent Mexican place for Portage. When I lived up here I would go here fairly frequently, but I still go there every now and then when in the area. The food is good, although it doesn’t have a lot of kick to it. Like reviewer Joshua B. said mentioned, there’s better food here than at many places in Madison.
The first thing you’ll notice is «Wow, it’s bright in here.» All of the furniture is day-​glo green or orange or pink. It looks tacky, but with the carvings in the backs of the booths and in the tables the found a way to make it actually work pretty well. It might turn some people off to damn near need sunglasses to eat their meal, but once you adjust to your surroundings you barely notice how bright it is.
The chips and salsa are some of the better ones I’ve ever had from a Mexican restaurant. They come to the table nice and warm and the salsa is always nice and fresh. It’s not terribly spicy, but it’s thick and not too watery. I’ve noticed that sometimes this is more true than others – I’ve had salsa here that actually did have a little bit of bite to it or that was really runny – but more often than not it’s very mild and thick.
Service here is always pretty quick. So much so that I suspect a lot of the food is prepared in advance and reheated so that they can push it out quickly (the fajitas being a delicious exception to the rule).
The prices have always been reasonable. I’ve never walked out of here spending more than I felt the meal was worth. I would definitely recommend this place to someone visiting town.

Amazing food. Very clean. Our server was very nice and made sure we had everything we needed. Can tell our food was cooked to order unlike a lot of Mexican restaurants. Will definitely go back.

They say people have driven here all the way London… Wait, what? I’m only kidding. This place is actually really good. I still have roots back in good ol Portage and whenever I get a chance to visit we try and stop at La Tolteca. This place easily puts many of Madison’s Mexican Restaurants to shame.
The quesadillas and enchiladas here are fantastic! The salsa is always fresh as well. They have lunch specials during the week.

Pros: The food is tasty. The specials are really good. Service is always fine. I’ve never has a bad experience here.
Cons: the décor is very bright. It looks like a clown exploded. I guess it adds some charm though.

Ordered the chimichangas. I requested one pork and one chicken. The portions are great. I couldn’t finish had to get a box. Food is always great here. Drinks are really good too. Best chips and salsa !

Just say no. For anyone who wants to eat genuine Mexican food, please skip this place. If you are looking for fast food Mexican, try Taco Bell.
I had the chicken quesadilla with rice and beans. The chicken was not seasoned and it was all around bland. The beans were decent and the rice was nothing special.
The service here is great and the staff is nice. The food is just awful.