La Tonalteca

Don’t waste your money. I got the beef taco salad, the beef was very mushy and had an odd flavor. My salad turned into a bean soup when I mixed it up. The fajitas had flavor, just a fried flavor. My daughter got the chicken nuggets and would not eat them. They tasted like the same grease the fajitas were cooked in. Sad, as I love authentic Mexican food and was hoping to find a favorite Mexican Resturant while on vacation.

Ok, let’s all agree that Mexican food has many variations. I would place this one in the «ample gooey» camp, and they do a splendid job in this style. Your guacamole is smooth and flavorful, not a chunky experienced. Same goes for the frijoles. The dishes here are freshly prepared on very hot plates. Very good pricing at lunch. A few good Mexican beers on draft. The outdoor seating can be festive if you have friends, but the road noise can get to you.

Time to update my review. On recent visits I found some really nice improvements — the staff was still friendly and pleasant, but food was brought to the table very promptly; and the food was better. Way to go!

We enjoy grabbing lunch here on our way home from OC. It is convenient and they are fast so you can get back on the road or back to your shopping if you are hitting the outlets. Food is tasty and cheap, but they can leave you hanging with a drink re-​fill. The décor is cute, but very crammed. Lots of Mexican places like this around from Reho to Baltimore, but this is a pretty good one. We have tried many of the menu items and always leave satisfied and stuffed.

Went here this week for the first time in a little day trip. I wasn’t into Mexican until I saw a 3.99 Wednesday margarita lime special! The Drink size was big, portions are a good size. They Didn’t have a good vegetarian selection kinda had to make my own selection because I was not paying $ 13 for a dish full of veggies and cheese. Overall I have been to better Mexican restaurants, the only thing that I love was that the drinks were a good size and the portions were pretty big as well.

The great advantage to this Mexican restaurant is that it is open late and there is plenty of parking. This can be very important in the summer. There are much better choices for Mexican fare in the Rehoboth/​Lewes area — but the later hours and parking are sometimes just what you need. The food has a certain quality that I can only describe as «commercial» you get the sense that the salsa and beans come out of a 5-​gallon pail sold by a wholesaler rather than made fresh. Portions are quite large, and I have always found the service to be friendly and helpful. After a few beers or margaritas, you may not care.

We had a real nice dinner — very well balanced (not too spicy). A very good mole poblano done well. The margaritas were made just right — yes, lime with a bit or orange and lemon not that terrible sweet and sour mix. And you get to choose which tequila you want.

Hello, I am from Tucson AZ so I like to think I know good authentic Mexican food. This was great. The chips are made in house, the salsa was nice and mild. We got the Caso con chorizo, yummy app. They brought more chips we all enjoyed the creamy cheese w/​chorizo. We all had a different entrée, mine was the #58 pollo w/​chorizo it has pineapples and tortillas rice and lettuce, guacamole.
Chimichanga’s were deep friend perfection that plate was cleaned. There were chicken fajitas, Mary had these and she was loving them. Christine got the beef and chicken burritos. Her plate was cleaned. Great food, super service. They have a great system for table turn over. Party leaves, glass ware is cleared. The table is wiped and new party is seated. Great business. The bad reviews are not valid in my expert opinion.
PS. I saw a young man trying to cut and eat a casadilla w/​a fork. Come on people teach your kids diversity. If it is meant to be picked up — it’s okay.

Although we live close by this is the first time we visited. Large selection and great margaritas. Reasonable priced, clean and we had a very attentive waitress.
Definitely a keeper.

We were in the mood for some good Mexican food. Previously we had eaten at La Tolteca in Wilmington and here at La Tonalteca in Rehoboth with good experiences. This time, not so good.
Started with Guacamole Dip and Cheese Dip apps. Chips were thin and good, cheese dip was thin, very thin but good flavor. The Guacamole was pureed smooth, no signs of jalapeño, onion or tomato, definitely not hand made. My 1^st Margarita was terrible. Tasted like a store bought margarita mix was used, green lime, not even lime juice with sour mix. I asked for another but with fresh lime and agave, very good. For entrees my gf had a burrito and beef taco. Both were ok, not the best, not the worst. I had chiles rellenos, tamale, cheese enchilada, beef taco and an order of chiles toreados. The chiles toreados was the highlight, nice. Everything else was mediocre at best. There was almost not filling in the tamale, the chile rellenos was bland. The cheese enchilada was ok as well as the beef taco. Not the best, not the worst. The tamale, rellenos and enchilada all had the same sauce which was very salty and ok in flavor. Service was average. Definitely will cross of this and the other related restaurants off our list.

We ran in for a late lunch/​early dinner. Our waitress was not very attentive. We sat for 10 minutes before she came over and just asked for our order before even getting us drinks. Throughout the meal she never checked up on us, so we had to drink sparingly in fear that we might not get a refill in a timely manner. The food was okay. We were happy with the portion size, because we were hungry. Not the best meal, but not the worst.

Good atmosphere. I’ve had a couple different dishes from carnitas, fajitas, burritos and all were very good. I’d recommend the carnitas with the jalapeño and a cold margarita of course. They also have pitchers of beer and/​or margaritas. With the stop if you are in the area.

Highly recommend the Choriqueso as an appetizer, was awesome with the chips. Guacamole was good also. I ordered carnitas for my entrée and it was very good. Tender, moist and well seasoned. Will definitely come back here next time in Rehoboth Beach.

Wasn’t expecting much, but the food was actually really good. The restaurant is pretty and the staff was nice. My family enjoyed our dinner here a great deal. I’ll definitely be back.

There were 8 of us having dinner together and everyone ordered something different. A Taco Salad, Chili Rellanos, two soft beef tacos, a Shrimp Chimichanga, Fajitas, Chicken Burrito, a 210, and fish tacos. Four people enjoyed their meals and four didn’t. The Shrimp Chimichanga was a hit as well as the Chicken Burrito. The taco salad was a miss. A BIG miss.
We had good service. Our server kept bringing is drinks and asking if we needed anything. Very attentive.
So I think it’s just a roll of the dice when you visit. Are you a gambling person?

This appears to be the same place as the «La Tonalteca», listed at the exact same address. I had a terrible experience here (see other review). The bland, runny salsa was from a jar, the flimsy chips from a chip warmer, and my entrée, carnitas, a supposedly popular item, was improperly cooked and more fat than meat. The staff seems quite capable, but the food is absolutely awful. I don’t understand the other reviews — this place has the worst mexican food I’ve ever had. It doesn’t even seem like the same establishment. Perhaps it has changed hands? Anyway, have to warn people away from this place. Really bad.

It’s a strange irony indeed that the best Mexican food I’ve had outside of Mexico is in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. I hadn’t been to Tonalteca in 10 years, and after eating there today I’m deliriously happy to report that it’s just as good as I remember it from the old days. The waiters still do that thing where they carry 4 or 5 plates on an outstretched arm. I didn’t see that anywhere in Mexico on my last trip. But that’s just for show. It’s the food and drinks that carry the day at Tonalteca. Today I had the enchiladas rancheras which were simply awesome, two cheese stuffed enchiladas smothered with huge chunks of tender pork shoulder and ranchero sauce, served with lettuce, tomato, sour cream, guacamole, and of course perfectly cooked Spanish rice. Not to mention a delicious bowl of tortilla chips and salsa, and the obligatory frozen margarita. I drink mine with sugar instead of salt, but that’s beside the point. Although I was so stuffed I could barely move, when my waiter offered me the dessert menu I had to take a peek. Where else can you follow a meal like that with a dessert menu with an average price of $ 3.50? This is called bang for your buck. I ordered a flan to go, just on principle, then took a quick pic of the dessert menu with my phone, which I’m posting with this review, for you non-​believers. Tonalteca is a shining star of excellence in the sad, mediocre sea of half-​assed Mexi joints that have invaded America like weeds.

Margaritas with the girls no problem! Great time out had a nice waiter great fajitas served hot! Not a long wait at all and never feel rushed, they have amazing salsa. Food and service is on point stopped in had great dinner.

OMG! This is a definite MEXI CANNNNNN! They were soo delicious thank you to all the Unilocaler who reviewed I was so glad Ya didn’t let me down. The pomegranate margarita was amazing. I had the carnitas (smack your chief after this one) so good. Husband had the Azteca burrito but we added steak totally topped the Original flavor. All was excellent. Server was very sweet and on point. The only bad thing we were served our dinner before we got our utensils so we had to suffer smelling the food for 2 mins until we got them.

The best Mexican in Rehoboth. Wednesdays are cheap margarita days.
If you want vegetarian, be sure to tell them so they don’t cook your food in lard.

Had the chicken chimichangas and Guac as an appetizer. Portions were big, food was delicious!!!