Buena Pinta

Food here is quite good. It’s a small menu, but the food itself is good. But the service is brutal. The place itself is small, and it’s probably over-​staffed if I’m being honest. As a former server it pains me to say bad things about the service, but basic hospitality etiquette is ignored. No silverware, no chips, didn’t get drink orders. Buena Pinta has the feel of place that knows how to cook but no idea how to operate a restaurant.

Ugg. Made this mistake of trying to give this place a second chance — tried it when it first opened and it sucked but for lack of any good new ideas for lunch, went in there again. While waiting for service, we had a chuckle about the chips and salsa being noted as «limited» on the menu front. After ordering a $ 9 burrito (me), we asked about hot sauce. After noticing that additional entries were being made on our tickets, we asked if the hot sauce cost extra and were told it did. We laughed as said we would just do without it. The waitress seemed miffed. When the burrito with beans and rice came, I really couldn’t believe it just from looking at it. I fixed better looking stuff when I was a 19 year old college bum, using a hot plate. And nothing had any taste. Have had better out of a microwave in a convenience store.
Never again.

I don’t really care for Mexican food. I think it all tastes the same and is uninspiring. Well, the Mexican restaurants in this area fall under that umbrella. This place is just more of the same but WORSE.
I’ve attempted to eat here on several occasions and was driven away with no promise of food by different factors: 1) It was closed 2) The sole waiter complained that he was the only person working 3) TWO tables that were sat AFTER me received drinks and complimentary chips before I received a menu
This review is an amalgamation of the two times I’ve eaten here:
The entire menu is insanely overpriced for mediocre food. The privilege of eating in Downtown Winston-​Salem comes with higher prices, but the prices here are ridiculous. If you want to pay $ 15 for a burrito with sub par ingredients, be my guest. You deserve to get robbed. Normally, I’d describe in detail the problems with the food, but I really don’t want to relive that experience again in written form.
I will say that the guacamole is pretty good. It was fresh and on a scale of 1 – 10, I’d give it a 7.
I’d stay away from this place at all costs. Like others have said before me, you’re better off going to Taco Bell or making quesadillas at home on your George Foreman Grill.

The restaurant looks authentic, but don’t be fooled. Service is always great and the staff very friendly, so I hate to ridicule this place, but the food is awful. You would be better off stopping at Taco Bell or buying a taco kit from the grocery store. Everything on the plate was very bland and the sauces and beans are runny. I usually don’t discriminate against anything Mexican, but this place is a disgrace.

Great location on 4^th Street in downtown. Drinks are okay. Food is best described as meh.

While the prices might be a bit higher than a normal lunch and if eating at a lower price range is your criteria… go to Taco Bell. Or, you can go to the predictable Mi Pueblo.
Buena Pinta offers a nice understated, calm lunch experience. The service and ambiance were great. As a Mexican American, I don’t like cliché décor, I don’t need to here Ranchera Music to enjoy my Mexican food.
I simply want my food to taste good. The sauces on the Wet Burrito are not canned. The guacamole was good. The first thing I judge is always the Salsa. Buena Pinta’s is freshly made (could use a bit more Jalepeno) but it is good. The dishes are creative. They are also not cliché. The chicken burrito I had was so flavorful, with tender, juicy chicken. As for the portions. It was lunch. I thought the portion was perfect for not eating too much and needing a siesta!
The waitress had impeccable timing, was friendly and not intrusive. While is was more $ than I usually spend on lunch… It was a special lunch with my friend and it was worth it. Wish we could have partaken of one of the $ 4 tequilla shots on «special.» I would go back.

We saw Buena Pinta on the corner next to Jimmy John’s and thought it would be a good choice for dinner (how can you go wrong with Mexican???).
Well, you can go wrong when the restaurant is just masquerading as Mexican. The menu is not really even close to authentic.
So I stuck with a quesadilla. I can make a better one at home. I did like it though because you cannot go wrong with cheese and tortillas.
I did enjoy my strawberry margarita. My friend ordered a «house» marg and it looked like radioactive goo.
We discovered later we should have just gone next door to Tate’s.

There is nothing special about this restaurant. The food was pricey but not flavorful or special in anyway. It also did not look like this place gets a lot of traffic. When we were there, there was only one waitress. The food definitely took a while to come out even though we were one of the 2 tables in there that day at night. They do bring out free chips and salsa though after you ordered your drinks. Overall, i think you can get better mexican food by getting something from your local grocery store.

This would be a great Mexican restaurant for someone who really doesn’t like Mexican food all that much. I would usually not give such a low rating for a restaurant based solely on personal preference while the service itself was not flawed in any obvious way, but Buena Pinta really missed the mark with me.
First of all, Buena Pinta is located right in the middle of Winston-Salem’s downtown core, and their drink prices certainly reflect that. I obviously understand that they are paying much higher rent for their location, which would be a terrific justification for the pricing if the quality measured up at all. My wife ordered a piña colada (I know, gross) here, and not only was it disgustingly overpriced, but it was also small and lacked decernable flavor.
We ordered chips and queso as well. This would have been a perfectly acceptable portion of such for a single person or possibly two people if they were not all that hungry. Considering that we indicated it was to share for a table of four plus, it would have been nice for the server to at least throw out there that the portion size was based upon the recommendations of Scrooge McDuck. The meals themselves certainly lacked inspiration. I ordered chicken quesadillas. Truthfully, I’ve had better (and more authentic) from Chili’s. All and all, I can only describe what I had as bland. It’s not easy to make Mexican food bland.
Truthfully, there are better Mexican restaurants in town. Maybe I’ll give this place another shot in a year or so. I’ve noticed that many restaurants in these parts have been attempting to make improvements based on Unilocal reviews. Maybe Buena Pinta will take the hint and do the same.

On a drive from Forest City to Raleigh, we hopped off the highway in Winston-​Salem for lunch and found Buena Pinta. As a native Texan, I can be a bit of a Mexican and Tex-​Mex snob, but I give Buena Pinta a solid a-​ok. I would definitely eat there again.
The chips and salsa were solid. I had the beef chimichanga and my friend had the chicken chimichanga. Both were really good. Not quite spot-​on Tex-​Mex, but really very good.
The inside is cute and decorated nicely, but it doesn’t have the kind of atmosphere where I want to hang around for very long – not a place where I would go to kick back over a pitcher of margaritas. Great for lunch.

Not great. Definitely not worth $ 9 for lunch. Mediocre. Definitely not authentic. Poor service as well. Sloppy and distracted.

Not very authentic. Over priced. And mediocre service.

More like mal pinta — place has a lot of potential, but pass on this one next time you are in W-​S. The steak tacos came out cold and the margaritas are an odd, alien green color. Service was good, though, and people are nice.

Nothing on draft, but «practically any Mexican beer you can imagine» in a bottle according to our server. As the other reviews said, the chips and fresh salsa were muy bueno. Our server was friendly and attentive. Three people at our table had burritos, and thought they were «good». I had the misfortune of ordering the nachos, which came with about 8 chips placed artistically in a small plate beans and cheese, with a teaspoon of guacamole. They were tasty, but not enough to be called dinner. Our verdict: mediocre. But there wasn’t a wait, which was how we ended up here over Mellow Mushroom.

Buena Pinta fue un poco okay. Don’t get me wrong, this little spot has much potential but not quite there. The lunch menu was rather mediocre. This spot is located in downtown WS which would make one think that they would make an attempt to not serve such Americanized items. Additionally, the food was room temperature and not filling. As a big girl with a hearty appetite, I can say that my partial bias was validated by my extra petite dining buddy. Until the menu is more diverse with more options in Mexican fare with a little more flavor– I will not be returning.

Stumbled across this place while in town for business. Felt authentic without being cliché, owner was very friendly, food was quality fare. Definitely worth a stop if you’re looking for a good Mexican restaurant. Prices are reasonable. Not the world’s greatest Mexican food, but a nice spot that’s worth a visit.

A cozy, family-​owned, breath-​of-​fresh-​air type of place. The owners put their heart and soul in every dish and along with a great staff give unbelievable service.
I went there for dinner and ordered the chicken fajitas with margaritas. :-)
Their margaritas are a cool color, thanks to a blue curaçao, and definitely full of tequila. The fajita was out of this world. I asked for their spicy sauce since I like a little kick. And a kick is what I got. :-) And last but definitely not least, ask for the Tres Leches for desert. You’re lucky if you’re reading this because it’s not on the menu. It is TO DIE FOR!!!
Overall, I will be back for sure. You should definitely give it a try!

I’ve been here twice for lunch and was underwhelmed at best both times.
The atmosphere is the best of any Mexican restaurant in town, and you’ll think you’re in for a good experience when you walk in. I appreciate that the menu does not run on for a dozen pages like as seems to happen at so many Mexican restaurants, but there is not enough variety there.
The chips and salsa were good, but unfortunately that was the highlight of the meal. I ordered enchiladas on my first visit and the portion was small, the rice and beans on the side were generic, and the enchiladas themselves were just ok. That was the first week they were open, and either the server or the kitchen messed up moset of the orders at the table.
I went back today figuring they would have had time to work out some of the kinks now that they’ve been open for a while. Not the case. There were flies all over the place, probably because the door was open. My server didn’t know what the special was, ans after she asked told us it was «chimichanags,» which are on the menu anyway. If there was anything special about these particular chimichangas, I didn’t get to find out.
This time I got a green salad because there were no other remotely healthy options on the menu. The lettuce was a mixture of iceberg and limp greens, there was Sysco shredded cheddar cheese, and one olive. I asked for chicken on it, which was the best part of it.
There’s just too many things they’re missing out on here: The menu is too small and there’s nothing out of the ordinary (Taco Bell has more variety, honestly), The food I’ve tried is plain, and the service is friendly enough but incompetent. Haven’t been there for dinner or drinks, but I doubt it’s worth the try at this point. You’re better off at any of the old standby Mexican places in town.

I went to Buena Pinta on Friday night with some friends. I like the interior aesthetic. Simple, with hints of latin/​hispanic décor to reassure you about where you are. They could probably use a host/​hostess of sorts because we walked in and all of the servers turned to look at us. One said «sit wherever you like» and we chose a booth.
We knew we wanted Margaritas and our server told us they were $ 25 a pitcher. That seemed steep but we were celebrating so what the heck. The margarita arrived and was a teal color thanks to a splash of blue curacoa. They were tasty and you could actually taste that they had tequila in them. We probably got 4 – 5 glasses out of the pitcher.
We started with the fried avocado. The four smaller bites were tasty and left me wanting more.
I ordered the Beef Burrito, side salad and house dressing. The burrito was a good size and was stuffed with pulled/​braised beef, corn, and beans. Topped with a small amount of salsa and some sour cream. I liked the flavor of the beef a lot but the corn was really sweet and I just didn’t love it. If the corn had been a part of a corn salsa with some acid and some saltiness I think I would have enjoyed it more. The lettuce on my salad was browning a bit and the house dressing just tasted like watered down ranch.
We ended up getting a round of Mojitos instead of dessert. They were VERY minty.. . almost too minty. But if you love mint, then go for it.
Our server was friendly and helpful as we were making our decisions. The owner wished us well on our way out.
Buena Pinta, you do a lot of things well. Keep up the good work. I expect I’ll be back.

I’m quite certain my rating will improve upon a second visit for dinner, but while lunch at Buena Pinta is still fresh in my mind, I’ll assign it a solid 3 stars for now.
There’s something different about this place. First, the salsa, while delicious, is not quite authentic. There’s something… perhaps Mediterranean… about it. It’s sweeter and has different flavors in it, though its visible ingredients are typical. I had the albondigas, which are meatballs (and as you can tell by the name, come from Mexican cuisine’s Arab influence, by way of Spain). When the $ 8 dish was placed before me, I let out an audible chuckle. Goodness, it was tiny. I am not exaggerating — I finished the meal in 4 minutes, and that was taking my sweet time. It was tasty, though not quite as good as the aroma led me to expect, but so, so, so, so small…
Not sated, I then asked for a salad, with house dressing (though the server could provide no details about the house dressing other than that it’s homemade). Salad was fine, but the dressing was again something different. It was almost like ranch, but with a flavor reminiscent of yogurt. Maybe my tongue was playing tricks on me.
After salad, I asked about dessert (because, I was there, so why not?). At lunch, they had only a couple of options, which I decided against. But one dessert option not available at lunch solidified my suspicions of the «different» flavors.
Faloodeh! In a Mexican restaurant. I didn’t get a good look at the chef in back, but I suspect he’s Persian, so I’m now dying to hear his story. Maybe when I return for dinner, which I certainly will do.
Buena Pinta recently opened, so they’re still getting organized & working out the bugs, but it’s worth a taste. My greatest disappontment is the size of servings, given the premium price.
Overall, ⁶⁄₁₀.