Bonita Restaurant

My friend and I visited this restaurant hoping for some great mexican food. Instead we were highly disappointed. We got a great table outside, but it took awhile for us to get watered and get our menus (not a big deal at first). But then it also took awhile for our orders to be taken. We both ordered "mexican corn" for our appetizer, which was admittedly very good. However, our order was first given to another table so we had to wait for our appetizers to be made again. We also ordered chips, but were surprised to find out we were charged for chips that did not include any salsa. Last I checked, most mexican places give chips and salsa for free. After our appetizers, we waited for a good 35-40 minutes for our entrees. I ordered the "carnitas" special which our waiter told me was slowly braised beef. I ended up getting stale tortillas filled with dry overcooked pork and some cilantro sprinkled on top. I could've gotten better food from a street vendor for $4. My friend ordered the quesadilla appetizer as an entree, and got one fried empanada cut in half. When we told our server he got the wrong dish, we were told their quesadilla was "more of an empanada style quesadilla." In that case, they should just call it an empanada. Very disappointing food with slow service and no apologies for the long wait and mixed up delivery. We will not be going back to this restaurant and I would not recommend it to someone I consider a friend more

I was shocked to read the negative reviews and felt compelled to weigh in. I go to Bonita at least once a week. The grapefruit margarita with habanero is too die for. The chopped salad, mexican corn, pork enchiladas, and ALL the specials, (especially the Perros Caliente!) are full of unique, great flavors, that always work. I am always pleased with the specials that I order. I find the managers extremely sweet, and if there ever is a problem (which I admit there are sometimes) they always take care of it quickly and without a fuss. I love it at Bonita. Love it. Pros: delicious specials, fantastic margaritas, attentive mgmt Cons: bad sound system, a little slow when they're busy more

I was shocked at how expensive the food is compared to what you get. $9 for guac? $9 for three tiny, soft-shelled tacos? Get real! That's Manhattan nightclub pricing and the food is only standard. There are many, many more great places in the area where the food is quite good for less. more

Terrific and very fresh Mexican influenced food, Awesome cocktails and real margaritas, Try the Mexican corn for a special treat. Cool crowd and great staff more

By far the worst service I've ever received. The wait staff (3 girls) started with their rude rollie eyed behavior right off the bat. The first of them asked if we wanted to sit inside or out, we said in. It was cold. She started with a snotty "Great" and then said to her co-worker " Great, we have two more for inside, isn't that great", they were so ridiculously snotty to us the whole time for no reason. We left without finishing our food. I still left a 20% tip because I'm an idiot and was in shock about why they were being so mean. Anyway, we both ended up sick the next day. I hate them!! Pros: I wish I had a pro Cons: Food made us sick, service made us even sicker more

I am writing mostly in response to the previous two reviewers. I do not know where these low ratings came from! I am the pickiest and have had nothing but great times at Bonita. The specials are inspiring, the drinks are too tempting, and STAFF is great. To give you a better sense of what I like, I also like Cafe Havana in Manhattan (which is Cuban, but the best comparison i can think of). Bonita - thank-you for being one of the best in the 'hood! Pros: Delicious food, great cocktails, friendly staff Cons: They run out of specials quickly, long wait for tables more

My wife and I are frequent customers of Bonita in Williamsburg. We end up there about 2 times a month and it is always consistently great. We went to Bonita in Fort Greene tonight with a friend. I was very apprehensive after reading all of the negative reviews on this site. After another stellar dinner of fish tacos and margaritas (this location has liquor and Jessica the bartender makes a mean margarita), we paid our bill and ate our chiclets. Over dinner we discussed how much these reviews really do impact our decisions. We felt that people only take the time to complain, but rarely give praise. We feel that this location of Bonita is just as great as their sister location in both quality of food and service. Please don't let the negative reviews sway you away from this amazing gem of a restaurant. We will absolutely be back. more

Do not go here. Walked in sat at the bar last saturday 5pm. No eye contact from barkeep (short hair tats). She did manage to walk near us and joke around with departing customers sitting about 3 feet away but never looked our way. For 2 minutes. New people walked in and she served them first...at the bar!!!. And it wasn't crowded. Asked second barkeep (long locks, probably not on shift yet but still not our fault) that we had tipped well in the past for help. Major attitude never made a move to make our drinks, continued with menial bar tasks. Had to leave. No one cared (sob). Not the first time we were served out of order there. Staffers have no court vision. Need to be trained by Lebron James....or Larry bird. Can't ever spend cash here again. Too bad. Wasn't too bad otherwise. Pros: In the neighborhood Cons: In the neighborhood more

After enjoying the food at the Williamsburg location, we were excited to try the new Fort Greene installment of this minimalist mexican restaurant. What a mistake. First we were lied to about the wait time for a table, then once seated, were completely ignored for about 20 minutes. After all but physically grabbing the waitress, we were given menus and water. 30 minutes later (and after both tables seated on either side of us were served, after being seated AFTER us) our food arrived, but one entree was completely forgotten. The waitress took off with no explanation, and after asking 2 other servers about the missing entree (rest of the table had already finished their food), we asked that it be packed up, and taken off our bill. To their credit, this is the one fair thing they did. 2 hours after we first entered, we mercifully were able to leave the restaurant, but the fun wasn't over yet. One of the servers (curly blond haired male in his late 20s), and the manager FOLLOWED US DOWN THE BLOCK to ask why we had left such a small tip (10%, as we were infuriated with the slow and incorrect service, and complete lack of customer service). Are you kidding me? They followed us out of the restaurant (no doubt while their other diners suffered bc they were outside harassing us for another $10). Even after we calmly listed all the reasons we had an unsatisfactory experience, they wouldn't leave us alone (I'm sorry, isn't tipping voluntary, and based on the quality of service?) Save your money, there are far better places in Fort Greene, where you will be treated with respect and as a customer, and not borderline harassed. Pros: I didn't see any vermin Cons: see post more

We have been huge supporters of this restaurant from back in Wburg and were among the first to walk through the DeKalb doors. The food was always great, but our last couple of experiences have been very dissappointing. To start, the delivery area is in the shape of a long rectangle, so people that live three blocks away are charged a delivery fee. The delivery man once lied to us about where the fee was going and got another 3 dollars for tip, when in reality, the 3 dollar charge was supposed to be the tip. We let that slide and decided to pick up from then on, only to find that the kitchen was slipping drastically since it opened. The tacos were greasier than the Bushwick "tortilla factory" (which I highly recommend) and the burrito was literally 75% tortilla with about 3 1/2 beans. Seeing that beans are practically free, I had a hard time wrapping my head around this one. On top of that, the chopped salad, which would have been amazing had it been fresh, practically pickled in dressing. We really feel that we got the bottom of the barrel. We used to love this place, but we are taking a long break before we go back to see if they've shaped up. There are plenty of better options on DeKalb, Myrtle, and all the side streets. Pros: Convenient... used to be good Cons: Like many successful restaurants, they are content once they are packing the house. more

I went there the other night since everyone of my friends has been raving about this "Mexican" Joint, so i went. I have to say that the place is very cute, great staff small enough to make you fell comfortable and yet i was very dissapointed when i opened the menu. Tacos, quesadillas, Burrito's and tortas watered down version of mexican food, i might as well spend money to go to Sunset park and eat Authentic food, the burrito was boring, rice, chicken, pico de gallo and sour cream, card board box taste better than that, the taco's were not tasty at all, quesadillas so bland that i was force to put every condiment on the table to give it taste, very dissapointed, if anyone thinks that this is tasty mexican food you might as well go to Taco bell.The magaritas, simple , very watery and loads of oj which really threwoff the flavor, just give me Tequila and oj instead........So there you go... Pros: Great service Cons: Crappy Mexican wanna be food more