Hacienda Vallarta Mexican Buffet

Reviews

• ★★★★☆ Tres Leches Crispy Taco Menudo Visited Apr 15, 2023

  Mexican Buffet with Good Selection & Decent Flavors

  I've eaten here several times now, and I'd describe it as more of a Mexican buffet than a traditional Tex-Mex buffet. The selection has more of a south-of-the-border feel, both in flavor and variety, than what you'll find at many restaurants around San Antonio.
  
  The buffet includes plenty of familiar items, such as cheese enchiladas, rice and beans, tostadas, BBQ chicken, taquitos, and tamales. However, it also offers dishes you don't see as often at local buffets, including chicken mole, nopales, chicharrones in salsa verde, and arepas. There's even an entire bar dedicated to pozole and menudo. That's only a small sample of what's available, as there are also several different taco meats to choose from. Check out the pictures for a better look at the selection.
  
  The dessert bar is just as diverse, with favorites like tres leches cake, flan, and conchas, along with capirotada, arroz con leche, and other sweets.
  
  Would I call this an authentic Mexican buffet? Not exactly. The selection also includes plenty of American food, such as fried shrimp, fried fish, crawfish, pizza, and chicken nuggets for the kids. There's even a Chinese food section with egg rolls, sesame chicken, beef and broccoli, and cheese rangoons. It's a little bit of everything.
  
  Is it the best Mexican food in town? No, but it's a decent buffet with plenty of choices. It's also a different experience from Pancho's, which was much more Tex-Mex focused. One thing you won't find here, unfortunately, is sopapillas.
  
  As with most buffets, some dishes are better than others. There are a few things I particularly enjoy, including the chicken mole sauce, which I like to spoon over several other items. I'm not a fan of the cheese enchiladas, though, and I found the menudo somewhat bland. I wouldn't recommend everything on the buffet, but with so many options, there's a good chance you'll find several things you enjoy.
  
  You probably won't leave thinking you've just had the best Mexican food of your life, but you'll almost certainly leave with a full stomach. If you're looking for a buffet with a broader selection of Mexican dishes than the usual Tex-Mex offerings, this place is worth checking out.

  — Paul

• ★★★★☆ Cheese Enchiladas Chicken Mole Menudo Capirotada Cheesecake Pork Verde Visited Jun 8, 2019

  First Time Trying This Mexican Buffet & It Was Decent

  I decided to give this place a try after seeing it mentioned online a couple of times. It's a fairly large buffet, and when we visited for dinner on a weekend, it was moderately busy.
  
  One of the biggest surprises was the selection of traditional Mexican and other Latin American dishes. The buffet included menudo, pupusas, chicken mole, barbacoa, lengua, fideo, and caldo, along with the usual rice, beans, and cheese enchiladas. I tried nearly everything and was impressed by the variety of options available.
  
  The more traditional dishes were generally the highlight. The menudo was quite good, especially considering it came from a buffet. The chicken mole was decent, although it lacked the sweetness I've experienced in other versions and had more of a straightforward mole seasoning flavor. The cheese enchiladas were rather bland, and the borracho beans were a little plain. Interestingly, the beans contained tripe instead of the cheaper bacon I would have expected.
  
  There were plenty of other choices, including roasted chicken, grilled onions and peppers, sausage, carnitas, shrimp, carne guisada, steak, and several additional items. The buffet also ventured into other cuisines, offering Chinese food, pizza, fried fish, mashed potatoes, and macaroni and cheese. I skipped most of those options this time, but I did try the fried fish. I put together my own fish taco using a crispy taco shell, shredded cabbage, Tapatio sauce, and tartar sauce, which made for a decent combination.
  
  The dessert bar had a respectable selection as well. There were four varieties of cookies featuring traditional Hispanic bakery items, along with cheesecake, capirotada, tapioca, fresh fruit, fruit ambrosia, ice cream, and more. Tres leches cake was available, though it wasn't nearly as moist as I would have liked. It also had coconut sprinkled on top, which was something I hadn't encountered on tres leches cake before. The flan was interesting, with a particularly strong sweetened condensed milk flavor.
  
  The selection was impressive, and the service from our waitress was decent. Most of the food was average or a little better, with the traditional Mexican and Latin American dishes standing out more than the mainstream buffet offerings. Another nice touch was the fresh-made tortillas brought directly to the table.
  
  I'd come back to try some of the items I missed on this visit. If you enjoy traditional Mexican food and have a healthy appetite, this buffet offers a good amount of variety for the money. While not the best Mexican food in town, it might be the best all you can eat Mexican food around.

  — Paul