Que Tal

On weekends, breakfast only until 1 pm

Que Tal is by far the best Mexican place in Halifax. By Far. It’s the only Mexican place in the city that pays any attention to the different flavours of different chiles, and knows how to prepare them in different dishes. The result is a menu that’s got a great range of big flavours in a lot of different delicious dishes.
The chiles rellenos are absolutely worth having, and worth making the trip back to have them again. The menu says they use ancho chiles for the rellenos, but they don’t: they use the more standard-​for-​the-​US-​and-​Canada poblanos. But that’s fine. The poblanos weren’t over-​cooked, and the red sauce covering them is restrained enough that you can still taste the poblanos’ flavour.
The pazole is delicious and would be the perfect soup for a cold winter night. And, obviously, this is the only restaurant in Halifax where you can get it. I’d have preferred that it was made with a mix of hotter chiles in addition to the guajillos in the soup base, but I was still happy with it the way that it is.
The fish tacos have a great balance of flavours, and I loved the green salsa on the taquitos. (That green salsa was so good, I only wish the taquitos had more salsa on them.) There’s nothing fancy about the guacamole, but it’s solid. And their standard red salsa is a decent chipotle, with a satisfying balance of heat, smoke, and garlic.
Finally, I like that you can get tall boys of Tecate, my favourite cheap Mexican beer.
My only real complaint is that the location is so far from the peninsula and downtown Dartmouth. Move into the city, Que Tal! I’m begging you!

I tried this place out on a Saturday night. It was just starting to get a little busy.
We opted first for some taquitos, 2 chicken, 2 potato. I preferred the chicken. They were hot and crunchy with a nice They had a green tomatillo salsa on them that was tangy and tasty. I found the potato kind of bland. Not my thing. And we both agreed that we would just opt for the chicken next time.
Next up the entrée. I tried the enchilada with more of the green tomatillo salsa. They were good. My friend had the chorizo tacos. They were spicy, too spicy for her. I liked them but we agreed that I wound up with the better dish.
I enjoyed the bright atmosphere and the dishes. We both agreed that we missed having a side like a little rice and beans. Next time we will order a small side of each just for a sampling. I will also try a fish taco as I hear they are good.
This place doesn’t beat my love of Mexico Lindos, there is something just more welcoming about that little place. I also missed my little bowl of nacho chips with spicy salsa that comes complimentary at Lindos. However, I thought Que Tal was a cute little place and I enjoy having authentic restaurants like this in Dartmouth. We will definitely be back.

We heard about a new Mexican place in Dartmouth and we were eager to give it a try. Que Tal is in an somewhat unexpected location on in a new commercial building on your way into Portland Hills subdivision.
The menu is authentic Mexican vs. Tex– Mex. The décor is simple and casual, open and cheery.
There were five of us — two adults and three children. We ordered two orders of nachos to start, which were quickly devoured when the nachos arrived. The portions are what I would call «appropriate» — not oversized like in many chain restaurants so you can easily order an appetizer before the meal especially if you’re sharing. For a main we ordered the fish tacos and the pork tacos to share. When we ordered we weren’t sure how hungry everyone was and we were weren’t familiar with the portion sizes so we figured we’d order and then supplement with more tacos if needed. While waiting I decided we probably would need to order more. Our initial order took quite awhile and when our food arrived I ordered two more orders of tacos before even biting into our initial order. The fish tacos were good, but given that fish tacos are one of my favourite foods and I have ordered fish tacos a lot (mostly in the southern US) I may be a tad critical. The pork was good as well. The pork tacos weren’t a hit with the kids, but that’s OK. I don’t expect a restaurant to cater to the tastes of a three year old. Having said that, given the community (lots of young families), kid-​friendly options may be helpful for business. Anyway, our second order took half an hour. I had since picked up on the slow service and given that, aborted our mission and asked my husband to go to the car with and the kids while I waited inside for the rest of our order, to go. While I stood by the counter I could see that they were very behind. It seemed to be a back-​up in the kitchen (which is open), but I also noticed just a general lack of organization with the servers.
So the food was good and the service was poor. I do think that this is an issue that can be worked out and hopefully is addressed ASAP.

We went last nite and everything was delicious. Que Tal’s food is better than almost any Cdn Mexican restaurant I can think of offhand. The only issue was with the wait between ordering and eating. The kitchen needs to be better organized so that food gets expedited (maybe the problem is that they haven’t figured out how to do both takeout and in-​house?). The servers were often standing and waiting for anything to come out. But the price is right and everything is tasty. Easily one of the better places in Halifax. More of this, Halifax!

It’s not fair to write a review after only one visit, but I’ll write an update next time I go. And there will be a next time.
The resto was desolate when I got there for late lunch so I had my choice of tables. The menu is a fast read and the prices are pretty reasonable. I ordered the fish tacos because, like a club sandwich, if you’re going to put it on the menu, it better be good. Three little corn tortillas each topped with a chopped cabbage/​tomato/​red onion/​cilantro/​lime salad, topped with a thick finger of battered haddock and a generous squiggle of chipotle salsa. Perfect. The salad was cold and the fish was hot, as it should be. The service was prompt, which is also as it should be.
Signs are needed! If you don’t know it’s behind Finbar’s, you probably won’t find it. Prices range but you can get out of there for lunch for less than $ 10 (before tip). Supper mains are a bit more pricy, but nothing extravagant.

I have been to Mexico several times and was excited when Que Tal offering traditional Mexican food opened so close to my home. I had heard a few good things about the restaurant including their tacos de pescado (fish tacos) and was delighted when a group of friends and I decided to go there for dinner. The restaurant was busy and the staff was minimal which meant the service was terrible as the few waitresses seemed to be doing everything, including bartending. The food was only mediocre at best; the fish tacos were not even hot. The others had various nachos, taquitos and rice, all good but nothing to rave about. The churros for dessert were freshly made served hot with pudding for dipping and were the best thing of the night. In order to get our bills the waitress had to ask us what we had ordered and how many drinks we each had. She was frazzled! It was a three hour meal with most of the time spent waiting. I may go back and try out the breakfast but if things are the same, it will be my last visit.

Ok so I may be in love… with Que Tal’s fish tacos. I had heard a few things about Que Tal but was not too sure where it was located and with no signage it was a little tricky to find. Lucky for us we happened to search it out on a thursday which happens to be fish taco night ($ 2 each if you buy 3). The tacos have a really great flavor, are spicy but not too spicy, and the fish was cooked perfectly.
The service was friendly and attentive and our server was more than happy to make a recommendation for my friend who was not overly familiar with Mexican food. I was wishing afterward that I had got her name because I would have like to call to let them know how good of a job she is doing.
I can not wait to go back and sit on the patio and enjoy a yummy meal and great service.

I hope this place develops a good following because it will have a hard time attracting people who just pass by, since it’s tucked away behind this newish office/​retail complex.
Showed up for lunch this week and we were greeted warmly right away. The place certainly wasn’t packed but there was a table speaking Spanish so I thought that was a pretty good sign!
I ordered the tortilla soup and 3 fish tacos. The soup was a very light broth with a very nice fresh lime taste. I actually very much enjoyed the airiness of it all and the crunch of the tortillas gave it great texture.
The fish tacos were great. Just the right amount of heat, the fish perfectly cooked and super fresh. The cabbage in the tacos was nice and crunchy and well seasoned. Perfect.
Looking forward to going back for their $ 2 fish taco nights on Thursdays.

I went to Que Tal last night and was impressed. The décor was pleasant, the server was friendly and professional.
I started with a tortilla soup — I’ve had better but not in Halifax. I wasn’t crazy about the stringy cheese which made it a bit messy, but the flavor was good if a bit mellow, and it was studded with some type of pepper — I forget which, perhaps a guajillo.
I had the steamed corn with lime juice and mayonnaise. I’ve made this at home a number of times and maybe there was a little more mayo then I would prefer but overall this was really great and I’m glad to see it on a Halifax menu!
The table shared a gaucamole and chips. Tasty.
I had the chiles rellenos — delcious! It came with rice and beans.
Others at my table had chicken enchiladas with a green salsa — this was great; chicken spiced with achiote — this was great and came with a wonderful selection of pickled peppers and carrots, beans, rice and pickled red onions. Wonderful; A fish dish — it was thought that the fish was not as fresh as it could have been, and would not be ordered again.
We had a lime and mango agua fresca. These were good, but tasted a bit watery, and I think that I make better at home. I would be curious to try the milk shakes next time, there was a banana chocolate one that sounded tasty.
It’s not a place I’ll have an opportunity to visit often due to the remote location, but any opportunity I do have I will take — the menu was rife with tasty sounding dishes — tacos, enchiladas, mole sauces, soups, salads and so on.
Unlike some other Halifax Mexican restaurants that I can think of, they’re not reducing mexican food to not much more than tomato sauce, beans, cheese and tortillas: on the menu there are a wide variety of peppers — anchos, guajillos, habaneros, serranos, etc; and spices like achiote and so on.
I say bravo, best of luck, and keep up the good work. Will be back for sure, would love to stop in for Mexican breakfast next time I get a hankering for chilaquiles.

Tried Que Tal out for dinner on a Tuesday, I wanted to love this place, but they’ve got a lot of work to do before that’ll happen.
Stepping into the restaurant there’s no hostess station or anything to greet you, the the place is kind of split into two sides. The front door simply faces a wall, no alcove or anything to keep the elements out. We waited a couple of moments by the door and a server came over to seat us. First things we noticed: The restaurant was fairly cold (the a/​c was on I think) and the stereo playing Mexican music was pretty loud.
Drinks, we had a Lime (they were out of Tamarind) Agua Fresca and a Banana Chocolate Licuado (milk shake like drink). The agua fresca was mild and refreshing, the licuados was room temperature, not cold at all.
Mains, we had:
Green Enchiladas (no sides) that had a healthy portion of green salsa and queso fresco, the chicken however was very bland and unseasoned in any way.
Pollo Pibil (rice and beans on the side), the beans tasted as they should, a bit on the cool side. Rice was ok, cooked with a few mixed vegetables in it,. The Pollo Pibil was odd, the chicken appeared to have been rubbed or rolled in a little bit of seasoning, but it didn’t really add much to a pretty plain chicken breast. The real spice of the dish was the picked onions on top of the chicken, they were fairly spicy, you could taste the bit of Habanero pepper in them.
Dessert
Churros & pudding. The churros were probably the best thing we had here, they seemed to have been made while we wait. Lots of cinnamon and sugar, worked really well when dunked in vanilla pudding.
I may go back in a month or two with the hopes they finish/​fine tune some of the mechanics of the space, and maybe try something other than the mains, like Tacos and more churros.

While they obviously impressed me with round one, my second visit at the dinner hour was a bit disappointing.
The calm atmosphere from breakfast was replaced with a loud feed from a local radio station (which, if you live in Halifax, you will know is a bit tragic), and my advance reservations landed me a table in the back corner by the washrooms complete with a door that was never completed during construction. I had to angle my chair to keep it from constantly swinging open.
Service was much spottier including a wait of several minutes at the door before we were seated, despite being passed by both servers multiple times and only two parties seated elsewhere in the restaurant. If the owners are reading, I might suggest that one or two servers are not enough for the dinner hour, particularly when expected to juggle requests for complicated blended drinks.
Obviously I’ll be back for more, but now a couple of weeks into operations, I’d like to see a little more polish in the process. The food carried us through, but the stay wasn’t nearly as enjoyable.

Great new spot for Dartmouth! The food was great; fresh, delicious, affordable and well presented! I will definitely go back.

This place was a huge disappointment. I wanted to like it, I really did. I’ve been to Mexico about a dozen times or more and I love Mexican food. This place? Not even close. The service was terrible, it was extremely noisy, the food was cold, it lacked flavour, and in fact much of our food was left uneaten, the server took no action on this. She asked how everything was and I told her that it wasn’t very good, but thankfully the Corona was fine, she laughed.
Two people, 1 appetizer, 2 main dishes, and two coronas, 49 bucks and a little tip.
It looks like the restaurant isn’t ready for customers. It doesn’t have a warm feel, and much of the restaurant is either unfinished or poorly built. I asked if the owner was around and our server just pointed to a lady in the kitchen. It was busy there though… but I won’t be back.