El Gringo’s Pinata Nueva

this place has good, but not great food, very reasonable and I go often for lunch as it is close to where I work and the service is fast and friendly. They have a cute bar but I have not been for happy hour or drinks, since I usually go for a work lunch. I like their food and prices are low.

Wow ! Ok the truth hurts Mr. James H what I wrote was all true !!! I get you work there so want to protect your job ! Unilocal is for restaurant reviews and it’s not high school …

Great place. The food and service now is nothing like it has been for the past year or so. The new owner has definitely turned this place around. The street tacos are very good and authentic style with the small, fresh corn tortillas — excellent. My wife had a margarita and she was thrilled with it. I have no idea why it is so hard to get a great margarita in this city, but this one is a winner. We also tried one of the appetizers, which was essentially a quesadilla with chili colorado. It tasted great. The flour tortilla was not as good as the corn tortillas in the taco, but the filling was tasty. A minor upgrade to some locally made fresh tortillas would make this a stunning dish. I would also recommend serving some Yucatan-​style habanero sauce and avocado sauce with the street tacos.
Service was friendly and fast.
It would be nice if Unilocal would allow the restaurant to reboot its ratings after changing management. The nueva piñata nueva deserves a much higher rating.

!!!STOP HOARDING THE SALSA VERDE!!!
I went here for lunch one day randomly and had an awesome experience. It was busy, but I had great service the food was delicious and the price was right. I was served this awesome green salsa. So delicious that when I told them how much I enjoyed it, they sent me home with a to go container of green salsa which my entire family got hooked on. We went there for dinner the NEXT DAY!!! We asked for this magical green salsa and were told they NEVER HAD IT!!! What?! Their available salsa… mediocre.
The food here is good. It’s down the street from our house and we’ve enjoyed the food and would eat here more, but C’MON! Give us the goods!!! We have asked each time! How can you just keep it to yourselves?!
Here’s my advice. Eat here. it’s good, but… DEMAND THE GREEN SALSA!

Finally! The old owner is back and they gave the place a little TLC. It feels like it used to and the food is fannntastic. I critique Mexican in the the first 5 min when dipping into the chips and salsa, and let me say that they are A grade in my book. Thin, crispy, fresh chips, and their homemade salsa is perfect consistency with the right amount of kick. Plus, I asked for custom order and they served it with a smile. I’m very happy to have this place back on track in the neighborhood again. OH, and the margaritas are great…(very important).

Just left Piñata Nueva for the second night in a row. Food was excellent. Great salsa, flavorful enchilada sauce… Just had to return. The only disappointment was the waitress we had on second night.
Portions are plentiful. So much better than Macayos and Manuels
We will go back again but will be sure to ask for Mark

Gotta get rid of the sewer odor! Price goes up, food goes down. Used to eat here once or twice a week for a couple years in a row– 2005 – 2007. Now every time I go back, it is a bigger disappointment.

Monday nights are the best with $ 3 margs!
Drama the rest of the week — filled local celebs throwing fits (over Mexican food — go figure)
Service is best on Monday

We go out to eat a lot. I cannot remember the last time I walked out of a restaurant, it happened tonight. I have food allergies and explained very clearly to the waitress. She continued to bring out food that I was allergic to. The wait staff speaks English so the problem wasn’t there. The only thing we got to eat were chips and salsa… the chips were good.

I’ve been here a few times because my friends keep wanting to go here for Sunday lunch. But we are not sure we will be back. Food is decent. Chips and Salsa are good as well. That is the only reason why I give this place 2 stars. Now here are the reasons why it lacks. Service is horrible. We were the only people in the whole restaurant during Sunday lunch and the waiter made a BIG deal about us wanting to use three tables put together instead of two and even provided unwanted attitude as well. He is also the same waiter that is unwilling to make separate checks as well even though we asked for this in the beginning during previous visits. In my opinion, I think this was done so he can charge the mandatory gratuity. Hello! Just because you have separate checks, doesn’t mean you can’t charge for this. Service is not very accommodating. Don’t expect much when you go.

The owner is so friendly and the food was excellent!

This used to be my favorite Mexican restaurant. I have eaten at this restaurant about 40 times over the last 4 years. The margaritas are the best, and the food tastes great, but the service gets worse and worse each time I go. Unfortunately ¹¹⁄₂₄₂ 010 was the last straw. We will not go back. There was not enough waitstaff, as usual, the order was messed up about 5 different ways, and the food took 45 minutes to come out. The waitress apologized to us and gave us a free dessert, but tonight was the last straw. Sorry, Piñata Nueva. We will miss your fabulous margaritas, but I’m not going to waste any more time waiting for your service to improve.

Great location, respectable food, and really nice people. But the place really needs to be decorated by a professional. Not that they need to spend a fortune or completely gut it — just add some booths, paint, lighting, remove most of the tacky piñatas, and hire someone with an eye to do it. The ambiance just isn’t. Sorry guys…

Last time I went there, I did a pickup order. I was overcharged $ 10 and when I went back to show the older lady the mistake she made, she never apologized and was very, VERY rude. Even after being treated badly, I asked to talk to a manager and she looked at me and said, «I am the manager». It was horrible. Because of her and her attitude, I would never go back.
It’s too bad because the food is decent.

Tried this for lunch today and was pretty excited. Salsa was good. Fresh tasting, but on the mild side of spice. Chips were solid. Not the absolute greatest, but I’ve had way worse, for sure.
Drinks were served in over-​sized red plastic Coca-​Cola cups (pizzeria-​style). I’ve always been a fan of these cups. Kinda like a mason jar, iced tea seems to taste better served in these. Plus, I only have to get a refill one or two times, thereby reducing the number of times that the server has to hook me up. I drink a lot of iced tea… it’s a curse.
Chix burrito enchilada-​style was money. Well seasoned, tender shredded chix. Glad to see there was no lettuce in the burrito (don’t get me started on that f-​ing ridiculous concept), and an enchilada sauce somewhere between pan-​gravy and ranchero sauce. All topped with melted cheese. Good stuff, albeit not so great for the waistline. Meh… whatevs. If I wanted fish or shrimp tacos, I could’ve had those, too… they’re on the menu.
Also tried the soft chix and soft beef tacos. Both meats shredded and delicious. Tacos were loaded with meat, lettuce, tomatoes and cheese. Again… good stuff.
Downsides:
— Noticed an off odor when we first sat down (similar to what Eric M. mentions below). It dissipated pretty quickly, but next time I’ll ask to sit more towards the front of the house (we were sitting mid-​restaurant).
— Tacos were kinda pricey on the a la carte menu. Approx. $ 4−6/taco. It’s cool, though, since it looks like they have weekday lunch specials.
All-​in-​all, I’m stoked to have found this place. Especially since it’s right around the corner from my house. I’ll be back.

The last two times I have been here the place had an odd stench to it, kind of like a dirty rag… big turn off. Also, the food did not taste as good. Since I usually order the exact same thing here, I know how it should taste. Perhaps the bad smell skewed my taste buds or something. I will probably not go back.

You wouldn’t know it from the outside, but Piñata Nueva is a hidden Mexican food gem located in North Scottsdale. If you’ve driven through the shopping complex there, you’ve probably seen it, but passed on by. My recommendation is to stop next time for a nice lunch or dinner in their wonderfully air conditioned restaurant.
The restaurant is small, but it is vibrantly decorated, with yellow, red and blue colored paint on various walls and countless piata’s hanging from the ceiling. I’m talking Santa, the Easter bunny, a ghost, stars, bears… they all make an appearance in this restaurant in the form of multi-​colored piatas.
I think the food here is really good. I LOVED the chips and salsa and ordered a bean burrito enchilada style for my meal (I know, boring!). My boyfriend ordered their lunch special, which was $ 6 for an enchilada, rice and beans. My burrito ended up being around $ 5 something, but it was huge.
Their happy hour starts at 3pm, and they have some great specials. $ 2 margaritas! Woo hoo! I was extremely tempted, but since I was drinking later on, I passed.
I can tell this place doesn’t get that much business yet… I think it’s because they’re located in the back of a shopping plaza and you’d have to be in the shopping plaza to even see them, so they probably don’t get any drive-​by traffic. In my opinion, I think Piñata Nueva is way better than Macayo’s and just as good as Carlos O’Brien’s, if not better. Give it a try!