Authentic Mexican food and Hookah Lounge on Park Rd

Typically, West Hartford is not a place that I like to venture into. There are many reasons for this, but you don't need to hear my ranting. Let's just say, in my search for authenticity, originality, flavor, culture, and independant ownership (ie...no chain restaurants), it lacks in a major way. However, there is always an exception to any rule...and I find that there are a few places of note on Park Rd. One of these is Los Adobes, truely a gem of a find! The restaurant is small, consisting of perhaps 6 booths in all, with brightly colored walls, adorned with a collection of Mexican art. The restaurant leaves me with the feeling that I am in a Californian style taqueria.


But the food is really the reason to visit Los Adobes. My friends and I ordered our favorite drinks to start with, Mango and Guava Boing! juices and a Modelo beer. By the way, you should order a Boing! just to admire the artwork on the bottle. Truely fabulous...as one of my friends suggested, it brings to mind the images of the painter, Diego Rivera. Within ten minutes, our food showed up on the table. There was a shrimp and seafood burrito, pork sopes and I had the chicken and cheese quesadilla. Our server brought us two kinds of salsa, one green and one a golden yellow color to accompany our meals. I had always thought that the green sauce was the hotter of the two, but I was proved wrong...it was definately the yellow one! Mmmmmmm. My friend was eager to try some of the beef tongue tacos that were on the menu, and ordered two of those as well, which came on small flour tacos with sliced radishes and lime wedges.

Everything was given a thumbs up by us, and the prices only added to our delight. The tacos were $2 a piece, and each of our meals was under $10. Definately a good bargain place! We decided that the best way to end such a lovely meal and a beautiful day was to cross the street to the newly opened hookah lounge called 1000 Arabian Nights Hookah Lounge. We were met by the owner, George who set us up with our selected mango flavored hookah. The lounge is very inviting, and not at all intimidating if you have not been introduced to the experience yet. The lounge is set up with an assortment of couches and tables that are situated so that there are intimate corners where you can relax with your friends. We chose a low seating area that was made up of a semicircle of pillows. The lounge does not serve anything besides hookahs, however George is amicable and allows patrons to bring their own beverages, as long as you ask him. Be mindful, if you decide to bring your own beverages you are on your own as far as cups, wine opener, etc. The experience was entirely pleasant, and the cost of the hookah was $20....definately worth the 3 hours that we spent there! Although we arrived at 8pm and missed out on this, I checked out the website and found out that they offer 1/2 priced hookahs from 5-7pm daily...so you may want to get there early.

Los Adobes, 169 Park Rd, West Hartford, CT 06119  
(860) 231-1431
Tue-Sat 10 am - 9 pm

1001 Arabian Nights Hookah Lounge, 134 Park Rd, West Hartford, CT 06119  (860) 523-7900     http://www.1001hookahlounge.com/
Open 5 PM to 1 AM Sun—Thurs, till 2 AM Fri & Sat