This past Wednesday, we had dinner at Poncho & Lefty’s on Harper Road in Beckley. We had been hearing about this ‘cool’ new restaurant and we were excited to try it out, but sadly I have to say that we were ‘underwhelmed’ at best.

The parking was extremely limited, with room for maybe five carefully parked cars out front. The eatery (not sure I can call it a restaurant) is the offspring of the local Poncho and Lefty’s taco truck business. In fact, the original ‘taco truck’ is still there, parked inside the garage-type atmosphere of the eatery. The truck has interesting graphics on it. The interior of the eatery has a spartan decor, with two soft drink coolers, a counter and chalk boards on the wall. The menu is a single sheet of paper with no description of the food. There are no prices on the beverages (we figured them to be around $3.50 per can/bottle) and I did not find the beverages to be particularly chilled, straight out of the cooler. There are no cups or ice available. I did not see any straws (for those who prefer to use a straw to drink from a can).

The eatery is promoted with a large sign ‘beer and tacos’. The beer selection is slim. There are also a few varieties of soda, bottled water and one type of hard cider available.

The cashier/waitress was personable and friendly. You pay as you order, before the food arrives. We were charged just under $40 for two adults and one child to eat. This was two fish tacos, one ‘steak’ taco, one order of ‘chicken fajitas’ – which was two small tacos, two orders of fries, two beers (one beer, one cider) and one soda for the kid (that’s a total of three tacos, three drinks and two small ‘fajita’ tacos… for $40). While this might be considered ‘reasonable’ in some areas, it’s very high for this area. Also, do not expect to get a receipt with prices. I asked for a receipt and was given a copy of the order ticket, but no prices were included, only the total handwritten at the top.

After a 20 minute wait (a bit excessive for a few tacos, we thought) we received our food.

The $6 tacos are ‘regular’ sized tacos, served in soft, flour tortillas. While the toppings (red cabbage with vinegar and something like a cucumber sauce) complimented the fish tacos, they did not go so well with the so-called ‘steak’ tacos (which were actually ‘country fried steak’). The fish tacos were deep fried, battered (tiny) fillets. They charge $6 each for tacos and while this might not be excessive for ‘gourmet’ tacos, it hardly seems justified for the quality of food we received.

I have to mention that, although I liked the flavor of the ‘slaw’ topping (cabbage mixed with vinegar), my other guest declared it ‘disgusting’ that ‘red liquid’ poured out of the tacos. He said it reminded him of beet juice (it was the vinegar from the ‘slaw’). A true disadvantage of this excess of liquid was that it caused the flour tortillas to become soggy. Who likes soggy tacos? Not this reviewer.

RB ordered the “2 Grilled Chicken Fajitas for $4” – which come wrapped in small, soft corn tortillas (he was not thrilled). In addition, RB specifically asked if he could get the grilled chicken ‘plain’ (no onions or peppers) and was told he could. Of course, the chunks of chicken arrived with tiny bits of grilled onion and pepper all over them, which rendered it inedible for him. Here, I will take a moment to talk about the ‘chicken fajitas’.

The soft corn tortillas were just plain tortillas. Not warmed, not lightly toasted. It would have been nice to offer a choice between flour and corn tortillas, particularly to a child, since it was obvious they had both options. The menu does nothing explain that what it labels ‘chicken fajitas’ are actually small tacos with what can loosely be called ‘fajita chicken’. The chicken was not what one would normally expect from fajita meat. Instead of strips of marinated, seasoned, grilled chicken, this was large chunks of very bland grilled chicken breast. The only seasoning consisted of tiny bits of pepper and onion. The chicken was dry and overcooked on the outside, but I suppose this was to compensate for reviews I’ve read where people have complained of the chicken being raw inside… a result of using large chunks instead of thin strips of meat.

The fries were… ‘special’, and not in a good way. They are mushy, limp and heavily coated in some seasoning mixture which seemed to mostly consist of chili powder and flavorless rosemary. RB declared them ‘awful’ and I’m not far behind that opinion. They are, honestly, the worst excuse for ‘fries’ I’ve ever eaten. RB did manage to eat a few of them, with copious amounts of ketchup, but for the most part, RB was not able to eat dinner with us at this restaurant and ended up complaining, rather loudly, much of the time we were there.

Everything was really bland. I don’t think they use any salt at all (great for someone on a low salt diet?). How fries coated in chili powder can manage to taste bland, I’m really not sure but they have managed to do it. There are no condiments or seasonings available on the tables.

The services was… well, there was no service. Our food was delivered to us on the balcony, but that was about it. No one checked in to ask how things were (they would have gotten an earful) and there was really no option to ‘bus’ your own table. There was not even a garbage can available on the deck, so we had to just leave everything on the table… in the wind… awkward. I can’t even imagine how this place can operate during cold weather unless it’s ‘pick up only’?

The one shining star of the place is the ‘balcony’ seating area up top. It’s refreshing and a pleasant atmosphere, but there are only 5 tables available, up there. I believe there might have been a few small tables downstairs in the parking lot, right next to the cars, but seating is extremely limited.

I’m truly hoping that the establishment can pull together a better ‘recipe’ for their business. I can’t imagine they could have done well in the taco truck with this quality of food and prices, so maybe they were just having an off day. Maybe the pulled pork tacos are much better. Maybe the portabella tacos are delicious, but I’m not willing to risk the expense, indigestion and disappointment to give them another try. In any case, avoid the fries.

RB’s Child Review is a big ‘Thumbs Down’ on this one.

Poncho & Lefty’s – Food Without Border is located on Harper Road in Beckley, WV
Date of this experience: 9/28/16

Update: Since the posting of my review, the owner of Poncho & Lefty’s – “Joel Sullivan” has gone on a seriously unprofessional internet tantrum, trying to publicly bash me, saying that I am doing this as a ‘personal attack’, calling me a ‘troll’, trying to send his friends after me, etc. He lied on the original review I posted, saying that they had offered us our money back, when in fact RB was so upset that we didn’t even bother to speak to anyone, we just left. Of course, if anyone had bothered to ‘check on’ us, as they do in most dining establishments, they would have heard everything you read about in this review. It’s truly a shame that someone who is attempting to start a new business appears to be able to handle criticism in a professional manner. While I would have, otherwise, encouraged people to try other items on the menu, this unprofessional, childish, vindictive attitude has done far more to hurt the business than my humble review could have done.