This past Memorial Day weekend, my husband and I spent part of the weekend in New Hope, Pennsylvania. We stayed here.
DAY 1
Without further delay we headed to Main Street at the intersection of Bridge Street where all the shops and restaurants were.
Cute little clothing stores.
RESTAURANT REVIEW: EL TACO LOCO
I was famished so we ate at the first place I was tempted by – Mexican food at El Taco Loco.
LOCATION
6 Stockton Ave.
New Hope, PA 18938
215.862.0908
(Bucks County)
El Taco Loco Menu.
COST: $
RECOMMENDED TO: Casual Dining, Groups, Kid Friendly.
CUISINE: Mexican
This is a cute self serve place.
I liked the décor for a cute shack.
We started with Nachos Grande which consisted of beans, cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes. Nothing special and flavorless.
My husband ordered the Barbecue Chicken Burrito which he thought was just okay. I tried a bite and it was average, there was no wow factor.
My hubbs also got a Lemonade – I forgot to take a picture.
I ordered a 3 Selection Combo and chose 2 Cheese & Onion Enchiladas and 1 Bean Tostada. My dish also came with a side of rice and more beans. Yes, they served me a LOT of food. My enchiladas were good because it was loaded with cheese, however they Enchiladas lacked the Mexican spices and flavors I was searching for. Ya know? Furthermore, I found the Tostada to be really dry and flavorless. I only ate my enchiladas.
VERDICT for El Taco Loco: 2.5 / 5
Furthermore, the service was horrible. We had a rude waitress who messed up our order twice. In addition, there were bits of “beef” hanging out in my Vegetarian Cheese & Onion Enchiladas and although I didn’t make a huge fuss about it because I do eat meat, I don’t, however, eat red meat so I was a little annoyed. I just pushed off the beef pieces to the side and ate my meal. Lastly, it was disappointing there were no drinks at this Mexican place, I could have really used an early evening Margarita.
How pretty is this antique shop?
We stopped by the Delaware River where we saw the famous New Hope-Lambertville Bridge that separates Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Many people were walking on the bridge towards Lambertville on the New Jersey side. We will be going to Lambertville tomorrow.
People were feeding the ducks and I watched them as they ate… at this point I was wishing I could swim too.
RESTAURANT REVIEW: THE LAST TEMPTATION ICE CREAM & COFFEE SHOP
LOCATION
115 S Main Street Ste. A
New Hope, PA 18938
215.862.3219
(Bucks County)
COST: $
The Last Temptation is such a cute shop. I loved all the menu colors.
We shared a Blendin’ which consisted of 2 scoops of ice cream blended with 2 items. The ice cream is then processed through a machine which results in perfectly blended soft ice cream.
I got coffee and Elvis (peanut butter & banana) ice creams with 2 blended items – peanut butter cups and oreo cookies. It was so good, but a little too sweet and that’s my fault really for going with peanut butter cups and oreo cookies. Next time, I am going to get banana as one of the blendins.
VERDICT for The Last Temptation Ice Cream & Coffee Shop: 5 / 5
DAY 2
And now we were in Lambertville, New Jersey! Lambertville is nice too, but not as nice as New Hope. There weren’t as many antique shops and restaurants here. We soon headed back to New Hope.
Here is a funny story… prior to our trip, my husband mentioned that he will get coffee at Starbucks in New Hope, and I abruptly said there is no Starbucks at New Hope. Well, I guess I was wrong because there was a Starbucks located right on Bridge St. 
Shocking, I thought they were just in NYC.
We stopped at SB and “he” got the Mocha-Coconut Frappuccino with 2% Milk. It was alright, I didn’t really like it.
After SB, we headed to New Hope & Ivyland Railroad and took a 45 minute ride through the hills and valleys of historic Bucks County, PA. For more information, click here.
It was a lot of fun.
We passed by woody areas and enjoyed the breeze.
After the railroad ride, we met up with my friend, Anu, and her husband. We headed for a boat ride.
The water was calm, it was a nice boat ride.
RESTAURANT REVIEW: HAVANA
We were first seated inside…
…however, due to the horribly loud band music, we moved outside.
We were all so hot and in the mood for Mojitos and Margaritas. I went for the Pineapple Mojito. Although this tasted good, it was soooooooooooo weak! You could barely taste any alcohol.
My husband and Anu’s husband both went for the Mango Mojito which again tasted exactly like mine, but seriously lacked alcohol.
Anu went for a Margarita and even hers didn’t contain much alcohol.
Since there was a lack of Cuban food on the menu, surprising, we ordered a Bowl of Crunchy Fries for the table. The fries were GREAT!
As my entrée, I ordered the Vegetarian Black Beans and Rice with Salmon. This dish was average and there really wasn’t anything authentic about it. The salmon tasted like normal grilled salmon, with a side of rice and black beans.
My husband ordered the same dish as mine, only with Chicken. Vegetarian Black Beans and Rice with Chicken. His chicken was dry and tasteless, there was nothing Cuban or authentic about his dish either.
Anu went for the same dish, you can see the pattern here, without meat… Vegetarian Black Beans and Rice. As I mentioned, there weren’t too many dishes that were cuban, these guys were serving pasta and burgers, which is not what you would expect at a Cuban restaurant.
Anu’s husband ordered an appetizer as his meal and went for the Havana Award Winning Homemade Chili Nachos. He said his dish was okay, nothing special.
VERDICT for Havana: 1 / 5
First off, this place is NOT Cuban. I’m sorry, I have eaten at authentic Cuban establishments in New York City, and this place does not even come close. There was no Maduros, no Tostones, no Empanadas, no Ropa Vieja on the menu, how is this place Cuban? Second, the drinks were extremely weak, they didn’t necessarily taste bad and that is due to the lack of alcohol in them. Third, the prices were high for New Hope standards and a place that claims to be Cuban, it is NOT. These guys are charging the same price as Cuban food in New York City, however the food comes nowhere near NYC’s Cuban restaurants. The food here lacks the Cuban flavor and authentic Cuban spices.
Surprisingly though, this place was packed. And this is probably due to the fact that the tourists don’t know any better and probably haven’t eaten real Cuban food. I partly blame myself for going here. Since this was so last minute trip, I didn’t do any research and basically went for my favorite cuisines – BIG MISTAKE! Either I have really high standards when it comes to food, or I don’t know what I’m talking about. I think know it is the former! For a lack of a better term, this place SUCKS! Save your money and check out YELP for a list of good restaurants in New Hope/Lambertville. A local recommended The Landing, but unfortunately I didn’t take his advice. Check out Yelp for a review on The Landing, please don’t go by what I was told.
OVERALL
I really enjoyed New Hope and Lambertville, however I do think New Hope is a lot cuter. I enjoyed walking by the cute little shops and restaurants. Although I’m not into antique furniture and jewelry, I did find the stores fun to browse. I was hugely disappointed with the food, I think our B&B’s breakfast was probably the best meal of the trip and it was a simple Continental breakfast. I guess when it comes to food, keeping it authentic and simple is the best.
TELL ME: Have you been to New Hope or Lambertville? If so, which one did you like more?
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