Not too loud. The music is at the right volume. The food is great. And the service is adequate. You can't go wrong here. Whether you come for drinks (and the chips and dip [they do have a spicy version of salsa]), or if you come to dine. The options are good. You can easily stay fpr apps and transition into dinner! The bar may not be as big as desired, but I was able to transition from table to bar, once others cleared out. the bartender was very accommodating, and the food was ON POINT!!! had I known that this place was in Downtown Portsmouth from the get go, I may just have come here FIRST!!! You can't miss with Howling Wolf! by and large the better "mexican" joint anywhere! read more

Howling Wolf Taqueria - the bar was busy, so had to grab a table just to the side - Mexican Near Me - Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Howling Wolf Taqueria used to be a quaint book bar that we loved, where you could get drinks, read books, and play board games. We were shocked to walk in and see that the book bar was replaced by a super trendy chain restaurant. Nevertheless, we decided to give it a try. We were just in time for happy hour, and ordered a happy hour marg and three tacos. Our marg was very sweet, weak, and they forgot the salted rim we asked for. It was also served in a pub cup, and I thought they could've tried harder with the presentation given this is supposed to be a taqueria. We ordered one shrimp, one beef, and one al pastor taco. Each taco was quite expensive ($5-$6 for one taco). The steak and pork tacos were quite dry, and the steak taco only came with onions and cilantro. For how expensive the tacos were, there wasn't much meat in them. It felt like we were getting tacos from a diner, not a restaurant that specializes as a taqueria. Also it was very empty inside; the restaurant is huge but it was just us and one other family. Overall I feel like Portsmouth is the wrong place to put a chain restaurant, especially one that isn't serving great food, and it kind of ruins the quaint vibe of the town. The only reason I won't give this one star is because our waitress was very kind and attentive. We brought our baby and she was very patient and understanding when he became a bit fussy. read more

Howling Wolf Taqueria - Shrimp Taco - Mexican Near Me - Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Quiet for a Saturday night and ample seating available. Music is light in the background and able to carry conversations with ease. Took a bit after self seating prior to being welcomed in or offered a menu. It gave me time to look up menu online and figure out what I wanted to order prior to server arriving. Bit disappointed to discover others received complimentary chips/salsa when they arrived after me and not even offered. Food was great. Chicken stew was hearty and flavorful. Also had carne asada taco that had plenty of protein and fresh pico to enjoy. Able to pay bill via Toast if desired. read more

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I just had the most amazing shrimp tacos. Loved the accompanying free chips and salsa. Great sauces-all fresh and flavorful. This place gets every li'l detail right. Fun music vibe. Feels like a party-energizing. Comfy, 2-person booths in the back, so if you're dining solo or in a pair, and don't want to sit at the bar, you don't have to. Cute string Edison lights inside, making the place feel festive. Friendly, attentive service. Allergy-friendly meal accommodations. And I LOVE that when I ordered water, the waitress brought a self-service carafe so I could refill at will. Highly recommend! I'll definitely be back. read more

Howling Wolf Taqueria - The best shrimp taco!! - Mexican Near Me - Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Funny, pointless canned responses from management (?). Why after getting disappointing service and an even more disappointing meal and telling you exactly what was disappointing in a review does anyone want to or need to take time to talk with you further about it? Why don't you just read the reviews, take them seriously, pay a bit of attention to what's right under your nose, train and monitor your staff and kitchen and fix this disappointing mess ? Get out of your own way and be successful!! read more

Rude. Entering a restaurant and not having anyone speak to you? We sat down and watched all the help n the next booth having fun. No one spoke to us- no one said anything like, "welcome, your sever will be with you in a minute". No one brought us a menu. We were there for about 5-6 minutes, no other customers AT ALL- just all the help in a booth tucking it up. Call me Karen. Howling Wolf needs customer service training. read more

Never made it to book and bar, and was excited to give this place a try. It was a beautiful day and we hoped to have dinner outside, but it was just too windy and opted to dine in. Overall we enjoyed, but were hoping for a little bit more. We had a real pleasant server and were in time for happy hour which was nice. The complimentary chips and salsa were nice. We also tried the guac, also on the happy hour menu, and it was also quite good. We found the house margarita to be fair, I've had much better and far worse. Tried the steak fajita entree which was a very generous portion, more than enough for two people. That said, we found the beef to be a bit tough and not the most flavorful. Not bad, just hoped for a little better. We will give another try as the atmosphere is cool, staff is friendly and food came out fast. read more

Howling Wolf Taqueria - Steak fajitas - Mexican Near Me - Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Food was fine, but prices, serving size, and service was great!! It looks like they do live music here as well, although it wasn't going while we were there. Definitely a good spot for the price! read more

Howling Wolf Taqueria - Mexican Near Me - Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Had the Good Wolf Burrito at the Portsmouth NH lacatio. Burrito was a big disappointment . It had an excessive amount of rice, plenty of onion, a small amount of chicken, and don't even recall beans. Not sure if I will go back. Maybe out of curiosity re: whether that was an off night. Companion said the margarita was the best she ever had, and food was okay. read more

Visiting Portsmouth for the weekend and came across this restaurant on DoorDash so I wanted to give it a try. Can't speak much on the ambiance/service but the food was amazing. I ordered shrimp taco salad and my boyfriend got the beef taco salad and they were both great. My shrimp was cooked perfectly and the taste was really on point. Also got a side order of pico de gallo and guacamole. The guacamole was so good and tasted so fresh. Not too crazy about the pico it was mostly tomatoes. Portion was very good on everything ordered. Order came with complimentary chips and salsa which were pretty good. Prices were very reasonable (at least for me, I am visiting from out of state). Honestly if I were to visit Portsmouth again I would definitely want to get their food again! (No pictures cuz I was starving and was halfway thru my meal when I realized I hadn't took a picture LOL) read more

3 star food but prices are great, drinks are strong, service is fast, and chips and salsa are fresh. Queso was hot and cheesy, tacos were meh. Check out the happy hour menu. read more

Howling Wolf Taqueria - Spicy marg is great ‍ - Mexican Near Me - Portsmouth, New Hampshire

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The food was good but the burrito meat was kinda dry and some of the rice wasn't cooked all the way. The service was okay. The inside was clean and family friendly. read more

First & foremost - their prices are incredibly reasonable, especially for what you get (portion). Everything we had was delicious. Staff was incredibly friendly. Will be going back for sure. read more

The tall ceilings and festive decorations are welcoming, so was their hostess. Our tacos had mixed results. Fish tacos and the shrimp tacos were a hit. The carne asada wasn't so good. My wife said it was bland and I agreed. Al Pastor was ok. The mango salsa wasn't as tasty as it could have been. It's very loud and we didn't care for the music. read more

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I tried Howling Wolf today. It was good, but it's not going on my list of favorite Mexican restaurants. I prefer Loco Coco's in Kittery. I got nachos, my first go-to in Mexican restaurants. They were good, but not great. read more

Wasn't really impressed with my meal tonight. I flew in pretty late and stayed at the Hilton garden downtown and was looking for a quick bite to eat and ordered a Shrimp Burrito as well as a chicken taco. The flavor of the burrito was semi bland which was disappointing. The Taco was okay but I forgot to put "things on the side" and the taco was just beyond loaded it almost destroyed the flavor and was super overwhelming. All in all I would prob give this place a try again by ordering different items but I wouldn't go out of my way. read more

We'd been wanting to see Portsmouth, NH for some time now and we finally got our chance. Normally we don't travel on the weekends but this time we had no choice. We arrived in town at about 2PM, famished. I thought about tacos and Margueritas for lunch and looked to my fellow yelpers for suggestions. Howling Wolf came up with a few reviews but overall very good ones. They have a patio but it was empty and the place looked closed from the outside when we arrived, despite the fact that Yelp told us it was open. The entrance on Pleasant Street is confusing as it looks to belong to another business. We finally saw an employee taking the trash out and asked him if they were open, he motioned us through the back patio gate and up to the restaurant where we walked into an active lunch crowd. Relieved to see it was a going and popular concern we chose seats at the bar. Service was odd, maybe because we're over 72 and they were under 35 but all the staff looked scared, like deer in headlights and they seemed to avoid us until we motioned them over to order. So, I wouldn't be wasting my time if the overall experience wasn't good but I'm aghast at these kids in service jobs these days, they have no interpersonal skills. I think they're afraid to smile because they don't want to encourage any further interaction. I felt like we dealing with zombies in a twilight zone of customer service skills. BUT, the food was delicious, the Marguerita was excellent and the prices were more than reasonable. My husband had the brisket taco and I had the basic beef taco with "the fixings". Both were excellent as were the Magueritas. We have no compunction about recommending this place and if you're younger, you'll probably think we're crazy for criticizing the service read more

I liked this place quite a lot when I moved here 10 months ago. I have been going consistently and will say the portions have gotten consistently smaller. I used to think it was a decent deal for a good meal and now a $17 burrito is 60% of the size of an $11 chipotle burrito. Pretty bummed about it. read more

We discovered this restaurant about a month ago and have been back at least 5 times. The food is fresh and tastes great and the prices are very reasonable. I have nothing bad to say about this place. The wait staff is very attentive and friendly, the place is clean and inviting, and..as I've said..the food is excellent. Im sure we'll be going back this weekend! read more

Ideal place to grab a bite to eat and a drink before hitting the town for the night. Great service and the tacos are consistently good. Also, their playlist BANGS but the music is wayyy too loud I could barely hear the group I was sitting with. read more

Came here on a Thursday afternoon on a road trip from Bar Harbor to Boston. Mexican food is my favorite cuisine. I was pre-warned coming from California that the Mexican food on the East Coast is not what we are used to however, other than maybe not being as spicy as I'm used to. I still thought it overall was good and they have a wolf something hot sauce that filled the need for more spice. Staff was friendly and nice. read more

Stick to the cocktail menu and the chips, salsa and guac. The drinks were good. The tacos were quite close to inedible. The corn tortillas were falling apart on first bite and the tacos were very lackluster. The service was okay, ambiance was okay as well. It is the end of February and there were still multicolored Christmas lights up at the bar. I don't think we will return. read more

Food was absolutely delicious, service was very good, It Had an atmosphere that combined a sports bar but with a rustic feel While the business had not implemented happy hour yet the drinks and the food were decently priced , for a a restaurant in the middle of Downtown Portsmouth, the price was really reasonable and doesn't feel like breaking the bank afterwards I am breaking my rule on reviews with this restaurant, I always assumed 5 stars means perfect (nothings perfect in life) but I am gonna start rating 5 stars as a non perfect pov and as a best as it could be rating !!! read more

Howling Wolf Taqueria - Steak Enchilada , with black beans !!! - Mexican Near Me - Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Wowwwwwza! This place slaps. Idk if the chips are homemade?! But lemme tell yuh -- they were fresh & crispy, folks. The guac?! Hecka FRESH. I ordered the chicken burrito; it was huge. Portions; A+! Meat was tender & beans made me toot. Burp! Impressive cuisine! read more

Good service and good food! Bartender was friendly. Bartender let us go catch some Pokémon & then come back and close our tab! :) cool place

First visit - fun decor/space, great service, tasty, fresh classic margaritas and very happy with our meals (burrito and quesadillas). Will definitely return! read more

Service okay it was pretty much empty the day before Christmas Eve. Drinks were good we sat at the bar and had margs. Food was terrible, cold, seemed to be cooked that morning. The chicken was hard to swallow most of the food was not eaten. Ambiance was pretty good but food was awful. Go for drinks not to eat. A shame for a place with prime real estate. read more

Everything from start to finish was great!! Friendly server, delicious food and top notch margaritas!!! Definitely 5 stars!! Will go back!!!

Super diappointing. This place used to be better but everything has severly declined since opening. We had to wait for a hostess for a significant amount of time to be acknowlwdged, the menus were filthy, the waitress seemed very mater of fact and must have had too many tables because service was very slow and we seemed like a bother. The overall vibe was very slow, flat, and tired, especially for a Friday night with a bar that had more than half of its seats open.. Food itself was ok but nothing amazing. And the side of guacamole could fit in a teaspoon. I'm hoping they can turn this place around because the location and spot are great but until then, I won't return. read more

I've been back 3 times now with my friends including my birthday dinner and it always hits the spot! Restaurant is really what this area needed. The wait staff is always friendly and our food has always been excellent ! read more

This place was fantastic. Food was delicious and the service was excellent. Place was packed and the atmosphere warm and welcoming

Really amazing tacos got the fish tacos and carnitas and beef very good and filling, great atmosphere and really good margaritas

I've ordered takeout from here twice. I'm pretty happy with the price and the food. The first time I ordered, one of my meals had a slight issue that wasn't a big deal. However, they corrected the order and let me have the other meal as well. Super happy about the customer service. I've had some bad luck with other restaurants in the area when it came to getting my orders wrong and not trying to rectify the situation. My experience was breath of fresh air to say the least. read more

Ambiance and service are fantastic, the Spicy margaritas are top notch but the food was good, not great. I'd definitely go back for the margarita and give the food a chance to change my opinion. read more

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We used to love this place when it was a book bar. Now, the food and margaritas are worthy and the outdoor seating makes you feel like you're part of the quaint town. read more

Delicious food, friendly people. We had a steak burrito, chicken enchiladas and the chicken fiesta burrito. Highly recommended!

I really wanted to like this place. It's in this incredible space where Portsmouth Book and Bar used to be, and they did a decent job providing a nice ambiance. But the service and quality of food and drinks just doesn't match the name. I was looking for a "Howling Wolf Taqueria" experience, which sounds rather elegant, or at the very least somewhat upscale. But it felt more like a "Bill's Taco Shack". Maybe I'll try it again at some point when they work the kinks out, or provide a margarita that isn't in a draft glass. read more

Service is great and the Howling wolf Burrito is top notch!!! Also check out the fajitas as well!!! Delicious!!!!

Great service by Kayla, super cool vibe. Food was good with an extensive menu with a little something for everyone.

So happy this place finally opened!!!! The food and drinks are great. My go to is the howling wolf burrito.