Contigo

Usually Tucson in the summer means closing restaurants, but Contigo, open since March 1^st, seems here to stay. The Argentine take on Latin fare offers everything from a full suckling pig for large groups (what a way to impress your party at La Paloma? Must be ordered three days in advance) to creative takes on short ribs and fresh seafood. We opted for the bacon-​wrapped dates which were sweetly decadent, the bay shrimp ceviche popping with lime and served alongside crisp purple Peruvian potato chips, the elote (roasted corn with manchego cheese and chamoy) and the green apple and canteloupe gazpacho. I love elote — it’s notoriously difficult to eat, so I prefer it served in an ice cream cone (ala Boca tacos), but this elote is worth the effort. We actually had our bartender add a grand marnier floater to our tart gazpacho and it was much improved on all fronts. Contigo is one of those resort restaurants where you’ll feel right at home in flip flops fresh from the pool or preened and polished for a special occasion. The interior leans toward light natural stone and dark vinyl. The service is attentive and knowledgeable and I think their only challenge might be educating the patrons about Latin fare beyond burritos and chimis.

I love this place! It’s a romantic spot to take your sweetie if you want to impress her. I had the braised beef tacos with pickled onions and I loved it. My wife had their potato soup which she loved as well.
We had a vegan in our group and she had plenty to order from and enjoyed every bite.
The service was also amazing.
Great job!

Everyone needs to add getting the whole pig at Contigo to their bucket list. Now. Seriously. Add it in sharpie because it’s a must do!
I had the pleasure of getting together with some friends for my birthday this weekend and we decided to go whole hog and get a few rooms at Westin La Paloma and order the whole suckling pig at Contigo. Let me tell you Contigo did NOT disappoint. I was already a fan because their happy hour is great. Now I’m a super mega fan. The food was great and the whole experience was phenomenal. Our waiter was AMAZING and extremely attentive. Like I said we stayed on property so we weren’t the most sober group. He was the best. Very nice, not annoyed with our shenanigans. He helped make it a really wonderful evening. So in summary, go to Contigo. Order the whole pig. Ask for the waiter in the picture. Tip him well.

Table for four on a Saturday night. Almost everything perfect.
We started with some tapas; the bombas, elotes, gambas and the queso and charcuterie. I really can’t say enough about everything. It was perfect.
For entrees we had the chuletas, the lechon, the scallops and the fish was the grouper. Being Florida people I was surprised that mother mother ordered grouper in Tucson, but it was very good. Tasted fresh for being so far from home.
The chuletas were great, a bit on the thin side and the fries they were served with came out limp and soggy. They had some extra oil from being dropped in a cold fryer so the salt stuck a little too much and pushed them towards salty. Better than under salted. This is really the only complaint at all.
The deserts were flawless. The capirotada was packed full of figs and goat cheese. The flan was the best I’ve ever had and this is the only place I’ll order from here forward.
I hope Contigo sticks at La Paloma. It’s about 4 minutes from my house and is probably the best thing Tucson has going right now.

The food is as amazing as it always was. The location is fantastic! We’ve been to this new locations a few times and it was the usual attentive service. From other reviews it seems that perhaps they’ve had a few service hiccups going from the previous small venue to this very large one. I have no doubt they’ll hammer those out, so don’t be dissuaded from giving it a try. Contigo has been a Tucson favorite for the last few years for a reason. Don’t skip the bacon wrapped dates! And if you have some room, the tres leches cake is sublime.

The ambiance is very inviting. Our waiter knew every dish and would go into detail of what the dishes were, very knowledgeable. We had a few tapas, the patatas bravas, empanadas and fried plantains. The sangria was great. My main entrée was braised short ribs tacos, meat was very flavorful and tender. Beignet (Not sure of the spelling) was shared by everyone, with chocolate dip with caramel seasalt. Great place!

Let’s break this down into two categories: service and food. The service was horrid. The flavors were pretty good.
Our group of 8 arrived without reservations on a Tuesday evening at 6:30pm. Most tables inside were empty — only 3 were occupied with couples or 4s. We were promptly seated. And then it began — the long waits. Finally our beverage orders were taken and more long waiting for them to arrive. Half of us had cocktails and the others just water or soft drinks. More waiting. Finally we placed our food orders. Then the really long wait began. Salads arrived for those who ordered them. And two plates of bread. More waiting. After an hour, one of our party left the table to object about the long wait for food. After about an hour and a quarter the entrees arrived.
So, now on to the food that we so hungrily waited for. I ordered the lamb chops with veggies and french fries — one of the most pricey items on the menu. It sounded fantastic and I couldn’t want to get into it. I had ordered medium to medium rare. The chops appeared to have been passed quickly over the grill. Grill marks on the outside but nearly or totally raw on the inside. Bright, deep red, not pink. I ate two of the four and took the remaining two home to grill tomorrow night for myself. The fries were hot, but soggy and flaccid. The veggies were just fine. The spices and taste of the lamb chops were perfection, but sadly ruined by the under-​cooked finish. Most everyone else at the table had similar complaints — poor presentation. The ceviche that my friend ordered looked like someone had upchucked into a glass cup and it was surrounded by a sad looking (but altogether delicious) array of kettle fried potato chips. Most all of our party agreed that the flavors were excellent, but the horrid waiting and uninspired presentations ruined it all.
The manager was summoned and complaints expressed. He was «understanding» and said all the right things (right out of the PR text book), but really didn’t seem to honestly care nor step up to the harsh reality that there is something really seriously wrong with the overall operation, blaming the evening on perhaps some «poor communications». Seriously? To his credit, we were comped 50% for the check.
I suspect that the real problems were in the back of the house, not the fault of the waiter. When the entrees arrived they came at the same time and all were hot, indicating that it had not been sitting prepared and undelivered. So, I believe that the kitchen is where the trouble lies. It seemed to us that as soon as the kitchen got around to preparing our orders, they were promptly delivered to the table.
So after a quick evening meal that took two hours and having had a rotten experience and a mediocre experience, we finally were able to leave. Will I go back to give them a second try? I don’t know. I’ll have to hear and read a lot of good reviews from friends and neighbors before I’ll try it again.
For now, I think I’ll go get a bowl of cereal. I’m still hungry.

Love the outdoor seating with views over the golf course and of the mountains! I also love the idea of small plates where you can taste a bit of everything. The Boquerones were not as good as in Madrid, but still good. We also had the mushrooms and the grilled octopus which both had wonderful taste!
The service was OK and since we arrived the first one in the restaurant, we got the food very quick. Sangria was also good. Will definitely come again!

I make this place a priority. Holidays, key moments in life… it all comes down to Contigo. So glad they’re back and beautiful.

I was very impressed with Contigo. This space at La Paloma is beautiful, with nice indoor, outdoor, and bar areas. This place is busy on weekends, so you typically will need a reservation unless you want to dine later in the evening. Our waitress — Dana — was excellent. I asked a lot of questions and hemmed and hawed… I was probably annoying. She was kind and enthusiastic and helped us make the best choices for the evening.
All the food and drinks were excellent: we had red sangria, whatever that cocktail is that is the national drink of Brazil, the bombas, anchovy toast, the scallops, and the Cubana. Everything was RICH, very flavorful and just fantastic. The meat in the Cubana, and the pepper+cream sauce in the Scallops were two highlights! We can’t wait to return to try more — there are too many amazing sounding options! We didn’t even get a chance to try dessert, but the options sounded great.

Just as great as I remember it. We enjoyed an evening of tapas on the patio. Great food, great service, perfect view. It’s a tad overpriced– particular the octopus tapas, which was a bit underwhelming. The Elote, las Favoritas, Gambas, and Bombas Contigo were fabulous. Definitely end with the
Plantains if you can’t get dessert. They could use some cozier outdoor seating, but we had a fantastic date! We will be coming back, probably more frequents this time!

I have been curious to check out this place and since it’s an hour drive for me, the opportunity presented itself last minute and I got to check it out with friends. I ordered elote (corn, lime, aioli and cheese) and Las Favoritas (chorizo stuffed dates wrapped in bacon) to start. The elote was with clear winner between these two dishes. I also had the opportunity to try Bombas Contigo (fried potato with bacon with brava sauce); I love potatoes and I loved theses as they were formed with potato shreds and not fried mashed potato.
I enjoyed shared carafe of red sangria followed with a Pisco Punch and they were standard for me. Just OK cocktails. My husband and I shared the Parillada platter which is described as: Ribeye, chorizo, morcilla, lamb chop, roast marrow, salsa verde, chimichurri, and seasonal vegetables. So basically it was a plate of meat, which is what we were expecting but no real side to the dish. My husband and I loved the morcilla (blood sausage); who knew blood sausage could be so tasty? All this was finished off with one surprisingly great dessert called the Capirotada (bread pudding with figs and goat cheese?), that was rich without being heavy.
It was a very busy night and so initially our service was attentive and then it went down hill.
In the midst of conversation, the waiter handed us our bill. So I asked him, he aren’t you going to tell us about your great desserts? However, it took so long to arrive that I regretted ordering dessert; a line had crossed. My husband wanted to leave as the place was getting increasingly crowded but we were in limbo waiting for my dessert while sitting outside in a breezy evening on the patio at 8pm, with an hour drive home in our future.

Go here for happy hour and get short rib tacos and ceviche tostada. Their cocktails look very good and different from others. Only downside is more signage is needed to navigate here but otherwise has great views from all angles! We then had a seafood coconut milk dish over rice and split it. More than enough food. Had grouper in it as the fish. So many menu options, and we will be back.

If you loved the old Contigo on River Road (like myself), don’t expect the same experience at it’s new location, the Westin La Paloma. On the plus side, the menu is mostly the same, the Arepas are still delicious (the pork with the mango salsa is by far the best one).
This new location has zero of the old charm of the previous spot. The romantic, secluded ambiance has been replaced by the bustling and generic feel of the resort restaurant that it now is.
It was very busy, as expected for a Saturday night, but the wait for everything was a little much. They must have been short staffed because we didn’t get our appetizers (!) until an hour after ordering. It wasn’t just us because at one point I looked around the restaurant and realized that very few other tables had food either.
My favorite dish, the Arroz con Pollo has been replaced with an embarrassingly massive piece of pounded, breaded and deep fried chicken. Served with fries and mixed greens, this dish belongs in a diner, not this restaurant. A huge disappointment.
We were in this restaurant for over 2 hours from the time we were seated to the time we finally got our check (and not by choice). I would not recommend the chicken entrée but my husband loved the lamb chops. Overall, the food is fine. It’s a decent enough spot for tourists and visitors. But this is not the same charming place it used to be. These locals will not be going back. Shame.

Loved the food the atmosphere, excellent service and location. My friend and I shared a nice Friday night dinner after work last night, and very much enjoyed ourselves. There were several waiters that checked on us and helped us. The dishes were very different than what you find in Tucson. We had the arepas filled with beans, pork, and roasted chicken, and tried several appetizers — the elote was not as good as at elote in Sedona, but it was roasted and had a nicely flavored sauce on it. The arepas were delicious and filling, the ground maize were so different than a corn tortilla, it had a very unique flavor, and each one was different because of the fillers — cheese and jalapenos, potato, roasted means, and beans… there’s so much more that I want to try here. It was very relaxing and welcomed after a long week!

Contigo tacos were amazing! The atmosphere was very nice. Great outdoor seating. We sat in the booths at the bar and the service was not the greatest. I feel like it was too much for the bartender to handle serving drinks for the restaurant, serving people at the bar and people in the booths. Will give it another try because the food was great.

The Parrillada (lamb chop, rib-​eye, bone marrow, chorizo platter) is a meat lover’s dream. Really high quality seafood as well: the Pulpo (octupus) was cooked perfectly and the Vieras con Rajas (Scallops with Poblanos and corn) were unlike anything I’ve had before. One of the best, most affordable wine lists in Tucson.

Great service very good food and good drinks we are definitely glad we decided to check out the happy hour. It was incredible. Don’t waste your time with other westin restaurants come here instead!!!

Best place Ive been in a long time. I used to like to old contigo, now I LOVE IT! The new place has more space and has a great view. You need to try the octopus, it was cooked to perfection. Also, you cant go wrong with the contigo tacos. Really good service, place, everything. COMING BACK VERY SOON!

I’m happy that they re-​opened. I can finally try their paella sometime. Tonight we had las favoritas (dates stuffed chorizo wrapped with bacon), arepas, braised pork tacos and apple empanadas. They all tasted good! The chimichurri sauce that came with bread was good, too. We’ll definitely be back!