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  • Total cost of everything on this table: $30. Quesadilla, fish...

    Suzie Hunter, smhunter@courant.com

    Total cost of everything on this table: $30. Quesadilla, fish tacos, empanadas, tamale, flautas, a margarita and complimentary chips are each $5.

  • Fish tacos with picked red onion, romaine and salsa molcajete.

    Suzie Hunter, smhunter@courant.com

    Fish tacos with picked red onion, romaine and salsa molcajete.

  • Empanadas filled with mushroom and goat cheese served with salsa...

    Suzie Hunter, smhunter@courant.com

    Empanadas filled with mushroom and goat cheese served with salsa manzana. $5.

  • Suzie Hunter, smhunter@courant.com

  • La Casa margarita, front, Sangria de Besito and Besito Patron margarita...

    Suzie Hunter, smhunter@courant.com

    La Casa margarita, front, Sangria de Besito and Besito Patron margarita from the happy hour menu. $5 each.

  • Suzie Hunter, smhunter@courant.com

  • Crispy chicken tacos with queso fesco, crema and salsa.

    Suzie Hunter, smhunter@courant.com

    Crispy chicken tacos with queso fesco, crema and salsa.

  • Seared shrimp tamale with chipotle chile cream.

    Suzie Hunter, smhunter@courant.com

    Seared shrimp tamale with chipotle chile cream.

  • Empanadas filled with mushroom and goat cheese served with salsa...

    Suzie Hunter, smhunter@courant.com

    Empanadas filled with mushroom and goat cheese served with salsa manzana. $5.

  • The Classic Margarita, front, the Sagria De Besito, rear, and...

    Suzie Hunter, smhunter@courant.com

    The Classic Margarita, front, the Sagria De Besito, rear, and La Casa Margarita, all $5 each.

  • Flour tortillas filled with queso Chihuahua roasted green chilies, squash...

    Suzie Hunter, smhunter@courant.com

    Flour tortillas filled with queso Chihuahua roasted green chilies, squash blossoms and mushrooms.

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Besito in West Hartford is known for its delicious, upscale Mexican cuisine, but the bill at the end of the night can get pretty steep. It’s totally worth the splurge, but totally not possible on the reg.

Cue the weekday happy hour. If you can make it to West Hartford Center between 4 and 6 p.m. on a weeknight, I have some life-changing news for you: Besito offers some of its tastiest small plates and cocktails for just $5 each.

The CTNOW team appreciates good food and drinks, but because we work in journalism, we require a bargain. We headed in at 4:30 p.m. on a Wednesday, early enough that we had our pick of tables near the bar and did what we had to do: Order one of each of the five appetizers and six cocktails on the happy hour menu. It was a beautiful sight: a full table now and a low bill ahead.

The taquitos de pescado, two crispy, breaded fish tacos in soft tortillas topped with tangy pickled red onion, were so tasty, we ended up ordering seconds. The tamale de elote, a seared shrimp tamale, felt too fancy to be just $5. I wanted to dip everything in the chipotle chile cream it was smothered in.

The other three appetizers are the flautas de pollo (crispy chicken tacos), empanadas de hongos (wild mushroom empanadas with goat cheese) and quesadillas calabaza. Nothing that touched our taste buds was a disappointment. (Not featured on the happy hour menu, but definitely something that we had to have, especially because everything else was so cheap, was the freshly made guacamole for $12.)

Our attentive servers also kept the baskets of chips and salsa coming during our 90-minute visit.

Four margaritas, including Besito’s signature Patron margarita and the frozen house margarita, both made with pomegranate-tangerine juice, are on the drink list, plus a mojito and sangria. If cocktails aren’t your thing, you have a choice of nine Mexican beers for $4 each.

It’s a happy hour that feels like a splurge — minus the regret.

Besito, 46 S. Main St. in West Hartford, is open Monday through Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Happy hour is Monday through Friday, 4 to 6 p.m. 860-233-2500 and besitomexican.com.