The outside is somewhat inconspicuous, you wouldn't necessarily know this is a Mexican Food restaurant. The inside on the other hand is a bit more traditional. The owners do a good job recreating the atmosphere of a typical Mexican restaurant. In fact, it was so cozy in there that I almost forgot it was 36 degrees outside.
Some of the reviews we read mentioned a not so pleasant waitress, so I was curious as to what the service would be like. Our server came over to greet us and take our drink order. So far, very polite. Now, before I continue, being Mexican and living in Los Angeles for the past 10 years, the bar has been set very high for my taste in Mexican food and Margaritas. I will try to be fair with my review, but I also won't sacrifice some of the standards I've grown accustomed to. Having said that, I ordered a Gold Margarita on the rocks no salt to get things started.
The size of the margarita was definitely standard size and at $6 it's right for the money. I take my first sip. Something doesn't taste quite right so I take a few other sips. It's definitely strong enough so I know it's not that. I give it a rest and turn my attention to the chips.
The chips were very tasty and I could tell they were fresh and made in-house. We went with the mild salsa, which was decent. The only problem with the chips, and this is one of my biggest pet peeves at Mexican restaurants, is that you have to pay for them. $1.50 for a small order (pictured above) and $3.00 for large. I have a real big problem with paying for tortilla chips, obviously it's not the money, but it's just the principle. You should not have to pay for chips at a Mexican restaurant ever! I knew this going in because one of the Yelp reviews really laid into the management for making him pay for the chips and salsa. Interestingly enough, while I was there our waitress and another customer who was picking up a to go order got into it about having to pay for the chips and salsa. Obviously I'm not alone in this department. By now, I turn back to my margarita and realize the problem. There is nowhere near enough ice. This makes the margarita taste as if it's been sitting there a while. It reminded me of the 2 for 1 happy hour at Fiesta Cantina (in West Hollywood) where you order one margarita and they bring you two. By the time you get to the second one, it has been sitting around with the ice melting and causing a watered down taste. That's what this margarita reminded me of, but at only $6 I didn't have too much to complain about.
I perused the food menu a few times to see if anything jumped out. I was pleased to find they serve Camarones a la Diabla (Devil Prawns) and Camarones al Mojo de Ajo (Garlic Prawns). When I see these items on the menu I find that it's usually a good sign the cooking will be authentic. However, the one item I tend to favor when trying a new Mexican restaurant is always carnitas. Not only is it my favorite Mexican dish, but I strongly believe that the quality of a restaurant's carnitas is typically a reliable indicator for how good the rest of the food will be. One of the Yelp reviews mentioned a slight disagreement between the customer and waitress over the quality of the carnitas. The customer insisted they were over done and too crunchy while the waitress defended them as authentic. Surely enough when I asked for the carnitas the waitress first asked me if I"ve ever had carnitas. I laughed out loud, on the inside of course, and gave her a polite yes. She then proceeded to tell me that the carnitas are crispy and in chunks because that is the authentic style. To me this brought memories of store bought carnitas from a carniceria (Mexican butcher shop), so I didn't think much of it and proceeded with my order. Half an hour and another margarita later this was the dish that came out.
I did not have to taste them. Right away I knew this was not authentic carnitas. I ripped off a piece of tortilla (which you could tell was microwaved) and picked up a chunk of meat and put it in my mouth. Nope, definitely not carnitas. This tasted more like chicharonnes and had that type of texture. The rice and beans were fairly good and to be fair, the "carnitas" were not horible, but definitely a bit lacking in flavor. At $12.95 this dish is overpriced. It's always hard for me to judge carnitas, because my all time favorite are the ones cooked by my father, and frankly I don't know I'll ever taste carnitas as perfect as his. Regardless, this dish was sub-par in comparison to other carnitas I've previously tasted. I'm not sure if it's the fact that we're on the Oregon Coast, or just the work of an unskilled cook but I don't think I'd order this dish again. After deciding carnitas is not their thing, I turned to Ryan's dish to get another taste of what the restaurant has to offer. He ordered the Tacos de Camaronsitas (Oregon Bay Shrimp Tacos).
I'm not really a fan of the small baby shrimp in any dish, but I put aside any reservations in order to give this dish a fair try. I took a bite out of one of the tacos and my first reaction was that the shrimp tasted fresh, which is obviously a good thing. The flavor was decent, but I was again distracted by the microwaved and not fully warm tortillas. Ryan seemed to like them well enough, but like me, he wasn't fully convinced about the tacos either. The bill for the two dishes, two margaritas for me, two diet cokes for Ryan and an order of small chips and salsa came to $42. If I was still living in LA I would say that's a great deal. However, given the overall experience it felt a bit on the high side.
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