Miguel D.
Yelp
Food: 3.5/5
I visited this restaurant with my wife and 2 kids. I had the camarones Culichi dish, wife had a shrimp taco and carne asada taco, daughter had loaded nachos, son had a cheese quesadilla and beans. They use Good quality ingredients. I like the fact that they use raw shrimp as opposed to frozen bagged shrimp. Their salsas had decent flavor, but mediocre and forgettable at best. Their "Spanish" rice had better flavor than most Mexican restaurants, but was on the dryer side.
Ambiance: 4.5/5
Typical Mexican restaurant decor. Was dimly lit, borderline dingy nightclub vibe minus the dirtiness. The place was clean and you can tell they take pride in that. Seating was cozy and tight, but I liked that. Mexican music playing in background was excellent volume, enough to where you can hear the instruments and lyrics but still be able to hold a conversation with your family without having to lean in.
This is Santa Clarita, so it was full of many regulars that live in the area. Most clientele were gringos who are very easy to please when it comes to their palette, which is likely the reason the food was on the blander side. Patrons seemed nice and polite, a nice experience overall.
Service: 3/5
99% of the staff were on point, very attentive, very hard working. As a first generation Mexican myself, I have authority to say that it was clear that the majority of the staff were immigrants with thick accents, which I absolutely love. And it's because of that that I immediately spoke to Spanish to all of them so as to establish a human connection with them and give them a break from having to painfully practice their broken English. It's almost like two Vietnam war veterans giving each other the silent head nod/salute, if that makes sense.
The unfortunate reason that I ranked their service 3/5 instead of 5/5 is because our server, Steve Buscemi's Mexican doppelgänger, was noticeably impatient/curt with me and my family. He was borderline rude and didn't appear to care for us speaking Spanish to him. All the while, he had a huge/beaming grin with all the other tables he was assigned to. The only feasible conclusion I came to was that all his other tables were full of wealthier looking gringos that more than likely tip well. In his unfortunate, but overall accurate experience, Latinos that look like me and my family don't tip as well. Suffice it to say that if he would've been a little more pleasant to us, we would've tipped well like we always do. But because I believe he assumed we wouldn't, I made his self fulfilling prophecy come true and left him a $5 tip on a $80 bill.