Glenn C.
Yelp
I went to this Mexican restaurant which has a couple other locations a good while back as per most of my other reviews. It's a bit pricey but the flavors were pretty solid. The inside is nice though the Turkish lights are a bit of an odd touch and the staff was friendly giving help to another person with me. To drink, I was happy to see that they along with the usual tequila cocktails had several types of mezcalita. I heavily prefer mezcal over tequila mostly because of the smokiness among other things. I went with the Mezcalita De Piña for 18 with Bruxo mezcal, grilled pineapple, jalapeño, cilantro, lime which had a nice presentation with a chili rim (possibly mixed with a bit of tajin.) This was excellent with a good mix of smokiness, sweetness, sourness, and a bit of heat and I would recommend it even at that price.
We started with one of the Guacamole; the Frutas Medium; for $16 with avocado, pomegranate, vidalia onion, mango, apple, habanero, and Thai basil. It came with some chips which were solid. For being medium spicy and since they list habanero, I didn't exactly find it that spicy though this was probably because of the mix of fruits in there. The texture was OK though I prefer there being slightly large avocado chunks. The pomegranate was a nice touch and overall it was fine though not a particularly large guacamole for the price though it is a bit more unique compared to many other guacamole.
From the main plates/platos fuertes section, I went with the Carnitas De Pato for $38 with braised duck carnitas, tamarind-habanero glazed, chicharrón, sweet onion salad, and tortillas for tacos. The meat was plenty though honestly I don't really see much of a difference between them using pork and duck outside of it just being a bit easier to justify the price when they're using duck instead and it probably being a little bit less fatty. The meat was a mix of salty and sweet with a nice mix of textures with the occasional crunch from the chicharron and presumably a bit of duck skin. It could have used a bit more of the pickled onions as it got a bit too rich eventually. There was a salsa with it which added a bit of smokiness; possibly made from chipotle or more likely chile de árbol. The tortillas were okay. As said, the dish got a bit too rich by the end and I think you could probably split this with someone else. This was fine as well.
From the acompanamientos/sides, I had the Crispy Brussels Sprouts with queso fresco and pickled onions. The sprouts had a good char but the flavor was just OK. There was a bit of sourness/saltiness presumably from the cheese/onions but not too much. They were fine and the portion size was decent and I maybe would recommend them.
While I am someone who generally prefers the more reasonably priced Mexican spots, the food here wasn't bad and the drink was particularly good. Honestly, if the food was as good as the drink, I'd probably be leaving them a 4 or 5. They innovate just enough without going overboard. I prefer a few other spots at this price point and several spots a bit less expensive than this place but you can do much worse around the area like Calexico and the other overpriced Tex-Mex spots. 3.3 or so for quality based on price though the drink is an upper 4.