Azteca Mexican Restaurant (Review #2) - Garden Grove
Ok I’m updating my Azteca review, because the last one was too short and because we went there again last night.
First thing you notice when you enter Azteca is the plethora of Elvis memorabilia that adorns the walls inside. One would wonder where the connection of Elvis comes with Mexican food, but honestly who cares, it’s the King and Mexican food; two of the greatest things ever wrapped into one! Elvis music plays throughout which an Elvis movie plays on one TV, along with sporting events on their other flat screen HDTVs. This place scores a 5 on atmosphere alone, but it’s a restaurant so let’s leave the overall score up to the food.
In my previous review I mentioned that the Carnitas plate was terrific. In fact I believe their carnitas is probably the tastiest carnitas I’ve ever ordered. It was cooked to the point that it was juicy, but also had some crisp on the edges. But I didn’t order carnitas last night, no my friends I ordered Arroz con Pollo (Rice with Chicken), which is quickly becoming my favorite Mexican meal.
Our meal started with the typical Mexican fare of Chips and Salsa. The chips were unsalted, so I had to add some salt to taste. The salsa was a little bland, it needed something added to it, but it wasn’t bad, just bland.
Now on to our main course…
I must admit the only other Arroz con Pollo I’ve ever had before was from El Faralito in Placentia, which is to die for, so I had a good litmus test to gauge Azteca’s on. I was not let down on Azteca’s version of Arroz con Pollo. It was slightly different then what I’ve had in the past; it basically was just a bed of Mexican style rice along with some of their mouth-watering chicken, that’s it, nothing else; no sour cream, no cheese, and not even tortillas to eat it with. But that’s OK! It’s only like $4.75, you can order tortillas, and you have yourself a pretty good size meal, I even had enough to eat today as leftovers! Since I wasn’t sure of the size of my main dish I also decided to try one of the Garlic Tacos with shredded beef, they are the typical shredded beef taco topped with a good helping of their special garlic sauce. It’s a hit or miss depending on how fond one is with high levels of garlic, personally I enjoyed it and was happy to know that if I encountered a vampire I would be able to fend him off just by breathing in his general direction! My wife ordered a Chicken Azteca Burrito, with lettuce, tomatoes, and beans inside. It was a good size burrito with lots of melted cheese on top (I stole some of it to use with my Arroz con Pollo). She loved the burrito, probably her favorite burrito at a restaurant. Kelly is very picky with the way chicken is prepared at Mexican Restaurants because normally the chicken has very little seasoning, it’s the same problem she runs into with ground beef tacos, she likes seasoned meat, but that isn’t always typical with Mexican food.
Along with our drinks our meal was just barely over 20 bucks, not bad considering the amount of delectable food we were able to consume. Service was good, with our waiter getting my wife’s order right (she had produce added to her burrito), and also checking on us from time to time.
Rating: 
Azteca Mexican Restaurant
12911 Main Street
Garden Grove, CA 92840
(714) 638-3790
Islands - Orange
I always enjoy going to Islands. In my opinion they have some of the best sit down restaurant chain hamburgers around. Heck I usually order mine a gardenburger because they have really great flavor and honestly once you get a bunch of stuff on the burger the meat is just filler that adds some consistency to the burger. And then you have to get their french fries along with some BBQ sauce to complete the meal. But today isn’t about burgers it’s about their other main item on the menu…. TACOS!
Last Friday night Kelly and I didn’t feel like cooking dinner and she suggested Islands because she wanted some of their Northshore tacos. So we got there around 7:00 PM and the hostess notified us it was bout to be about a 15 minute wait, so we went to the bar to get ourselves some refreshing beverages. Kelly ordered a strawberry daiquiri which was made to order by the bartended and she thought was good, with just enough alcohol taste to it. I ordered a Kona Brewing Company Pipeline Porter, which was a coffee infused porter that I was extremely impressed with. It was dark but wasn’t really bitter at all, it sort of tasted like an iced coffee with some beer added to it. I was so enthralled in the porter I ordered another one for my dinner.
After about 15 minutes our name was called and we were seated and we quickly ordered since we already knew what we were going to get. Northshore tacos for Kelly and Island Fish tacos for me, and we also both ordered guacamole on the side. After about 10 minutes our tacos came out, three each piled high with just the right amount of meat and the appropriate fixings for the tacos we ordered. The Northshore comes with spicy chicken topped with lettuce and cheese, served with some salsa on the side. Kelly didn’t want the salsa so I used it. My Island fish tacos had a nice sized piece of fried fish, topped with cilantro, some type of white sauce, and cabbage. The guacamole is ok, it’s not the best I’ve had, I’m not sure if it’s fresh or packaged, but it does the job. They make great fish tacos, probably one of my top five on my best fish taco list (as you will find out I love me fish tacos, it’s my go to meal when I’m in stuck on what to order). With a total of three tacos each we were stuffed once we finished out meal. But they are too good not to eat them all!
The restaurant was clean and it’s your typical Islands look, sort of dark, but nice bright lights on your table. Our waitress was nice and checked it on us a couple times to make sure everything was fine.
Lastly, is this cutting edge culinary perfection? No it isn’t. But it is a chain restaurant that does a good job at what they do.
Rating:
Visit 04/04/08
Islands
550 N Tustin St
Orange, CA 92867
(714) 997-4085
King’s Teriyaki Burgers & Tacos - Placentia
King’s Teriyaki Burgers & Tacos? That just about covers the whole gamut, doesn’t it? This place is around the corner from my work, so I’ve visited it more then once and I’ve tried all three types of their food fare that they have. I think the biggest compliment I can say is that they are consistently average with all three types of food. On my latest visit I had a bacon cheese burger with grilled onions and it was pretty much what I expected. They use the typical pound preformed patties that most burger joints use, and their bacon is just normal cut bacon. Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying there is anything wrong with this, it’s just average. One thing I don’t like as much as most places with burgers is that they use ketchup and mayonnaise instead of just a all in one sauce (thousand island), and I don’t like that as much. I also ordered a small side of onion rings, which of course was more then a normal person could finish on their own. I always feel bad when I toss so much wasted food. Sometimes I wish I could order by number of rings I want to eat. The onion rings were standard fare, but I am disappointed they don’t have BBQ Sauce, I’m all about sauces…
On previous occasions I have ordered their teriyaki chicken and beef, which are both good but not the best I’ve had. I also have got a couple different tacos, the chicken and beef sort of tasted like the same meat from the teriyaki meal, but they were alright, the tacos are stuffed to the brim with meat and toppings. One plus I will give them is with their fish tacos, they are above average and I could order those anytime and not be disappointed.
The wait staff is always courteous and always makes sure you get everything you need to enjoy you meal. The place can get really busy during the lunch crowd because of it’s proximity to numerous offices and industrial complexes, but I’ve never had to wait too long to get my order.
Overall King’s is a good bet to please a crowd because of the choices you have to fill your stomach. It’s the place you go to when everyone wants something different but you still all want to eat lunch together.
04/04/2008
Rating:
King’s Teriyaki Burgers & Tacos
1208 E Orangethorpe Ave
Placentia, CA 92870
(714) 993-5572
PK Burgers - Brea
So I decided to go get lunch today while I’m at work. The problem is I don’t really go out to eat lunch that much like I used to. I can count the number of times I’ve ate out for lunch in the past year on about two hands a one foot. So what do I do? Well I get in my car and I head a direction and try to find my next dining establishment!
It took awhile till I came upon PK Burgers, but once I did I knew it was the place I was going to eat at. First thing you notice is that it appears the owners know everyone that eats there, that is always a good sign. I forgot to bring cash with me so I had to ATM it on their little machine they have, it was a weird because you use the ATM, and then you bring the receipt over and they cash out whatever you have left from what you took out. Anyway I decided to get my usual burger fare food, Bacon Cheese Burger with grilled onions, along with an order of fried zucchini. Along with that I ordered a drink. I asked the lady for my cup and she actually said I could help myself and pointed behind the counter (not in a rude way, in a nice “you can help yourself to what you want” sort of way). I walked behind the counter and got my cup and filled my drink. Not too long after my food came out and it looked good. Two medium think pieces of bacon sticking out ever so slightly and thin cut breaded pieces of zucchini deliciousness! I realized I hadn’t got ranch dressing with my order and looked up on the counter and there it was just for the taking, as much as I needed! This is my kind of place, I don’t have to keep asking for every little thing I need.
Now on to the actual meal. Everything was cooked to order, the burger and zucchini we nice and hot. One think I noticed about the burger was the fact that it was a handmade patty, none of that perfect circle crap, it was jagged and had just the right amount of crispness to it. When I took a bite into the burger you could taste the freshness, the burger and grilled onions were hot and the produce had that just starting to warm up coolness to it that you except from a great burger. This was a great burger, probably one of the better ones I’ve had from a short-order burger joint. The zucchini was just the way I like it as well. I’ve had problems in the past with places that cut HUGE pieces of zucchini (quarters) burning my entire mouth because of the contained heat, that’s why I prefer thing cuts of zucchini that hold just enough heat to be fresh but aren’t 1000 degrees of destruction. Of course as most places the small order of zucchini was actually enough to feed a large family, I’d hate to see what a large order looks like, I probably had about 1/4 of my order. It was a quality meal and you can tell they take pride in what they put out on the table for their customers.
There are about 10 tables inside that fit 4 people each, and also there is outside seating as well. Everything is clean and the employees are real nice. This is a definite must if you are in the area and feel the need to eat. They had the traditional short-order burger joint fare you’d expect here in Southern California.
Rating:
Pk Burgers
3320 E Imperial Hwy
Brea, CA 92823
(714) 528-0141
Chipotle Mexican Grill - Orange
I love this place. I’ve only gone there three times, but it’s just so good every time. My last visit I got the hard taco plate, you get 4 hard tacos with whatever meat you want on each, it’s a great way to find out what meats and seasonings appeal to your palate. Service is pretty lightning fast every time I’ve gone since they move you along an assembly line it’s only as slow as the slowest person ordering in front of you.
Rating:
Chipotle Mexican Grill
2202 N Tustin St
Orange, CA 92865
(714) 283-5010
Las Brisas Restaurant - Laguna Beach
My wife and I ate here for their breakfast buffet and neither of us was that impressed with the food. Some of the items were good, but most of them were just average. We got there early so we were able to get a nice table that had window view of the coast. Unfortunately we didn’t get to have omelettes because by the time we were ready to have one the line was ridiculously long and by the looks of the movement of the cooks it would have taken upwards of 15-20 minutes to get through it.
The price isn’t bad, but honestly it’s only worth it because of the view.
We’ve never gone here for dinner, so I’m strictly rating the weekend breakfast. YMMV.
Rating:
Las Brisas Restaurant
361 Cliff Dr
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
(949) 497-5434
Gabbi’s Mexican Kitchen - Orange
Great place to get some quality Mexican food. My wife and I went there last night and were thoroughly impressed. I had the Burrito Estilo Edurado along with a Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse Dunkel, the burrito was delicious with hints of smokiness and served with a fresh cut of avocado on top and guacamole on the side. My wife had the Chicken Tacos Dorados along with a raspberry margarita, the tacos were topped with a creamy queso fresco and a cut of avocado. The wait staff was terrific, our waiter came by and asked about our drinks and told me a little about the Hefe-Weisse I was drinking, explaining that is was a German beer and I mentioned I was impressed by the darker then usual color and lack of bitterness.
We had a great experience and will definitely be going here again for dinner.
Rating:
Gabbi’s Mexican Kitchen
141 South Glassell
Orange, CA 92866
(714) 633-3038
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