La Siesta a Real Yawner?

La Siesta

920 North El Camino Real

San Clemente, CA 92672

My friends Dawn and Mike apparently love Mexican food. This is the second Mexican restaurant that they have recommended. The first, Flamingo's in Laguna Hills was okay, but not great. This time they wanted us to try La Siesta in San Clemente. I found the name of this restaurant appropriate because usually eating dinner with Dawn always puts people to sleep. Of course, I am just kidding Dawn, well maybe.

La Siesta has been a fixture and local favorite in San Clemente since 1985. Opened by the Hernandez family, the restaurant has a beach/family vibe going on here. Very comfortable restaurant, but the music was blaring out of the speakers. This Friday night every table was filled and people were waiting. Thanks to Dawn and Mike getting here early we got seated right away, and this is the food we got.

We will start with chips and salsa. La Siesta has won numerous local awards for their salsa. I liked the salsa here. I would have liked it a little more if it was not so watery, but the flavor was good, and it had a mild spice to it. The chips were decent.

For an appetizer, we went with the Fiesta Platter. This platter included Chips N Cheese, Flautas, Taquitos, and a Quesadilla. The food on this platter came out lukewarm. Nothing blew me away on this plate either. The quesadilla was average, the chips and cheese were good, but the cheese was easily separated from the chip as soon as you picked one up. I thought that the chicken in the flauta was cooked well, and I did like the $9.95 price for this platter.

With every meal at La Siesta, you get a salad or soup. The salad was your basic green garden salad variety. The soup was decent. It had a nice relaxed flavor to it. I would probably choose the soup next time I came here.

The colorful plate above belonged to Katie. She opted for the #5 Combo, a Beer Battered Fish Taco, and a Grilled Shrimp Taco. Katie felt that the fish was tender and flaky, and the shrimp was big on flavor. Just like when I ate dinner with Dawn last time, I did not get a bite of this from Katie, so I will have to take her word on how this was.

A miracle of miracles, Dawn did let me try her Large Chicken Colorado Wet Burrito. The burrito featured tender pieces of chicken and a very good tortilla. I really enjoyed the tortillas here. They seemed really fresh and tasted even better. The sauce also helped make this burrito a winner.

Mike went with his old standby, a Wet Chili Verde Burrito. This burrito, like Dawn's, was above average and it started with the tortilla. The green sauce was equally as satisfying as the red sauce. The meat in this burrito kind of got pushed to the side as a supporting character. The beans and rice here were up to par.

La Siesta touts their Carnitas as a house specialty, so that is what I ordered. I will have to admit that this carnitas was right on the spot. Tender and a little crispy on the edges, just the way I like them. Good flavor and they complimented the rice and beans well. The only drawback to this plate was that the serving size was too small because these disappeared quick. I could have eaten another plate easily.

This was a much better dinner out with Mike and Dawn. La Siesta provided a good atmosphere, and pretty good Mexican food, for a nice dinner out with a great couple. See, I can say something nice about you Dawn. The prices were good, and the portions were right up there with them. The service was just average, but they were crazy busy the night we were there.

Out of five narcoleptics, (because they take lots of siestas), five being best to zero being worst, La Siesta gets 3 solid narcoleptics.

For more information on La Siesta, click here: http://www.lasiestasanclemente.com/