Does Flamingo's Have a Leg Up?

Flamingo's

25342 McIntyre

Laguna Hills, CA 92653

Mike and Dawn have been campaigning for us to go to Flamingo's ever since I started this blog. I finally ran out of excuses to give them and decided to give their favorite neighborhood Mexican restaurant a shot.

Flamingo's has been around for a long time. They are in the same parking lot as Claim Jumper, and every time I go to CJ's, Flamingo's is always busy. This is usually a good sign, or it can mean that a lot of people have horrible tastes. Katie and I were thinking positive and hoped it was because of their good food. Let's see if this is the case

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Reading the reviews on Yelp, almost every person raved about the chips and salsa. They were good, but not the best ever. They did make sure they were full at all times though. The salsa was nice and had a little spice to it, but it was not outright hot.

This was Dawn's dinner for tonight. She went with the Chicken Chimichanga. She thought that this dish was delicious. I did not get a chance to try it, because she hogged this all to herself, (something that her great husband has had to deal with for a lot of years!),  so we will have to take her word for it. Just from looking at it though, there did not appear to be enough red sauce on it, but she asked for more to remedy that situation.

This colorful plate belonged to Katie. She ordered up the Shrimp Tacos. Katie said, "these were the best shrimp tacos that I have ever had!". I am not ready to crown these the best, but they were good. She got one breaded shrimp taco and one grilled shrimp taco. She liked the grilled one the best, and also liked the cabbage and white sauce that came on these. Katie said that next time she would forget the beans and rice and just get two shrimp tacos ala carte.

The Big Juan with Chile Verde was the burrito that Mike attempted to tackle. The burrito looked a lot better in person. Sorry for the bad pictures, the lighting was too dark where we were sitting. Mike did not finish this, so I did get to try it, unlike his wife's dish, again thanks, Dawn! Anyways, this burrito came with meat, beans, rice, cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes, in a tortilla and then topped with more cheese. Mike loved this burrito, I thought it was just a little bit above average. I thought that it could have had more meat, and being named Big Juan, I thought it was going to be huge, but I could have easily put this away quickly.

Another well-presented plate was my selection, Carnitas Jalisco. Pork garnished with onions, cilantro, salsa, and guacamole, served on corn tortillas. I liked the taste of the pork, it was not boring, and not dry at all. These are the equivalent of street tacos. The beans and rice were just average. Overall, a decent plate of food.

For dessert, we shared a Fried Ice Cream. I liked this well enough, but by this time, I was feeling pretty full. Flamingo's version of fried ice cream was pretty standard among Mexican restaurants though.

Mike said that when he entertains clients from the Midwest, and they want Mexican food, he always takes them here. I would say that is a good safe bet. The food is good, but what a lot of people would call, "white-washed Mexican food". I do not want to get into a debate about authentic Mexican food versus Mexican food made for the masses. I think there is room for both kinds of places in the OC. I actually like both kinds of Mexican food, based on what I am craving. 

The service here was pretty good. I thought that the prices were right where you would expect them to be. Katie's shrimp tacos were $10.95, and Mike's Big Juan Burrito was $9. That is about the price you would pay at a sit down Mexican restaurant in South county.  

Out of five lawn ornaments, (because that is what I think of when I think Flamingos), five being best to zero being worst, Flamingo's just gets three lawn ornaments.

Flamingo's does not have a web site but you can find their menu here: http://flamingosmexicangrill.com/