Keeping Cool at La Sirena Grill

La Sirena Grill

30862 Coast Highway

Laguna Beach, CA 92651

This has been one of the hottest weeks of the summer by far. So I have been looking for any reason to escape the heat and head to the coast for a few hours. I was reading restaurant reviews in Laguna and came across a place I had never heard of, but a joint that has gotten its fair share of positive reviews. So as soon as Katie got off of work, we made a bee line for the cooler temperatures of the beach and decided to try La Sirena Grill.

La Sirena Grill is a mini chain of Mexican restaurants. They have three locations in Orange County and one in El Segundo. Established in 1999, they are a restaurant that prides itself by serving local, sustainable, and organic products. The meat here comes from animals that are fed all vegetarian diets, without the use of hormones. They also use earth friendly, biodegradable to go containers. I hope they can do all of this and still have the food come out good. Let's take a look at it now.

To start us off we could not resist the Guacamole and Tortilla Chips. The chips were average, but the guacamole was some of the best we have had in awhile. Very chunky, seasoned well, and obviously fresh, we would get this next time we were here for sure.

My meal started off with a Blackened Ahi Taco. The fish here was very good, and spiced well. I definitely liked the flavor of the taco. You can not tell from the picture, but there was plenty of fish in this taco. I added their spicy salsa to this for an added kick, and it really popped with flavor. Usually when a salsa says that it is hot, it is really medium, but this one definitely got my attention. The handmade tortilla stood up to insides of the taco as well.

Of course one taco is not going to satisfy me, so I also opted to try the Carnitas Burrito. This burrito was filled with cabbage, jack cheese, guacamole, beans and rice. The hot salsa saved the day here for this burrito. The carnitas were a little on the dry side when I ate a piece on its own. The flavor of the burrito did not pop until I added the hot salsa to it. The burrito was big, and definitely filled me up.

Katie deviated from her usual order of shrimp fajitas, to try a completely different item, the Blackened Ahi Fajita Plate. Okay, maybe it is not so different after all. The Ahi Fajitas came with herb marinated peppers, onions, pico de gallo, and a grilled pasilla chile stuffed with herb cheese. Katie liked this unusual fajita plate. She felt the fish was cooked well and was very tender. The pepper with the cheese really added a pop that she was not expecting. She claims that she would definitely get this again.

Just for good measure, and because it is very hard for me to resist cookies, I also got two cookies. These are brought in from a local bakery, and they were very good cookies. The first cookie had raisins, chocolate chips, and oatmeal. The second cookie was just as good. It was an oatmeal cookie with butterscotch chips. Both cookies were very earthy, and really hit the spot.

If I were asked how to describe La Sirena Grill, I would say it was a cross between Taco Mesa and Wahoo's. The service at the counter was very good, and they were really efficient in bringing out our food. The prices were a little on the high side. Tacos were close to $4, and enchiladas were near the $10 mark. Nothing on their menu was over $13 however. La Sirena really did the job this night. Being at the beach really cooled us down, and the food was pretty good as well.

So out of five mermaids, (because sirena is Spanish for mermaid), five being best to zero being worst, La Sirena Grill gets 3 mermaids.

For more information on La Sirena Grill, click here: http://www.lasirenagrill.com/