El Matador
1768 Newport Blvd.
Costa Mesa, CA 92627
It's hard to believe that I had never reviewed El Matador in Costa Mesa. When I used to live up this way, my roommates and I would eat here at least monthly. So, when my brother in law, Jim had asked us to meet him and his wonderful girlfriend Rachel for dinner at El Matador, I had to look at the list of restaurant that runs along the right-hand side of this blog to double check if I had ever been here to write a review. Surprisingly, I had not, so we headed out for a long overdue meal with one of our favorite couples.
El Matador has been operating from this exact spot for 53 years now. That's pretty impressive in the restaurant business. It was operated by a Marcial Gallardo in 1966, and he ran things until his death in 2003. A year-long family battle led to the restaurant being put up for auction in 2004, and that's when current owners, Greg and Jana McConaughy took over the reins. They have done some upgrades to the place but left the menu pretty much intact.
What they are doing must be working, since we arrived at a packed restaurant at 6pm on a recent Friday. The servers and the kitchen worked in great tandem to get people in and out rather quickly, as I watched numerous tables turn over during our visit. The inside of the restaurant is pretty dark, with only decorative hanging baskets providing just enough light above the well-worn booths to showcase the over 200 bottles of tequila that they proudly offer.
The menu at El Matador is pretty much what you'd expect from a Mexican restaurant that's been around for 50 years. Lots of tacos, enchiladas, burritos, tostadas, combo plates, appetizers, and other Mexican specialties. Prices are pretty reasonable, especially considering the area of town where they are situated. None of their entrees are going to set you back more than $20, with most hovering right around the $13 mark. A very good value, which probably explains why there were so many families dining here, many of which appeared to be regulars based on the interactions I observed. Let's take a look at the food that has kept a lot of their guest's regulars for many years.
Since we got here a little ahead of Jim and Rachel, I decided to partake in a House Margarita ($7), along with the provided Chips and Salsa that came to the table as we sat down. The margarita was fine, but a little on the sour side for my taste. I'd probably try another one of their margaritas next time, perhaps a mango or the pomegranate version on future trips to El Matador. The chips and salsa were pretty stellar. The chips were fried nicely, while the salsa had a good chunk to it, with a little bit of spice near the end of each bite. I tried to abstain from eating too much before our food arrived, which is always a struggle for me when eating in a Mexican restaurant.
From reading the online reviews, I knew I had to give their Guacamole and Cheese Nachos ($9.95) a try. These were as good as advertised. A layer of chips spread across the plate, with a thick cheese blanket covering them, a large dollop of guacamole, and a hidden layer of refried beans beneath it all. The chips and cheese got a little crisp due to being placed under the broiler for a bit. A little messy to eat with the four of us angling to get everything in one bite. The beans got a little lost here due to being buried underneath everything, but I'd definitely recommend getting this as a starter or maybe I will add a protein to it next time and make it my meal.
Moving on to the entree portion of the evening, let's start with what Katie went with, the Mexican Pizza ($11.50). This was a big mound of food. It starts with flour tortillas and is then layered with plenty of shredded beef, tomatoes, refried beans, peppers, onions, and a lot of cheese to tie it all together. Less like a pizza because the tortillas got lost in this mass of humanity, and more like a Mexcian hash. However you want to classify it, it was pretty delicious. Katie ate more than half of it, and I had the rest for lunch the next day, and it was still very tasty.
Jim and Rachel live nearby, so they come to El Matador pretty frequently. I'm not sure if Jim always gets the same thing here, but on this visit, he opted for the Deluxe Bean and Beef Burrito ($11.25 plus $4.40 for rice and beans). This was a pretty good sized burrito filled with shredded beef and refried beans and then topped with cheese and enchilada sauce. No complaints from Jim with this, as he ate all but a quarter of it.
Light eating Rachel just got the Chicken Tortilla Soup ($6.75). From what I can gather, she gets this soup quite often, as she thought this batch was not as good as others she has had here. It did look a little on the bland side from across the table, but compared to what I had come out for me, most things would pale in comparison.
It's always a good sign that I'm going to take some food home with me when my combo plate has to come on two plates. That's the way it was with this #1 Combo ($16.50) on this evening. With this combo, you get a cheese enchilada, tamale, shredded beef taco, a bean tostada, and of course beans and rice to round everything out. The shredded beef taco was probably my favorite of the four things here. A very sturdy crunchy shell with plenty of beef and cheese. The cheese enchilada had a good amount of cheese inside to go along with the delicious enchilada sauce. The tamale was okay, as it was a little on the dry side. The tostada was the weak link here, as it came out with way too much lettuce, and I did not want to take it off because they put the cheese on top of it. It should have been listed as a salad instead of a tostada. The beans and rice were fine, just kind of average.
It's easy to see why El Matador has been around for over a half-century and counting, and why they might be here for another 50 years. They serve pretty good sized portions at a very respectable price for a full-service restaurant. Is this the best Mexican food I've ever had? No, but it's comforting Mexcian cuisine and just as good, if not better than the other Mexican restaurants in the area, Mi Casa, La Playa, and El Ranchito to name a few. Their menu is also pretty large, so it warrants repeat trips to explore other items you might have missed. Service on this Friday evening was pretty solid, for as busy as it was in the restaurant. Glad Jim helped me cross this classic restaurant off of my list, and more importantly, we had a great evening out with family.
Out of five red capes, (because that's one of the tools of the trade that matadors use in the bullring), five being best to zero being worst, El Matador gets 3 red capes.
For more information about El Matador, head to their website by clicking here: http://elmatadorcostamesa.com/index.html#home
No comments:
Post a Comment