Gonzalez's Restaurant
1740 West Chapman Ave.
Orange, CA 92868
It had been about two months since we had dinner with my parents. A long overdue meetup was much needed. When we see my parents, we like to rendezvous in the middle of both of our places. That usually means a spot in Orange, Tustin, or sometimes if Katie and I don't want to drive that far, maybe even Irvine.
Every time I think I have exhausted all of my options for restaurants that my parents will like in these cities, I find another one that I somehow had overlooked. This time it was Gonzalez's Restaurant in Orange. I told my parents that we'd see them there at 6:30, and true to form, they were there a half-hour earlier than our mutually agreed upon time. Very predictable.
It's easy to see how Gonzalez's Restaurant gets overlooked. They are located in the back of a nondescript strip mall off this very busy portion of Chapman Avenue. The big landmark to look for when coming here is to find the Donut Star sign and turn in that driveway. There's also a Salvadorian restaurant, which appears to be very popular, at least on this evening.
Unlike their next-door neighbor, Gonzalez's Restaurant was not exactly packing them in. When we arrived here. we were the only ones in the joint. During our entire visit, there was only one more party that dined in, but a few to-go orders were given out during our stay. The dining room was well lit and comfortable. At first, I thought you were supposed to order at the counter, but we were alerted to find a table and a server would be right with us.
Gonzalez's Restaurant has been in business for nearly three years now. It was started by Ricardo Gonzalez, who started out as a taco catering business, and fulfilled his dream when he opened his first brick and mortar. The reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, as they have a four and a half star rating on Yelp, with over 500 reviews. The menu is pretty much what you'd expect from a Mexican restaurant, but they do offer some unique items, like the pambazo sandwich and an alambre, which you will see shortly. Let's check out the culinary scene here.
First up are the Chips and Salsa. The chips were fine and did a good job of being a vessel for the pretty solid salsa. I'd like a bit more heat personally, but it had enough to keep me going back for more. Maybe because I was pretty hungry.
I'm not sure, but this might be my parent's first time having Queso Fundido ($7.50). If it was, this was a great introduction to one of my favorite Mexican restaurant appetizers. A blended mix of cheeses with plenty of chorizo on top all ready to be mixed together and added to a folded tortilla. Kind of like a do it yourself quesadilla, with stretchy cheese. This one was not as oily as others, which was a plus in my book. An excellent rendition.
The food started making its way out to our table in waves, starting with this Cochinita Pibil Taco ($1.49). Both Katie and my dad got one of these. I snuck a piece of the pork while Katie wasn't looking. It had a nice, citrus-tinged marinade covering the tender pork underneath. Katie loved the homemade tortilla and pickled onion topping this taco. It makes her wish we lived closer to take advantage of their 99 cent taco Tuesday deal.
I've never been a big fan of chile Rellenos, but my dad loves them a lot. It wasn't shocking to me that he ordered this Chile Relleno Combo ($12.99) on this evening. The poblano chile at Gonzalez's Restaurant is filled with queso fresco, tomato sauce, sour cream, and more cheese. He loved this plate, as he inhaled it in record time. One of the better ones he's had. He felt the beans and rice were good too.
The enchilada combo meals at Gonzalez's Restaurant come with three enchiladas, which is just way too much for my light eating mom, so she opted to get a Single Cheese Enchilada ($2.99) and a side of Beans ($2.50) and Rice ($2.50). Another winning plate in my parent's opinion. The enchilada sauce was to my mom's liking and the inside had just the right amount of cheese.
Katie is always trying to find a chicken mole enchilada that will take over as her favorite one from El Maguey is San Juan Capistrano. These Enchiladas de Mole ($12.99) fell just a bit short in taking over her top spot. The mole sauce here was very well made with a complex layer of flavors coming through in certain bites. The chicken was moist and tender, while the sour cream cut the richness a bit. Mole lovers, this is your go-to dish here at Gonzalez's restaurant.
I asked our server what the best taco to get here was, and she replied that the Carnitas Taco ($1.49) was the best to try. I took her advice and ordered one. Even though this was street taco sized, it had plenty of pork placed on the corn tortilla. I liked the carnitas but felt they kind of lacked that pop of flavor that I was expecting. Not bad, but I liked the other taco better. I'm getting their pastor next time.
Now the famous Mixed Alambre ($18.99) as promised earlier. I do not see this on a lot of menus around OC. It's basically a mashup of almost everything in the kitchen. This one starts with beef, chicken, and shrimp, and then peppers, bacon, ham, and cheese are blanketed over a scalding skillet. Think fajitas, but without all the steam and with more than just one protein. From what I have read this is a popular dish in Mexico City and Oaxaca. I enjoyed the half of this that I ate this evening, but I don't think that I'd get it again. It might have had too much stuff in it, which is not always such a good thing. It was kind of overloaded with flavors competing for my attention. I'd probably go with a pambazo or a burrito on my next visit.
Gonzalez's Restaurant was a very solid spot for Mexican food. I'm sure they get overlooked a bit because of their location and because they are situated so close to Instagram darling Cali Tacos, and long time Mexican restaurants nearby like the Chili Pepper, Anepalco's, and others. They definitely deserve a visit from anyone wanting Mexican food at a more than fair price. The service was very good as well. Our server Stephanie, one of many family members that work here, was awesome and checked back on us regularly, and did not seem too upset when we lingered at the end of our meal. As soon as all of this quarantine craziness is over I look forward to having dinner with my parents once again. I'll be looking forward to finding another spot I have overlooked.
Out of five TVs, (because almost directly across the street from this restaurant was the long-departed Adray's, where my parents bought a TV when I was a kid), five being best to zero being worst, Gonzalez's Restaurant gets 3.5 TVs.
For more information on Gonzalez's Restaurant, head to their website here: https://gonzalezsrestaurant.business.site/
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