A Howling Good Time at Coyote Grill in Laguna Beach

 Coyote Grill

31621 Coast Highway

Laguna Beach, CA 92651

It's always nice when people come back to visit after they have moved across the country, even if they have to bring their spouse. That was the case for us when we got a surprise text from our good friend Sandy, who was visiting California from Kentucky, where she moved four years ago to be closer to her grandson and my forever friend Clay. Unfortunately, for her and us, she was not traveling alone but brought her much-maligned husband Kenton along for the trip. 

Sandy is such a treasure that we all put up with her husband Kenton. He's not a bad guy, he's just different. Kenton is most known for falling off ladders, having diabetes, writing long-winded holiday letters that are very hard to get through, and getting hurt while doing routine chores. He loves to take our good-natured ribbing with a smile and is deeply devoted to Sandy, even moving across the country without hesitation. Of course, that was easy for him since he had no friends here. Kidding Kenton, well, sort of.  

Enough about Kenton, let's get back to what you are all here for, a restaurant review. When Sandy had texted, she suggested that we meet at Coyote Grill in Laguna Beach. This was perfect for two reasons. I did not have to scour my usual online resources to find a spot, and two, I actually had this place already on my restaurant wishlist of places I wanted to visit. Katie's parents had mentioned it when Katie and I first started dating, and in those 13 years, I had failed to visit until now.

Coyote Grill has been around since 1989, and has been featured in numerous media outlets, like the  TV shows; Rachel Ray's $40 a Day, and the Top Ten Beach Snacks which was on Travel Channel. They won the OC Register's best bloody mary contest and were named as having the best burrito and margarita by the people at Laguna Beach Magazine. 

Located right above Table Rock Beach in South Laguna, Coyote Grill calls its food Baja-style Mexican cuisine. A quick check of the menu bears this out. Tacos, burritos, enchiladas, and other Mexican specialties are offered, along with a good-looking burger for the three of you that are not fans of Mexican food. We were seated on the back patio, where you can just see the ocean over the rooftops of the beachfront homes standing guard over the beach. Let's take a look at the food that we all used to distract us while Kenton rambled on and on about some nonsense none of us cared about. 

First up was the Chips and Salsa that we were presented with once we sat down. The tortilla chips were a little ho-hum, but I was a fan of the salsa. It had a decent chunkiness to it but could have been spiced up just a tad more. We were also presented with escabeche, which consisted of some slightly spicy pickled carrots and onions. I haven't seen this for a while in Mexican restaurants, and it's always nice to encounter it.  

At Coyote Grill they have two versions of guacamole. They have their traditional version and then they have this Guacamole Especial ($8.75). The difference between the two was that this version added diced tomatoes, cilantro, and onion to the blended avocado. This was fine, but way too much tomato was included here, which distracted from the solidly seasoned guacamole. 

Kenton must have hypnotized Katie or something because they both selected the same entree this evening, the Pollo Borracho ($19.75), which marked the first time in his 85-year-old life that someone wanted to be just like him. This drunken chicken dish was pretty good-sized. Half a chicken served with rice and beans and your choice of tortillas. I knew Katie had no chance of finishing this when it was placed in front of her, so I got to partake in a few bites. I thought the breast meat was kind of dry, but the thigh and leg were way more tender and flavorful. To be honest, though, I'm never really a big fan of chicken in restaurants, because it tends to be overcooked a good majority of the time

Sandy, the much better half of our out-of-state friends, opted to get the Beef Tostada ($15.50), which looked to me as if it was misnamed and instead should have been more rightly called a taco salad instead. This crisped tortilla bowl was filled with shredded beef, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, olives, black beans, green onions, and a dollop of both guacamole and sour cream. From what I could tell, Sandy enjoyed her meal, although, like Katie, she did not finish this either. 

When I'm eating in a Mexican restaurant for the first time, I always veer towards their Carnitas Plate ($19.50) as a benchmark to see if a spot is good or not. Based on this plate, I'd say that Coyote Grill definitely has some upside. The roasted pork came out exactly the way I like it. Tender, with some lean pieces, and a little fat on other forkfuls. The pork was flavored well, and even though I had planned to only eat half and take the rest home, I finished it all. The refried beans were okay, but their rice was better, and I'm not usually a fan of rice. I was very pleased with my dinner. 

We had ordered this Jalapeno Bacon Wrapped Shrimp ($16) for an appetizer, but we had to ask for it numerous times, and it finally came out well into our entrees. These rather large shrimp were wrapped with crisp jalapeno bacon and then topped with a delicious chipotle cream sauce. I loved the combo of the shrimp with the slightly spicy jalapeno bacon. They paired this with a pineapple chutney salsa, which helped cut the richness a bit. They ended up comping this because it came out so late, which was very nice. I really just think our server was just trying to limit the number of times that he had to interact with Kenton. A smart move for sure. 

Not that we needed it by this point, but we finished things off with some Churros ($5). These came drizzled with some chocolate syrup and a spoonful of whipped cream. Not too bad at a dollar apiece, but they could have been made a tad sweeter with a little more sugar and cinnamon on them. 

I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised with our visit to Coyote Grill. I did not have the highest of expectations going in, because I expected this to be more of a tourist trap spot with its nice view and happy hour crowd. It turned out that the food was pretty good, with the carnitas, jalapeno bacon shrimp, and the churros as highlights. Yes, prices are a bit high, but portion sizes are pretty strong and you definitely have to consider the area where they are located. Even with the shrimp appetizer snafu, the service was solid, and our server took excellent care of us. Not an easy feat, especially when Kenton is involved. 

Out of five roadrunners, (because you can never hear about a coyote and not think of a roadrunner, especially if grew up watching Looney Tunes), five being best to zero being worst, Coyote Grill gets 3.5 roadrunners. 

For more information about Coyote Grill, head to their website by clicking here: https://www.coyotegrill.tv/