A Long Overdue Revisit to Chelas Mexican Grill - CLOSED

Chelas Mexican Grill

29975 Alicia Parkway

Laguna Niguel, CA 92677

After I visit a restaurant, I very rarely go back unless it rocks my world or is close to where I reside. I have it in the back of my mind that I want to get to 1000 different restaurant reviews before I even think about taking a break from writing this restaurant blog. Just for the record, I'm sitting at 878 restaurants, and no, this one will not add to that total because I've already eaten at Chelas Mexcian Grill.  

It seemed like eons ago, back in 2011 when I first visited Chelas, located in the Albertson's shopping center near the corner of Alicia and Crown Valley Parkway when it opened that year. I admit that I was not too thrilled with that visit. They used lots of lettuce and cheese; the meats could have been more prominent. I shied away from a return until fate stepped in recently. 

I entered an Instagram contest for a Taco Kit on the Chelas and TacoTuesday.com pages, which fed 6 to 8 people. Against all odds, I won one of the two Taco Kits they gave away. I could have kept it all for myself and Katie, but I had a great idea to share it with some of my so-called hard-working co-workers. Since Chelas is located within ten minutes of where we work, it would work perfectly to grab it on a recent Wednesday. 

Chela's Mexican Grill is owned by Karla and Art Vasquez, with a notable assist from Art's mom, Roselia, who provided and taught her recipes to the couple during her legendary Saturday afternoon cookouts. Unfortunately, Roselia passed in 2005, but her memory lives on from the food made inside the kitchen at this tiny Mexican eatery. Chelas gets a respectable 4-star rating on Yelp, won a few awards over the last decade, and has been a fixture at many community events. I was excited to share my bounty with my friends at work and see what I've been missing in the nine years since I've last been to Chelas.  

No problems with pickup at Chelas, as everything was prepared, nicely wrapped, and ready at our agreed-upon 11am time. The Taco Kit  ($60) included two pounds of chicken, guacamole, rice, beans, a good-sized salad, tortillas, salsa, tortilla chips, chopped onion, and cilantro. Everything you would need to make your own tacos and feed 6 to 8 hungry people. My co-workers are a little hungrier than most, so I also got a pound of carnitas, just for good measure. Let's take a closer look at what we consumed before heading back to work.  

I was focused on the tacos while driving back to work. But don't sleep on this California salad. It included some fresh romaine, black beans, roasted corn, queso fresco, and sliced avocado. With the provided ranch dressing this salad was light, yet flavorful, I really enjoyed the way the beans, corn, and cheese provided little pockets of flavor throughout each forkful.  

Here's what made this a pretty good day at work: the Taco Kit and the extra pound of carnitas I purchased. Unlike my last visit nine years ago, the chicken and carnitas stood out. I usually avoid chicken in restaurants because they tend to overcook it, but this hit the sweet spot. The chicken was moist, tender, and spiced well. It made some delicious tacos. The carnitas was just the way I like it, some pieces were crispy, while others had a little bit of fattiness to them which helps with flavor. The guacamole and salsa were on point. The refried beans were a tad on the watery side but tasted delicious. There was not much wrong with this taco kit.   

I'm thrilled that I won this Taco Kit from Chelas. Not only did it help make me popular at work, at least for one day, but it also made me realize what I was missing by not eating at Chelas for the last nine years. Since we live so close, I will try more things off their menu soon. I may get another taco kit, which will be good when I win poker and have to feed the guys. 

Thanks so much to the great people at Chelas and Taco Tuesday for sponsoring this contest. I'm very grateful that I won and could share it with my friends at work. I'm glad I could introduce them to some good Mexican food around where we work for a change. Chelas gained some new fans on that recent Wednesday and won a spot in our rotation for lunch. 

For more information about Chelas Mexican Grill, head to their website here: https://chelasmexicangrill.com/

Chilling Out at Chelas -CLOSED

Chelas Mexican Grill

29975 Alicia Parkway

Laguna Niguel, CA 92677

Orange County has an embarrassment of great Mexican restaurants. The competition among these places is pretty cutthroat. Almost every neighborhood has its "go-to" place for great food. These places range from a hole-in-the-wall spot to fancy restaurants where a single taco costs $11 (the delicious El Jefe taco at Sol Cocina). With all this competition, it must be daunting for a new Mexican restaurant to try to distinguish itself. That is what the new Chelas in Laguna Niguel is trying to do, distinguish itself from other Mexican restaurants.

Chelas opened within the last couple of months. It is owned by the Vasquez family, who have taken their recipes from their mother and brought them into the fold here at Chelas. We entered Chelas at about seven on a Wednesday night. Ordering here is done at the counter, and the food is brought to you. The menu is basic Mexican food consisting of tacos, burritos, quesadillas, etc. Let's see how everything turned out.

Pictured above is one of Katie's choices, the La Gringa Taco. This taco comes with your choice of chicken or beef. She had chicken, which also came with guacamole, onion, cilantro, cabbage, sour cream, and Monterrey jack cheese. Katie liked the addition of cilantro but was not wowed by this taco, calling it "nothing too special."

Katie deemed this Crispy Chicken Taco much better. She was not overly impressed by the chicken here but liked the Colby jack cheese.

It is probably difficult to tell from the picture and the cheese on top of this, but these are the Tacos. I would sum these tacos up by calling them average. They were a little greasy, but the grease did not translate into big flavor. I was also disappointed with the amount of guacamole served with this. Not even enough for one and a half taquitos, even though this order consisted of three.

The Chelas Burrito was the last portion of my main meal. This burrito was stuffed with carnitas, refried beans, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, cabbage, onion, and cilantro. This burrito did nothing for me. The flavor of this was bland, and it really had temperature issues. One bite would be warm, and the next would be cold. I am sure it is from the produce used in it, but it was off-putting. The burrito was good sized, but it was way over-stuffed with lettuce, and I am still trying to figure out if there was even cheese in this.

At Chelas, they pride themselves on making their "secret recipe" Carrot Cake. It was actually pretty good. The icing was not overly sweet, which is a good thing. The cake was moist, but it could have used a touch more cinnamon or another spice to enhance it. The portion size of the cake was very generous.

Chelas did not knock my socks off. The food was on the bland side. It really reminded me of Chipotle. They do use lots of fresh ingredients. The produce was fresh, but they might have used too much of it in everything. The meats should have been the show's star here, but getting past all the produce was hard. The prices were okay. My burrito was a little high at $8, and the Gringa Taco was $3.49. On this trip to Chelas, they could have done more to set themselves apart in OC's crowded Mexican food market.

Out of five fish (because a chela is a small, minnow-type fish), five being best to zero being worst, Chelas Mexican Grill gets 2 fish.

For more information on Chelas, click here: http://www.chelasmexicangrill.com/