Luna Loca

Complimentary salsa and chips.

Restaurant: Luna Loca
Cuisine: Mexican
Last visited: October 30, 09

Area: Surrey, BC
Unit #106 - 15153 56 Avenue
Price Range: $10-20

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 2 Dessert: 5
Service: 4
Ambiance: 1
Overall: 2
Additional comments:

• Specializes in Mexican cuisine
• Family-owned
• A couple Mexican chefs/cooks
• Food not representable of what it looks like on the outisde
• Dark lighting
  
• Pre-made, cafeteria-style Mexican food
• Only good quality thing is homemade sauces on specialty menu
  
• Relatively big portions, but lacks quality
• Taste better than it looks, but doesn't taste that great either
  
• Complimentary salsa and chips
• Great for desserts

**Recommendation: Desserts

From the outside it looks great, then the inside is not bad, until you really look at it - it's a dive. They have an upstairs which they use as storage for a million boxes and garbage, an unfinished patio, a mosquito lantern in the kitchen, and a pitcher where your salsa comes from. All of this is right there, for everyone to see. Needless to say, but I'm going to say...I was a bit worried where my food was coming from. I'm not being pretentious either, I can always appreciate a hole-in-the-wall, but when it comes to hygiene and cleanliness that's non-negotiable.

The only thing I would come back for is the dessert. Those were the only things made fresh and made very well. The meals were quite blah.

On the table:

• Ceviche 2.5/6
• Red snapper and baby shrimp marinated in lime juice mixed with onions tomatoes, jalapenos, cilantro and seasoning. Served with tortilla chips. $8.95
• The ceviche was quite standard. It was very tart, but they didn't use fresh lime juice. It could have used some additional seasoning because the ingredients weren't all fresh. The red snapper was tender, and the baby shrimp was frozen, but that's what I expected. It wasn't really worth the price. The tortilla chips were nice and hot though.
  
• 
• Pollo Con Salsa Verde 2/6
  
• Chicken breast charbroiled covered with a mild salsa verde. Served with black beans, rice, salad and flour tortilla $15.95
  
• It actually doesn't taste as bad as it looks.
• The salsa verde sauce was not bad. The salsa was very mild and it was definitely homemade. It was a bit tangy, a bit sweet and almost like a tangy bruschetta. It's made tomatoes (canned ones here), lime juice and onion. They had no fresh herbs in it and it's supposed to have cilantro.
• The chicken was obviously frozen pre-cooked chicken breast. They boiled it, coated it with some dried spices and salt and pepper and then charbroiled it...at least it had grill marks.
• 
• The Beans 1.5/6
  
• Obviously pre-made and reheated. Mushy, dry and not fresh. Tasted like overnight beans, although the flavour wasn't that bad.
  
• The Salad 1.5/6
  
• Just iceberg lettuce that was very roughly chopped. Both entrees had big chunks of core in the salad.
• The salad dressing was taco sauce made into a "dressing".
• The Rice 1/6
  
• Pre-made and reheated. Dry because it's been sitting under a heater.
• Pollo Con Mole 2.5/6
• Chicken breast charbroiled and covered with Moles - a sauce made with chile pepper, peanuts, sesame seeds, spices, and a hint of chocolate. Served with black beans, rice, salad and flour tortilla $15.95
• The sauce was homemade and it was the best part of the entree. I'd give the sauce alone 3.5/6. It tastes like a hickory smoked chocolate sauce. It was rich, thick and nutty. It had a very smooth texture and they used a dark chocolate so it has a slightly bitter aftertaste. It was very aromatic and you could definitely taste the chocolate although it wasn't really sweet. I really liked it.
  
• Again the chicken was obviously frozen pre-cooked chicken breast. They boiled it, coated it with some dried spices and salt and pepper and then charbroiled it.

Dessert

The desserts are the only thing they make fresh and upon order here. They're generous servings, and very affordable for what you get. I'd only come back for the desserts.

• **Deep Fried Ice Cream 5/6
• It's a softball sized scoop of vanila ice cream rolled in a "breading" made of nutty graham crackers, cinnamon and sugar $3.95
• This was HUGE! I've had this a few times, but this was the biggest.
• The crumbs form a light crust around the ice cream and the whole thing is deep-fried. It wasn't even really batter it was more like a sugar syrup coating that formed a light crispy layer. I liked it better than the batter becuase all too often the batter separates from the ice cream.
  
• It wasn't melted at all, which is great! They did a really great job with it here.
• It could have used a couple layers of the crumb crust, but it was still excellent as is.
  

• 
• **Double Fudge Dessert Chimichanga 4.5/6
  
• Chocolate fudge brownie rolled in a flour tortilla, fried, and topped with whipped cream, ice cream and chocolate and caramel sauce $4.95
  
• This was made upon order, which is great. The chocolate fudge brownie taste like those 2 bite brownies, which are good. I think they mixed the brownies with some shredded coconut too. They wrap it un in a flour tortilla and deep fry the whole thing.
• It was great! They served our with ice cream too even though the menu didn't say so. They used a few tortillas for the wrapped so it created warm soft flakey layers and the exterior was hot and crispy. The inside is this ooey gooey, half-melted, chewy brownie. It was almost like a molten lava chocolate cake with coconut. Very rich, very sweet, very good! You need to eat this with ice cream though, otherwise it can be too sweet. This is comfort food.
  

• Also available:
• Runditos de Manzana: Tortilla filled with apple, cinnamon & rum berry sauce baked until golden brown. Served with vanilla ice cream $5.95
• Sopaipilla Sundae: 2 scoops of vanilla, 2 scoops of chocolate ice cream, topped with strawberry and chocolate sauces. Served in edible cinnamon bowl $6.95
• Churros: Baked and rolled in cinnamon served with whippd cream, chocolate & strawberry sauce $4.95
  

Los Tacos

Restaurant: Los Tacos
Cuisine: Authentic Mexican
Last visited: August 7, 09

Area: San Gabriel, California
504 W. Las Tunas Drive
Price Range: $10 or less

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 3
Service: 2
Ambiance: 1
Overall: 3
Additional comments:

• Located in San Gabriel, California
• Famous for "The World's Greatest Tacos"
• Cheap, but authentic Mexican
  
• Family owned and operated
• Hole in the wall - local favourite
• Serves big breakfast and lunch platters
• Big portions
• Nothing gourmet, super casual
  
• Offers authentic Mexican drinks and desserts

**Recommendation: Carnitas soft tacos, drink -Horchata. I bet their breakfast burritos are amazing, but I didn't get to order one, I saw some locals order the Tortas too, which looked delicious...and are very big.

The tortilla shells are all made in house and are really fresh. Each taco is double wrapped with these soft tortilla shells. Good tortilla to filling ratio. An authentic Mexican hole in the wall eatery that is familiar to locals. The tacos all come in miniature form - the traditional way - and its great! No sour cream or guacamole in these traditional tacos, just well-marinated and cooked meat. Cheap, good Mexican food - not the best, but it's real Mexican.

On the table:

• ** Carnitas soft taco 5/6
• Pulled pork
• This was my favourite taco out of the bunch. It was flavourful, tender and saucy.
  
• It was the first plate of tacos gone. Each plate comes with 4 miniature soft tacos, and each taco is double wrapped in their homemade tortilla shells. So your tortilla won't break while you're in mid-bite, although the filling might overflow and spill out the top.
• Barria soft taco 4/6
• Marinated beef
• This was my second favourite soft taco.
• Pretty good, but not the best. Nice pieces of marinated beef, its good with their chile verde salsa.
• Chicken Mole soft taco 2/6
  
• Pulled chicken smother with mole sauce and pablanos
• This was a close second. The mole aka sauce, is a rich deep brown colour and it had a smoky cumin flavour. It's made with ground chilies, but the chilies don't add heat, it just added an intense smoky taste.
• Al Pastor soft taco 1/6
  
• Marinated Pork
  
• This taco was my least favourite out of the bunch. It was the only one left over too, if they were good we could have finished them, but it wasn't really worth it. They were a bit dry, and bland and just had no kick.
  
• Quesadillas 1/6
  
• Nothing special here. What you'd expect for a cheap fast food quesadilla. Just a generous amount of melted cheese on tortillas. But they use big tortillas, which are still really fresh.
• Hard Shell Tacos 2/6
  
• I prefer the soft tacos to the hard shell tacos. The soft ones just taste fresher. The shells are the best part and don't need to be deep fried. We had it with thin slices of roast beef aka asada and they top them off with cheese, tomato, and lettuce. Nothing out of the ordinary.
• Nachos with Asada 3/6
  
• A big plate of nachos covered with thin cuts of roasted beef, melted cheese, tomatoes, onions, and topped with heaping scoops of guacamole and sour cream.
  
• Super greasy, but pretty tasty...again not the best. But expected from a place like this.
• **Breakfast Burritos
• Didn't try it, but I will if I go back. They have a whole section just for breakfast burritos so I feel like they would be really good there. They're really really big too. Saw a lot of Mecxican families ordering these for lunch.
  
• ** Tortas
• Didn't try this either. But I saw a few local Mexicans guys ordering the "Torta" as I was leaving. It looked really delicious. It's a grilled roll with your choice of meat, lettuce, tomato, and guacamole.

Authentic homemade Mexican desserts

Drinks

• This place serves up authentic Mexican drinks: Horchata, Tamarindo & Jamaica
• The most authentic and best one is the: Horchata - made of rice milk, and has a nice almond flavour. Nice and sweet, it has a little cinnamon and vanilla flavour to round it all up.