Los Arroyos ~ Simple Delicious Food Recipes

One of my son’s favorite types of food is Mexican. He has his preferred places (La Hacienda, Nada and Livery), but we are always looking for new Mexican places. Recently we tried Los Arroyos which has been open a few years but is new to us. It’s a small chain out of California and Carmel is their first location outside of the west coast. It has a little different feel than other Mexican places—a little more upscale I guess. A little on the sparse side décor wise, and we got sat facing the bus station and kitchen which always makes hubby a little grumpy.

Anyhow, we got our complimentary chips and dip. I like that they give you two different salsas—one is a littler spicier than the other and has a bit of roasted flavor to it, while the other one is fresher and milder. I actually think I preferred the acidity of the fresher one but they were both fine. The chips were just meh—not warm and nothing particularly interesting about them. We started with the queso dip as well, which if I am honest was probably our favorite part. It came with chile and chorizo and once you mixed it all up was quite tasty. The homemade corn tortillas are a nice touch. Drinks-wise, hubby had a Cadillac margarita ($14) and we both thought it was good (you can also buy a margarita here that costs $350 if that’s your thing). I made the mistake of ordering a blood orange margarita ($14), which took about 3 times as long to get and which has this spicy salt mix on the rim that did not go with orange to me. It reminded me of a drink I accidentally got once that was orange juice and pepper flavor vodka. No bueno for me. I would not order this drink again just for the wait, but especially for the taste. I didn’t finish it and I switched to wine at this point.

The menu looks a little more interesting than many Mexican places—I find so many just have the same 5 ingredients recycled into different tortilla formats. This one had various seafood items. Like for instance, hubby had the langostino quesadilla ($18). It was a quesadilla stuffed with three kinds of cheese, langostino lobster, caramelized onions and avocado and topped with chipotle sour cream and guacamole. Sounds intriguing right?—and all things I like. It was good, but nothing that blew your mind or anything. I could have used a little kick or a little acid with it. But not bad.

I had the tacos Gobernado ($15.50), which were three shrimp tacos sautéed with green chili and cheese and served with guacamole and a green salsa. Once you doctored them up with enough of the salsa and guacamole and some generous amounts of lime that I asked for, these were tasty. The really needed the lime though. The shrimp themselves were well cooked though and I liked the way the taco shells were sort of lightly fried to give them a little texture.

The kids both had giant burritos—one had chicken and one had beef ($13.50). They were definitely large and neither finished. I think I would have gone with the grilled chicken or steak vs. the shredded versions they got. The meat was clearly slow cooked and had that kind of stew-like flavor, which if you like, you would like. If it’s not your thing, this is probably not the burrito for you.

All in all, it was an interesting place with some nice variety on the menu. There are certainly more things I would be interested in trying, but nothing I had on this trip really wowed me. And my son doesn’t understand why we ever go anywhere but La Hacienda for a simple Mexican meal. I will agree, you certainly can’t beat their prices. This place is not cheap, but they do use a lot of fresh and unique ingredients. Will I rush back? Likely not, but I wouldn’t refuse to go either.

Los Arroyos