La Playa Mexican Cafe -- Corpus Christi, TX

Complimentary Tortilla chips with two salsas

Another restaurant we frequent is La Playa Mexican Cafe at 7118 SPID (http://laplayacafe.com/). There are other locations for La Playa in Corpus Christi: 5017 Saratoga, and 4201 SPID. Now these other two are labeled La Playa Restaurant and they are much larger than the cafe, but we prefer the quieter, more relaxed setting of the cafe over the restaurant locations.



Rob and I usually order the Tacos al Carbon. There are two large tacos on the plate, so we order one plate, extra sides and guacamole. I take the plate, give him one taco and pile guacamole and pico de gallo on top of my taco. So good! This evening, though, for the sake of the blog, we decided to try something different. Rob had heard that their seafood was good and we had not explored that part of the menu. So, we dove in.

Rob ordered the Fish or Shrimp Tacos. Since the plate comes with two tacos, Rob asked for one fish and one shrimp. Of course the traditional Mexican rice and refried beans completed the plate. The tacos contained grilled fish/shrimp, lettuce, tomatoes and cheese. He liked the flavor of the fish, though it was mild and he felt like it needed something more, so he took the lemon from his water glass and added a squeeze to each taco. He like them much better with the lemon, and thought they should add a lemon wedge to the plate. We later realized, after viewing our pictures, that the something more those tacos needed was the "creamy lemon sauce" that the menu description promised.

I had the Shrimp Stuffed Avocado. I have enjoyed the chicken stuffed avocado before, so I was looking forward to this. It's an avocado half stuffed with shrimp and cheese, lightly breaded and fried. This is accompanied by a fish taco, Mexican rice, refried beans and a cup of tortilla soup. I was a bit disappointed with my dish. My taco also needed something more, and I gave it a squeeze of lemon which helped a lot. Though it's not promised in the description, I imagine the fish taco would be quite delicious with the lemon sauce. My stuffed avocado also let me down. It was rather bland, even with all the cheese, and the shrimp were a little tough. I guess the extra heat from frying overcooked them a little. The tortilla soup should be called tortilla mushroom soup. The flavor was pretty good, but I'm not that crazy about mushrooms which seems to be the main substance of this soup.

I feel bad having to give La Playa Mexican Cafe a bad review, but even in the best restaurant you're going to get a meal, now and then, that just doesn't live up to expectations. Although this trip was disappointing, we will return to La Playa, because they do have really good food, too. My favorites there are the Tacos al Carbon and their Chicken Soup.