Thursday, December 29, 2005

Little Onion Mexican Restaurant - Review #1

110 W Macarthur Blvd
Santa Ana, CA 92707

Listing on Yahoo! Local

Official Site

Appetizer: Chips and Hot Sauce
Entree: Arroz con Pollo

Little Onion - Exterior

I'd never even heard of Little Onion but I saw it when driving away from the dealership where my car had just got a checkup so I made a U-turn and pulled into their parking lot. This place doesn't jump out at you because it's just part of a little strip mall and I assumed it'd be slow but it was actually quite busy and there were people fighting for parking spaces. I'm not even entirely sure the place I parked was actually a parking spot.

When I went in the downstairs was so full that I was led to a table in the upstairs loft area which was an interesting spot because I was seated right near what appeared to be a roof below the main roof of the building, sort of an inside roof with potted plants all over it and even a couple old brooms.

This restaurant seems to fit firmly into what I think of as your "standard sit-down Mexican restaurants," one of those places that has been around 30-plus years and is a lot like all the other Mexican restaurants that cropped up around the same time. Nothing too inventive but sometimes you just want a familiar experience.

The menu was pretty standard and I ordered a bowl of arroz con pollo, which arrived quickly, filled me up quick, and sat well. No rice or beans (well, I guess the rice was already in the bowl and I don't mind skipping the beans every once in a while) but there were nice, hot corn tortillas and butter and some lettuce and guacamole on the side.

Overall the experience was just above average so Little Onion warrants a three Speedy Gonzales rating:

Speedy Gonzales Speedy Gonzales Speedy Gonzales

These photos were taken more than three years after my initial visit. Click any of them to be taken to the complete photo album:

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4 comments:

  1. we went not too long ago and sadly I agree with the average rating. Either this place has gone downhill over the years or my fond memories are faulty.

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  3. I agree. Their quality has gone way down hill. (Using grocery store taco shells) and shredded beef so tough you have to spit it out after a half hour of chewing. They've gotten lazy. Too bad, used to be good.

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