I’ve eaten in Cabo San Lucas before I’m not sure I’d use them as a reference for a restaurant. Most of the food there is ok, but not great. I ate at some local joints, as well as some touristy spots like Sammy Hagar’s joint. I was curious if this place actually had that touristy, beach-type food or if it was just a name. I always like seeing the word fresh. I enjoy testing it out.
By the way, as far as eating in Mexico, stay away from the touristy stuff. They over-charge you and give you the El Torito type stuff. Venture out and find the good spots. I hit up this little taco stand in Puerto Vallarta that had shrimp tacos for a buck a piece, plus Coronas for the same. They not only gave you platters of shrimp tacos, but they set you up a table with an umbrella right on the beach. If you ever go on one of those vacation cruises and you get to the port of Puerto, find the nearest cab and have them take you down to the left a few miles, to the beach at the base of the hotel. It sounds odd now, but it will become clear when your there. You’ll be away from most of the people and snacking on great shrimp tacos and coronas. Plus, you can enjoy it more when the old people try and sell you silver, bottles with your name on rice and hemp chairs. Anyway, on to the review…
Cabo Beach Grill – Ventura Telegraph/Victoria
Just needed the sand and the little kids sellin chicklets
Inside it looks more like a friendlier Baja Fresh or Rubio’s, however the people behind the counter are much nicer. They have a pretty full menu and a good amount of traditional flavors, as well as some new stuff.
I ordered the chicken enchiladas and a shredded beef burrito and hoped for the best. This is one of those places you need to make sure you read the menu because you could order something like a burrito only to find there is no rice or cheese. If you go, just be wary and pay attention to the variety of burritos and tacos.
This is actually more along my lines of how to get Mexican food – a la cart. I’ve never been a big fan of the Baja’s and Rubio’s of the world, because to me it’s too processed, there’s no originality in the flavors. It’s very bland. The most important rule of anywhere they serve Mexican food is that there should be cervesa. If there is no cervesa, then it’s not Mexican. It’s Corporate Mexican, which is an enemy to traditional Mexican food. Cabo Beach serves beer, so they are ok.
The first thing to attack here is the salsa and the chips. Two big things in the world of Mexican food. Here is what’s odd, their chips had this odd burnt taste to them, but they were not over-cooked. It was also a taste I wanted to keep trying, so I’m beginning to think their chips are laced with something. Their salsas were ok, the cream based salsa being their most flavorful. Their other two salsas, the verde and the rojo, were typical. The cream based salsa had a great pepper and chili spice to it.
The chicken enchiladas were ok. You get a lot of great white meat chunk chicken. They are packed. What you don’t get is enough cheese. In addition, the red enchilada sauce they use is too bland and needs a kick. Spice that up a bit, give it a little more zing and it would have been great.
The burrito was really good. I went with the basic shredded beef burrito, which contained just the beef and pico de gallo. I was really able to get the true flavor of everything and the shredded beef was excellent. It had great flavor and was very juicy. The tortillas were fresh and the pico de gallo is packed with wonderful ripe tomatoes and onions. I highly recommend the beef burrito for anyone that likes shredded beef.
It’s a comfortable place to eat. They have a big screen, beer on tap and pretty good food. There was nothing I didn’t like and I will definitely add it onto the list for a return trip. They only use fresh meat and vegetables and it really shows.
PS: Sammy Hagar can kiss my ass if he thinks I’m going to pay $140 dollars for his lousy-ass tequila. Apparently “I Can’t Drive 55” didn’t rake in the dough he thought it would.
EatMeCalifornia 
I’m not a famous food critic 😉 so I don’t know how to word this exactly, but when you talk about Mexican food how do you describe the overall or predominate flavor? See I don’t think those words are right. Let me explain.
When I lived in Sonoma County (actually Humboldt County too) there were so many hole in the wall, authentic Mexican food joints that I had them broken down into categories like best vegan, best carnitas, best tacos but even more so I got to know what spices each restaurant used the most. Like if I was in the mood for cilantro or spicy or some other spice that I didn’t know the name of but was very pervasive in the restaurant’s dishes.
I was very disappointed to not find the same plethora of tasty Mexican treats in Ventura County. I often feel like I have moved into the cookie cutter world of chains here. I have found maybe 3 so far. You guys are giving me a few more to try. You’re doing the leg work that I haven’t been able to do for 8 years. Thanks!
P.S. If you ever find yourself in the Sonoma County, Santa Rosa area let me know and I’ll give you a list and a run down of all the great hole in the wall restaurants of many origins. God, I miss the food there….
Santa Rosa is one of my favorite towns in all of Norcal. I even excuse the use of the word “hella” when I am within the city limits.
I can’t speak for B but what I look for in the flavors of authentic Mexican food I’m looking for fresh cilantro (most of the flavor is in the stems), lime, jalapeno, maybe even garlic, cumin, onion, of course salt and pepper stuff like that. Meat is suppose to be heavy with it. Most places void the long marinades, with oranges and lime. They just grab the meat, thaw it and pack it in a mission tortilla and put there packaged sauce on it. Chili’s are important, dried, seeded, etc. Hope that helps. I try not to get to crazy with the details because when it comes down to it the peeps just wanna know if it eats good. I’ve been to Sonama theres a great pizza joint there, I can’t remember the name but the garlic and buffalo mozzerella they use is incredible. Brian uses “hella” all the time I think its one of his favorite words.
I should slap you for saying that Mike!
We love Sammy and his Cabo Wabo Tequlia