Evita’s Mexican Café

by Mikey

I was told to hit Evita’s for the salsa and the enchiladas.  Since I dig both, I headed on over.  Evita’s has won a few local awards for salsa at the Oxnard salsa festivals and you can view their various awards right over the salsa bar.  I was hoping I was in for, at the least, some really good salsas.

Evita’s Mexican Café – Ventura off of Main St

Evita’s is a little pink restaurant on the side of Main St, at the East end, before you hit the Pacific View Mall.  Even though I rarely enter a pink building, because it is a man card violation, I figured it was for a good cause and I had already gotten another violation that day for watching Footloose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They have a great patio outside and during the day you probably should sit on it because it’s hotter then Hades’ walk in closet inside.  You order at the front then go find a place to sit.  I sat next to the salsa bar and loaded up. I ordered the chicken enchilada and shredded beef taco special which comes with rice and beans.

I sat waiting at the table for a whole 5 minutes before my food appeared with my 4 different salsas.  When I got my dinner and checked my plate, I sat in wonderment as to how I was going to try their award winning salsa with just 2 chips.  They give you two chips?  That’s like giving your buddy, who is a chain smoker, just the filter.

I try not to ask for stuff when I do a review because I want them to have all the opportunity to take care of business themselves.  I used the first chip to try the hot stuff and it was actually a decent salsa.  It had some stank to it.  I would classify it as more of a “slightly hot,” but it was good.  I split my second chip up and tried both the mild and the green.  The mild was pretty damn good.  The green was average and didn’t really have much flavor that jumps out at you.  For the final salsa, which is more of a pico, I broke off a piece of my taco.  It’s definitely fresh and tasted great.  Ah… to have just one more chip.

The other odd thing was that my plate was also loaded with lettuce.  Not fresh cut lettuce, but salad-in-a-bag lettuce.  It was all iceberg with some carrot strands and cabbage and definitely came straight from the bag.  At the base of it was some oil and vinegar.  I tried a little of it, but I’m not to into half a head of iceberg lettuce.

The shredded beef tacos were actually really good.  The meat is soaked in marinade along with tomatos and jalapenos.  The shell seemed a bit like the pre made shell in a box but it wasn’t horrible.  Also, they had very little cheese, so it was definitely the beef that made it worth it.

The enchilada was my favorite part. Loaded with chicken and cheese, the enchilada, and it’s sauce, was tasty but not over powering.  It was great just having so much shredded white meat chicken inside.  Usually you get small pieces of who knows what part of the chicken at a lot of joints, but Evita’s gives you a load of great chicken.

If they cool it off a bit inside, give you say maybe 6 chips instead of 2 and become a little more friendly, I would definitely hit the place up again.  If you’re out shopping in the area they may be worth a stop.  Definitely give their salsa a run.