I'm impressed with the decor and the food here. I was shopping in the westfield topanga mall when I made a turn looking for an exit to enjoy a cigarette break and voila! Found this joint which at first seems so out of place: why in a mall??? Not sure but heck, here we are, so I called my gf to let her know I was going to park it there while she continued with her marathon shopping. First, nice touch with the hand made tortillas and salsas to munch on with my drink: a house marg. (BTW, They have an impressive selection of tequilas, by the bartender's account, close to 400 types, yikes!) Mmmmh-mmh. Then, when my gf finally caught up with me, we moved to a table and had a guac made right there in front of us, we like everything so the guy made it just like we've had it in Mexico, spicy with the right amount of lime juice and salt and served with the same hand made tortillas that they gave me with salsa at the beginning. So far so good, then we ordered the caesar salad and a pozole. The salad was fine, good amount of cheese but the croutons were a bit stale; the dressing had the perfect balance of anchovie and garlic flavors, not too overwhelming but with a presence. The pozole was tasty but I'm not sure if this qualifies as a starter since it is quite filling. Because of this, we had just one entree, the cochinita pibil (sp?) with beans and vegetables. It was very good, authentic flavors on both the meat and the red onion-habanero mix, "muuuy picoso" as the server indicated but great. Washed all down with a couple of pacificos and that was that. No dessert as we were more than satisfied. Maybe next time. Service was alright, server was confused with our order at first but sorted it out eventually. Guac maker was very nice and talkative. The atmosphere is ok once you concentrate on your dinner and companion and forget that you're in a mall (close the red curtains!!! Can you?). Parking is easy being in a mall... Overall a great experience.
Pros: Real Mexican fare
Cons: In a mall, and hidden
more