La Floresta: Tacos de Mariscos
Aug 17th, 2008 | By Solomon | Category: Mexican, Seafood
Based on a suggestion the other day on Allie’s blog, I dragged Hans and Allie out to La Floresta last week to try shrimp tacos and more at La Floresta. I have been to this popular local spot before and I knew I would enjoy it, but I didn’t want to keep the place to myself.
La Floresta is a on the highway between Constituyentes and Juarez, on the Ejido side, so its not a normal tourist destination, but many Playa locals know about their good and inexpensive tacos. We arrived at about noon, the place had not yet filled up, but there were a few full tables. I have heard that Playa business deals are not complete until you have lunch at La Floresta, most of the patrons we saw were professionals of some sort.
We sat down and quickly were attended to by the waitress, who brought us chips and salsa and took our orders. There is no wait time between the drink order and the food order, the menu is small and most people know what they want before coming. The pico-de-gallo salsa that they bring out with the chips is really good, often I can eat a whole bowl of this before the meal comes.
We ordered shrimp tacos and crab tostadas, the meal came very quickly, so we dug in. We topped the tacos with the spicy green sauce that sits on the table and some of the pico-de-gallo, watch out, the green is very hot. The shrimp tacos come with three or four large pieces of deep fried shrimp on a corn tortilla, very tasty but probably not so good for you. The crab tostadas were a little disappointing, sort of a crab and tomato sauce paste on top of a hard tostada shell. The crab was a little bit fishy, not the best thing I have ever eaten there.
For the three of us lunch was under $150 pesos, $15 dollars. I was pleased with my meal but I have had better meals at this restaraunt, I think the food is fresher when you come during busier hours. Hans was not so pleased, he does not eat much seafood and wasn’t so happy with the shrimp tacos. Allie said it was a good meal but she wouldn’t make a special trip to eat there again. I will probably try La Floresta again, but it is more convenient for me because I am in that part of town more often.
Sol, Thanks for writing up the review. You are right, I don’t really do fish or crustations. I do like fish like tuna and eel at good Sushi places. I have also started to enjoy Filete de Pescado, since I moved to Playa.
So my take is that the shrimp tacos were pretty good. As good as Dr. Taco’s shrimp tacos. I am not sure if it is as good as Taco Paco. Maybe a bit fishier. The pico-de-gallo was pretty hot and really complemented the chips. I hadn’t had good pico-de-gallo in a while.
I missed the nice fix’n bar that Dr. Taco and Paco Taco have. The fix’n bar goes a long way to help me doctor the shrimp tacos. In any event, for someone who isn’t a fish or crap lover, it wasn’t the best. That’s my take.
Hans
The shrimp tacos were pretty tasty, but they’re pretty hard to mess up!
If you want the best tacos – shrimp and ceviche tostadas you have to go to a new place call LOS AGUACHILES boy this is the best they have 6 or 8 salsas that rock……… is located in CALLE 34 and 25 NORTH they serve cheviches aguachiles tacos and more.
They have this new taco made with lechuga and sashimi tuna the best.
I agree with Hans. We have lived here for a year and finally stopped at La Floresta, b/c people kept talking about it. We got cold and soggy shrimp tacos and the salsa (pardon me for saying so fellow ex-pats) was strictly for gringos! We much prefer shrimp tacos at La Borrega, a little further south on the west side of 307. And they also have a “consomme” of beef….more like a thick stock “con” or “sin” the beef which is seriously to die for…..sometimes I have dreams about it!!