Playa Mesa – Closed

It was obvious from multiple meals at Playa Mesa that this Mexican restaurant was very deliberately designed to find a middle ground between authentic inexpensive taquerias and higher-end elevated Mexican and Mexican-American restaurants – while catering, as its founders once said, to parents who want to enjoy margaritas while their kids eat tacos.

Given the prominence of its beautiful, well-stocked bar, it’s clear that one can’t fully appreciate Playa Mesa without diving into their Mexican cocktails. That said, even dry customers would have appreciated the restaurant’s consistently very good food, excellent environment, and friendly service. Playa Mesa produced pretty much everything important from scratch, resulting in fresh-tasting tortillas, aguachiles and ceviches, aguas frescas and horchatas.