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| Photo by Joey Ortez |
Mazatlán Grill
by Joey Ortez
Recently I had the opportunity to design and print menus for a new Mexican restaurant opening up in the old Italian Cottage location. It’s called “Mazatlán Grill”. It was La Conquista most recently, but everyone my age remembers that place as the Italian Cottage. It’s on the corner of the off-ramp from I-5 and Hilltop Drive in Redding (across from the Petco Shopping center). Anyway, they really did a nice job remodeling the inside. When it was Italian Cottage it had sawdust on the floor and it was really rustic “old world” inside (always felt kinda dirty to me). Then as the tequila bar La Conquista, it was made to have that dark bar atmosphere. Not real inviting unless you’re trying to hide from someone under the cover of darkness behind a row of tequila shots.
The thing with the Rodriguez family (the new owners), all of their restaurants are family friendly and have a very inviting atmosphere. The remodel left this place very light feeling, with lots of colors and fun things to look at on the walls. The packed layout leaves room for busy wait-staff to run around and the bar area is really beautiful. As a foodie, I actually prefer to enter a restaurant through two sets of doors. This tells me that they are conscious of flies and other things that may enter the restaurant through the front doors. Mazatlán Grill has the double doors, right on!
The food: Excellent selection, the menu is quite large, and all the Mexican favorites are still there. At first when I looked over all the prices, I was a little apprehensive because I consider myself a “Frugal Foodie”, but after seeing the proportions I was impressed.
I am a fan of vegetarian dishes (even though I am a tried-and-true carnivore who grew up on a red angus farm). So I had the “Veggie Quesadilla” ($9.99). It was a tasty quesadilla with spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes and cheese, with a side of guacamole and sour cream. We also ordered the “Rodriguez Deluxe Nachos” ($10.99) and that plate was enormous! Another plate ordered was the “Fajita Burrito” ($10.49) from the Ala Carte side of the menu. This thing would feed three people! From the Seafood Appetizers side of the menu, I couldn’t resist one of my favorites: “Mazatlán Coconut Shrimp” ($9.99). I love, love love coconut shrimp! These were everything my taste buds were expecting and more! The ‘more’ part was the sweet chili sauce they serve them with, look out! Spicy and sweet with a kick of s’more spicy! I’m an instant fan. Enjoyable dining, lots of parking and very friendly wait staff. I went on a Friday night, and was surprised after it only being their first week open the parking lot was completely full, with the exception of a space for me!
The thing with the Rodriguez family (the new owners), all of their restaurants are family friendly and have a very inviting atmosphere. The remodel left this place very light feeling, with lots of colors and fun things to look at on the walls. The packed layout leaves room for busy wait-staff to run around and the bar area is really beautiful. As a foodie, I actually prefer to enter a restaurant through two sets of doors. This tells me that they are conscious of flies and other things that may enter the restaurant through the front doors. Mazatlán Grill has the double doors, right on!
The food: Excellent selection, the menu is quite large, and all the Mexican favorites are still there. At first when I looked over all the prices, I was a little apprehensive because I consider myself a “Frugal Foodie”, but after seeing the proportions I was impressed.
I am a fan of vegetarian dishes (even though I am a tried-and-true carnivore who grew up on a red angus farm). So I had the “Veggie Quesadilla” ($9.99). It was a tasty quesadilla with spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes and cheese, with a side of guacamole and sour cream. We also ordered the “Rodriguez Deluxe Nachos” ($10.99) and that plate was enormous! Another plate ordered was the “Fajita Burrito” ($10.49) from the Ala Carte side of the menu. This thing would feed three people! From the Seafood Appetizers side of the menu, I couldn’t resist one of my favorites: “Mazatlán Coconut Shrimp” ($9.99). I love, love love coconut shrimp! These were everything my taste buds were expecting and more! The ‘more’ part was the sweet chili sauce they serve them with, look out! Spicy and sweet with a kick of s’more spicy! I’m an instant fan. Enjoyable dining, lots of parking and very friendly wait staff. I went on a Friday night, and was surprised after it only being their first week open the parking lot was completely full, with the exception of a space for me!
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