4 /5 John Grana: When my wife and I moved to Redding a few years ago, Mazatlan was the first restaurant we went to. Looked cool on the outside! We had a fine dinner that evening.
Recently we were hungry for some Mexican chow. We hadn’t been to Mazatlan in over a year (there are lots of good Mexican places in Redding!) so off we went.
We arrived around 6:30PM on a Saturday night. The place was lively, maybe80% full.
Our hostess greeted us with a big smile and immediately brought is to our table. As we walked into that room (there are 2 dining areas) there was a large table of very happy, celebratory young adults - make a lot of happy noise (hooots, table slapping etc). We asked if we could sit in a more quiet area. Our hostess laughed and took us to the other side. Much quieter.
We were quickly visited by our waitress for the evening. A really friendly person (I forgot her name…). Lots of smiles and pleasent. We ordered our drinks. My wife wanted a Margarita and our waitress helped her make her decision - on the rocks, no salt. I had my go to brew - Sierra Nevada Pale Ale - they have it on tap! :-)
After going through the extensive (and pretty informative) menu we settled on Chile Verde and the Plato Al Pastor.
As soon as our drinks arrived a nice basket of crispy, nicely salted tortilla chips and two dips. A perfectly balanced tomato salsa - not too thick or too thin and just the right spice level. The other was some kind of bean and chopped vegetable medley in a tart dressing.
Both were excellent - in fact we ordered another bowl of salsa. The bean medley was a nice compliment to the salsa. Would love to have it again!
Our food arrived not long after (almost too soon - we were enjoying the chips and salsa too much!!!) LOL
The Chile Verde was spot on. A tasty, rich and a little tart green tomatillo sauce with a fine combinatioin of fried onions and peppers. The pork was cubed just right and was both tender and flavorful. Well done!
My Plato Al Pastor was good - very tasty a nice vinegar based red sauce with grilled pineapples. The flavors mixed great! The pork, the tangy sauce and the smoky sweet pineapple. I had to take one star off - IMHO the pork was diced a little too small. It worked great when put on one of the warm fresh tortillas - but eating it standalone was a bit of a challenge since the star of the dish (the pork) was diced pretty small.
Both portions were generous and we had enough to take some home!
The sides of rice and refried beans were also very good - nice and hot, good flavors.
It was a fun and tasty meal in a lively and colorful place!
Highly recommended :-)
