A new family-owned restaurant opened in November in La Playita across from the beach past El Ganzo Hotel. Open from 2:00 to 10:00 pm Thursday to Monday is a new hidden gem with a great menu, pricing and service.

Entering the big gates, there is a lounge seating area to the left and a large outdoor bar to the right. Dining is outdoors with comfortable tables and a banquette along the left wall in the dining area. The full kitchen is at the back of the restaurant. The menu is simple offering two soups, two salads, four dishes from the sea and three on the grill as well as two desserts and a full bar for beverages. While the menu may appear limited, the choices are great.

Beth and Sue both chose one of the two salads on the menu as an appetizer – the Baby Salad and the Caprese Salad. The Baby Salad comes with baby lettuce, goat cheese, cranberries, and walnuts in a honey mustard dressing. The Caprese Salad has sliced tomatoes, goat cheese, arugula, and a touch of pesto. The presentation and flavors of both were excellent. John and I just ordered a main course.

For the main course, Beth ordered the Giant Oriental Taco and Sue ordered the Giant Shrimp Taco. Both are huge shrimp tacos (almost burrito size) with different preparations and are served with a side salad. The Giant Oriental Taco has breaded shrimp with sautéed vegetables in a soy sauce. The Giant Shrimp Taco has grilled shrimp covered in butter with gouda cheese and a chipotle sauce. Again, great presentation, portion size and flavor. John and I chose burgers – his beef and mine portobello mushroom. Both were served with French Fries and caramelized onions, lettuce and sliced tomatoes. My huge portobello was filled with cream cheese. We had to cut the burgers in half to eat them, they were so large. In my case, I took half of it home for lunch the next day. Mariana, the chef and wife of Gerardo brought us some ceviche with pesto to go along with our main courses. The ceviche was chopped fish, tomatoes, onions, and black olives in a pesto sauce. Everything tasted fantastic.

One of the reasons that I say that this restaurant is a hidden gem is because the food is amazing in portion size, flavor, and presentation and is very reasonably priced. There are only three items on the menu over $200 pesos – salmon, arrachera and the sirloin burger. The service is also excellent as the whole family is involved. The restaurant has a great atmosphere to enjoy your food and drinks.