We were trying to decide where to go for a quick dinner on a weeknight and wanted to visit someplace that we hadn’t been in quite a while. We chose Abby’s Place on Calle Manuel Hidalgo, the street that runs parallel to Blvd Mijares at the back of the parking lot behind Dairy Queen and Teo’s Bar and Grill. This small family-owned restaurant is a great place for seafood and has recently expanded their menu to include chicken, hamburgers and steaks as well.
It was the week before Christmas on a Friday night and Abby’s was decorated for the holidays. There was live entertainment with a singer using a loop for the music to accompany his vocals. Our server brought us the menus and a basket of tortilla chips with three different salsas. We asked for guacamole to start as we were looking through the menu. The guacamole was just how we like it with tomatoes and onions mixed in and a pile of jalapenos on top (most of which we moved to the side). A great start to the meal.
I love tuna so I decided on two different fresh tuna dishes – sashimi and a tuna taco on a flour tortilla. Beth ordered the breaded shrimp dinner. I had forgotten how big the sashimi appetizer was – a huge platter with onions, cucumbers, tomato, jalapeño and a soy sauce. There were at least 16 big pieces of tuna sashimi. The tuna was also quite large with onions and peppers mixed in. The food was great but too much. I ended up taking part of each item home to eat for lunch the next day. The bread shrimp platter came with salad, rice and a small bowl of tartar sauce. Beth liked it a lot.
Good food, good service and a very reasonable price. The sashimi platter was $220 pesos (about $13.00 US) – a lot less than most sushi place charge for six pieces of tuna.
For more information about Mariscos “El Chino” Abby’s Place visit them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/elchinosjc
