Restaurant Review: La Doña in Ocean Beach

Restaurant Review

La Doña
1852 Bacon
Ocean Beach, CA 92107
619-269-6144

By Judi Curry

One of my favorite Mexican restaurants in Ocean Beach was Nati’s. I think that when they closed down almost the entire town was unhappy and many experiences there just became old memories.  I was happy to see that another Mexican restaurant – La Doña – was going in to the same place, and hoped that new memories would be established there.

The other day was the day that four older ladies decided it was a perfect time to visit the new restaurant.  Although it has been open for some time, we thought it was important to give it a chance to establish its own persona.

We met at the restaurant shortly after 12:00 because we knew that they didn’t open until noon.  When I called to make a reservation their phone message told me that they only made reservations for parties of 20 or more, so we hoped that there would not be a wait when we got there.  There was not.

We entered from the same area that we entered Nati’s – the front door on Bacon – and the nice young hostess sat us at the second table in the restaurant. It was quickly apparent to us that that table was not going to work for us, for it was directly under the loud speakers and music was playing very loudly.  We asked for another table and were accommodated quickly.  We were shown to the back part of the restaurant where it was quieter.

Almost immediately we were served a tray of hot corn chips accompanied by a mild tasting salsa.  A carafe of water was placed on the table near the chips, along with 4 glasses.  Unfortunately one of the glasses had lipstick around the edge, and we pointed that out to our delightful waitperson.  She quickly brought us a clean glass.

Carne asada taco

One of the things that we noticed right away is that we were not given a menu. Rather, on the table, was a QR sticker telling us to take a picture of that and open it in Safari to see the menu.  I asked if there was a paper menu and was told that there was and asked to see it. One of the reasons for that was that I had already checked the menu from my home and found that there were some items on it that were reasonably priced compared to others that I thought were too high for what we were being served.

In checking the paper menu vs the on-line one, we found that there were many items listed on the on-line menu that were not listed on the paper menu.  This could be a real problem, because the three $10.75 items that we were interested in were not listed on paper and, unless we had checked the on-line menu, would not have even known about them.

Fried fish taco

I also found that in looking at the fish taco’s menu – “local fish” was listed but when asked what it was I was told it was mahi-mahi.  Mahi-mahi is also known as Dolphin-fish (or Dorado) and is not easily found in the San Diego waters — although it is caught locally.

Anne ordered a margarita, and she was told what the special of the day was. Unfortunately it was made with mango, which she is allergic to, and said that she then wanted a regular margarita.  The server informed her that they did not have a blender, so it would not be a “blended” drink and Anne said that was ok with her.  The margarita that she had was very good.  The one thing that she didn’t like about it is that it was served with a paper straw, and tasted like cardboard.  Perhaps it would have been better not to serve it with a straw at all!

Grilled fish taco

The presentation of what we ordered left us in laughter – at least at first.  I ordered two fish taco’s – one grilled and one fried, with no rice and/or beans.  They were served in two serving containers and the grilled fish bottom was filled either with water or grease.  It was not very appetizing, and I quickly removed the taco to join the other plate.  It was a little dry; the fried one was much better and tastier.  It also had more things on top – cabbage, cilantro, tomatoes, etc.  I didn’t think to ask at the time, but a dollop of sour cream would have added to the taste.  They were both hot, but I do not think I’d order the grilled one again.  My total price for the two ala carte was $15, not counting the tip.

Pescado plate

Judy ordered two Pescado, which were beer battered local fish topped with cilantro jalapeno slaw, pico de gallo and chipoltle lime crema. She changed her order to grilled rather than beer battered fish.  A side of rice and beans came with the order, again on the long serving container.  All of the ladies that had beans had the same thing to say –  they were very loose and drippy. The waitperson said that she likes to mix the beans with the rice, giving it a heavier consistency and the others agreed that was probably the way to go.  Judy also mentioned several times that the coffee she had ordered was exceptionally good. The two tacos were $16.75.

Anne ordered a carne asada taco, and instead of rice and beans ordered two servings of the beans.  I noticed that she did not finish either of them, and again remarked on the looseness of the beans. But she said the carne asada was very good, and she enjoyed it.  Anne’s bill was about $25, but remember that she had a margarita with her meal.

Grilled fish plate

Joelle also ordered a fish taco with rice and beans. She ended up taking the beans home, but said that the rice, made with corn kernels, was very good.  She enjoyed the grilled fish.  Her meal was about $13 and, like me, did not order a separate drink.

So…. once we finished our meal, we discussed it.  The chips and salsa were good; the dirty glass was a turn-off.  The liquid at the bottom of my taco was a soggy turn-off also.  The loose beans could have been made better if they had a better consistency, although they were good.  The addition of the corn to the rice was a nice touch. The fact that the menu did not coincide with the on-line menu was frustrating, and would be even more so for people that do not know how to use the on-line menu.  Anne said that her husband would not know how to utilize the on-line menu.

The prices were higher than we would expect to pay in Ocean Beach, but it is a new place with probably a higher overhead that Nati’s had, but one didn’t get much for the additional monies.  The service was good; the waitstaff helpful but there was just something that did not “click” for the four of us.  Things were tasty, but…..  Service was good, but…..   At this time I do not think that any of us will be going back for awhile. There are other Mexican restaurants in the area that we will want to try.