There is a reason that La Playita is always bustling during day and night. They crank out alot of food at a dirt cheap price. Tacos are $1.25 each and twice the size of those at most taquerias . Burritos are packed with meat, rice, and beans and only $2.25. A small shrimp cocktail is packed with shrimp and topped off with a slice of avocado for only $3. Your dollar goes a long way at La Playita my friends and if you're on a budget and in the mood for a couple tacos and a seafood cocktail this is the place for you. The atmosphere at La Playita can go from calm to frantic in a matter of seconds. The line to order often trails on to the sidewalk and sometimes to the curb. One minute you're in line waiting to place your order and the next minute some kid in a big wheel is approaching at a high rate of speed with a baby carriage trailing him. I dont think I've ever been waiting in line where some kind of mechanical contraption didn't come rolling down the sidealk to break up the line. Whether it was a baby stroller or a someone trying to sell you a bicycle they just nicked from the bike racks at the Big Lots there is always something going down at this Venice/Santa Monica border Taqueria. When you pick up your food there isn't much seating but you'll find a long bench that's adjacent to the Auto Mechanic next door that will suffice.If the bench is full there is plenty of counter space to lean up against.
In the evening sit back and enjoy your tacos and seafood cocktail and be glad you aren't stuck in the Lincoln Blvd gridlock. On weekends and lunch time expect a long line but it moves quickly.
As far as the tacos two of them take up your entire plate and the beef that falls out of your taco you can scoop up with the carrots or radishes. Or if you havn't a care about how you comport yourself public-wise just use your fingers.
2.5/5 for La Playita's carne asada tacosLa Playita is at 3601 Lincoln Blvd, Santa Monica. Tacos are $1.25 each
King Taco is good. Have you ventured out to the San Gabriel Valley?
ReplyDeleteTaco Lita in Arcadia near the horse track. They have the best sauce EVER!!!!!!!!
jules,
ReplyDeletei'm not in the SGV very often but i'll have to check out taco lita. best sauce ever is a pretty high praise. :)
Great work. But in your review of La Playita, you don't really say how good the tacos were. So how do the tacos at LA Playita rate?
ReplyDeleteanon,
ReplyDeleteaverage tacos that some days are better than others.
i gave them a 2.5/5 but sometimes they are better than that.
paliman,
ReplyDeletehavn't tried pintos but it's on my list. It's a hard taco truck for me to get to because it's weekday only and I work all the way in downtown LA.
I drove past La Playita a couple times a week, and there's always a line, and I've always wondered if it's because the food's fantastic or because it's cheap. Now I know. I think I'll take a pass. My favorite taco was at a small restaurant, now parking lot, in Santa Monica on the corner of Pico and 14th. Soft carnitas taco with onions, cilantro, lime, and avocado.
ReplyDeleteI had one fish taco and one shrimp taco at La Playita the other day. The shrimp taco was delicious! Fresh shrimp, great salsa, fresh ingredients. The fish taco was kind of a fish and vegetable saute; interesting but not what I expected. I enjoyed the shrimp taco, but would pass on the fish one.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to know more about Pintos in the Palisades, because I pass by them all them time driving in the morning.
I love La Playita, one thing of note is that they offer chicharrones as a meat choice. They are a little hard, but way delicious.
ReplyDeleteOne more thing... they have super coctails de camaron at pretty good prices.
la playita - which I refer to as Mariscos or Mariscos Guillen is notable for its killer seafood cocktails and ceviche. other food there I am not familiar with. I love the octopus cocktail and recently discovered abalone cocktail or you can ask for any combo of abalone, octopus, shrimp, oyster. Also great is that it's open untill 11:00.
ReplyDeleteThe carnitas torta is crazy delicious.
ReplyDeleteDid anyone ever try El Happy Taco? Next door to Happy Corner Liquor Store across fro the Pacific Division Police Station. Now that was quality and good.
ReplyDeleteTheir Carne Asada is mediocre, the Carnitas, pescado, camirones, and pollo on the other hand is the bizness. Great prices, no frill. i say give it another shot
ReplyDeleteRecently, prices have raised and quality has gone down (burritos are 3.50, plates are 4.50; 1 buck more for shrimp).
ReplyDeleteTheir canre asada was always a low point. I'd recommend the carnitas, al pastor, or shrimp.
great place to hang for lunch. all is good, but stick to what is great, shrimp cocktails, and shrimp or mix seafood ceviche tostadas.
and the guac is money.
Had a great burrito here and the shrimp is a must! Have not been dissapointed yet and will be returning soon.
ReplyDeleteHad La Playita for lunch today, and won't bother going back. Both the asada and the al pastor were dry and hard to swallow. The shrimp cocktail was nothing spectacular and a little on the fishy side. You're better off going to La Isla Bonita (Taco Truck) down the street on Rose. The tacos are better and the ceviche is pretty great. Just fyi, the tacos come with beans at La Isla bonita.
ReplyDeleteUpdate 2009 April 29. I've been going to La Playita on and off for 3-4 years and the quality has been inconsistent at best.
ReplyDeleteWhen we first started going there, it was $2.25 for a huge burrito packed with good stuff, with little nice things like a crisp tostada and spicy carrots and radishes thrown in. For a while, they were great, even after the burritos went up to $3.00 and then $3.25.
It seems like every time we go there, the price has hiked a bit, the burrito is a bit smaller, and they've gotten stingier on things like the tostada on the side thrown in free (now they charge $0.25 if you'd like two of them.)
Today, the now $4.00 burritos were small, limp, had a meager amount of meat and were mostly rice and beans. Last week, the burritos were small but had an acceptable amount of meat for the price, but this was the last straw and sadly will be my last visit to La Playita for a while. At least for burritos. (OK to be fair, the tacos are actually still pretty good for $1.25, but the burritos are seriously lame.)
I think they were bought by a chain of taco stands a year or two ago and have been going steeply downhill ever since.
The carnitas torta is crazy delicious.
ReplyDeleteHad a great burrito here and the shrimp is a must! Have not been dissapointed yet and will be returning soon.
ReplyDelete