27792 Vista del Lago
Mission Viejo, CA 92692
(949) 830-9980
http://www.tortillaflatsrestaurant.com
I bought a $20 certificate from Tortilla Flats for $10 at Groupon. I am seriously loving Groupon. Not only I get to save money, it also gives me a chance to explorer Orange County and try new restaurants.
I have never been to Mission Viejo before. It's a beautiful city with really blue sky. There's a lake in the middle of the city, and Tortilla Flats is located right by the lake.
We came on a Saturday around 1pm for a lazy late lunch. We requested the patio seats like everybody else. There was a 15 minutes wait.
We took the buzzer they gave us and walked over to the lake. I wish I have one of those houses by the lake.
15 minutes later, we were seated at the patio, enjoying the breeze and the beautiful view of the lake.
Chips and Salsa
Our server brought us a basket of complimentary chips and salsa. The salsa was spicy, just the way we like it.
Tony's Margarita ($8.95)
Dr. P ordered a Tony's Margarita. They don't skimp on the alcohol in their drink. This was one strong margarita.
House Salad ($2.00)
We added a house salad to the entree for $2.00. It was a very simple and basic salad with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and cheese.
Combinaciones de Mexico ($16.95)
Enchiladas - Corn tortillas stuffed with chicken, ground beef, machaca beef, chorizo, carnitas or simply cheese. Topped with one of our http://www.eileenlikestoeat.commade salas and Monterey Jack cheese.
Tacos - Your choice of soft or fried with the following ingredients: chicken, ground beef, marchaca beef, carnitas or fish.
Dr. P ordered Combinaciones de Mexico. You can choose one, two, or three items and create your own combo meal. Dr. P got the 3 items combo. Machaca beef enchiladas was alright. It wasn't bad, but not too memorable. Carnitas taco was HUGE. It was hard not to be messy when eating this giant taco. The carnitas was tasty. We like the taco.
Tamales - Mamas http://www.eileenlikestoeat.commade tamales are hand made in our kitchen with your choice of chicken, pork or green corn and one of our http://www.eileenlikestoeat.commade salsas.
Our favorite item in the combo was the chicken tamales. It came looking like a big piece of candy. How cute! Lots of shredded tender chicken and sauteed onion stuffed inside sweet corn tamales and drizzled with spicy red salsa. I couldn't stop eating the tamales even though I was so full.
Pollo Josefina ($14.50)
Chicken breasts smothered in a spicy chipotle, mushroom cream sauce topped with cotija cheese. Served with arroz.
I ordered Pollo Josefina, which was chicken breast with spicy chipotle mushroom cream sauce. I had a similar dish at Javier's before and loved it. Tortilla Flats didn't make it as good as Javier's. The chicken breast was a bit dry. The sauce wasn't bad, but it just tasted like it was lacking something. The rice and salsa was great though.
We really enjoyed our Saturday late lunch at Tortilla Flats. I have to say, the food here is probably a 3 stars, but the view is definitely a 5. With a stunning view like that, I really didn't care too much about the food anymore. It just felt so relaxing sitting there.
After the meal, we walked around the lake a little bit more. This is a private lake so we couldn't get too close to the lake. I wish I own my private lake, too. Imagine telling my friends, "hey, do you guys wanna come to my private lake to hang out this weekend?" How cool would that be? haha.... And why don't I know anyone with a private lake? Uh.... does anyone have a private lake? Can I be your friend, please?
We like the city of Mission Viejo a lot. One day, maybe one day, we can live near the lake, too!
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Great time, really mellow and chill vibe at the lake, this part of OC I really like!!
ReplyDeleteI want to explore south Orange County more!
That tamale looks so good! I notice that their prices are higher than most Mexican restaurants----but I'm sure that its because of their scenic lakeside location. I used to visit a friend who lived in Mission Viejo and it was always beautiful up there (like Irvine, the man-made lake and the entire city was planned-out in the mid-1960's when OC was just beginning to expand southwards). If you travel up a little higher and towards the south you will see the Coto de Casa area which is very ritzy---its where many rich celebs and women from the "Real Housewives of OC" reality-tv show live and lots of views of the affluent community are seen in the episodes.
ReplyDeleteCoto de Casa? I've never heard of the area since I'm still not too familiar with Orange County.
I shall do a scenic tour down there. I've noticed South Orange County is more relaxed than Irvine/Costa Mesa area.
Eileen,
ReplyDeletethis place was like 5 minutes from my old work, so we used to come here all the time~~ It was good to see an old hangout place!! :)
Besides Tortilla Flats, we used to go to Taco Mesa (http://www.yelp.com/biz/taco-mesa-mission-viejo) a lot too, food was just as good but much cheaper, maybe you can try that out some time.
You used to work near here? Lucky you!
I was just telling Dr. P how great it would be to work near there and have this view for lunch everyday.
Taco Mesa.... writing it down on my to-try list. Thank you, WinterValley~~~~ ^_^
I've been here! My friends took me here a few years ago. I was surprised that as soon as I saw your post title, I remembered the place. The view is wonderful isn't it? I thought the food was just so-so also, but I really love the view.
ReplyDeleteExactly how we felt. Food was just alright, but stunning view.
This would be a great place to hang out with girl friends on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
I love groupon, great excuse to try out a lot of west side restaurants, we also got one for the Gamble house in Pas, which all the years been living here, never visited, very cool place.
ReplyDeleteAnd this restaurants, what a view!!
I know! Isn't Groupon great?!
Maybe you can use Groupon to come down to OC for some exploration, too? ^_*