La Playa Saratoga Mexican Cuisine — Restaurant in Corpus Christi

This is how I rate. 1 star is "HATE" 2 star is "Dislike" 3 star is "Like" 4 star is "Really LIKE" 5 star is "ONE OF THE BEST"

This restaurant is a two star for me. Let me explain.

I do not drink sodas, so when I first arrive to a restaurant I usually ask if they have tap water or filtered water. Usually a restaurant will have filtered water. This one did not have filtered water. I would expect a restaurant like this one to have filtered water, but I'm not one to complain. Which is why I purchased the Bottled water.

It's cool though. I've never been in this restaurant and wanted to try out the food. At this point I order the chile con queso and that was good. However, the fried flower chips that came with it were not only cold, they were also too oily and tasted a little stale. I can only assume that these chips were from the night before since I was eating at 11:30am on a Sunday and they open at 11:00am.

We decided on ordering their chicken mole street tacos and shrimp and fish street tacos. We got our food and it was cold... I was a little confused. I have never received cold food that wasn't meant to be cold. I was hungry and wanted to try this food. I've heard great reviews and read some. I wanted to experience a great Mexican plate. So I did what any Hungry guy would do... Eat. Even though the rice was cold it had pretty good flavor. The corn tortillas were oily. I honestly don't even know why. Anytime I have ordered street tacos from trucks, buses, taquerias, in the U.S. Or Mexico, I have never had oily tortillas. I've had the barbacoa drip out grease, but never had greasy tortillas. And it's worse when it's cold. It's kind of funny now that I think about it. Lol.

The Chicken Mole Taco plate had chicken and what looks like canned mole sauce poured on top. I've never seen that before. After my wife tried it she had to return the plate because it was all cold and she didn't like they way the chicken tasted.

Haha, I'm now laughing at this experience. Imagining her eating cold chicken tacos with mole sauce poured on top like the average American pours chilli on a hot dog. This is Super funny. Anyway...

They comped the mole street tacos, which I appreciated. Then paid and left.

Oh, the server was Giselle. She was cool. I hope she didn't think we were too much. I know it's not her fault the food was cold. Unless she is management.. Then she is bad Gisselle for allowing cold food to leave the kitchen. But im sure she is just a server.

I don't think I would go again.

I grew up cooking and eating Mexican food. I can make my own food rather than pay...

If I could give this place zero stars I would . Myself and a few friends went in with our children on a Sunday evening . Immediately upon arriving the manager or staff, didn’t even greet us but informed me they were closing on an hour and half and we needed to keep that in mind while dining . Not a very welcoming initial greeting but okay I thought we’d be in and out and it was fine . The waitress took our order and got not one, not Two but three of our orders wrong ontop of that it took 30 minutes to get the cold, WRONG order . The waitress never once came to check on us while our drinks were empty and clearly wasn’t interested in doing her job that night . As we waited to find our waitress 30 minutes before closing the managers began turning off the television and making us feel like we were just not wanted and pretty much being told it’s time to leave for there “Christmas party”. After we ate our food and tried to check out the checks were split and I was once again unable to find the waitress to pay I walked up to the hostess podium to see the waitress laughing and chatting with another staff member when she rudely came over as if I was bothering her for doing her job and allowed me to pay . The following day I noticed on my bank statement my card was charged 38$ not the 31$ that I paid that evening. I called the manager immediately and he kindly apologized and said waitress must have “mixed “ it up and I could come in to the restaurant to fee the difference . I went in and was confronted by the staff who rudely said “ are you here for your 5 dollars “ as if I did something wrong when it was her who was obviously trying to steal from me by forging a tip onto my card . This was totally unprofessional and in my opinion should have never happened . Why would la playa allow an employee to steal from there customers and then when trying to correct it which is BY PRINCIPLE, is the customer confronted by the disgruntled employee. I couldn’t believe they allowed this women to Do this and just walked out and allowed them to keep there 8$, she obviously needed it more than me . What a joke ! Merry Christmas to you...

On a work trip to Corpus Christi we asked for a recommendation from our local contact said to go to La Playa. He insisted we go visit the Saratoga location and it did not disappoint.

The staff was friendly and attentive.

Chris made sure my Mango Jalapeño margarita was just to my liking, and it was - a little sweet, a little spicy and all delicious 😋

Samantha answered all our questions about what the locals enjoyed. I ended up getting a Corazón del Valle (which was enough food for me to stuff my self and save some for later). My coworker got the Fajitas Tarrascas and could not stop raving about the flavorful & tender beef, with the house sauce.

Oscar the chef did an excellent job and I definitely recommend you try La Playa if you're looking for some Mexican food in Corpus.

I almost forgot, the salsa with multi colored chips had right amount of kick and the fried ice-cream was an...