Gloria's Restaurant — Restaurant in Huntington Park

Gloria's is located in Huntington Park on Pacific Blvd. If you drive by too quickly, you're likely to miss the restaurant. They have their own valet parking, but there's also street parking as well. The décor isn't the most modern, but it gives you a homey feel. In fact, they pride themselves on the slogan "a la casa de su." With the plethora of photos on the wall of famous people (I believe) with the owners of Gloria's, you know that this is a legit Mexican restaurant. And the food, drinks, and company of the staff and owners definitely didn't disappoint.

Chips and salsa: We started off the night with some freshly fried chips and salsa. These chips were thick and tasty and super delicious, but I knew that they were fried in oil and probably not the healthiest of snacks. But, I couldn't resist sneaking a few here and there along with the salsa, which wasn't as chunky and thick as I like, but had good flavor with a bit of a kick to it.

Homemade tortillas and Gloria's ceviche: This was delicious! I've tried ceviche where it was very watery with tomatoes. Gloria's ceviche is a bit more like guacamole, with a ton of shrimp inside. Eating the ceviche - with the addition of limes - with the homemade tortillas ... wow, it was really tasty! I definitely would try this again. Adding the limes gave the ceviche a bit of a tangy flavor, which brought out the flavor of the shrimp for me.

Potato tacos: These were amazing. I've never tried a potato taco, so I wasn't too sure what to expect, but the tacos were loaded with cheese, sour cream, tomatoes, lettuce, and this almost mashed potato like consistency at the bottom of the tacos. With the addition of lime and salsa, these definitely were the highlight of my night!

Fried intestines and chicken: This gigantic dish was served over a coal burner to keep the food warm. We were given a demonstration by the owner of Gloria's on how to assemble this dish together. You take a flour tortilla, add some beans, take some chicken and intestines, add salsa, lime and basically eat it like a burrito. I don't know the official name of the dish, but I would highly recommend it if you're into fried and crispy foods - especially food like fried pork skin! I'm pretty sure this dish is super unhealthy, but - if you have it once in awhile, it can't be that bad, right?!

DRINKS:

Dragon Berry Mojito: Hands down, the best cocktail I have ever tasted. It was pretty sweet with just a little hint of alcohol in it. I thought it was really good - I can definitely see why this is a popular drink.

Cucumber Margarita: Not the biggest fan. The cucumbers were light and refreshing, but I personally didn't like the taste of the margarita.

Mango Chamoy Margarita: This was interesting and pretty tasty. It was thicker than I expected, but I liked that the ring of the glass and top of the drink had bits of the popular Mexican candy. I don't know if I would order this again, just because I liked the Dragon Berry Mojito so much more.

"Safety Meeting": Yeah, could not drink this at all. I tried a few sips of each portion of the drink, but had to leave it at that.

Overall, I had a great time listening to the live (and famous) mariachi band that plays at Gloria's every night and eating authentic Mexican food. Music did get loud at times, so try to sit on the other side of the restaurant if you're sensitive to loud music. I was super lucky to get a chance to talk with the original owner of Gloria's and the current owner - the son - to hear how the restaurant came to be, how certain recipes came about, and why they served specific items in their restaurant. Definitely had a good experience and will be back again one day to give other items a try!

tl;dr - Dragon Berry Mojito, Gloria's Ceviche, and the potato tacos. And if you have room, try their fried intestines....

Food wise, the food was delicious in flavor. Nothing I ordered came out wrong, was on time and I had a good experience. However, the rest of the party that I was apart of had trouble getting of hold of the waitress. It was almost at times difficult to get a hold of her. They had to normally get another waitress or staff member to get her for us. The establishment itself is clean and good environment but can get crowded fast at the bar. The bar section is small. The live music was great with friends around having a few drinks and just enjoying our company. The reason for the 4 stars is that we had to go and search for the waitress for simple things like more napkins or another round of beer. Eventually we gave up on her and went straight to the bar to order more drinks. Oh and when there was a delay in one of our party members group, the waitress did not come and informed us, instead she let us wait over an hour before they brought it over and explained that there was a technical issue. I understand that this is probably a one time thing but it would have been nice to have been informed much more sooner. Again, this seemed like a single one...

So my wife wanted to surprise me with a dinner here and oh boy what a surprise it was. She ordered us a Parrillada mixed hot plate with an array of seafood, (Fried scallops, grilled shrimps, fried filet of cod), grilled Carné Asada very tender *, grilled chicken, fried plantains, fried potatoes, tripas fritas *very delicious, grilled green onions, their homemade chili salsa, arose, a small cup of frijoles charros, and a tall glass of horchata to wash it down. Last but not least, our daughter got one chicken taco plate served up with refried beans and rice.

They offer dining in, however the inside dining was full so we ended up eating outside in their large patio area which was quite delightful. They even brought out the portable heater. Practice social distancing, very clean and friendly service. Everything here was amazing for my first time here. If you love authentic Mexican cuisine, this place will...