SOL Mexican Cocina — Restaurant in Newport Beach

I had the opportunity to try Sol Mexican for a second time and it was quite an experience, made no less than impressive by general manager Ramon Trial who was very attentive. Last time I came, I tried Sol's Taco Tuesday and to say the least, my friends and I left extremely disappointed in the lack of flavor found in the chicken, carnitas, and beer battered- fish street tacos. They were so bland along with the black beans and rice. Street tacos are a classic and Sol clearly misses the mark there. Although I must say, they nailed their appetizers, drinks, and dessert.

I ordered Ramon's recommendations this time around- Shrimp 'Cucarachas' shelled in an amazing sauce with cotixa cheese, their Hot & Raw Ceviche with mango and beet chips and habanero to taste, the Grilled Sweet Corn with chile lime and cotixa cheese (their own interpretation of mexican street corn), and their Naked Guacamole. My absolute favorite, the shrimp hands down. Seasoning was spot on. The flavor combinations in that dish were unique and explosive. It alone was absolutely worth 5 stars. The ceviche was delicious and refreshing, but it definitely lacked in the amount of fish present in the dish. The corn wasn't the best street corn I've ever had but still solid and worth having. A good twist on street corn but still able to bring your taste buds back to classic flavors. Last, the guacamole-simple, basic, but well executed. The drinks chosen with my meal were the house (frozen) and watermelon margaritas and they were spot on in every way. Finally, the dessert. Chocolate Bread Pudding in a beautiful white sauce served with a couple berries all around. Absolutely one of the best desserts Ive ever tasted and sweets are not my thing. That dessert is something I will come back for as well as the shrimp 'cucarachas'. Both were memorable and unique to the experience of Sol Mexican.

I give 4 stars solely because of the street tacos and the lack of fish in the ceviche, but I plan to come back to try their other taco entrees, which may blow me away as the appetizers did. Also, a big plus to these appetizers being on the...

Came for Sunday Brunch and ended up getting the OC Restaurant Week lunch! I reserved via open table and requested a table out in the back patio because we were entertaining friends from out of town. and they certainly delivered! it was a gorgeous Sunday and we had a beautiful view of the marina with the sun beaming down. it was perfect! check in on yelp and you get a $5 margarita! although.....i do believe its a smaller size of their regular one as i saw some people at another table with much bigger margaritas than us. either way, it was still DELISH!

the complimentary chips and salsa is absolutely.....addicting! they dont give you the plain ol tortillas chips. they're like huge tortillas they bake (or fried, but i'll just keep telling myself its baked to make myself feel better about eating them).the only the thing is you have to break them into actual dippable pieces. not only do they give you salsa but they also give you beans to dip your chips. omg. soo good....i'm drooling just thinking about it.

anyway, we initially came here for the brunch options but it was the last day of OC Restaurant Week so we decided to just order off the lunch menu for $15. for the 1st course, i had a goat cheese side salad and for the entree, i had the 3 taco sampler, one each of the meexcal chicken, carnitas and carne asada and for my side option, i went with the quinoa salad. out of everything i had, i think the quinoa salad was my favorite! lol not saying everything else sucked, because it didnt. the tacos were good and the side salad was good but the quinoa salad to me was outstanding. but honestly, it was the chips and salad that won me over and will come back again for more!

parking : complimentary parking only view: ask for patio seating on a nice day staff: very nice servers here! drink: margarita was just...

I will preface this by saying I have only had great experiences at SOL before the incident I’m reviewing on... hence the 3 stars. Throughout COVID, SOL has been great as they’ve stayed open with an awesome outdoor dining setup (lots of heaters, great ambiance, etc.) but since California reopened indoor dining, that has all gone away. I made a reservation a week in advance for a party of 7 for my boyfriend’s birthday. We requested indoor seating because we had older people in our party who don’t do well in the cold - they told us they could not make a note in the system but that if we showed up early we should have no problem sitting indoors but if we absolutely have to sit outside there will be plenty of heaters. We arrived 15 minutes early and were told we could not sit inside unless we wanted to wait an extra hour, no big deal. We decided to try and sit outside and the host told us we will be able to have plenty of heaters. The second we were seated we found out this wasn’t the case. Every party sitting outside was bundled up in blankets and we were only offered one (basically single person) heater. We asked to get at least one more and were told that was not possible even though I had been recently and almost every person in the party was able to have a heater. It took a very long time to even get a response about the heaters from the manager and ended up leaving because of the experience. I had never been to SOL pre-COVID, so I’m not sure if this was a one-off experience, but normally the food, drinks, and service are excellent. Unfortunately, we will definitely be...