Buena Mesa South Gate — Restaurant in South Gate

I try to be generous for locally owned places. I feel 3 stars is generous. If this had been a chain restaurant; it would be a solid 1. I want to say good things about this place, I really do.

Service was great. A+. I can tell the wait staff here really care and want to be helpful. I would hire these people if I wanted to open an eatery.

Food was awful. The oysters were so washed out to be completely bland. I had to heavily salt them just to bring them back from the dead and even then I couldn't eat more than half the plate. I asked why they were so bland and was told that they received complaints about the taste when they were served fresh . This is more an issue with the customers not understanding what a good oyster is supposed to taste like and now this place serves bland oysters as a result. Its probably best this place takes oysters off their menu for everyone's benefit. I can forgive washed out oysters. What I cant forgive was the steak. I ordered the NY Strip and thats what I got; a thin strip of meat. I wasnt expecting a slab or anything but what I did get was both burned and flavorless. I had to coat it in ketchup just to get it down. Such a waste of a good steak.

Atmosphere was sad. I was there at 7pm and the place was DEAD. The only other person there was a person at the bar. I think thats why most people come here; for the bar. Some of the tables are broken and the back of the booth seats are torn open with exposed wood. The music playing by the cook in the kitchen was louder than the house speakers in the restaurant.

I can say the bathrooms were clean at least. I understand a bunch of locals like this place, but I think they are either friends of the owner or dont eat here; just hang out at the bar, or they dont know what a good oyster/steak is...

I wanted the octopus originally but they said they didn't have any so I ordered the rib eye and for $35 I was expecting a prime grade cut but this was more like a choice cut. It was a bit tender but tough. It was cooked decently BUT extremely under seasoned. It comes with the cheese sauce which is where all of the flavor comes from which is why the steak is under seasoned. So don't expect the steak to be extremely flavorful if you just want to eat the steak alone. I didn't mind that but I didn't care for the cheese sauce myself so I was a bit disappointed. The mashed potatoes that come with it were really good though. They're not over mashed which I liked. My girlfriend ordered their fried mojarra which was extremely good! I loved it and she enjoyed it. Other than that, the service was great except for the fact that the gratuity was included but the server didn't disclose it. The atmosphere was pretty good too. I will come back and hopefully be able to get the octopus which is what I was...

Came here for the first time during happy hour and there was nothing happy about it . Service was slow. We all placed our orders for food and it took forever to come out. The shrimp ceviche had too much of a clamato taste and the shrimp cocktail we order had octopus when we clearly asked for it with just shrimp. The shrimp caldo was the last to come out and it literally had like 6 shrimp and was a bit too salty. The tacos gobernador were ok but the tortilla was a bit burnt. Food was overpriced in my opinion. We had to keep asking for napkins and condiments because they didn't have that readily available at the tables. Mind you it was just our table and another table that was being served. When the bill came the drinks that I ordered were not "part of the HH menu" but it clearly said cocktails. Waitress stated that only the margaritas were part of the HH menu but it clearly said 50% off cocktails. Never going back to this...