El Sinaloense - San Mateo

4/5 stars

We were originally going to take my visiting in-laws to Don Pico's. They live in NY and you know they don't have great Mexican in NY (compared to Cali). Don Pico's was my favorite Mexican restaurant when I worked in San Bruno, but the recent reviews told a sad story. Hubby and I decided to take a chance with El Sinaloense instead and it was exactly what we were looking for: family-friendly and tasty!

Hubby and I arrived about 15-20 minutes before his family. We checked in with the host and asked for a table for 6 before sitting at the bar with warm tortilla chips & good, spicy salsa. They served thin tortilla chips which are my favorite kind! We decided to share a pitcher of margarita ($26) and it was great fun! Not that artificial stuff. We ended up ordering 2 more after his famly arrived. The service, especially Mario, was warm too, albeit a bit slow. Mario even squeezed extra lime into my margarita for me :) I'm def a fan of this place now! It's small, with loud, Mexican music, and legit dishes.

The food was SUPER tasty! I ordered fajitas with shrimp, chicken, and steak and it came with flour tortillas, beans, rice, guac, and sour cream. The shrimp was perfectly cooked and the whole plate was deliciously seasoned. It could've used more shrimp... My family shared the shrimp & octopus ceviche as an appetizer (because El Sinaloense is supposedly known for their ceviche) and even though it was weird that it was served with a side of mayo, it worked. My hubby's molcajete was bubbling when it arrived at the table. It had a tasty sauce. Overall, I was very pleased with the food. Hit the spot!

It was great place to start Christmas break with my family :) Thank you, El Sinaloense!

(2015)