SOCALO - Santa Monica (CA)

5 /5 Baruch Pletner: Absolutely adored everything about this place. The food, the ambiance, the service. Nothing pretentious, but flying in from Toronto I felt right at home and had a great meal with a great draft lager and the best mezcal Ive ever tasted. Check it out. Oh, and Peter at the bar was just fantastic.

4 /5 Jason Hoffer: My expectations were high based on the reviews, maybe too high. Both of our margaritas were pretty average and the shrimp ceviche appetizer was decent. We ordered the beef short rib and a shrimp dish. The short rib looks beautiful when it comes out and the server pours the sauce/broth over it at the table. The meat fell right of the bone and was cooked nicely, it just didnt have a ton of flavor. I had to dip each bite into the sauce which had great flavor. Similar with the shrimp dish. The flavor was good but nothing special in my opinion. We ended with the churro ice cream dessert which again was ok, but nothing special. Maybe the tacos were amazing and we should have ordered those, perhaps next time if we try it again.

5 /5 Ashley Lydia Wren: Friendly staff with a welcoming atmosphere and an excellent happy hour menu. The food is delicious, colorful, and fresh! Vegan options. Signing up with Toast app will earn you discounts for future purchases. Highly recommended.

2 /5 Ian Owen: Came for solo dinner at 6pm on a Thursday. Got seated and waited a fair amount of time to be noticed, at which time I placed my full order. The margarita De la Casa and the Crispy Baja Shrimp small plate were pretty solid. I got a good amount of shrimp, which was nice, and it was flavorful. The Carne Asada Taco plate was delicious, especially with the guacamole on it. After turning down dessert and another decent wait, I was presented with the little “toast” machine to pay. I did so immediately, hit the “print receipt” button, and then waited 23 full minutes for it. I had to flag down the waiter to get any attention while he diligently did other tasks for larger tables like fill their water glasses with the carafes left on the tables anyway. Eventually, the host brought me the receipt and wished me a quick good evening without so much as a “sorry about that.” Would have gone 3 stars overall if I had received any acknowledgement about the wait. I feel I spent enough money to deserve that, especially after leaving a tip that I wanted back by the time I walked out. TL;DR: Good enough food, disinterested service