Do you enjoy seafood and want to have a sense of how it is eating by the sea? Well "La Roqueta Restaurant" does a decent job providing you that experience in which you crave. From the décor to their food, you will taste the sea through your taste buds and see it as well from their creative decorations of the maritime during any time in which you are hungry.
When you enter "La Roqueta Restaurant," the first thing you could notice is a karaoke machine at the far left edge of the room making it great for people who like to dine with their friends and have a good time there singing as well as eating their food. Although the room looks old as for having minor cracks on the walls, the walls display a variety of paintings of boats and the sea as well as having a giant sized menu in which you can order from. However, one feature that caught my eye were the tables and the chairs. The tables and the chairs were old. Some wobbled while others had scratches on them only to be covered from the publics' eyes with a blue and white sheet and plastic top. Lastly, there was an eerie and giant lobster replica on the ceiling giving you the sense that you were being watched as you ate his marine friends after ordering from the menu.
After my arrival, no one greeted me when I entered the establishment. It may have been due to either the owner or waiter were busy preparing the food or some other factor, but I kept myself busy looking at a miniature waterfall pouring water onto fake plants that was next to the cashier register. The waiter came in from the kitchen asking me what I would like to order as she handed me the menu. There was a long pause between her and myself as I tried to think of something quickly on what I should order. Yet, there was something odd from the menu, there were translations on some of the food items while others did not have any which I highly recommend that if you were to go to the restaurant to either brush up on your Spanish or ask the waiter nicely what you are ordering.
During my experience, I ordered the Caldo de camaron ($11.99), one steak taco ($1.50), and a carrot smoothie regular sized ($3.00) for a grand total of $17.05 with taxes ($0.56).
Choosing to sit at a table as far away from the karaoke machine as possible to avoid any possible deafening noise that would come from it, I waited for my food to be served. I was still gazing at the dead lobster on top of the ceiling. About ten minutes have passed and nothing was served to me yet, except for a platter of tortilla chips and some green salsa as an appetizer to help me wait a little longer for my real meal to begin. The tortilla chips were a bit stale not to mention very salty, but the green salsa that came with it was great. It had a great mix of celery, onions, green tomatoes and such which gave it a mild and sour taste.
At last, after another ten minutes I was served with the meal I have ordered.
The Caldo de camaron or the Shrimp Stew was the first to be analyzed. The stew itself looked red with a few shrimp inside it like about five or six of them on the plate on top of another larger platter with other condiments if I wanted to add anything extra to it like onions, lemon, etc. It smelled well like boiled tomato sauce, red pepper, and with a hint of oregano. I tasted it and the same results came up as with its smell. Boiled tomato sauce, red pepper, and with a hint of oregano. It wasn't very spicy, but mild. Overall, it was decent.
Next was the steak taco. It was smaller than the small size plate itself. It had small steak pieces wrapped tightly with a tortilla mixed with lettuce, tomato, cilantro, and nothing else. However, I was giving a small sliced lemon with red salsa if I wanted to add them onto the greasy, drippy taco. The salsa looked like mashed red peppers with other herbs and spices that I couldn't figure out, but it was still mild not spicy. I tasted the taco with the salsa and it was bland. All I could taste was the salsa, tomato, cilantro, and lettuce while the meat was overcooked. Once again, I wasn't satisfied with the order.
Lastly, I had my carrot smoothie. As I drank the carrot juice I often found myself crunching something awful. I do not know what it was actually. It was not the carrot itself, but something that could have been covering the carrot itself like leftover dirt or something. That feeling didn't persist long as I finished drinking the smoothie out of good table manners unfortunately.
The waiter came to me if I wanted anything more, but I told the waiter that I was full and didn't wanted anything else from the menu- partly due to my budget being very low. I threw away the cup and any leftovers from my plates, le read more