I was lucky enough to get to visit this great new addition to the Lowry dining scene for their soft opening. Our dinner was complimentary, in return for giving them feedback, and half of the bar proceeds were to go to the elementary school, so of course, we had to try out several beverages! My friend and I were seated at the bar where the bartender immediately introduced himself and told us a little bit about the restaurant and their specialties. We each ordered a margarita while we looked over the menu. We were given $25 to spend on food apiece, and we honestly couldn't spend it all! We started off by sharing an avocado caesar salad and the carne asada fries. Both were delicious, although the salad could have used a bit more avocado. For our main course, we split five different tacos. I had the traditional fish taco, the "house specialty" el pastor, and the chicken tinga taco. All three were amazing...I had a hard time picking a favorite, but I think the traditional fish taco narrowly edged out the other two. The tacos reminded me of Pinche's menu, but (in my opinion) were a lot tastier. The tortillas, especially, were excellent. My friend had the cumin and coriander pork taco and the dirty rajas taco, and both were delicious, especially the pork. We didn't try the peel-and-eat shrimp, but our neighbors did, and said it was delicious, too. Unfortunately, no desserts were available on the soft opening night, but we were pretty stuffed by that point, anyway.
As for the drinks...my friend and I each had three cocktails (hey, it was for the kids!). I started off with the strawberry margarita, followed it up with a balsamic strawberry basil mojito, and finished it off with a sparkling strawberry lemonade. My friend had the same, except for an original margarita instead of strawberry. We had a prime spot, seated at the bar, to watch the bartenders in action, fresh squeezing all the fruit for the cocktails and their attention to detail. All the drinks were delicious, but especially the strawberry lemonade, which was one of their housemade alcoholic sodas, which come in six different varieties. The bartender told us that they have plans to offer buckets of the sodas in the summer, which could be a very dangerous proposition!
Overall, I was very impressed with North County. The service and food were both excellent, and the prices were very reasonable. My friend and I only spent $36.50 of our $50 allotment (on food, the drinks were another story...but did I mention it was for the kids?!). The decor and ambiance was very comfortable, and the patio looked like it will be amazing in warm weather. If they keep up how they started off, I'll be back frequently! read more