Jose's Mexican Cafe Seaside

Such a cute Mexican restaurant off of Del Monte in Seaside. (The entrance to the parking lot is on Broadway). The decorations and ambience were both colorful and fun. Our waitress was super welcoming and attentive. Unfortunately, the food was very frustrating. I say frustrating because they CAN be better. The potential for amazing food is clearly there, but there were a couple of stumbles that made it hard to swallow. For example, their red salsa was amazing, full of flavor and tasted fresh. On the other hand, the green salsa, while still fresh tasting and had a good level of heat, was bland, very under-seasoned and needed more acidity and salt. The beans were blended smooth and creamy; I liked them, my lunch date did not. Steak fajitas - awesome, tamale - broken and cooked unevenly. Shrimp cocktail: the tomato sauce with avocado and onion was great! I probably could have drank it. Then... We got to the shrimps in the shrimp cocktail...the texture and taste were clear indicators that they were frozen precooked shrimps. You might be able to do serve that in a land-locked state but not in Monterey, where other local restaurants are serving fresh shrimp. Hopefully they find a way to bring consistency to the taste and quality of all their dishes. Currently, it almost taste like different cooks are making different sauces and dishes. It is definitely a place that I want to come back to and maybe even bring guests.

Super fresh mom and pop taqueria. Everything had fresh ingredients and was made to order. Don't miss the ground beef tacos...I know what you are thinking...but it was great! Service was fast and friendly, the restaurant was clean and well maintained. The highlight of Mexican food on my visit to Monterey.