El Siete Mares: Vas o No Vas?

If I were you I would not sail these Seven Seas. Some dishes at this Silver Lake Mexican seafood house (it's a chain and there are many restaurants throughout LA) are good but overall the quality of the seafood is lacking (Nota Bene: my criticism does not include the fish taco stand which is right next door - they have killer fish tacos.)

This dinner was part of the Pleasure Palate's "Soup's On!" series and was my first Pleasure Palate event as the host. We all met here on a Thursday night when just a few hours before the weather went from very cool to about 80 degrees. Not perfect soup weather but the air conditioner was blasting in the restaurant so that helped simulate Fall weather somewhat.

Two of the better dishes that night: chips & salsa and guacamole. The two salsas were really tasty and the chips fresh and warm. But note the chips sticking out of the guac: they are packaged chips. Huh?

Their signature dish: Caldo Siete Mares. Even though I didn't order this that night I have had it before and I think that it's good. The broth is very satisfying and the fish is usually fresh in this dish.

The steaming bowl of Caldo de Camarones: this looked good but I didn't taste it (I saw LAGourmet today and she said it was very good.)

My dish that evening: deep fried Tilapia. This was quite good; the fish was fresh and it was expertly fried - no sign of grease. Plus the outside was super crispy.

Below, this was probably considered the best dish of the evening: the sizzling Molcajete de Camarones. It's shrimp, nopales (cactus), and cheese in a spicy sauce. It was served with Charro beans and rice. Everyone liked this dish but when I tasted one shrimp it was too fishy. The sauce was great though. (Note: they have really good Molcajetes next door at La Parrilla.

A couple of people ordered the Combo El Siete Mares and they were not happy campers! First of all, they served surimi "crab" instead of real crab legs - unacceptable! (I just don't understand the concept of fake crab.) Marathon Running C mentioned that the scallops were very tough and not good at all. I wonder why a restaurant would put something that they know is bad on a plate - why not substitute something else that is edible?

The next "Soup's On!" event that I'm hosting is at Mon Land Hot Pot City and I hope that you'll join me!

El Siete Mares
3131 West Silver Lake Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026

Pleasure Palate

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PleasurePalate/