Cielito Lindo (East Sacramento)
food: 4.5/5
experience: 3.5/5
overall: 4.5/5
May this be an "in memoriam post". Cielito just closed its doors during the lockdown. Thanks a lot, governor. Killing small businesses. Real nice.
"Mexican gastronomy" is how Cielito Lindo advertises itself. Not something you see everywhere. Or anywhere in this city, actually. Definitely piqued my interest. They're only open for three hours for lunch and dinner respectively so get there on time.
First time here we played it safe with the fish tacos, plus these mini tostadas called "triangulos".
The tacos de pescado are excellent. Some of the best fish tacos I've tried, up there with Coconut's Fish Cafe (RIP Sacramento location). And they put a ton of fish in them, so much so that the tortilla breaks.
The triangulos are pretty much just triangular tostadas with cold shrimp and guacamole (ceviche) so... not very good. I still don't understand the concept of this dish. I Googled "triangulos" and the only hit that came up was this restaurant so apparently they just made it up. Er...
Anyway. We came back hoping to have better luck than aforementioned triangulos (which are thankfully no longer on the menu). Mom forgot she had them last time and almost ordered them before I reminded her to stay away.
This time I ordered the pescado dish.
Pescado en crema de chile poblano. A decent amount of fish and the sauce is creamy and tasty. I really like this dish. Not sure if it beats the fish tacos but it's up there. They do fish well here. They serve white rice instead of typical red Mexican rice here so you can get the full sauce flavor mixed in with it.
Their mango salad is pretty good. A small is still a fairly substantial amount.
It comes with pineapple, berries, and jicama too. The dressing's not bad. Obviously the fresh fruit is the best part. Get the full size with chicken or shrimp and you got yourself a whole meal right here.
The tacos de mixiote de pollo con puerco (mouthful) have the same ingredients as the estofado de granja but for eight dollars less. Hmmmm. I think I know which one I'll go with.
The adobo sauce tastes like your typical Mexican red sauce. Nothing special. At about six bucks a taco their tacos are on the pricey side. Come to think of it everything on their menu is. Guac at ten bucks? Come on now, guys.
Once I saw rack of lamb on the menu it was all over. These are the chuletas de cordero.
They're covered in a Mestiza sauce, which is also on the arrachera tampiqueña (steak). The sauce is nice and savory, and the chops are marinated so they're very tender and moist and just fall off the bone. They cooked them perfectly (a.k.a. medium done, per my request). The veggies that come with it are aight but I'm not a fan of cactus so that part mostly went uneaten. We also got the ten-dollar guac on this occasion...
Good but no different than any other guac. It's about a cup's worth, maybe a little more. Not worth it but hey, I wasn't paying.
They have a lot of seafood options but they're really overpriced and, aside from the aforementioned dishes, really not that noteworthy in terms of flavor. Cielito also has mole enchiladas, chicken, and duck. Unfortunately one of the 34 ingredients in their mole sauce (which traditionally has a million ingredients anyway) is sesame so I can't try any of those. Ugh. I miss mole so much. Lastly they offer two desserts: tres leches cheesecake and flan. Neither particularly interest me so have at them.
A couple things. Even though the service is usually great, every time we visit they are slow as hell. They must be on Mexican time for real. Also, splitting a plate costs two dollars extra. Yeah... no. This place is already expensive enough. Also it's always cold in here for some reason so bring your jacket.
experience: 3.5/5
overall: 4.5/5
May this be an "in memoriam post". Cielito just closed its doors during the lockdown. Thanks a lot, governor. Killing small businesses. Real nice.
"Mexican gastronomy" is how Cielito Lindo advertises itself. Not something you see everywhere. Or anywhere in this city, actually. Definitely piqued my interest. They're only open for three hours for lunch and dinner respectively so get there on time.
First time here we played it safe with the fish tacos, plus these mini tostadas called "triangulos".
The tacos de pescado are excellent. Some of the best fish tacos I've tried, up there with Coconut's Fish Cafe (RIP Sacramento location). And they put a ton of fish in them, so much so that the tortilla breaks.
The triangulos are pretty much just triangular tostadas with cold shrimp and guacamole (ceviche) so... not very good. I still don't understand the concept of this dish. I Googled "triangulos" and the only hit that came up was this restaurant so apparently they just made it up. Er...
Anyway. We came back hoping to have better luck than aforementioned triangulos (which are thankfully no longer on the menu). Mom forgot she had them last time and almost ordered them before I reminded her to stay away.
This time I ordered the pescado dish.
Pescado en crema de chile poblano. A decent amount of fish and the sauce is creamy and tasty. I really like this dish. Not sure if it beats the fish tacos but it's up there. They do fish well here. They serve white rice instead of typical red Mexican rice here so you can get the full sauce flavor mixed in with it.
Their mango salad is pretty good. A small is still a fairly substantial amount.
It comes with pineapple, berries, and jicama too. The dressing's not bad. Obviously the fresh fruit is the best part. Get the full size with chicken or shrimp and you got yourself a whole meal right here.
The tacos de mixiote de pollo con puerco (mouthful) have the same ingredients as the estofado de granja but for eight dollars less. Hmmmm. I think I know which one I'll go with.
The adobo sauce tastes like your typical Mexican red sauce. Nothing special. At about six bucks a taco their tacos are on the pricey side. Come to think of it everything on their menu is. Guac at ten bucks? Come on now, guys.
Once I saw rack of lamb on the menu it was all over. These are the chuletas de cordero.
They're covered in a Mestiza sauce, which is also on the arrachera tampiqueña (steak). The sauce is nice and savory, and the chops are marinated so they're very tender and moist and just fall off the bone. They cooked them perfectly (a.k.a. medium done, per my request). The veggies that come with it are aight but I'm not a fan of cactus so that part mostly went uneaten. We also got the ten-dollar guac on this occasion...
Good but no different than any other guac. It's about a cup's worth, maybe a little more. Not worth it but hey, I wasn't paying.
They have a lot of seafood options but they're really overpriced and, aside from the aforementioned dishes, really not that noteworthy in terms of flavor. Cielito also has mole enchiladas, chicken, and duck. Unfortunately one of the 34 ingredients in their mole sauce (which traditionally has a million ingredients anyway) is sesame so I can't try any of those. Ugh. I miss mole so much. Lastly they offer two desserts: tres leches cheesecake and flan. Neither particularly interest me so have at them.
A couple things. Even though the service is usually great, every time we visit they are slow as hell. They must be on Mexican time for real. Also, splitting a plate costs two dollars extra. Yeah... no. This place is already expensive enough. Also it's always cold in here for some reason so bring your jacket.
Comments
Post a Comment