Critic's Review
I'm not sure why I went into Zona Fresca; I don't normally do fast food. I mistakenly thought this might be something else. It's not.
The previous restaurant that was here is gone; After many years operating as a bad pizzeria; they've ripped it, replaced the floor with polished concrete and turned it into a fast food restaurant.
Everything I've had at Zona Fresca other than fish tacos have sucked, so I ordered 2 fish tacos. About $6 for 2. I place the order and head over the to "Salsa Bar", once an edgy extra but now a ubiquitous feature of fast Mexican.
Hard to get excited over this salsa. The Mild seemed like it might be ok.
I sit on one of the uncomfortable chairs and wait. The place is incredibly dreary. A corner storefront; fast food all the way.
It took 10 minutes for the tacos to come out. Way too long for fast food. Way too long to wait in this insipid storefront with bad Mexican music blaring.
I got home and opened the bag. Chips are included.
Fried fish sticks with cabbage and tomatoes. A little difficult to get out of the container without breaking the shells.
Surprisingly flavorless. I really liked this the first time I had it in 2009, but this was very bland and pedestrian.
It looks like they chopped up a lot of bad tomatoes; I guess they use the good tomatoes for salsa and the bad ones for tacos.
Conclusion
I didn't care for the "fresh" Mexican concept when Baja and Lime were opening and closing copycat concepts; and I like it even less now. Mexican food is about intense flavors, and these tacos had no taste at all. I could have loaded it up with salsa, but if I have to do that then the food isn't worth eating.
