Malo Cantina Suavecita

Malo means "bad' in Spanish. So what are you trying to say Malo Cantina Suavecita!?!  Are you "bad" like Michael Jackson, or just bad and you're letting us know up front that we're not going to like it?  Well, like most happy hour reviews, mixed in with the good is some bad and vice versa.  This restaurant, however, had a little too much bad, and not enough good, and we mean bad in a bad way...you follow?

The fun happy hour menu sticks with the Spanish theme, which we enjoyed, and brings to the palate a few Tequilas that most people don't normally get to try on happy hour.  That's good!  The $5 El Jimador Silver Margarita was a true happy hour deal rivaling any "house" margarita out there in that price range. This happy hour crew couldn't taste much of a difference between the Silver Margarita and the Oro Azul Margarita for $2 more, so stick with the Silver and save a few bucks.

The highlight of the menu drinks wise was the Fresh Fruit Infused Milagro Tequila shot. At $8 it's a bit of a splurge for normal happy hour refreshments, but buy one for the table to at least taste. Honorable mention goes to the La Dama Martini made with El Jimador Blanco, serranno chile, pineapple, lime & agave. The La Dama is probably the best tasting drink for the money at $7; if you want something other than a margarita at a Spanish restaurant (which we don't know why you would) this is the pick.

The best part of the food menu, and really the only thing on the food menu worth writing about, was the salsa! Yes, they make their salsa in house and it is WONDERFUL! With four flavors to choose from, Burnt Habanero (our favorite), Tomatillo, Serrano & Roasted Tomato or Pico de Gallo, ordering just the chips and salsa is not a bad idea at all. In fact, if you came in for chips, salsa, and a margarita, then we're sure you would leave happy. BUT, this crew likes to leave full and happy so we tried the tacos. The two potato options were average to good, but the chicken and beef were so-so to not so good. The other issue with the food was there just wasn't enough to choose from and at $2 for EACH taco, you would need to order three or four.

So, Malo, you bad-in both the good bad and the bad bad way. If you offered a few more food options that tasted less like bar food and more like restaurant food we would say you are good bad!

**One note, we rated the service here a 1 and 1/2 martini glass because there was no service. You had to order from the bar for happy hour and bring the drinks to your table. In this recession, I'm sure there is some person out there who would be willing to cocktail during happy hour at Malo!