Alberto's Cantina - Pleasanton, CA

Alberto's Cantina
435 Main St.
Pleasanton, CA 94566
(925) 462-2316
albertoscantina.com



Alberto's Cantina is Mexican restaurant and tequila bar in the heart of downtown Pleasanton. This is a rare occasion in which I'm reviewing a restaurant that I have not eaten at...but we had some delicious mango margaritas here and felt it worthy of a spot on my blog!

A mango margarita at Alberto's Cantina in Pleasanton normally costs $8 or you can get a whole pitcher for $32, which is what we ordered. We were thirsty and in need of a refreshing beverage! ;) Their chips were pretty good, but their salsa could use a little help. Service was friendly and attentive, so we would definitely go back to Alberto's Cantina in Pleasanton for their margaritas...and perhaps even their food!

High Tech Burrito - Pleasanton, CA

High Tech Burrito
349 Main St. #120
Pleasanton, CA 94566
(925) 462-2323
hightechburrito.com

High Tech Burrito is located on Main Street in downtown Pleasanton between Cold Stone Creamery and Tully's Coffee. They have the best "fast food Tex-Mex burritos" among their competitors, such as Baja Fresh, Una Mas, etc. Although they have quite an eclectic burrito menu with such ingredients as pineapple salsa (Hawaiian Teriyaki), peanut sauce (Thai Chicken), tomato pesto (Tuscan Pesto), BBQ chicken (Ya-Hoo BBQ), tofu (Braised Tofu) and curry (Yellow Curry Shrimp), they also offer the traditional classics of chicken, steak and pork.



My favorite (actually, it's the only one I've ever ordered!) is their gourmet Surf and Turf "steak and shrimp sauteed in salsa, onions and garlic with black beans and spanish rice in a grilled flour tortilla" because you just can't go wrong with that!



High Tech Burritos can stand up on their own! Their gourmet burritos are all $6.95 and for an extra $1.50 you can get a combo meal that also includes a drink and chips & salsa or guacamole. If you're ordering for two, sharing one combo is perfect unless you're really hungry!

Taco Del Mar - Pleasanton, CA

Taco Del Mar
3550 Stanley Blvd.
Pleasanton, CA 94566
(925) 846-8337
tacodelmar.com

This Taco Del Mar is located on Stanley Boulevard at Bernal Avenue in Pleasanton, near the Livermore border. It's behind the McDonald's and ARCO Gas Station, next to Subway. We ate here once with a coupon and neither one of us liked their food...it reminded us too much of Una Mas quality, horrible Tex-Mex tasteless food. Needless to say, we've never been back...and after driving by a couple of weeks ago, it looked like they were closed and out of business.

Chevys Fresh Mex - Pleasanton, CA

Chevys Fresh Mex
5877 Owens Dr.
Pleasanton, CA 94588
(925) 416-0451
chevys.com

This Chevys is located off I-580 and Hopyard, next to the Mercedes-Benz dealer. It's one of those restaurants that's one big open room, so it can seem quite noisy when it's busy. I like Chevys during happy hour (M-F, 3-7) when you can get delicious chicken flautas and steak fajita nachos appetizers...and of course margaritas for $3!

P.S. If you get a receipt that has a customer service feedback survey and call it in, you can get a free appetizer on your next visit! Check out the free appetizer sampler platter we got in the bottom pic...

Tequila's Taqueria - Livermore, CA

Tequila's Taqueria
160 S. Livermore Ave.
Livermore, CA 94550
(925) 371-1191

Tequila Taqueria is one of those typical hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurants that serve authentic, delicious Mexican food. They're located right next to Peet's Coffee & Tea in downtown Livermore, across the street from the Post Office. I've only ordered one item from their menu and it's so good, I don't even think about trying something else...it's the Super Burrito Al Pastor! Yes, I have finished one of these hugigantimongous burritos...but I was REALLY hungry! ;)

Chevys Fresh Mex - Livermore, CA

Chevys Fresh Mex
4685 1st St
Livermore, CA 94551
(925) 960-0071
chevys.com

Hot afternoon + getting our money out of Chase Bank (YUCK!) = Margarita celebration at Chevys during happy hour! This time wasn't so bad, as we had Erin serving us (love her!) but between the missing raspberries on our raspberry-strawberry margaritas (people at other tables had the raspberries...!!!) and the stale chips in the steak fajita nachos, I just can't give 'em any more than 3 stars.

At least I took more pics - the cantina, outdoor patio, $3 appetizers and margarita after margarita after margarita! :)







1st round of margaritas (peach, raspberry-strawberry)


Steak fajita nachos and chips & salsa


One more round of margaritas!


Chicken flautas with extra jalapeno jelly...yum!


My 3rd margarita - WOOHOO!!!


The place was packed by the time we left!


Outdoor patio

Las Fuentes - Pleasanton, CA

Las Fuentes
929 Main St
Pleasanton, CA 94566
(925) 462-7319

We bought one of the Restaurant.com $25 gift certificates for Las Fuentes and decided to give them a try for dinner tonight. The place was empty, but we sat down and ordered two combination fajita dinners. With nothing better to do than to look around, I noticed they had taped a Restaurant.com $25 gift certificate to the wall behind the counter and wrote "NOT VALID" on it. Uh-oh...that gift certificate was the reason we were trying this place out.

When we told the young male server we had a Restaurant.com gift certificate that we purchased online and asked why it wasn't valid here, he said the owner told him not to accept them because he didn't know anything about it...excuse me??? We've used 22 of these Restaurant.com gift certificates at 22 different restaurants and all 22 worked fine. The server did offer us $2 off our meal and told us that so many people have come in with the Restaurant.com gift certificates.

So they use Restaurant.com to attract new customers to come in to their restaurant, then tell them they don't accept the $25 gift certificates but take $2 off their meal and voila...another sucker bites the dust! Not me, though...we left before the food even came out. I'm going to contact Restaurant.com about this and if they verify that Las Fuentes did sign up for their program...I'm never coming here again.

Here's my e-mail to Restaurant.com:

Hello!

I've been very happy with every Restaurant.com gift certificate purchase so far and to date, I've used them at 22 different restaurants! However, this evening my husband and I stopped in at Las Fuentes (929 - B Main Street, Pleasanton, CA, 94566) and they had a copy of a Restaurant.com gift certificate with the words "NOT VALID" written across it.

I asked why they don't accept Restaurant.com gift certificates and the server said the owner didn't know anything about them, so he was instructed to decline them and offer customers a $2 discount instead. FYI, the server says that many people come in with these gift certificates! I'm just glad I noticed the sign and I don't like being the victim of a bait & switch, so we left before the food was even brought out and told them to cancel our order.

Please let me know the status of Las Fuentes restaurant...is it true that they didn't sign up with Restaurant.com? I didn't think you published gift certificates without the restaurant's knowledge, but thought I should ask just for the record! :)

My $25 gift certificate no. is ________, if you need that info to issue me a refund.

Best regards,

Leilani Souza

***UPDATE ON 4/7/2009***

Here's the reply from Restaurant.com:

I apologize for the inconvenience, I checked the account and yes, there is a contract. We don't put restaurants on our website without a contract. Our cancellations department has been notified that the restaurant is not accepting certificates.

Una Mas! Mexican Grill - Livermore, CA

Una Mas! Mexican Grill
1476 1st St
Livermore, CA 94550
(925) 606-5120
unamas.com

I haven't eaten at an Una Mas in many years...and today after eating at this one, I realize why. It's basically one step above Taco Bell. We ordered the shrimp fajitas, the Monterey shrimp quesadilla and a taco salad.

The shrimp they use are the miniature bay shrimp and the 2 flour tortillas that came with the fajitas almost make Taco Bell tortillas look good. The Monterey shrimp quesadilla came with pineapple salsa, which was a nice twist to an otherwise boring dish. I didn't even try the taco salad.

Even with a $10 Restaurant.com gift certificate, this meal still came out to $14.67. I'd rather go to Tequila Taqueria for their super burritos for about the same price...without a coupon.







Veggie Taco Salad $5.79


Monterey Shrimp Quesadilla $7.59


Shrimp Fajitas + drink $9.99


Lunch for two including tax: $14.67
(courtesy of a $10 Restaurant.com gift certificate)

Fernando's Mexican Restaurant

Fernando's Mexican Restaurant
348 St. Mary St
Pleasanton, CA 94566
(925) 846-5740

Location: Downtown Pleasanton, next door to Redcoats British Pub.

Ambiance: Nice "typical" Mexican restaurant decor with murals on the walls, cozy comfortable booth seating.

Service: Good.

Chips & Salsa: Chips were served cold, but the salsa was tasty.

Chicken Tortilla Soup: DH liked it, but it was a little on the salty side for me.

Chicken Chimichanga: I just had one bite of it, but it was better than my dish. :(

Chicken Enchilada Suiza: Everything was cold, so the dish wasn't off to a good start. I ate the enchilada and the beans, but the rice was old and hard...ugh.

If Fernando's was located in Hawaii, it would be on par with the Mexican restaurants they have there...which aren't very good at all. With so many great Mexican restaurants in California, I don't have any reason to return to Fernando's.









Chicken Tortilla Soup (included w/meal)


Chicken Chimichanga $11.75


Chicken Enchilada Suiza $9.70


Dinner for two including tax and tip: $15.95
(courtesy of a $10 Restaurant.com gift certificate)