Angela's Cafe

Food very good and delicious. Diane waitress was very sweet and helpful. Will always go back for more. Like the chips and dip. You get what you pay for in life. So I think the prices are just fine. Jeff

How many times have I left Old Town in the evenings looking for somewhere to eat, before turning onto Central and driving past the tiny Angela's Cafe, only to find they were closed? A couple of dozen, by my estimation. Seeing as how I rarely come downtown during the afternoons, I was beginning to doubt it was still in business. But then, on a another Friday night where it's getting increasingly more difficult to find a new place to try, I was resigning myself to trying Sumo when I drove past Angela's and like a beacon of hope the fluorescent "Open" sign was illuminated! I didn't know when I would get another opportunity like this, so I did one of those 180-degree turns usually reserved for car chases in action movies and grabbed a booth.

(Turns out, Angela's is only open until the odd hour of 7:30 during the week.)

You only get one free order of chips and salsa. It didn't bother me, as the chips were fairly standard and the mild salsa was poor, consisting of nothing but tomatoes, it seemed. The spicy version was better, containing visible chunks of pickled jalapeno and a general overall impression that care was taken to make it taste good.

I ordered a barbacoa burrito. It was a gut reaction, though more of the "I wanted to eat this" kind of gut reaction, not so much the "I think this is what will taste the best." Smothered? As if you have to ask. The burrito was fairly large, loaded with meat, and some tomatoes and refried beans came along for the ride. The meat was plenty tender and quite tasty for a Friday night, and the gravy which spanned the plate was gelatinous from the slowly-simmered pork and subsequently quite unctuous. I didn't know that the burrito didn't come with any sides, but given the price, I chalk it up to me not reading the menu very carefully.

Given Old Town's reputation for not offering more than one good place for any type of cuisine, I would suggest that Angela's Cafe be the go-to place for Mexican cooking, but I'm sure there are still people who would prefer to drink frozen margaritas at Playa Azul instead. It's the neighborhood's tiny, dirt-cheap Mexican restaurant, and while it may not have the flare of those bigger places, I'll always consider places like Angela's to be the Mexican restaurant of choice.

I come here all the time because it reminds me of my mom's good cooking. The real taste of Mexico!