It was a Friday afternoon when I visited Camino Real. There were no other customers in the…read morerestaurant. The decor is fine. Nothing that really shouts Mexican cuisine, but it appeared to be clean with plenty of tables and a large screen television, but the music was pretty loud, so the TV wouldn't be much use for anything except sports viewing. There didn't appear to be any booths. The restaurant is in the same center as Domino's pizza.
26 years of living in Los Angeles has given me some good experience with Mexican food. I ordered a 3-taco plate with two steak and one chicken taco on corn tortillas, a side of refried beans and rice, and a small side of guacamole. Living only minutes from the place, I took the order to go.
Firstly, authentic Mexican corn tacos are typically served on two tortillas. This prevents the juices from tearing through the corn tortilla. The inner shell will absorb most of the juices from the meat and salsa, and the lower shell will hold it intact. These were served on a single tortilla and the chicken taco completely disintegrated when I tried to pick it up.
Both the steak and chicken tacos, even with salsa, cilantro, diced onions, and guacamole were extremely bland. The meat was not seasoned at all. I had to add salt and even then, it was pretty lackluster. They were very generous with the portion of meat, but I would have preferred less meat that was seasoned better.
Again, the refried beans and rice were unseasoned and very bland. Adding some salsa and salt helped them a bit. This is one of the rare times that I have not completely finished a plate of Mexican cuisine. The rice also contained green peas and green beans. Though I have seen a few places add peas, this is the first time I've seen green beans in Mexican rice.
The "Salsa Verde" was watery thin and tasted like lime juice. There was no pepper or garlic or tomatillo flavor whatsoever. The red salsa was like tomato juice with no spices at all. The habanero salsa had heat, but no real flavor. The guacamole tasted heavy with lime. I could not detect garlic or salt. The chips were pretty good and actually more fresh than some of the other local competitors.
Without a beverage, this meal came to $23.52, a full $10 more than the local competitors, which are actually far better than Camino Real.
The bottom line: if you're on an Atkins low-salt diet or a smoker, you may enjoy this. Otherwise, I would avoid.