My loyal dining companion, GameBoy, and I met up for dinner here on night that quite suddenly turned from sunny to foggy as I was driving down Bristol. As I got out of my car, I felt a fine layer of mist settle on my bare skin, and I grabbed my umbrella before heading inside to wait for GameBoy. Inside was warm and cozy, and minutes later I found myself sipping a fairly sweet Pisco Martini with Maracuya ($6.50) at a booth by the window. There was a bit too much maracuya juice, which is apparently a fruit found in the Amazon, and not enough liquor. However, I was pleased by the fact that it came with its own small pitcher of refill- enough to fill a whole additional martini glass!
After having a bit of difficulty finding the place (it's next to Del Taco on the southeast corner of Bristol and Red Hill), GameBoy parked and made his way in. Though I had already selected my entree, having scanned the menu as I waited, GameBoy, a bit of a slow and methodical reader, took several minutes to peruse the six or so pages of menu items. After our waitress had come and gone a few times, we were finally ready. I ordered the paella, while GameBoy went for the lamb stew, which the waitress pronounced as her favorite menu item.
The food came out quickly. My paella had more brown rice than the yellow that was depicted on the front of the menu. It contained one mussel, perfectly-cooked chunks of salmon and some white fish, lots of calamari rings, and two perfectly-cooked shrimp. I'm not that familiar with paella, but I liked this version, and certainly it's price ($14) was reasonable too. Not being a huge fan of calamari rings, I would have preferred more shrimp and mussels, but no big quibbles.
The big disappointment was GameBoy's lamb stew ($15), which to me tasted heavy and greasy. I should note, however, that I'm not a big fan of lamb other than lamp chops, so maybe it's just that I don't have a taste for it. GameBoy claimed he liked it, though he didn't finish it. In any event, though, I was glad I had gone with the paella, which was yummy. Service was a bit slow when we wanted to get the check, but other than that was fairly competent. It was my first time trying Peruvian, but I'll definitely come back.
Date of Visit: 3/13/07
Inka Grill
260 Bristol St.
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Phone 714-444-4652
Hours: Mon-Thurs 11:30am-9pm. Fri & Sat 11:30am-9:30pm. Sun 5pm-9pm
