Albuquerque - South Valley

(South Valley)
Albuquerque NM

(505) 839-8081

Mon-Sun: 11am-9pm (subject to change)

Meals Served: Lunch • Dinner

Cuisine: Marsicos/Mexican Seafood, Mexican

$$ • Booze Served

Full review: Life's a beach (1/10/2008)

A quick look through the fish-shaped menu at Mariscos La Playa is assurance that the food, replete with familiar favorites and unexpected treats, is more authentic than the mock beach painted on the wall. You must order the chicharrón de pescado . Similar to pork rinds, fish is thinly sliced—skin, fins and all—then ever-so-lightly battered and deep-fried until crunchy. The aggressively cooked meat has a cracking skin and perplexing dry yet chewy texture that comes together as a titillating snack. Pair it with warm corn tortillas and a frosty Margarita. (Alibi Staff, August 11, 2010)

Monte Carlo Steakhouse

3916 Central Ave SW

(South Valley)
Albuquerque NM

(505) 831-2444

Mon-Thu 11am-10pm Fri-Sat 11am-11pm Closed Sunday (subject to change)

Meals Served: Lunch • Dinner • Open Late

Nearby Theater: Century 14 Downtown (See Film Times)

Cuisine: Steakhouse, American

$$ • Vegetarian Available • Booze Served • Lounge

Best of Burque Restaurants Winner 2008 (10/9/2008)

Come for the Budweiser, stay for the steak. Or stay for the Budweiser, too. This is not your typical country club steak retreat—velvet Elvis, model cars and a revolving pastry case make Monte Carlo your very own Capri Lounge, right here in the Burque. The green-chile cheeseburger is on the money. Open until 11 p.m. weekends. (Alibi Staff, August 11, 2010)

Pupuseria y Restaurant Salvadoreño

1701 Bridge SW

(South Valley)
Albuquerque NM

(505) 243-8194

Mon-Sun: 10 am-8 pm (subject to change)

Meals Served: Breakfast • Lunch • Dinner

Cuisine: Latin American, Bakery/Sweets

$ • Take Out / To-Go • Outdoor Patio

Full review: You’d be insane to pass up the plantain (1/25/2007)

Albuquerque’s first Salvadoran restaurant is definitely worth checking in on, because, brothers and sisters, if you love sweet plantain, this place has the best in town. It’s also got the best pupusa —no relation to the pupu platter—and who doesn’t like the idea of a soft, thick corn tortilla filled with meat and cheese? Make it lunch with a deliciously weird imported soda named Tropi Champan . (Alibi Staff, August 11, 2010)

Rio Grande Tacos y Salsas

1411 Isleta SW

(South Valley)
Albuquerque NM

(505) 877-3890

Mon-Sun: 8am-8pm (subject to change)

Meals Served: Breakfast • Lunch • Dinner

Cuisine: Mexican

Full review: Don’t fear the tripitas (2/25/2010)

Although “Salsa” is part of its name, the menu at Rio Grande Tacos y Salsas doesn’t once mention that word. Yet the salsa flows, starting with your welcome basket of chips and continuing throughout your meal with as many refills you ask for. The small restaurant, situated in a grocery mercado parking lot where Goff and Arenal meet Isleta, serves Mexican delicacies like trays of clean, bacony tripitas de leche and fajita-like platters of alambre . To drink, there are fresh-squeezed juices of every stripe, housemade horchata and hot champurrado . (Alibi Staff, August 11, 2010)