Tia Juana
11785 W Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064-1211

Sometimes, taking a chance can bite you in the ass. There's some favorite Mexican places I haunt, after careful review reading, recommendations from other people and general feelings at the moment. But when I just dive into going somewhere...then...I have no idea what to expect. Tia Juana was one of these places.

We got there late, so after sitting down, we found that our table mates had already ordered...cactus. Whaaa...? Cactus? Not my cup of tea. I didn't have any, although it looked a lot like stewed chewy bell peppers more than anything else.
I had the albondigas soup. Totally not that great. Everything in here was boiled wayyy to long, and felt half digested as I was trying to drink it.
This is my "river of food", as I called it - the two beef burrito plate, with rice and beans. Y'know when more is not really GOOD more, it's just more? This is in the same vein. It was just a ton of food, but not good food. I ate some. The rest went in a take out box, which I didn't eat out of again.
More rivers of food. I think this was the carne asada plate, half eaten. By half, I mean the most anyone can eat without bursting, and then this is what's left on the plate still.
Owen got the two chicken taco plate. Nothing spectacular, but at least more managable.
Here's a nuclear looking flash filled close up on the chicken taco. Sorry guys. Still dealing with camera issues. You weren't missing much though. Shredded dry white chicken meat, iceburg lettuce, tortillas. The tortillas were handmade, at least.
This is Tim's calamari plate. I think it looks like the skin of the arm of the Predator from the movie, The Predator. Tim was expecting the calamari to be something more like what he had from Casablanca...but that obviously was not the case. In addition to it not looking very appetizing, Tim was completely not digging on how it tasted. He actually SENT IT BACK. Now, I don't know if I've discussed my feelings on sending back food. Mainly, I would never do it. The fear of getting saliva laden gross food back is too much of a deterrent for me. What are your thoughts? Anyways, Tim has no fear and sent it back, and got the carne asada instead. And here it is. Looks okay. I still wouldn't eat it.

This place wasn't THE WORST PLACE EVER or anything. It just...didn't do anything for me, when I've been spoiled by other, cheaper, more delicious places around. Eh. Go for your Mexican food fix elsewhere, I'd say.