Dining on a budget: Zendejas Mexican Restaurant in San Dimas

By Evelyn Barge

Have you ever tried to grab an off-hour lunch in San Dimas?

On a recent late Friday afternoon, I drove around in circles to three different eateries only to find that each had closed down between lunch and dinner service.

That's how I ended up, out of sheer desperation, at an establishment like Zendejas Mexican Restaurant.

Whereas I started my late-lunch hunt hoping for healthy vegetarian cuisine, by this point I was willing to settle for - actually, devour - some greasy tacos and guacamole. (That counts as a veggie serving, right?)

From the get-go, it was obvious I was going to blow my $10 budget. (I usually go out on these types of reviews with just $10 in my pocket, as a personal challenge to remain within "Dining on a Budget" monetary limits.)

Almost every item of substance on the menu costs $9 or more, unless you count chicken strips or wings ($8.95 each) as substance. (To be fair, there are some buy-one-get-one-half-off coupons on the restaurant's Web site, but that wouldn't have helped me as a solo diner.)

The house specialty plates start at $11.50, and who doesn't order a house special when trying a restaurant for the first time? I picked the carnitas tacos platter ($11.50) with rice and beans, plus a cup of albondigas soup ($3.95).    

The tacos were dry, and the pork - shredded, plentiful but woefully tasteless - didn't hold a candle to that served out of my favorite roach coaches.

In the soup, the meatballs and broth - the heart and soul of traditional albondigas - were equally bland. I gnawed on a couple meatballs before putting the lid back on and relegating the container to the depths of the fridge, never to be regarded again.

I spent approximately 15 minutes inside Zendejas, ordering food from the hostess and waiting for it to be prepared. That time was enough to convince me there are few places I'd rather dine in less than this one.

The dining room was vacant, save for an older couple on their way out the door and a small family just settling down into a booth. And yet there was enough noise coming from the bar area and patio to suffice for a packed, rowdy house.

By the time I left around 3:30 p.m., both were filling up steadily with afternoon pre-happy-hour revelers - mostly male, mostly young and mostly on their way to the proverbial three sheets, wind business. (Maybe the food tastes better with booze?)

Shouts of "Do you want another one?" (Of course he does!) were relayed from one barmate to another.

In the parking lot, anxious to make my hasty escape, I waited on foot while a jacked-up pick-up truck squeezed its massive frame into the compact space next to mine. Its driver dismounted, before hopping the wooden railing onto the patio, apparently as antsy as I am to instead get inside.

Does Zendejas Mexican Restaurant have any appeal? Yes, for people who read a slogan like "I'ts (sic) Party Time, Zendejas Time" and think "I want to go there."

I am not one of those people.

Zendejas Mexican Restaurant is located at 665 W. Arrow Highway in San Dimas. For information, call (909) 592-6762 or visit www.zendejasmexicanrestaurant.com .