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OK, where is the best lobster diner for the price from Rosarito to Cantamar?

Originally Posted by larry

OK, where is the best lobster diner for the price from Rosarito to Cantamar?

Casa de Langosta, Puerto Nuevo

Originally Posted by Teniente

Casa de Langosta, Puerto Nuevo

It it the 4th restaurant on the right as you enter Puerto Neuvo? Have you tried Splash's Langosta? I heard it is pretty good also.

Originally Posted by larry

It it the 4th restaurant on the right as you enter Puerto Neuvo? Have you tried Splash's Langosta? I heard it is pretty good also.

I meant 4th restaurant on the left side of the street.

Originally Posted by larry

I meant 4th restaurant on the left side of the street.

It's on a corner, on your left. Second block (I believe) when you enter from Rosarito. Dining room is upstairs.....I don't think you can miss it.

Originally Posted by Teniente

It's on a corner, on your left. Second block (I believe) when you enter from Rosarito. Dining room is upstairs.....I don't think you can miss it.

Just curious as to why you think it stands out from the rest of the resturants?

Originally Posted by larry

Just curious as to why you think it stands out from the rest of the resturants?

Generally, all of them are the same. We tried several, however we like the staff at Casa de Langosta and have been going back for about 20 years.

I'm sure others will chime in with their favorites and opinions

I've been to Puerto Neuvo many times, often entertaining visitors. We usually picked a restaurant on the water, but the one that Teniente mentioned always has a line of Mexicans in front of it. It's also the ONLY one I've ever seen with a waiting line. The last time we were there we asked some people standing in line why they were waiting and they all said the same thing:

'All the restaurants here have the same price (can anyone say 'price fixing'?) but this one has better food and better atmosphere." I guess that also means better service, too. There is no view at the restaurant, so they have to make up for it somehow and it looks like they have succeeded.

Originally Posted by bwall

'All the restaurants here have the same price (can anyone say 'price fixing'?)

Mexican business hates to compete, so price fixing is their preferred business plan. It's more like a tacit agreement between them.
It goes many ways. For instance....there may be a half dozen Backhoe owners out here and they've been locked in to the same price for so long they don't even make enough to pay for maintenance on their equipment, let alone make a decent wage for their investment. They can't raise their prices because the competition will undercut them. They don't discuss their prices among each other....they just live in the past with yesterdays income. They have cut their own throats and don't even realize it.

Another story concerning the new and emerging concept of competition.
Some years back in the Guadalupe Valley wine industry, Santo Tomas was one of the leading consumer products of the few [at that time] available, and they priced their garbage product as though it was liquid gold since they had little competition.
Well....along came NAFTA and with that, competition from the hated north meaning Napa Valley.
A wine festival was planned in Ensenada and a late entry was one of the most successful vintners from California. When Sta. Tomas got wind of the late invited guest, they pulled out of the event. They wouldn't even be in the same room with producers of a superior product with the reasonable price.
This was back in the 80's and coincidently, I recently saw a gallon of their cheap Vino Tinto on the shelf here for the same 18 dollars they wanted for it way back when.

Some businesses never learn.

Not sure I agree that all Puerto Neuvo Resturants charge the same price. I have found ones on the ocean like Ortegas are a couple dollars higher than those that don't have an ocean view.

Originally Posted by larry

Not sure I agree that all Puerto Neuvo Resturants charge the same price. I have found ones on the ocean like Ortegas are a couple dollars higher than those that don't have an ocean view.

Ambience is worth a couple of bucks, I believe.

Dennis: Fascinating story on the Guadalupe Valley winery. Thanks for sharing.

I often wonder what the catalyst for the explosion in Guadalupe Valley wineries was. Does anyone know? Or should that be another thread?

Originally Posted by bwall

I often wonder what the catalyst for the explosion in Guadalupe Valley wineries was. Does anyone know? Or should that be another thread?

Nouveau wine snobs, is my guess.
Also, there has been a large effort to bring in international experts for the production of quality product, which some say they do, but who knows? The judges are most often hired guns.
I once had a discussion with a botanist for the wine industry. He was/is independent of all advertising pressure.
His learned opinion with current information, was that the Guadalupe Valley didn't have the requisite "Frost Days" [23...or something like that] to move the sugars throughout the vines to produce a grape of a quality high enough for fine wine.
That, of course, won't be sufficient for advertisers to downgrade their evaluation from the pinnacles on which they place their product.

I'm a big fan of Two and a half buck Chuck.....so what do I know.

Originally Posted by larry

Not sure I agree that all Puerto Neuvo Resturants charge the same price. I have found ones on the ocean like Ortegas are a couple dollars higher than those that don't have an ocean view.

Villa Ortegas is the only place we go as I enjoy eating on their decks on the cliff and their buns that are filled with cream cheese too much to worry about $20.00 or $30.00 pesos more.

They had a chef from Villa Ortegas on a morning talk show in TJ and he talked about how they cook the lobster. They cut it in half and deep fry it in lard for a minute of so. Their bacon wrapped large shrimp stuffed with 3 kinds of cheese [6 per order] that is also deep fried with a dipping sauce is my favorite dish there. They take the basket of cream cheese buns you get when first arriving away you haven´t finished and replace them with a basket of warm buns half way through your meal.

Free guarded parking. Can´t go wrong with eating there.

Originally Posted by MexicaliAlan

Villa Ortegas is the only place we go as I enjoy eating on their decks on the cliff and their buns that are filled with cream cheese too much to worry about $20.00 or $30.00 pesos more.

They had a chef from Villa Ortegas on a morning talk show in TJ and he talked about how they cook the lobster. They cut it in half and deep fry it in lard for a minute of so. Their bacon wrapped large shrimp stuffed with 3 kinds of cheese [6 per order] that is also deep fried with a dipping sauce is my favorite dish there. They take the basket of cream cheese buns you get when first arriving away you haven´t finished and replace them with a basket of warm buns half way through your meal.

Free guarded parking. Can´t go wrong with eating there.

Cream cheese.....the national food of Mexico............but NOT with my lobster

Originally Posted by Teniente

Cream cheese.....the national food of Mexico............but NOT with my lobster

I thought lard was the national food of Mexico?

How many "Ortega's" restaurants are there in Puerto Nuevo?

I went once to Villa Ortegas. It was hands down not just the worst dinner in Puerto Nuevo, but perhaps in all Mexico. Don't know what it was but we all felt like we had had a ton of grease. Perhaps in the soup appetizer? Who puts lard in soup? Felt bad for the next two days.

I see lots of people there and it seems to get good recommendations, too, so I guess we must have just gotten a bad batch--of something.

Originally Posted by DENNIS

How many "Ortega's" restaurants are there in Puerto Nuevo?

I think that there are three restaurants with a variation of the name Ortega.

Originally Posted by bwall

I think that there are three restaurants with a variation of the name Ortega.

The Ortega Brothers have two restaurants in Puerto Nuevo, one in Rosarito Beach on Blvd. Benito Juarez and one on University Ave in Hillcrest area of San Diego. Same family, same excellent food. The Rosarito location has the only buffet I think.