Los Cucos Mexican Cafe

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CLOSED NOW - Opens at 11:00am

This is a small chain from Texas and the food is good, if atypical, Southwestern style Mexican food. Los Cucos can't compete with Vegas local powerhouse Lindo Michoacan, but it still has pretty good eats and great service.

The interior is strange, a rag-tag looking atmosphere in what is (obviously) a space formerly inhabited by MiMi's Cafe. The Mardi Gras balcony is still there, but now there's some sparse, randomly placed Mexican decor lining the walls. The restaurant feels spacious, open and clean, and there's a particularly nice open bar area right inside the front door. The place lacks character, but it's a pleasant enough atmosphere.

I had to laugh at the menu because it's loaded with misspellings ("crispi" tacos, "romain" lettuce) and some of the descriptions are exactly the same for different items (check out the special fajitas on the menu). When I pointed this out to our server, she couldn't explain it nor tell me which item it was that was the correct description. I eventually got what I wanted, but the menu had the dish listed under two different names. You'd think for a chain restaurant, the menu would be consistent (and free of spelling errors).

As with most Mexican eateries, the house serves complimentary chips and salsa. The chips were good enough but served cold; the salsas are DELICIOUS. Like seriously delicious. There's a spicy, smoky red salsa that's served warm and a fantastic avocado crema style cold salsa. Both of these were the highlight of my meal and I am still craving them (they'll make me return to the restaurant often).

We ordered the queso with shrimp as an appetizer. At $11.95, it's overpriced. The cheese wasn't that warm when it was served and the queso was loaded with red onions, mushrooms and other unnecessary stuff. The shrimp was seasoned well and quite delicious; however, I wouldn't order this again.

For lunch I ordered chicken fajitas and my husband ordered steak fajitas. The meat quality was top-notch. I LOVED the marinade on both of the meats, and we both agreed the meat was some of the best in town. The fajita vegetables were just okay -- onions and poblano peppers. I was disappointed in the overall fajitas, but I'd love to have just the meat served on its own. I had fajitas that came "loaded" with bacon and cheese, and it was an unusual and very tasty combo. The side plate was huge and had so/so beans, average rice, and very tasty guacamole and pico de gallo.

Fatty alert: they serve homemade flour tortillas, and they are delicious! I love Mexican restaurants that care enough to make legit tortillas, and I'm happy that Los Cucos does it right. I could've eaten two dozen of them! It's a bummer that they aren't served in tortilla warmers to keep them soft but instead are plopped on the table sandwiched between paper towels. This means the tortillas get hard very quickly. Best to gobble them up as soon as possible!

After our lunch, Jesus the manager came over to ask how we enjoyed everything. He was very eager to please and happy to listen to our suggestions. I was very impressed with this personal touch and the efficient, friendly service we received.

This isn't the best Mexican food in Vegas, but the kitchen uses very high quality ingredients, the prices on most menu items are fair, and the service is good.