The Original Red Onion

I used to LOVE this place. Like where my mom and I came to Palos Verdes from Wildomar and Irvine respectively and made a point to go early to hit up Red Onion. We got our chips and I looked at the menu.
I ordered a deluxe tostada with no meat. (I’m vegetarian) and it was pretty tasty but not quite what I’d remembered. The lack of star is actually for the margarita. My mom had just finished telling me how their margarita is the best ever when they brought out our margaritas. I took a sip and the face I made said it all. This was made with THE CHEAPEST margarita mix ever. It was like a premixed drink and the salt didn’t save it. I would never order it again.
But the food is great! Get a cerveza.

I’ve been here twice, both at fairly off-​hours — around 3 or 4 pm in the afternoon. They have been busy both times but the wait for a table was less than 5 minutes. Judging by the other reviews I either was lucky both times or benefitting from having a small party of 2. They don’t appear to have temperature control as both times I have visited, once in the heat of summer and once when it was in the 60’s outside, the dining room was warm and a little stuffy.
Food — Good in flavor. Chips and salsa as you are seated are great. Offerings on the menu seem well thought out. Pricing is a little high for the food, but low for the booze — so I guess it’s a wash? On this last visit we both had Egg and Chorizo burritos. They hit the spot, but priced at $ 8, it was really just that; an Egg and Chorizo burrito, medium in size served on a small plate. No rice, cheese, beans, etc… I got two extra tortilla chips on my plate that were probably supposed to be a garnish, but I ate those too. You have the option to get it «wet» for $ 2.25 extra which I guess is the only way to get cheese on your burrito (?). My spouse got that and the flavor of their sauce is good. I haven’t tried enough on the menu to weigh in on whether or not the food is «SoCal Authentic» or not. Chorizo was on the menu 4 or more times and I can vouch for that. They do offer takeout and events. As we were waiting for our table, we saw a 3 FOOT long burrito head out the door… now THERE’s a conversation piece ;)
Beverages — The $ 6 house margaritas are a deal. There are many options for upgrade — cadillac, anejo, yadda yadda yadda.
Service — Pretty Good. They seem disorganized at times, but I’ve never had what I would consider a «bad» experience. Seems like they just need to bring in a consultant to whip this ship into shape or something. This most recent visit our waiter checked on us several times, drinks came out right away as did food. Very pleasant.
Location — Across from the mall. Lots of street parking. The awnings make it confusing as to which side is their true entrance… we always enter where the sign is (and not where the elongated awning is in the parking lot).
Ambience — Confusing. Dark. Claustrophobic. There are several rooms that you can dine in. It would be a nightmare if the power ever went out– there is no external light entering the dining rooms and the layout is nonsensical to me.
Overall — It’s hard to find good food on the hill, so these guys have an easy time standing out. We’ll certainly be back. It looks like a place my mom would love — casual, unpretentious Mexican inspired food with margaritas served by the pitcher, but I hesitate to bring her here. It’s just hard to get over the claustrophobic feeling, the temperature, and the reviews of poor service to consider it a dependable enough place to bring guests here.

I had not been to a red onion since the 80’s. It was a pretty good place to eat back in the day! Unfortunately it didn’t carry over to this decade. I ordered a crab enchilada with the refried beans and rice… The enchilada was awful! It was in a flour tortilla which was. Gummy texture.
They should remove it from the menu because its more rice than crab. It says it’s a seafood mix but never said rice was the filler. I was very disappointed.
The chips and salsa were horrible, no flavor at all. The rice was mushy and the beans were not refried. Last but not least, our waitress was awful. Had a sour puss on her face. Not friendly and never smiled! Most of the time she was missing in action.
Very nice location but I cannot recommend this place to anyone!

Swing and a miss on a Monday at noon! Came here before a movie and had a terrible experience, sorry to report server Manuel.
— Never got our side of avocado (but it was on the bill)
— Tacos came out cold, the meat had inconsistency between warm and cold patches?
— Waters got filled occasionally, but sat empty most of the time.
— I would have happily had a second margarit