Tinga

BRING BACK TINGA SANTA MONICA!
The owners of this location made the biggest mistake of their business careers by closing Tinga for the since failed Brilliantshine and now whatever The Wooded Hollow is. Tinga was an awesome place with great atmosphere and fantastic food and drinks. It may not have always had the speediest service but if you know that going in it’s not that bad. You certainly never felt rushed there. Everyone we ever brought there loved it. Then Brilliantshine took over the majority of the restaurant space leaving Tinga with a tiny, cramped room and one employee. Since there was no way that was going to work, Tinga eventually disappeared completely. Only faded lettering on the doors remain on what is now The Wooded Hollow.
BRING BACK TINGA SANTA MONICA!

This new arrangement with Brilliantshine is NOT working out. Tinga used to be our favorite neighborhood spot. We came here weekly and brought visiting family and friends quite often. We never had a problem with service until they decided to split their space with Brilliantshine, and now everything is a disaster. On a Friday night, having only one employee to work the whole restaurant is just madness. It took 20 minutes to get water and to take our order. Our chips and salsa never came, even though we reminded him twice. The food was great as always – the new Mexican coke carnitas are actually a great addition to the menu – but the service has just gotten painfully bad. Meanwhile, Brilliantshine’s three hostesses boredly look on as Tinga’s one staffer struggles to make drinks, clean tables, refill water, take orders, and bring the food out for a full house. It’s a pity.

My date and I ordered the Elote Especial which we shoveled into our mouths in minutes; Black Bean nachos with goat cheese; and some other meat plate that I can’t find on the menu that was also very good.
The alcoholic beverages were very strong, and not too flavorful for the price or the way the bartender amped them up.
Cute seating and atmosphere. Colorful, cool décor.
Will most likely go back.

Food was great. Their meats are cooked really well with complex tastes and authentic Mexican flavors.
Staff was friendly upon entry. A little to casual for my taste; no name tags or indication of being staff. Got one of our orders incorrect but since it’s Mexican it was just styled in a different tortilla with all the same flavors, so it was still good (I.e. Burrito vs quesodilla)
Love the atmosphere. Cute patio area, paintings inside and out. Love the overall look.
Overall I would definitely go there (and bring others) if I was in Santa Monica/​Venice Beach area.

Friendly bar tender Ricardo. Best Fusion Jerk chicken wings ever. There’s so many rooms & side pockets to dive into for a more intimate feel. Great for meeting up with friends or making new ones. Who else stays open til 2am week nights in Santa Monica?

This place is under new ownership and it really shows. The bar now has more happy hour options and drink offerings. They are making a number of new changes and turning it into 3 bars in one compound. I can’t wait to see how it looks.
I had two generous portions of carnitas with a large Corona for $ 16 during happy hour. It was a lot of food and enough beer for 2.5 glasses. Additionally, my buddy and I put down a few cucumber margaritas.
I, initially, came here because Musha was closed and I wanted to kill 30 minutes with a drink before dinner. Jim, the bartender, charmed me and my friend into a few more drinks followed by dinner. I’m so glad I gave Tinga another chance, this will now become my local bar because it’s walkable.
The first time I came here I wasn’t a fan of their Mex… it was too foo-​foo and I like my Mex fatty and bad for me. If their carnitas are representative of the rest of their menu, I’m very excited about the future culinary prospects.

This place is a hit or a miss — I can see why. On my one visit there my friends and I sat in the outside patio area.
We had some great customer service! Our waitress was a little lost on some things, but she never messed up the order or made us wait for food or drinks. She was very delightful so it was forgivable. :)
The food was very yummy! We got the following:
— the guacamole and chips were delicious and fresh. The guac had a lovely light kick to it
— steak and mushroom quesadilla was very good!
— The baby arugala salad with mango and jicama was very fresh and light.
— the desserts were delicious! the Churros are super sweet with the caramel dipping sauce but the blueberry pie was divine! Must get!
Sit outside on the patio if you can — it is lovely and the setting almost makes you forget that you are a block away from 3^rd street.

The ambiance of this place is great. I took some friends here who were visiting from out of town and wanted good Mexican food. They loved it! The tacos were tasty and so were the drinks. They also have 3 – 4 different bar areas within the restaurant that are very small, but charming. It would be a great place to meet up for drinks. We finished our meal with an order of churros, which were delightfully fluffy. They come with a dreamy salted caramel sauce. Overall, Tinga is a great option for Mexican food in Santa Monica.

I have finally found another shitty enough place to write a negative review. Leaving all the boring details out, they simply could not handle our large group of 18. Drinks took 30 mins to arrive. Food took an hour to order and then another 20 mins to be served. My order was wrong. I ate it anyways. Food was bland and boring. This is a Mexican’t restaurant because they CAN’T do shit right. Our party sat at two different tables because the manager wasn’t smart enough to ask the party between us to kindly move over before serving their food.
Their cocktails were really good, but their food is just over-​priced over-​hyped burritos and tacos. Nothing special here except the short yellow bus that shuttles in their staff.

Bottom line at the top: not as good as the original location in mid city. Take out was painstakingly slow.
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Pretty disappointed because I absolutely loved the original location :(. The chips are good as always and the tacos are definitely unique but super small and they were skimpy on meat on both the lamb and the steak and the majority of the short rib was just fat that should have been trimmed better.
Pink Taco, Mondo Taco, or the original Tinga would be a better idea :)

So happy we no longer have to cross the 405 to enjoy Tinga. Very cute setting, nice outdoor courtyard. Yay for 30% off happy hour! Boo for no more aguas frescas :(
Food quality is as good as we remember from their mid-​city location. We had the tres salsas (hubby really loved the garlicky cherry tomato salsa), the Genesis tacos (grilled cumin and garlic rubbed pork loin), and the al pastor de Jerry tacos. The latter were my favorite — juicy with just enough kick. Chips are good — substantial and not greasy.
Only complaint was that service was a bit slow and the food took a long time to come out.

Santa Monica’s Mexican food options have been exploding lately and this is another great addition!
They’ve done a great job converting Renee’s Courtyard into a relaxed SaMo place to get some great, creative Mexican food. They’ve got a tremendous selection of taco flavor combinations. What we had:
THE GENESIS (GRILLED CUMIN & GARLIC RUBBED PORK LOIN) was my favorite! The roasted meat and grilled poblanos, rocked it!
AL PASTOR DE JERRY taco (pineapple marinated pork with a Caribbean kick) was a excellent and with great flavor. I don’t like sweet in my mains and I found it a little too sweet for me, but my wife loves sweet… and this loved this.
COCHINITA PIBIL was great… though INSANELY hot. Like burn your lips off your face hot. Not really exaggerating… I thought my lips were literally on fire. Tremendous flavor though. I am going to ask for it easy on the hot sauce next time.
BRAISED SHORT RIB taco was my least favorite and I cannot recommend it. I used to love short rib anything… but I think it has jumped the shark at this point (everywhere…not just here) and gets crushed by other, bigger flavors and more creative combinations.
Lot’s of great drink options too… try the dirty horchata… if for no other reason than to say DIRTY HORCHATA! (you gotta use your best Carlos Danger /​Inigo Montoya voice though!)
And did I mention they have bacon guacamole??? BOOM!
Prices were reasonable too… I will pick this place every time over El Cholo! Nough said.
Welcome to the neighborhood Tinga!

I was so excited to try out this place with my co-​workers. I had an amazing dining experience! I was invited by the owners for work purposes so the food was served family style while we were there.
I love the layout of this place. It has 3 separate bar areas, great for private parties. The first one is at the entrance on the left, cute vibrant colors, great space for the 20 something crowd. The middle of the restaurant is considered the patio area with open air seating, very nice and comfy. The 2^nd bar were we sat was on the left side and the main dining area and largest bar is in the back, so its sort of sectioned off… its really cool.
The service was amazing! Our server was very attentive and explained every dish that was brought to the table. We had so many different things, wings with mango salsa, different tacos, salsas, salads, desserts… My photos explain what we had. I loved everything. The flavors were great. Each dish you see in the photo with the white sauce was a habanero yogurt so for all you super spicy folks out there get some of that on your meal or on the side, its spicy but very good. It came on the wings but the mango salsa which was sweet balanced out the spicyness of the habanero yogurt… mmmm good!
The deserts which was the churros and berry cobbler where awesome. The churros were very fresh and not over cooked and the sauce was a salted caramel. The berry cobbler was great as well, best part was the crust… and ice cream topping… The drinks were blended very well. I had the drink called «A drink & a smoke» cool name! I loved it. It had sugared blackberries in it and just the right amount of alcohol. My favorite was the guacamole! I didn’t think i would find anything better than chipotles guacamole. but the one here was soooooo good! I couldn’t stop eating it… lol I will return here very soon and recommend anyone to stop by if you are in the area…
TIP: Street parking can get hectic in this area. so they have valet for $ 7 for 3 hours.

The Tipsy Jalapeño margaritas are awesome if you like spicy drinks! Also tried There Will Be Blood and Negroni Clandestino, but out of those 3, I’d recommend the Tipsy Jalapeño!
Food I tried the Jerk Chicken Wing, which was pretty good, and also the Lamb Adobado and Al Pastor De Jerry tacos. Both were good, but not really a distinct flavor that stood out. Just be careful with the serrano peppers that come with the Lamb tacos as a garnish! 2 staffs warned us about it when the dish came out that it’s really really really hot spicy. I just took a nibble off the tip (not even the seeds), and it hit me hard! You don’t feel it at first, but after a few seconds, oh wow! My lips and tongue were burning really badly, it actually made me shed some tears!
The birthday dessert that came at the end was really good! One of those warm, soft chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. Kinda had that Mexican spice to the chocolate cake, yum!

Great spot for a little al fresco summer dining…
Came with a group of ladies and we really enjoyed the wine, tinga tacos, rice with cottage cheese, salsa, and CHURROS with salted Caramel sauce. All was great, but damn, those were the best churros of my life.
My first Jalepeno margarita was BOMB but the bartender couldn’t make it as good later in the evening. Oh well. Our server, David, was great.

Since I loved the food at Tinga on La Brea, I was super excited about this new location in Santa Monica.
This location remedied the 2 things i didn’t like about the La Brea space: waiter service, and alcohol.
My 2 times going happened to both be during happy hour — which features some creative drinks (I loved the new one with the blackberries — not on the menu yet), and small plates.
After living in Barcelona for 2 years, i’ve been aching for some good and spicy mexican food. Tinga totally hit the spot.
From what I sampled:
Chicken wings (happy hour menu) — that mango salsa was amazing — and the wings were painfully (in a good way) spicy.
Guacamole — delicious… though i do want to try the bacon guac next time.
Bombas — very different from the «bombas» in Barcelonetta — but good and dare I say better? (all my time in BCN, i was seeking out Mexican food — now in LA, I’m eating a typical spanish/​barcelona dish — go figure).
Tinga taco & Jerry’s taco — I don’t remember which one i preferred. I liked them both a lot, but I liked the non-​smokey flavored one better. I think?
Papas Bravas — again, another typical spanish dish but thankfully not done in the spanish style. (can you tell i have very little love for spanish food?)
Elote corn — I love this stuff.
Service was very friendly & prompt. Though I’ve never been there when it was busy. I’d also never been to Renees, so i have no basis for comparison of how it was… I’m just basing my review on what I experienced. And I liked it.
(it is kinda pricey though).

Came here with my boyfriend for a late night bite.
We showed up around 10:25, were ID’d, seated ourselves at an available (but dirty) bench seat, then a waiter noticed us.
He asked if we’d be dining, to which we answered «yes.»
He told us it was after hours and they would be serving off of the late night menu.
He told us he’d have our table cleaned, and get us menus.
He appeared again at a nearby table that had clearly already eaten, and started schmoozing with the ladies.
Then around 10:35 he’s wiping our table down personally completely impersonable and hands us our menus.
This late night menu crap starts at 11pm.
So why are they trying it almost half an hour earlier on a Friday night?
I ordered water and $ 2 chips and salsa, but my boyfriend and I decided to just leave after being left alone.
This place needs some help in the customer service department.

Came here and realized that this place used to be Renee’s. What happened to Renee’s anyways? I digress… this place is cozy with an open courtyard in the middle that you can sit in. There are distinct rooms and we were seated in the back area with a bar.
Service was spotty considering it wasn’t that crowded. You also have to pay for chips and salsa. I had the long braised and hand shredded beef burrito. It was a decent size and came with no sides. You could really tell the beef had been braised a long time and that the ingredients were fresh and quality.
Overall, it was an okay experience and with all the other nearby food options, I’m not sure if I will return.

The TINGA (Spicy Shredded Chicken) is very good, it’s moist, juicy, tender, and flavorful.
I tried this through an event I attended that Tinga catered, and they did an excellent job with the catering service.
I may not be the best judge of their menu and food since the majority has cheese in it, and I’m personally not a fan of any cheeses or even things creamy.
However, the TINGA @ Tinga… the shredded chicken was very very very good. I’m generally not into spicy hot foods, but the TINGA had the right amount of kick to it that it didn’t override the taste of the food and was perfect.
They do offer curbside valet parking. The surrounding area, if you’re willing to walk does have many covered parking lots run by the City, with I think «Free 90 Mins» and there’s also parking meters (many become FREE after 6pm), so this location is convenient to go to and I’d rank this as «not at all difficult» to find parking reasonably as well.

2 stars, as Unilocal says — Meh. I’ve experienced better.
If I had to break it down:
Tacos ³⁄₅
Burrito ⁴⁄₅
Service ²⁄₅ — polite, but scatter brained service
Overall ²⁄₅
Following their opening last Thursday, we stopped by Sunday evening to see if we could get squeezed in sans reservation. They informed us that the restaurant was closed for a private event. They apologized and politely said they could make a reservation for us on Monday night.
Arrived Monday night @ 6:30pm — promptly seated and server attended us immediately. Started with the classic ‘rita and the jalapeño ‘rita. Nothing spectacular, but fresh lime juice is always A+ in my books. I followed up with the Negroni Clandestino — now that was an awesome drink — barrel aged tequila, aperol, orange zest and angostura bitters.
Our server was very nice and attentive but probably one of the most confusing servers I’ve ever encountered. You know, one of those people were you ask them a «Yes» or «No» question and they answer with «Ok».
Do you want spicy or mild? Ok.
Yeah… So we were extremely confused when she started explaining how much food we should order. She recommended we *each* get an item from *each* section — Bar Snacks, Appetizer, Taco, Quesadilla, Burrito. I even clarified, «We should both get one from each??» She replied, «Yes». I said, «That sounds like a lot of food???» She just smiled. Ok… well let’s just start with the spicy guac, 2x Genesis Tacos and 1 Flat Iron Steak Burrito. Cool? She said, so you both want Genesis Tacos, one of each or the same? Ummm… Just two genesis tacos and a Flat Iron Steak. Ok, no problem!
She then went to the table next to us and took there order. Same problem, she confused the hell out of them too. When she was done confusing them more, I flagged her down to make sure she heard me right. Can you repeat our order? «Yeah, you wanted 1 Genesis Taco and 1 Flat Iron Taco?»… Good thing I asked. It seemed they hired people that had never worked a restaurant in their life — or even watched one of the countless reality restaurant shows on TV!
A few more SNAFUs here and there — seems to be the trend lately with these new openings — again, what is the point of soft launches? They delivered our drinks to the wrong table — then again with our spicy guacamole order to the table behind us. When they would fill our empty glasses of water, they’d barely fill them halfway — so we ended up having to constantly ask them for more water.
Spicy Guacamole was good — but no sign of spice anywhere, I would have called it Gerber Guacamole personally.
Next out was the Arugula, Mango, Jicama Salad — wayyyyyyyyyyy too much of the lime vinaigrette dressing. It had good flavor, but they should have used a ¼ of the dressing.
The tacos were OK — I’ve had better at taco trucks. The burrito was awesome, loved how they torched the tortilla to make it slightly crispy. Had good flavor, the flat iron steak was nice and lean and good compliment of black beans, tomatoes, guac and refried beans.
I’m sure they’ll work the kinks out of service. Like everyone says, the burritos are great. No real desire to go back — unless we’re starving, it’s late at night and just stop in for a quick bite and drink.