Thursday, October 15, 2009
Bland namesake doesn't sink Cabo Fish Taco
TOM ANGLEBERGER Special to The Roanoke Times
Cabo Fish Taco found a perfect home for its West Coast sensibilities in this downtown Blacksburg building.
Tom Angleberger knows what he likes. So we've asked him to eat at NRV restaurants and write about them. If you have a restaurant to recommend,
e-mail him. Tom Angleberger
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Cabo Fish Taco has three seating options for lunch.
You can sit inside -- in a barroom plastered with big screen TVs. You can sit outside -- on a patio that is perhaps a little close to Main Street traffic. Or you can pick a third option that is somewhere in between. It's a sort of cross between a sunroom and surf shack.
The tables and chairs are extra tall, Bob Marley is on the wall, and on the warmish day I visited, a nice breeze came in through the door. I found it quite pleasing.
There's another bar in this room and more TVs, but this room is much less cluttered that the main barroom. It was a nice place to relax and enjoy my lunch.
First I tried the chips and salsa, of course. The chips were very good by themselves and the salsa -- which was so chunky as to almost defy the term salsa -- was spicy and delicious.
In an attempt to try the house specialty, I ordered the Cabo Fish Tacos. These were disappointing. They were so mild I actually squirted on some hot sauce, something I almost never do.
I wish I had tried something bolder from the menu, which includes a barbecued mango mahi-mahi taco, the Ancho Philly Wrap and a tuna burrito with a honey wasabi sauce.
There are also quesadillas, fajitas and pasta dishes. There are some creative salad options as well, including one with "tropically blackened Sashimi tuna topped with an apple-raisin rum chutney served over our Casa salad."
Just the description of that is more exciting than my fish tacos.
Being a teetotaler, I missed out on much of what Cabo Fish Taco has to offer.
On most days, the happy hour runs from 2 to 7 p.m. That's a long happy hour, but perhaps not as long as the tequila bar, which they claim is the largest in Virginia. What exactly this means to you and your drink, I can't say.
Bottom line: The pleasing beachy vibe at Cabo Fish Taco made up for unexciting fish tacos and will help lure me back for another try.
