Pink Taco and the Tale of the Disappearing Happy Hour

Here’s a little restaurant trivia that I bet you didn’t know. The franchise known as Pink Taco—with locations in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Scottsdale, and soon to be in Hollywood--is owned by Harry Morton, the son of Hard Rock Café’s co-founder Peter Morton. The name Morton should ring a bell, as Peter is the son of Arnold Morton, who founded the Morton’s chain of steakhouses. Now there’s a food dynasty if I’ve ever seen one! And don’t say you never learn anything from this blog because I just gave you more restaurant knowledge that I bet you ever wanted to know.


Anyway, Pink Taco in Los Angeles was the destination of our happy hour last night. Located on the second floor in the Century City mall, Pink Taco has Hard Rock’s eccentricity written all over it, which can be a good or bad thing depending on your style. The interior is oddly decked out with gleaming hub caps, statues of the Virgin Mary, Mexican artwork, and one seriously pimped-out lowrider bicycle. Think of this place as Hard Rock Cafe restaurant, la familia style.


We arrived just in time for happy hour--which takes place seven days a week from 3-7pm--whose menu offers up deals on drinks and appetizers. This appears to be good buy, but things went south as soon as we were seated.

I asked our server which drinks--specifically which margaritas--were part of the happy special.
Her response “All Margaritas”

danieleats: “Alrighty then I’ll have the Rico Suave”

server: “All margaritas except for that one”
(WTH? Strike one.)

danieleats: “Very well then, I shall order the pomegranate margarita”

My wife and our good friend Jackie order a round of house “Pink” margaritas. Our drinks arrive in short order.

Pomegranate Margarita and a shot of Cabo Wabo. Somehow Pink Taco managed to forget the alcohol in both.

I took a few sips of my “margarita” and immediately realized that Pink Taco must have a United States patent on the world’s weakest margarita because I was clearly in possession of it. Strike two. I grabbed the nearest server and promptly asked for a shot of Cabo Wabo reposado; she asked if I wanted it chilled. Chilled? At first I couldn’t understand why she asked that. Why would I want my tequila shot chilled? But then it all made sense because a chilled shot wouldn’t warm your heavily iced margarita, so clearly the staff is aware of their patented faux-alcohol margaritas. I suppose the Morton clan hasn’t achieved what they have by serving stiff drinks at recession-friendly prices.


I tossed that produce aside and drank the shot. The debate is still out as to whether or not that was really Cabo Wabo, because I have the same at home along with about 5 other tequilas (oh please, I have Mexican in my blood!) and I recall it tasting smoother at home.

On to the food. Again, we asked our server:

danieleats: “What are the food specials?”

server: “Six dollars off on all appetizers”

This answer led to strikes 3 to 99 million, to be explained later.

We proceed with ordering the Pink Taco platter – a $24 (before “discount”) platter of pickings from the appetizer menu.

Pork ribs, guacamole, quesadillas, beef skewers, chicken skewers, tamales, and fried shrimp.

I apologize for the poor photography. The lighting in this zoo is what I can only describe as a photography dark room on steroids. There’s an intense reddish glow throughout the interior that plays havoc with the camera’s white-balance sensor. Even with a gray card, your photos are still going to have that unnatural, unwanted tint. As for the food, it wasn’t memorable to say the least. Pork chops were probably the best part. Quesadilla was a quesadilla, fried shrimp was overcooked, guacamole was all onion and seasonings, both meat skewers way overcooked, and the tamales were dry.

I also ordered a shrimp cocktail. The menu read “seared shrimp” but apparently the sear pan had about 4 inches of oil in it. The shrimp were over fried, over seasoned, and served with a disproportional amount of cocktail sauce. I didn’t even bother taking a picture of it. Ouch.

So now it’s time for the bill and upon close inspection of said bill I realize the server did not discount our appetizers. We asked her politely about the discount and, yep, you guessed it, she stated the two appetizers we ordered were the two appetizers not on the happy hour list. Strike out.

And it’s at this point in time where Pink Taco goes from FAIL to EPIC FAIL because our server started rattling off a laundry list of excuses like “oh you must have not heard me because it’s loud in here” and “I’m sorry I didn’t mention this” and “You know our menu should mark which ones are discounted”. Sorry but this seems like a bait-and-switch and if you’re reading this blog, you’ve been warned.

Total bill for this “happy hour” for us three: $68 without tip.

As for the crowd, basically just take the party-goers from the Hard Rock Las Vegas hotel pool, put a few more clothes on them, and insert them into Pink Taco. Add a few backward-facing baseball caps and jean shorts and you have yourself one Pink Taco setting.

Needless to say, this is not a do-over for us.

Pink Taco
10250 Santa Monica Blvd
Los Angeles, CA