Tony's Mexican Grill, Studio City CA

Serving healthy Mexican food in Studio City since 1995! I've driven by the corner mini mall at least 25 times in the last 6 months. I do believe I noticed the sign, but thought it looked like a Baja Fresh or something.

Someone mentioned it to me this weekend AND they mentioned the magic phrase, "They have crispy tacos" so off I went.

HEALTHY. That's the word they seem most proud of. No lard (has it's drawbacks.) No MSG (well it's not Chinese Food so of course.) No to a bunch of other things (see photo for the list.) The NICEST people. Helpful, cheerful, professional, etc. CROWDED. Packed in fact on a Tuesday night at 7:30pm. They do breakfast too.

I asked about the crispy taco options and the guy said, "Anything you want." That confused me because normally a place will have a few crispy options and that's it. I was afraid he didn't know what 'crispy' meant, but of course he did. That's just the kind of accommodating customer-friendly place that Tony's is. SO, I settled on a grilled Mahi Mahi fish taco in a crispy shell. I was suspicious... "Is the shell pre-baked or something?" "Nope," he answered, "We fry 'em ourselves." OK. OK. I'll try one.

I also got an order of steak fajitas because they smelled AMAZING as they floated by me on the way to someone else's table. I have never had grilled fish in a crispy shell. I've had crispy battered fish in a soft shell but this was intriguing.

The verdict: Great place to go for grilled fish and fresh veggies. They  have 3 bean options; black, whole pinto and refried. Their flour tortillas were great even though they had no lard in them! I loved the Fajitas. I loved both the roasted salsa they give you with chips and the paler red blended tomato salsa in the salsa bar.

Dessert! Fresh fruit with some kind of vanilla sauce.

The taco was a little odd. Tasty, but the shell was too thin. The shell didn't really taste deep-fried. It wasn't greasy and it fell apart instantly. The chips were the same, too thin. I really like a thick, crispy chip. These tended to crumble and fade away rather quickly. But really that's my only complaint. I'll stick with a flour tortilla grilled fish taco and be very, very happy.

Tony, mi amor, I will be back. Especially when I want to impress someone who likes to eat healthily!

PS I have no idea who Tony is.

:)