Plaza Bonita Tusayan near the Grand Canyon National Park is one of the few restaurants in the area catered for those tourists wanting a bite before they head to the park and see the Arizona landmark. Plaza Bonita is a Mexican restaurant that has a family friendly feel, especially inside with the warm colours.
The food here is generous and can almost be fit for two. Their menu is diverse, and it offers your typical Mexican cuisine such as Enchiladas, Burritos, Fajitas and Meats/Seafood and Rice or Beans dishes, and of course Tacos.
The image above is the dish called Arroz Con Pollo, which basically consisted of chicken breast, fresh mushrooms, onions and green peppers. Served on a bed of rice with melted Monterrey Jack. The sauce is their special mild sauce that is garnished with avocados and tomatoes. The cheese and rice combination isn’t something I have come across before, and it certainly has its cheesy appeal but it definitely needed to be a tad more flavourful or spicy to add some depth to the dish.
This Mexican Stir Fry is another rice dish with sautéed chicken, broccoli, mushrooms, green peppers, onions, and topped with melted Monterrey. I found the cheese to be a tad overwhelming, and too rich. Again, the ingredients lacked much flavour and overall it felt a bit bland with just cheese as the focal point of the dish.
I believe this was a Chicken Carnitas aka marinated chicken, with grilled with fresh green peppers, onions, and spices, rice, guacamole. The marinated chicken here actually had some flavour, although a sweetness to it but it came out decently.
From memory this was the Camarones a la Diabla, which is prawns sautéed with garlic, butter, mushrooms, covered with “special” Mojo de Ajo sauce and served with rice and beans.
Chicken Mexican Style was a skinless chicken breast in a stew of onions, tomatoes, garlic and spices. With the red dried peppers (chillies) it was surprisingly flavourful, but the watery sauce didn’t seem to complement the slightly wet rice.
Impressions
Plaza Bonita provide generous servings of Mexican cuisine, but the food itself doesn’t stray too far away from average unfortunately. Which is a shame, but on the plus side, the endless supply of guacamole and tortilla chips is a great starter.
352 State Road 64
Tusayan, AZ USA 86023
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