South of Nick's

From the house-made chips (served warm), to the guava mocktail, to the chicken tinga, to the carnitas, to the warm butter cake, to the coffee, and warm service by JT, everything was great! If the fog had lifted, we would have had a great view of the ocean too.

Came here on a Weds 12:30-1 pm with my husband and I to celebrate my birthday. (They don't give you a little bday celebration pastry btw)We started off with the house margarita. 7/10 ( very on the rocks and zesty tasting)I ordered the queso fundido. I liked it 9.5/10. The tortillas are handmade. So delicious. I just wish it didn't have so much of the secret sauce in it. A little goes a long way for me. (See picture. Cheese almost pink.)My husband loved the chicken flautas. He compared them to Miguel's flautas. He wants to go back just for flautas. 11/10 he said. I got the 2 taco plate with rice and street corn as sides. The street corn tasted like pure sour cream. I didn't eat it. Rice was ok. A little bland. The meat in my tacos was good tho. Overall I would give this plate 6/10. Their refried beans were really good with the chips. Our waitress forgot about us. She had a bigger party but wasn't busy at all. The place was clean and it does have a small ocean view. Bar was cute.

Unfortunately, our journey down the 133 to PCH was slowed by the Sawdust Festival traffic. Luckily, we didn't have to stress about parking, as South of Nick's offers valet service for $10 (just remember to get it validated). I made reservations two weeks in advance, requesting a seat with a view, and the restaurant was more than accommodating. Even though it was a Sunday at 3 PM, the place was bustling with activity.We started with the complimentary chips and salsa, which were fantastic, and we also ordered guacamole for the table--definitely worth it! To keep the meal light, I opted to share a salad and an entrée. For the salad, we chose the Mercado, which features iceberg lettuce, roasted corn, pepitas, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, tortilla strips, radishes, cotija cheese, and chipotle ranch. For the entrée, I ordered the El Jefe Burrito filled with Chicken Tinga, refried beans, Spanish rice, jack cheese, onions, and peppers, all topped with pico de gallo and rolled wet.The burrito was bursting with flavor, though I was surprised to find potatoes in it, which weren't mentioned on the menu. For me, that added a bit too many carbs with the rice, beans, and potatoes. It was enormous--I ended up taking half of it home! The salad was absolutely delightful and well-dressed, although I had a hard time locating the roasted corn. This was a minor hiccup, though; the service, ambiance, food, and stunning views made the experience worthwhile.I would return to South of Nick's in a heartbeat! If I lived in the area, I'd definitely dine here at least once a month, if not more. The food is incredibly affordable, and the overall experience is simply fantastic!

Probably a good idea to update your yelp if you state you allow dogs when you don't.....

After trying this place the first time, it became my go-to spot when i'm craving birria tacos. They bring out complimentary chips with 3 dips - so yummy. I loved their queso fundido (ordered without pork) and stacked birria enchiladas, but the tacos were a winner for me.Honestly i've had the tacos 4 times and they did not disappoint except for today. There was too much fat in the birria I had to spit out a few bites until I opened it and found a huge piece of fat sitting there. It just made me completely lose my appetite and ruined birria tacos for me. I've never had these tacos with that much fat and I certainly did not expect to have this experience here. Bar service the previous times I dined here was so much better than table service. They have a really nice ambiance though with ocean views.

My partner made reservations for my birthday dinner and requested a certain table with ocean views, but the evening didn't start out well due to the attitude of the hostess when we rejected the table she tried to seat us at. However the rest of the staff were wonderful and made up for the hostess. We were eventually seated at one of "the sixties" tables [I don't know why they're called that, but they are the tables furthest from the entrance that have great ocean views]. The complimentary chips and salsa trio are always delicious. We shared the Chilean sea bass entree and my partner started with the mini carnitas sopes with mole, which were both excellent. Since we were celebrating a birthday, they surprised us with a chocolate cake. Overall, it was a very nice dinner while watching the sunset. We will return!

Always a delicious meal at South of Nicks. The service is great and the view of the ocean across the street can't be beat! The chips with the trio of salsa and bean dip are a great way to start.

Everything I wanted and more. South of Nick's is a few blocks away from Downtown Laguna, located on the second floor of a shopping center - don't miss it! We had a beautiful and delicious Anniversary Dinner last night. I can't recommend this restaurant enough, whether it be for date night, girls night, or a celebration. It's a small restaurant but has beautiful views and is decorated with a modern beach vibe. Their complimentary chips and salsa were so good, I highly recommend the taco salad with spicy ground beef. Our server was very kind and attentive as well.Highly recommend and will be raving about this place for the foreseeable future.

South of NIck's is literally a few blocks south of NIck's and replaces Nick's comfort food menu with a Mexican one that's just as well-prepared and reliable. There are even a few of NIck's signature items on the menu, like some of the cocktails and mocktails, the shrimp taquitos and of course the butter cake. South of Nick's has a decent ocean view and many windows that open, plus a weekday (Mon-Thurs 2-5 pm) happy hour menu. It's a larger space vs Nick's. I think it played a large part it putting another Mexican place a few doors up (I think it was called Tortilla Flats) out of business. When they first opened, they served a trio of salsas with their fresh tortilla chips: mild, spicy and smoked. Now they serve mild and smoked salsas along with a black bean dip. All are readily replenished. The cocktail list is extensive and of course tequila-forward; I appreciated the newer "free of alcohol full of spirit" menu. I started with the Empanadas del Mar, 4 mini-empanadas filled with lobster and shrimp. NIce, but I think I would order the more flavourful shrimp taquitos next time. My main was the Carne Nortena combo, with sliced steak adobo, chipotle cream enchilada and mini chimichanga. Delish. In the past I've ordered their El Vaquero combo which has sliced ribeye, poblano cream enchilada and filet taquitos, and also La Tablita, a huge meant-to-be-shared platter with all the fixings to make your own tacos with grilled shrimp, ribeye and chicken. I once had their tasty seafood chimichanga, no longer on the menu, although there are a number of other seafood options. And of course I had the warm butter cake, the same as Nick's. Love the crunch from the crystallized sugar crust, plus the berry compote. Service, like at Nick's is always friendly, My latest server sent me home with containers of salsa and more chips. Always an enjoyable visit.

We had reservations even for a Wednesday night, I highly recommend you make one because it does get busy. This has great ambiance, whether for date night or girls' night out! The place has a very chic vibe! I loved the decor, and you can get a semi of a view. The cocktail was average, nothing exciting or delicious. I have been to the san clemente location, and their drinks were amazing, I guess it has to do with a great bartender, which this location lacked. We ordered the el Mercado salad, which is my favorite here. I love the dressing and very refreshing. The queso fundido was good as well. They did make this a vegetarian, which was great. The Mexican pizza looking item (forgot what is called) was my least favorite. Needed a little bit more flavor was bland, but they did make this vegetarian, which again was great!!... Overall it's a great place for vegetarian as they do accommodate which is fantastic! The service, on the other hand, was slow, on everything from bring waters to extra salsa, pretty much about everything, which was disappointing. Overall, it's a decent place,just the service was slow.