If you follow me on IG, you know that I turned 30 on Monday. Welp, I am officially 30. I’m in a whole new decade, y’all! I can’t believe that I have bid adieu to my 20’s and I am walking into my 30’s like heeyyyyyy! I had some mixed feelings about turning 30, which we can discuss in another post. I will be following up this week with some sentimental things I have learned – so don’t you worry!
For my birthday this year, we decided to be thrifty-ish and pick up a gift card from Costco. They sell these great restaurant group gift cards where you can get $100 in gift cards for $80. $20 off? Yes please!
We decided to try out a new restaurant in the area, Pablo Y Pablo. It is nestled in the trendy area of Wallingford, Seattle. We even got my sister (affectionally known by Gia as Titi) to watch Gia for the night. We had the whole night to enjoy some adult time!
The restaurant was GORGEOUS! The restaurant boasted a gorgeous sprawling patio and a modern, yet comfy interior. I did not get a change to take a photo of the outside, but I did convince my boo to take 50 pictures against the side of the wall. Blogger friends, you KNOW the struggle. He was so patient with me, here is the one I liked best 😉
First, we had to start off with some dranks. I love some smooth and tart margs, so I started my journey to 30 with a strawberry basil margarita. YOU GUYS, BEST DECISION EVER. The strawberry was not overpoweringly sweet and the basil did a great job of balancing the tart flavor. I may have had 2 of them. It was my birthday, I swear I’m not a lush! Okay, I’m a lush. Richard had a Paloma, but I think he liked my drink better haha.
Soon after we got our drinks, we received our appetizers. Richard saw halibut ceviche on the menu and was like “you already know what time it is”. It was sooooo good. Tender fish and super fresh ingredients. Served with homemade tortillas chips and filled with cucumbers and fresh red onions – it was perfect to start the meal. We also noshed on some guacamole (too many jalapeños for my liking) and more drinks. We were so excited that we could started nibbling before a photo! Big blogging no-no!
We finished up our apps and then anxiously awaited for our main course, some gourmet tacos. Pablo y Pablo’s menu focused on delicious and approachable tacos. They were categorized in 3 ways: land, sea, and baller. Obviously, I wanted all of the baller tacos! We agreed on softshell crab (baller), braised chicken (land), shrimp (sea), duck carnitas (land), pork belly banh mi (land) and a veggie taco with sweet potatoes and cabbage.
My favorites were the softshell crab and the veggie taco. Each taco had its own special set of unique ingredients. I was floored by the quality and sheer yumminess of each taco. I really think you could order any taco at this place and be impressed.
Post tacos, we decided to indulge in some hot and flaky churros y chocolate. I am not usually a churro fan, but these ones had me shook. I feel like churros (Costco, I am talkin’ about you) are usually stale tasting or just are too sugary. Not these churros though. They were so fresh and very lightly sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon. Pure prefection. I also failed to get a photo of these because we ate them too fast. Dang.
The Ratings:
Ambience: 10/10 – Beautiful setting with modern and warm decor.
Drinks: 9/10 – My strawberry basil margarita was pureed heaven, but my blood organge margarita left something to be desired.
Food: 9/10 – Everything was fab. It is just hard to give 10/10!! I feel like 10/10 is what you dream about.
Service: 8/10 – As I mentioned before, it may have been slightly under-staffed because we had a hard time finding our server at times.
Crowd: 10/10 – Diverse upper 20’s semi-hipster crowd. Not too busy for a Saturday night. There was no wait either!
Overall, I would rate this restaurant 9/10. Maybe even a 9.5/10. They lost a point because our server was hard to find a few times. I definitely recommend trying this place out and ordering some baller tacos! It is the perfect spot for date night or ladies night out.
Hope you are blessed with some tacos in your life soon!
xo,
Simone
