The menu is varied and complete. Appetizers include quesadilla (with excellent guacamole), taquitos, Ceviche, and of course the requisite corn chips and salsa. Green salad and soup is also available (Menudo and Pozole on weekends). If I'm very hungry I start with a glass of iced tea and a Quesadilla: if just so-so hungry, I start with corn chips and guacamole.

Dinner platters ("Combinations") are varied to suit most people's tastes. They come with Spanish rice and refried beans. The taco combination comes in either chicken, beef, carnitas, or potato. Enchiladas may be chicken, beef, or cheese. One may also get tostadas, burritos, chili rellenos, tamals. Average price is $7.50 per plate. The least costly combination ($5.25) is one taco, rice, and beans. The most costly ($10.00) is the OLYMPIAN #15: an enchilada, taco, chili relleno, tamal, rice, and beans--- more food than even I can handle in one sitting.

If one wants to change a combination, such as extra rice and no refried beans, one need mearly say so and it is done--- no hassles.

There is a "junior menu" for some of the combination plates, for children.

House Specials come with salad or soup, and rice and beans, and either corn of flour tortillas. Pescado al Jarocho (A Fisherman's Dream) serves up one pound of succulent fish in a garlic sauce--- enough for two or three people. One may also get shrimp enchiladas, shredded beef chalupas, stuffed zucchini, chicken breast (with your choice of being cooked five different ways, with different sauces), a half-dozen pork dishes, and five beef dishes. The average price for the House Specials is $10.00, with the most costly being the Pescado al Jarocho at $21.00.

There is also a brunch menu, served with rice and beans, that include Huevos a La Tia Lucha, Huevos Rancheros (one of my favorates), Chilaquiles, and more.

Many of the menu items are available a la carte.

Olamendi's has "atmosphere." It is a quiet, relaxing place just before lunch time on weekdays, and an exciting, bustling place in the evenings. Photographs of Richard Nixon adorn the walls, along side Kissenger, Jimmy Carter, local Church bisops, and Olamendi family members. (I usually sit under Nixon with my back to him, so I don't have to look at his stupid, insipid face.) There is a rather odd-looking cricifix, made out of tin forks and a spoon, hanging on one wall--- one of many unique works of art that makes the place worth visiting.

Olameni's phone number is 714-661-1005 and you may wish to call ahead of time to ask if they are open. They also have banquet space in the back, on tables beneath eucalyptus trees. They have catering and take-out.

On the Shy David scale of from one star to six, I think Olamendi's earns four stars.

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