Cocina Aqui Tequila Bar

I can't say I really understand the reviews for this establishments food. I understand that this is the beach and tried to adjust my standards accordingly since choices are more limited, however this place definitely falls short.

The sangria that we got was honestly horrible. It tasted like watered down sweet wine with a lemon and orange stuck to the side.

The tableside guacamole was edible but definitely not incredible or 'expertly made' . It was a decent portion of guacamole, but it wasn't anything to write home about.

Our food came out luke warm. The shrimp tacos were pretty flavorless. Just a bunch of iceberg lettuce, pre-shredded cheese, and tasteless shrimp. And the beans and rice on the side look like they were just dumped out of a can. The enchiladas were pretty much all cheese, and you couldn't even really taste the chicken. Essentially a boring 'Mexican' lasagna. I ordered shrimp on the side before knowing they would be horrible so that was an extra $6 that I wish I hadn't spent.

The service at this place wasn't bad. They were adequately attentive, and checked in on us throughout the meal.

I really don't think this place is that great especially for what you spend on dinner there. Dinner for two ended up being $60 with only one of us getting a 'drink' . At half that price I'd feel I paid too much for this food. While it's not an extravagant price for dinner, when the quality is this bad, it definitely feels as though we were slighted.

I would give Cocina Aqui a "10" for the food and a "1" for the service, which averages out, in Terminator Math, to be 4 stars. I don't believe I've ever eaten food so good at a place with service so bad. We almost walked out, after being ignored for almost 20 minutes. The food came out in a disjointed manner, but once it FINALLY arrived, it was outstanding.

I had the lobster enchiladas, which had a good portion of lobster meat along with Gouda cheese-an unusual combination, but one that tasted great to me. My girlfriend had the Shrimp and Grouper Veracruz, which was also outstanding. The tableside guacamole was tremendous. Good size portions of expertly prepared dishes. We also split a mango margarita drink (and I normally prefer my tequila by the shot) and it was DELICIOUS!

Now, get your act together with the service and earn the fifth star for which your food screams!

Decent Mexican food.
Under new management since Feb. 1.
We dined at 9:30pm, so there weren't too many other customers.
I ordered a house Margarita which was good. Many other cocktails to choose. Not too many beer choices. They would benefit from having a couple of good ones on tap.
I ate the stuffed Poblano pepper. Delcious little shrimps and chorizo. The sauce was fantastic. While I enjoy pumpkin seeds in general, I would omit them from this dish. My side was rice and pinto beans. Good.
Hubs had the beef tacos. He liked them. They were dressed with radish and slaw just like in Mexico. His side was a slow cooked bean dish in a rich sauce. I think they called it chorito?
Food came very fast and we were well attended.
The table could have been cleaner and the staff should do their chatting out of earshot of diners. Other than that, we were happy with this restaurant.

Went here while visiting family and can't wait to come back. We were able to attend during their soft opening. If they keep up the same quality, they are going to be open for quite some time. Quick highlights of my meal below:

Margaritas - 9/10, uses agave nectar, natural lime juice, no fake additives

Apps
Tatchos- 9/10, unique and delicious
Calamari - 8/10, beurre blanc it is paired with is excellent
Three Dips - 6/10, nothing to write home about, but solid

Entree
Baby back ribs - 10/10, incredible ribs. Juicy, smoky, fantastic spices
Chili-Lime Chicken - 9/10, wonderful, rice and beans that come with are the real deal
Seafood Salad - 9/10, packed with seafood, enormous

Overall, Aqui was really strong. Very impressed and looking forward to dining there the next time I'm in town.

This place is an absolute knock out! A hidden gem tucked up in the coastline. We decided to eat here on the recommendation of an old friend and couldn't have been happier. The table side Guacamole was expertly prepared and each dish that followed was as well. My wife had the lobster enchiladas and I ate half of them. My choice was an exquisitely cut and cooked steak (perfect mid-rare) with a delightful ancho-coffee rub and amazing Demi-Glacé. On our few trips to this area each year I can definitely say we will make stopping here a tradition.

Pro Tip: ask about the Totchos... Hope they make it on the menu!!!

Outstanding Southwestern, I had the stuffed
Poblano pepper with chorizo and shrimp,raisins and pine nuts. She had the lobster enchilada also outstanding.
Topped off with a creme brûlée key lime pie
Made from scratch. Insanely good and totally authentic.

This by far is the best restaurant I've ever eaten at in the Redington area....and I'm a Redington local!

The quality of the food, the ambiance of the restaurant and the overall service impresses me every time. Each dish we have ever ordered has been perfect in taste as well as presentation. The owner, management staff and waitresses all made it a point to greet us and speak intelligently about the food. It's refreshing to see a team of people that can actually speak to the quality of the food. Again, the food was excellent and I can't wait to eat there again!!

The food had many exceptional twists and flavors. You really savor each bite.
Great place for lunch, dinner, happy hour OR a date night. We hosted a large birthday dinner with 20 adults here and it went beautifully. The staff was over the top and went the extra mile to make it a worry free fun night! Cocina Aqui is very classy but not intimidating. The staff really cares about its patrons... which is so hard to find! Don't miss this gem!

Our dear friend, Louie Spetrini, recently opened his new restaurant, Cocina Aqui Southwest Restaurant & Tequila Bar on Redington Shores. Kevin and I had been quite remiss and were the last of our friends to make it out to check it out. Now, when eating at an establishment opened by a friend, it is always a bit scary. What if it is really bad? Well, for those of you who don't know Louie, he was the GM who opened Sea Salt St. Pete at the Sundial this past year. He also revamped the Rowdies Den menu recently, which we retried a couple of weeks ago and were quite pleased with the changes. So, needless to say, we were not scared at all.

All of that being said, Kevin is much more of a fan of Southwestern food than myself as most of the time it is not made fresh to order which means for me...the dreaded cilantro.

I can't tell you how pleased I was to find out that there were only two things on the very vast menu that could not be made sans cilantro. We ordered a few choices of our own and Louie had a few tricks up his sleeve, which left us with a veritable feast.

We began with the house made margaritas. Made with no mix, but fresh with squeezed lime juice, agave nectar and a top shelf tequila. Mine could have had a tad bit more agave nectar, but it was made exactly how Kevin likes them.

Next, Louie surprised us with guacamole hand made table side in which we could pick the fresh ingredients to add. The avocado was perfect and the portion huge. Absolutely delicious. We knew we had a lot more food to taste so we had to limit how much we ate of each item, but I could have devoured so much more of the chips and guacamole.

Next came the Trio Dip which consisted of fresh made salsa, white bean dip and queso blanco cheese with tortilla chips. Crazy enough, the salsa was one of the items that did contain cilantro, but it was so perfectly balance with just the right amount of heat, that I loved it. It was my favorite of the three.

Another item he wanted us to try was the Yucatan Shrimp & Avocado Martini this came in a martini glass with a to die for house made chili-lime sauce with diced avocado. I could have eaten two orders of this myself. It is ingenious to include avocado in this dish! It added a great texture. He also included a side of the ceviche for Kevin which consisted of shrimp, scallops, calamari, lime, cilantro and onion. Kevin could not stop raving about it...damn cilantro!

Louie has come up with a bevy of craft cocktail margaritas, so he asked us to try one which was made with fresh blueberries and one made with blackberries. They were quite good, but we both still prefer the traditional, but it is great to know that the drink menu can fit all tastes.

You can imagine at this point that we could not eat another bite and trust me we were very close to bursting. The next picture you see is what our table looked like after the appetizers were cleared and our meals came out. We ordered two of those meals, Louie wanted us to try a few more. He promised we could just eat a couple of bites and take home the rest...uh yeah! There was no way we could come close to eating all of that. But oh was it so good!

I ordered the fajitas because I LOVE fajitas and wanted to compare Cocina Aqui's to others I have had in the past. I ordered a steak and chicken combo but instead got steak, chili-lime chicken, honey-chipotle glazed shrimp and pork carnitas. Oh my! The only thing bad was that Kevin selected corn over flour tortillas and that wasn't to my liking. So I picked a bit of each. They were all delicious but the pork was to die for! They cook it for 48 hours.

Kevin ordered the Chorizo, Shrimp, & Cheese Stuffed Poblano Peppers which was cooked with raisins, almonds and then baked and topped with a creamy pomegranate sauce (quite similar to a mole sauce). Kevin thought it was a mole sauce and said it was the best he has ever had...hands down. The dish was delicious! The peppers added just the right heat to mix with the meat & sauces.

Then Louie enticed us with the Lobster Enchiladas...you can only imagine the decadence of this dish. It was made with gouda cheese, crimini mushrooms, roasted sweet peppers, salsa roja & lobster and then topped with a citrus beurre blanc and queso fresco. Unbelievable. Louie is a genius at mixing flavors and textures which meld into the most incredible dishes that make your mouth sing. This dish was no exception.

He also included the Mexican Street Corn on the cob which is fire roasted perfectly and then topped with cojita cheese, (we took this home and cooked it up with leftovers for breakfast on Sunday. It cut off the cob like butter), Yucatan Style Black Beans & Rice (Kevin loved this) and the Charro Beans which are pinto beans cooked with smoked ham and onion (I thought these were absolutely to die for and the best beans I have had, Kevin thought they had a perfumy flavor that he did not care for.

It was amazing!!

ABSOLUTELY AAAAAMMMMMZZZZIIINNNGGGGG!!!!
Reddington Shores is so lucky to have this AWESOME new resturant! TOP NOTCH all the way around from the minute you walk through the front door until the minute you leave through the same door absolutely full but with a HUGE smile on your face as you say...I WILL BE BACK!!!

We were greeted by Louie who was so very kind and attentive to our every want, questions and chats about the new resutrant. The waitress and support staff were ON POINT the whole time we were there and the food was absolutely delicious. Prepared with lots of flavor and so well presented! The refried beans are delicious.

The Mango Margaritas and the Blueberry Ginger Margaritas were our first item we ordered and had the trio nacho's and we could have just stopped there as they were devine. The Queso....OMG out of this world.

Our table ate the Lobster Enchiladas, the Stuffed Poblano Pepper with Chorrizo, shrimp, rasins, almonds and pine nuts and the Tres Tacos with Mushroom Raja...our son had the mexican grilled cheese (who am i kidding i sampled it to and it was OHHH LAAA LAA good).

The portions are very nice size and honeslty i will be eating off my choice for the next few days which is totally fine with me (Yes I took home a doggy bag...now I am dating myself aren't I???)

For Dessert we had the S'morechos....you guessed it, nachos made to taste like a s'more...all i can say, it was the best s'more I have ever eaten and I will never eat the traditional one again!!!

I would totally recommend this AMAZING resturant to anyone! You will be making this one of your top ten resturants!!!!

I went to this restaurant for Cinco de Mayo and had a very unenjoyable restaurant experience.

First, the hostess seemed overwhelmed. There seemed to be no system in place to let the hostess know when tables were freed up.

When we stepped inside the restaurant, we noticed the hostess was having to bus tables, as well. There were multiple tables with no one sitting at them, filled with dirty dishes. We were later told that they were running out of clean dishes at one point and that was delaying food getting out.

The waitress was trying her best but was forced to take orders, be her own bartender, and seemed to have no support, like all the other waiters and waitresses.

Cocina Aqui on this night had no leadership. There was not enough staff, no teamwork, and no processes in place to handle any size crowd.

The owner or manager of this restaurant needs to ensure employees have enough support and training to handle a busy restaurant, which tonight, they obviously did not.

I would guess it's a foregone conclusion that your Mexican restaurant would be busy on Cinco de Mayo, but obviously it was not in this case.