Friendly Dolphin

The Friendly Dolphin

located at 33 Alcantar Ave in Puerto Penasco (or Rocky Point), Sonora, Mexico

is a restaurant located on the rocky point for which the town gets its name. It was rated as no. 3 out of 27 restaurants in Puerto Penasco on Trip Advisor. The restaurant itself is beautiful. We were led to an upstairs room next to an open window with a cool breeze coming in. Well below us was the bottom portion of the one-way road that goes to the point, and beyond it, was part of the bay. The restaurant has a beautiful tile floor, wood accents and dim lighting. We were also serenaded several times by traditional Mexican singers.

Instead of tortilla chips and salsa, we were given what appeared to be pork rinds and salsa, a first for me. I liked them at first, but they began to lose their charm. They seemed to get more soggy, less crisp, as time went on at the table.

The best part of the meal was our soup. I got a very tasty clam chowder in a bread bowl. It was New England style, kind of, with a Sonoran twist. There were five or six clam shells included (which I had to fish out) and it was very chunky. Very clammy and very good.

Judy got an Azteca soup that had tortilla chips, avocado slices and a large chipotle chile (which she didn't eat). It was very different and very good, although mine was best.

The main courses were a big disappointment. Judy got grilled shrimp. It was pretty dry and flavorless. I find that Mexican cooks tend to overcook shrimp.

I got garlic fish filet (flounder) and garlic shrimp. My shrimp were more moist and better than Judy's, but the flounder was mushy, dry and virtually flavorless. I haven't eaten a lot of flounder, but I think it probably tends toward being mushy. If that is the case, it would probably be better with a thinner filet, not one as thick as I had, that helped emphasize the mushiness. It also needed dramatically more garlic.

Given our experience, I would go back, but concentrate on non-fish items. I would try any other soups they have and try some of their traditional Mexican food items.