Acapulco Mexican Grill

It’s Thursday and we want local tacos, so I put on a hat, and we walk over to Acapulco Mexican Grill on the main drag of Broadway in Long Branch. We love the food and the low-key dine-in atmosphere, although we usually don’t get our meal to stay.

We’ve gotten takeout at least a dozen times here; I even painted the windows for Dia De Los Muertos. The waitress recognizes me from that day in October when I spent several hours painting brightly adorned skulls on the glass door for Long Branch’s Halloween windows contest. We did not win, although I personally believe the designs I painted were among the best in town. Oh wells.

We order a couple of mandarin Jarritos sodas and Eve brings them with ornate cut glasses and ice and bendy straws—a nice touch. She drops off gratis chips and salsa with verde salsa studded with chunks of avocado and white onions, and a spicy red chipotle sauce. 

She distributes multiple menus and lets us know that they’ve added Salvadorian cuisine in a whole separate menu—it features lots of fish, which is appropriate for our seaside locale. But we know what we want. I order Chicken Pollo de Tinga Tostadas. J gets Shrimp Quesadillas. We order a Chorizo Fundido dip for starters. 

We tuck into the chips and salsa and watch Telemundo on the flat screen TV. The walls are painted with ocean undersea ‘murals acapulcaños’ that are fun to look at and apropos for our Jersey Shore town.

“Maybe this is what you see under the water when you’re scuba diving there,” says J. “I went to Acapulco in spring break in ‘95 and saw the cliff divers. They look just like this.”

This is a small joint; only three of the 13 tables are occupied when we begin our visit (although later, more customers come for dine-in service). It’s set up nicely though, with wooden tables, parquet floors, and cheery flags of all the nations and World Cup balloons hung up to celebrate the soccer matches. Spanish music plays over the speakers and is cheery if a bit quiet. 

They do a very brisk takeout and delivery business, although over the past year customers have had to meet the delivery driver in their car curbside, thanks to ICE snatching all our neighbors off the street while they’re working.

Acapulco Mexican Grill’s regular menu also boasts an impressive amount of fresh seafood, ideal for a beach town that skews Latin, with lots of Brazilians and Mexicans. They have fried tilapia and snapper, shrimp four ways, fish filets three ways (including Acapulco style), and three types of ceviches.

They also have a huge carnes section, with steak served ranchero style (with onion, peppers, cactus, and cheese), sauteed with fries, or in green or mole sauce. You can get chicken grilled or breaded, or as an enchilada.

Of course, there are tacos: steak, chicken, chorizo, carnitas, al pastor, lengua, and shrimps. The tostadas come in the same flavors, and you can get them fried all puffy, tinga style.

They have both three kinds of burritos and you can get them fried up as chimichangas, too. They have nachos—even vegetarian style—and if you can’t make up your mind, there are six different combination platters that offer a bit of everything, happy family style.

For small bites, they have quesadillas, cemitas, tortas, wings, and even fresh oysters. There are several salads including “Shrimp & Octopus in Love.” Gotta see what that is one of these days, although I stopped eating octopus after I saw that documentary. They’re aliens from outer space, and too smart to put inside your mouth.

There are also way more soups than you might think a Mexican grill would offer. There’s grilled steak, carnitas, and chorizo soup. They have shrimp soup and beef tongue soup. There are also many seafood soups on the Salvadoran menu, which offers Salvadoran paella, as well.

Acapulco doesn’t serve liquor or beer, but they have lots of fresh juices and non-alcoholic Rita’s and pinas. But we just sip our orange sodas, and Eve comes back soon with food.

The chorizo dip arrives, and we scoop some onto the white corn tortillas. I thought it would be cheesier than it was, but I guess that’s just how my Texas friends make theirs. We don’t want to fill up, so we take the rest of the spicy sausage dip to go. 

After a bit longer, our food arrives. I love how their shredded chicken on my three tostadas is richly dressed in a tomatoey Adobo sauce; this is apparently Acapulco style. Js gigantic, two-part quesadillas look ho-hum—until she cuts me off a slice. The shrimps are big, and it’s loaded with crispy smoky red and green peppers and savory cheese. It’s delish, and I like how her side dish of yellow rice and beans complement it.  

While looking at the menu, we noticed their Desayunos section, with Mexican breakfast options like Huevos with Chorizo, Bistec, with pork or French fries, in a green or red sauce. They even serve eggs with a side of grilled chicken. How do you know which comes first? They also have chilaquiles and the Combo Cantinflas (pupusas with jamon) on that menu, presumably for those hangover mornings. The waitress Eve says they have delicious Colombian coffee.

“We’ll come here for brunch one day,” says J. “We’ll get the Combo Calderon [with eggs, steak, enchiladas and fresh cheese] which she calls a Mexican version of the breakfast we have at home. But Donde esta mi toast?!” It’s all tortillas on the side.

We can’t finish our huge meal, so we box it up and settle the check, a cool $56 for dinner. Not bad for a sit-down dinner, and reasonable for takeout, should you prefer to eat your Mexican food at home. It’s one of the better options on Broadway for authentic Latin food, so stop by for lunch or dinner. Or breakfast.

Acapulco Mexican Grill
571 Broadway
Long Branch NJ 07740
732-571-9509
https://acapulcomeicangrillnj.com

Open Monday-Sunday 9 a.m.-9:45 p.m.

Save a Few Clams

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