I took one for the team and ate at Ojos Locos
Controversial restaurant Ojos Locos opened on September 15. (Photo by Alex Dominguez)
Well, I did it. I ate at Ojos Locos.
What has proved to be one of the more controversial businesses to set up shop in Downey officially opened its doors last week on Sept. 15, despite the kicking and screaming of some residents, and even some city council pushback.
While I wouldn’t consider myself a prude by any means, Ojos Locos is definitely not my usual type of restaurant. For reference, I’ve only ever been to a Hooters once (and even that was only because I was attending a comic book convention and my food options were extremely limited).
As such, I had never intended to ever eat at Ojos Locos. But my editor Eric Pierce asked me to go and write about my experience, so I did.
(You best believe I asked him to tag along; if I was going down, he most assuredly was coming with me).
Ojos Locos is already kind of an enigma: from what I’ve seen, most people either hate it or don’t care. At the very least, the restaurant has become a regular punchline on the Downey Memes Instagram page and in other Downey-based social media comment sections.
Upon entering, I immediately turned to Eric and laughed.
“So much for the dress code.”
The city council passed a city-wide dress code in March last year in direct response to Ojos Locos’ impending arrival, worried that the restaurant would bring servers clad in nothing but bras and panties, if not even less. The ordinance barred food handlers from exposing any portion of the midriff, any portion of the chest three inches below the clavicle, and/or any portion of the leg less than three inches below the buttocks.
That didn’t happen.
The female staff weren’t dressed in the lingerie that critics have been so up in arms about, but they weren’t wearing much more than that, either; their mini-skirts were about as “cheeky” as the jokes Eric and I were making to one another to try and break the awkwardness we were both feeling.
I made a joke that we should see if we recognized any of the patrons already seated inside. I jinxed us. We were escorted to a barstool table right in front of the main entrance. Nowhere to hide.
Most of the customers were – unsurprisingly – men. To our right was a large party of over 10. Just to our left, the bar, with a couple of stragglers seated. Walking in not long after us, two separate parties including children, drawing a couple of chuckles and comments of disbelief from my counterpart and I.
We had just been looking over our menu for a few minutes when our waitress approached and introduced herself. Eric ordered a chicken plate and a pineapple aguas frescas. I ordered a burger and fries and a coke.
Service was slow and not great, but to be fair I don’t think many are coming for the service. It took about 10 minutes for Eric to get his drink, and it was several minutes after that before it was even acknowledged that I hadn’t gotten mine. In the meantime, Eric was told his chicken would take about 15 minutes to prepare. Around 10 minutes later, our waitress came by to tell him the same thing, again. He changed his order to the tacos.
Eric and I had different experiences when it came down to our food. While nothing world-changing or spectacular, my burger and fries were tasty; I might even eat them again, if it weren’t for where I got them from.
Eric on the other hand seemed to labor through his plate. His meal concluded with him remarking that he wouldn’t order the tacos again. While we ate, a chicken plate was carried past us and looked alright; maybe he should have just held out.
As far as ambiance, Ojos Locos is a typical sports bar, with music playing and televisions everywhere. One cool feature was that the booths had their own personal tv screens built into them.
Overall, the experience was okay; I got exactly what was expected from my visit and neither Eric nor I burst into flames walking in or out of the restaurant.
Am I thrilled that it’s in Downey? No. I don’t love its location and I share the same concerns that many have had about safety.
But the fact remains that it's here despite the best efforts of its critics. At the end of the day, it’s a business that saw an opportunity in Downey; all we can do now is choose whether or not to personally patronize it.