Arcoiris means “rainbow” in Spanish, and this relatively new restaurant has a rainbow of flavors in their homemade menu.  Beef and chicken, and lots of vegetarian dishes, can be ordered with or without sauces and in various combinations.

This establishment, tucked away on a corner near American Lake park in Lakewood, used to be an Asian restaurant, but new owners have remodeled and revamped it and are doing a good business for the surrounding community.

We found the service friendly and fast, and most of the food we ordered was very good.  Chips and a thin salsa came to the table, and we ate a lot of them as we ordered Steak Nachos (chips topped with beans, jalapenos and cheese, with sour cream and guacamole on the side for $10.25), Cheese Enchilada a la cart at $3.75, a single Authentic Chili Relleno (which is a chili pepper stuffed with smooth white cheese served with Spanish rice and beans at $7.75), a grilled Chicken Quesadilla plate with rice and beans at $9.95, and Steak House special of Taquitos with Guacamole served with rice and beans at $9.75. We also ordered Flan, an egg custard, at $4.95. We had water to drink.

The chicken quesadilla was a large flour tortilla with flavorful chunks of chicken and cheese, but we would have enjoyed extra sauce.

The authentic Chili Relleno was very good with mild cheese in a thoroughly cooked pepper. It was spicy enough for the diner who ordered it, and the rice and beans were generous.

The cheese enchilada was full of cheese  and the corn tortilla was tender. 

The Steak Nachos were served with guacamole which was delicious, bright in flavor and color, not overly blended, and I could have used more.  The rest of the ingredients for the nachos were put on the chips in separated stacks, and I found that I had to take a spoon and fork and mix everything together to get the flavor and texture I was expecting.  The steak was presented in short strips that were grilled but were too dry for blending into Nachos.  The Steak taquitos were very dry, and I opened up the two corn tortillas to find that the ends of the short strips of Steak were burned to cinders, and totally inedible. The guacamole was again delicious. 

The Flan was heavenly.  This egg custard with caramel sauce is supposed to be smooth and creamy, and this was perfect. The serving was unusually large, and that was appreciated since it was so delicious. I would return to Arcoiris just for the Flan.

IF YOU GO

Arcoiris Mexican restaurant

9124 Veterans Dr. SW., near American Lake Park in Lakewood.

253-582-1818

Open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week.

Carolyn Augustine, a freelance restaurant writer, writes the Senior Eats column for Senior Scene.