Salsa Brava Switches Up Menu

Tacos are probably one of my top five favorite foods, so when I learned that Salsa Brava was revamping their menu to include a street taco menu, I knew I’d need to grab a friend and check out the changes.

In general, Salsa Brava has one of my favorite happy hours in Colorado Springs. With deals on margaritas and food, it rivals its sister restaurant Sonterra’s awesome happy hour (note that some of the pricing and options have changed since that post). When we went to Salsa Brava to sample the menu changes, we decided we’d hit happy hour, order some margaritas and tapas, and share.

When we sat down they brought us house chips and salsa. Pro tip – ask for the pineapple habanero salsa. It’s not on the menu but it’s the absolute best. I started with a Salsa Swirl margarita, which is a frozen house margarita mixed with their house sangria. It’s sweet so I generally only order one, but it’s worth trying if you like frozen sangrias.

We started with a few appetizers and ordered my all-time favorite item from Salsa Brava,the Coconut Shrimp, and the avocado fries, which are new to the menu.

The Coconut Shrimp are jumbo shrimp covered in flaked coconut and served with a mango chutney that I would probably bathe in if given the option. I often order these for a meal in themselves. The shrimp are huge and crunchy, but the plate only comes with four shrimp (three if you order them on happy hour), so if you’re not prepared to share, tell your dining partner to order their own.

The Avocado Fries were recommended to us by the manager. I have to be honest, I love the idea of avocado fries but have never found any that I actually would order again. These ones I would! They weren’t too mushy on the inside and the coating wasn’t overwhelming, which I tend to dislike. They were served with a lime crema sauce which was very yummy and would’ve been awesome on top of pretty much anything.

To go with our appetizers we ordered one Cabo Chicken Taco, one Crispy Pork Taco, and a Chicken Quesadilla.

The quesadilla I’ve had before and it’s always good. Super filling, and definitely something you’d want to share if it isn’t your main meal. It is served with a Bleu Cheese Aioli which I know sounds strange, but is perfect with this.

The Cabo Chicken Taco is one of the new menu items and to be honest, I was a bit skeptical of it. I’m not big on barbecue anything in my Mexican food, and this is a BBQ Chicken taco served with mango avocado salsa and topped with a chipotle crema. While I wouldn’t consider this Mexican, it was super delicious. If you’re looking for something different with big flavors, this is your street taco. I especially loved the chipotle crema in contrast with the fresh mango.

Last but definitely not least was the Crispy Pork Taco, which was my favorite discovery. The street taco was filled with crispy cooked pork, and grilled pineapple and onion. It was simple but the pork was perfect and quite frankly, I’ll eat anything with grilled pineapple on it. I highly recommend you try this.

Most of the items we ordered were on happy hour, and there are many other new options, but my pants can only stretch so much. Another newcomer to the menu is the Blue Corn Shrimp and Lobster Enchiladas, which are a fan favorite at Sonterra. We didn’t order these, however I was pretty excited to see them make their way onto Salsa Brava’s new menu as I’ve had them before and they’re top notch.

Two more of my favorites that I was happy to see haven’t changed on the menu are the Slow Roasted Carnitas, which are outstanding, and The Conrad, which is a tequila, triple sec and lime concoction that will knock you on your ass. I love that Salsa Brava made some changes to the menu, but kept items that for sure keep me coming back (Coconut Shrimp is life).

Salsa Brava has three locations in Colorado Springs. Their happy hour is 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday. If an (almost) all-day Saturday happy hour doesn’t entice you to go try the new menu, I’m not sure what will!