Cafe Del Sol

The del Sol Southwest Grill, is located on the lower level of the Grand Plaza Toledo. The food is great. The service is excellent. Breakfast can be ordered off of the menu or taken off of the buffet. The lunch buffet is a bargain at $ 6.95. The buffet choices change daily M-​F. Supper is ordered off of a menu with a wide variety of excellent choices for any budget. I recommend the Southwest Chicken Sandwich & the Chocolate Trifle.

We first visited Del Sol two years ago. We were on our way to The Docks for some riverfront dining when our car started making a strange sound. We pulled into the drive for the Crowne Plaza Hotel and rang up AAA. We were told it would be a bit of a wait, so we let the hotel valet know of our predicament, inquired about the hotel restaurant, and enjoyed our first visit to Del Sol. We found a table on the patio and ordered a few drinks… because we weren’t driving home!
We sat outside and enjoyed the terrific view of the Maumee river. The food was latin inspired american fare and we loved every bite. The service was great too! Despite all of that… two years later and we hadn’t been back. Why? Because it’s in the basement of a hotel and we forgot it existed.
Fast forward to yesterday, and a friend posted on facebook about visiting for lunch. It reminded me of the great meal we had two years ago, and I made plans to go out to dinner. We hit the restaurant last night, on a monday… which can be a really good OR really bad night of the week to test out a restaurant’s chops.
They weren’t seating in the main dining room so we took a seat in the bar. Our waitress /​bartender was really pleasant. We were excited by all of the options on the menu and were only slightly disappointed to find out they were out of a few items.
I ordered the rock shrimp tacos, and my wife ordered the Kobe beef meatloaf. We knew full well it wasn’t actually Kobe beef, but were interested to try the «american» mole sauce. It was reeeeeeeally good. The meat loaf was oddly tender, and fell apart pretty easily. Not because it was undercooked mind you, but because it wasn’t full of fillers like bread crumbs. It was basically a big pile of super flavorful, moist ground kobe beef, topped with a deep dark intense sauce. The side of carrots and jalapenos was a pleasant surprise.
My 3 tacos were delectable. The shrimps had a dark brown breading, and were not overcooked. Overcooked shrimp happen more often than not, so it was a nice change of pace. The tacos came with a couple of sauces and slaw, as well as some fresh tortilla chips.
What struck me about the food, was how well seasoned everything was. This is a hotel restaurant in Toledo, Ohio. One wouldn’t expect vibrant flavored food coming out of a kitchen given those circumstances, but you can expect it at Café Del Sol.
My only gripe is the drinks were a little pricey. 2 rounds, and two entrees set us back $ 75. I did not expect that, but I am to blame for not asking how much the drinks were before we ordered.
We’ll be back, and hopefully it won’t take us 2 years to return. Take note, it’s valet parking ONLY. You can get your ticket stamped at the bar, and the parking is free. But keep it in mind if you’re coming on a busy night.