Since Dolores’ Maria Meza was nominated last year for James Beard Foundation Best Chef: Northeast, you might have to try a little harder to get a reservation but the food definitely lives up to the hype.

My friend K. and I timed our visit perfectly on a Monday because we walked in around 4:15pm, 15 minutes after they opened the door for dinner service. There was still a line but we were thankfully able to get seated at a table in 3-5 minutes. (If you don’t mind sitting at the bar, that’s another possibility.)

We ordered a bunch of plates and each one was beautifully presented, super fresh, and incredibly flavorful.

We started with their Napolitos, a salad made with salt cured cactus (wait, what?), heirloom tomatoes, radish, chiles, cilantro, lime, and queso fresco.

My first time eating a cactus salad (who knew?) and it was crunchy, flavorsome, and delightful. Think SPRING on a plate. I would definitely order it again.

Next we dug into their Baja Fish TACOS (highly recommend celebrating your next TACO TUESDAY here).

The chipotle sauce was heavenly, and the beer battered haddock was simply out of this world (NOT at all greasy and cooked to perfection).

They also did some SHRIMP empanadas for us (because neither of us eat chicken, beef or pork) and these were not skimpy shrimps. Far from it.

And the crust was light, slightly crispy, and in a word — exquisite. These were phenomenal and I can’t think of a better empanada. Seriously.

Also, a rice and beans plate with grilled veggies was yum. (They will HAPPILY accommodate you if you want to make almost any of the dishes vegetarian. I saw this because we opted for meat-less, pescatarian versions of everything.)

Our server took great care of us, too.

If you haven’t been to Dolores yet, I beg you to get there this season.

Take the taco lovers in your world and/or that foodie who follows the scene in the OS (Ocean State) closely.

You’ll be a rock star in their eyes.

Find Dolores at 100 Hope Street in Providence, RI.

As always, if you go after reading THIS, please let them know you were inspired by Patty J and PattyJ.com.