In a perfect San Diego, we’d have a monorail for getting us to various happy hours on time. Traffic at the end of the work week lately has been a sloth. And it severely cut into Dr. Ink’s prospects of slugging down as many $3 margaritas as possible at Ponce’s in Kensington.

What seemed like a simple journey started with a friend at 4:45 p.m. from Mission Valley, just west of Fashion Valley mall. The plan was to show up halfway through Ponce’s late-afternoon happy hour, which runs daily from 4 to 6 p.m., and then again from 9 to 10 p.m. Interstate 8 was a parking lot and the 163 and 805 were at a crawl. Needless to say, we ended up arriving to this long-established Mexican eatery at 5:40 p.m., seizing the last table on the patio with desperate looks on our faces for booze and food.

Our tardiness was fortuitously compensated with fast service and a margarita sitting under my chin that harbored nearly four ounces of Cuervo Gold tequila. Priced normally at $5, I had read recently that these are the strongest in town. Indeed, the sweet and sour mix was agreeably upstaged by the openhanded measure of jet fuel. Sobriety would come in the form of bottomless chips and super-hot red salsa, as well as a couple of regularly priced dishes from the all-day menu.

My friend opted for a bottle of dark, rich Negra Modelo, also priced at $3 during happy hour along with a few other Mexican brews. Managing to consume only one before the clock struck six; he quelled his ultra-faint buzz with a vegetarian bean burrito covered in bright-tasting tomatillo sauce.

Dr. Ink followed suit with a mildly spiced chicken taco coinciding to the last sip of margarita, which proved to be high-powered considering that the drink was served with very little ice. In our short 20 minutes, a concentration of tequila had pooled devilishly at the bottom.

Ponce’s happy hour extends also to one-ounce shots of Cazadores Reposado for $3 apiece – tempting if we lived close enough to hoof it home or if efficient public transportation could whiz us around town from one neighborhood bar to the next. Either way, we would have breezed into Ponce’s much earlier, stayed later and likely returned to this festive atmosphere a few hours later for the mid-evening discounts.

CALIFICACIONES:
Drinks: 4/5
Looking for a super-duper margarita? You’ve come to the right place at Ponce’s, which makes them with almost double the amount of tequila compared to most other places.

Food: 4/5
The menu features home-style Mexican grub made by the same family since 1969. The chicken tacos are well-stuffed and the red salsa that accompanies the free table chips is among the hottest in town.

Value: 4/5
The aforementioned strong margaritas, along with bottled Mexican beer and shots of Cazadores Reposado tequila are all priced at $3, which saves you about 30 percent off the regular prices. Food isn’t discounted, but there are plenty of options for under $5.

Service: 5/5
Servers work fast and the house is well staffed for keeping up with the heavy influx of customers during happy hour.

Duration: 4/5
Ponce’s offers two separate happy hours daily, with the later starting at 9 p.m., should you work late or become snarled in traffic.