Travis - Taco Tour stop #25 - Casa Del Charro - 2227 N Arkansas

I've heard some good things about Casa Del Charro, so when Shon mentioned it, I thought it might be a good place to check out.  They are in the old El Paisa location - and were also a crowd favorite at the Wichita Taco Fest.  So this week we headed there - and eventually doofus #1 & 2 made it there (a few minutes late).  They have maintained the restaurant very well. I was greated by very friendly staff and had no problems getting my questions answered.

First to arrive, I went ahead and took a seat and the waitress brought some chips and salsa.  I told her we were looking for a taco variety and she explained they have a taco plate with $1 authentic street tacos.  In that variety, you can get carnitas, carne asada, chicken, al pastor, and ground beef.  I told her that I figured we'd all want that but I'd let the other two decide for sure.  Chris arrived and we enjoyed the salsa - which had a sweet hint to it.  Mango? Not sure, but it was tasty - a little too sweet for my liking, but it was good.  We decided on the taco plates all around and made the decision for Shon too since he couldn't seem to make his way there on time.

Shon arrived, we explained what he was eating, and shortly after our tacos arrived.  They are definitely on the small side, but that's okay. For $1/ea, they were what I expected them to be and were definitely authentic street tacos: two tortillas, grilled onion, cilantro, and a nice helping of meat.

We all went in the same order and started with the ground beef.  It was a tasty taco - but not bold. But don't let that fool you, it was still a pretty darn good taco and the grilled onions were a very nice compliment. It's definitely one I'd get again from here.

The carne asada was next - honestly it's probably on the upper end of what we've had for asada. The steak had a really nice meaty/steaky flavor. I know that probably sounds obvious, but sometimes we get asada that doesn't have much flavor or is heavy on seasoning.  This was just a good meat flavor in every bite and again the onions complimented it well.  There was plenty of meat on the taco.

The chicken taco was next and this is probably the top chicken taco I've had on the tour. Meat was tender, not dry, and it had a nice brothy sauce with it.  We are definitely off to a great start with these first 3 tacos - if you come here, this taco needs to be on your list.

Carnitas was next - and I know I sound like a broken record, but the standard is REALLY high for carnitas.  They weren't bad here - but definitely not as much flavor as I expected.  The meat was a little dry even though there was plenty of juice running out of the taco.  It was good, but not great - nothing bold about the taste.

Last was the al pastor - which was the definition of bold taste. It had a strong kick - if you don't like spicy, you might want to avoid this one.  The other two really liked this one, but for me it just seemed like it was trying too hard.  A bit overseasoned.  If you like something with a good kick that will stick with you, you'll like this one.  It was just okay in my book.

Overall this was a great stop and I'm happy we came.  The ticket was a bit of a surprise because we were charged for chips and salsa.  We talked to the waitress about it - who by the way was very cool, very polite and helpful.  Basically if you get the dollar taco deal, they're going to add a small charge for the chips and salsa.  I don't like surprises on my bill - but truthfully the chips and salsa were good and even with that added, I still paid just under $9 with tip for the dollar taco deal.  Had I known the chips deal up-front, I would have had no problem.  I think they just need to explain it so there are no surprises.  I'll definitely be back but I'll probably remove the carnitas and al-pastor next time.

Out of 5 tacos, here are my ratings:

Food Taste:
Value:
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Shon's Take - Taco Tour Stop #24 - Lalos Express - S Seneca

Another week, another taco joint. And yes, I'm a week behind. Oh well......I'm slacking on writing this one, probably because this one got me all excited when the plate arrived and left me a little disappointed when it was done. This week's (ok, last week's) entry in our quest for tacos comes courtesy of Lalo's Express on S. Seneca.


LE is situated in what looks like an old Taco Bell or similar type building on Seneca, just north of Pawnee. When I arrived I was pretty happy to see there were quite a few people here. So I hoped that meant we were in for a tasty round. This is fast food style service - order at the counter, pick 'em up, and eat at your table. Thing 1 and Thing 2 had already ordered, so I went straight to the counter. First thing I noticed is there are a ton of selections available, both for tacos and other Mexican food. I decided to pare my choices down to four: a fried fish taco, a lengua, an asada, and an al pastor.


After a pretty short wait, my tacos arrived and they looked great! I was ready to get into them, so I decided to start with the fish taco. The fish taco came with what basically turned out to be a fish stick, with lettuce, tomato, onion, and a tartar sauce type of dressing. Overall, it was very mediocre, I thought the fish was pretty low quality frankly. The lengua and asada were next. Both had plenty of tender, well cooked meat and were dressed in onion, cilantro, and tomato. The meat for these two was definitely better than the fish, but it seemed to lack any real seasoning. No kick, nothing. I threw some salsa and lime on them and they were decent tacos. But nothing to wow over. The al pastor taco was last and was definitely the best of the bunch. The pork was cooked in a nice peppery seasoning that wasn't too overwhelming, maybe even a little too subtle for my tastes. But compared to the steak and lengua, it was practically a taste explosion.


In summary, I'd say it was a fair plate of tacos. Not horrible by any stretch, but I'm not sure I would go out of my way to go back. If I'm in the area though, I would stop in again for the al pastor and maybe to try some other options on the menu. There seem to be a lot of happy people in there, but I also noticed that not many of them were eating tacos. Anyway, here's my overall rankings on the 5 Taco Scale:


Food Quality - 2.5 Tacos
Price - $
Value - 3.0 Tacos
Cleanliness - 2.5 Tacos
Service - 4.0 Tacos
Overall Experience - 2.5 Tacos
Likelihood to Return - 2.5 Tacos

Casa del Delicious

Today we went to Casa del Charro. We have passed it on or way to other stops and have been looking forward to this. 

When I arrived, I was informed by Travis, who was on time, that the tacos were not on the menu. However, they have a 5 Taco plate 

We all started with the ground beef. It was tender and had a nice spice to it. 

The carne asada was one of the better steak tacos we have had. The meat was nice and tender with man sized chunks of meat. 

Their chicken taco is unbelievable. Fantastic flavor and seasoning make this stand above most, if not all other chicken tacos. 

The carnitas was just ok. The meat was extremely fatty but had decent flavor. 

Apparently we saved the best for last, the Al Pastor. The meat was absolutely delicious. Super tender, tons of flavor and loads of meat make this the best taco here. There was also a fantastic after-taste that had some chorizoish qualities. 

This was a fantastic stop. The huge added bonus to these tacos was that they were only $1/taco. The service was fantastic but they only got 4 tacos because their was a surprise charge for $1.25 for the delicious chips and salsa. I will definitely be back!

Service- 🌮🌮🌮🌮

Quality of food- 🌮🌮🌮🌮🌮

Amount of meat on each taco- 🌮🌮🌮🌮🌮

Overall value- 🌮🌮🌮🌮🌮

Overall experience- 🌮🌮🌮🌮🌮

Travis - Taco Tour stop #24 - Lalo's Express - 2051 S Seneca

Well this week we planned ahead (for once) and decided that we'd make a stop to Lalo's Express.  I have some friends that really like the place so figured that it was worthy of a stop on our tour.  I think this used to be an old Taco Tico?  Anyway, plenty of seating space and you order at the counter and the staff will call out your order when it's ready.  They have a large menu selection - so even if you're not in the mood for just tacos, there should be plenty of options for you.  Since this is a taco tour, I opted for a Carnitas, Al Pastor, Barbacoa, and then later added a ground beef on Chris's recommendation.

It wasn't fast, but the wait wasn't unacceptable.  There is definitely plenty of meat on each taco - when I was done, I had some extra still on the plate that I scooped up.  Since I ordered the ground beef later, I forgot to snap a pic, but it was just as full.

First was the al pastor - this was a pretty tasty taco.  Lots of meat and the flavor was good.  It's not the best al pastor I've had, but it definitely ranked high on my list in terms of flavor.  This was my favorite of the 4 tacos I had here today.  I'd recommend this one if you're coming and I'd get this one again if I came.

The barbacoa was next and it was very juicy.  In fact a little too juicy as the napkins were struggling to keep up.  (Side note, their napkins are very small and almost worthless).  The taste was just ok.  I think it needed a little bit more seasoning or something.  The flavor was lacking and some of the meat had some crunchy, burnt spots.  I added a little salsa and that helped, but you can definitely do better elsewhere.

The carnitas were next and boy do we have a high standard to meet... this one fell short.  It had plenty of meat but again just sort of lacking in flavor.  Other carnitas we've had were more bold so this was a bit disappointing.  Again I put a little salsa on it and that definitely helped but not enough to make me change my mind about it.  There were some tough & dry spots in the meat also.  It wasn't bad, but it definitely wasn't as good as we've had other places.

After Chris said the ground beef was pretty good, I decided to get one (I felt like I needed one more taco anyway).  It definitely was a good taco.  It's probably among the better ground beef tacos we've had on the tour.  The biggest plus to it is that there is a lot of meat - probably more meat than any "fast-food" ground beef tacos you'll get around here.  If you're looking for the fast-food style taco, this is a good one to go for as I'd definitely get it again sometime.

The "authentic" tacos were $2.25 each and the ground beef was $1.85.  So 4 tacos and no drink, I ended up paying a little over $9.  While I won't complain about a $9 lunch, it also won't get great ranking for value.  I left full, but I feel like for the money you can definitely get better.

Overall Lalo's will just rank middle of the road for me.  I feel like they have a menu that is worth exploring if you want other Mexican foods besides tacos - but for this stop, just average.  A few tough, dry, or overcooked spots didn't help them.  The bright spots were the al pastor and ground beef.  I'm trying hard not to mention that other place that we've come to love, but PE is only about 1.5 miles away... so... if I'm anywhere close, it would be hard to stop here instead of going there.

Out of 5 tacos, here are my ratings (at the risk of being lazy, you'll see a theme below):

Food Taste:
Value:
Cleanliness:
Service:
Overall:
Likelihood to return:

Another goes down to PE

Today we went to Lalos Express on south Seneca. It appears to be an old Taco stick building. 

There was a nice sized menu to choose from. Obviously I stuck with the tacos. I ordered 4 to start with and a Pineapple Jarritos to wash it all down. 

After a short wait, my tacos were done. I started with the chicken taco. There was a lot of meat in the taco and it was HOT! That was the highlight of that taco. It wasn't bad but it just didn't have anything amazing to tell you about. 

Then I devoured my ground beef taco. It was actually pretty yummy. Usually ground beef is a tad boring and lacking in flavor but they did a fantastic job. The meat was nice and tender and had awesome flavor. 

Before we get to the next 2 tacos, there is apparently a language barrier. I ordered the next tacos light on the pico. I think they added extra...

The al Pastor was quite delicious. The meat was nice and tender and there was a fair amount of it on the taco. 

The fish taco had entirely too much ranch sauce on it. The fish tasted like they put fish sticks on a taco and covered them in ranch. They didn't taste like Walmart fish sticks. Maybe a tad classier like Target fish sticks. 

I am sure y'all are sick of hearing about this but Pollo Express is only a mile up the road. When I am in this part of town, there is no questions, I am going to PE. 

The exception to that would be if I wanted a ground beef taco. That was pretty delicious. 

Service- 🌮🌮🌮

Quality of food- 🌮🌮🌮

Amount of meat on each taco- 🌮🌮🌮

Overall value- 🌮🌮🌮

Overall experience- 🌮🌮🌮

Shon's Take - Taco Tour Stop #23 - Los Compadres - 3302 W Central

So, after being out of town the last couple of weeks, I assumed I would have to eat tacos everyday for lunch to stay on pace with Thing 1 and Thing 2. Alas, they were lost without me and only hit one place while I was gone: Los Compadres at West Central and Zoo Blvd. Since they were both being buttheads today and couldn't meet up, I figured this was the perfect time for me to catch up.


After being gone the last two weeks, I basically had zero chance to eat tasty tacos. Traveling with the wife and kids was NOT conducive to finding local taco joints. So I was ready to get back at it. Travis said that someone had recommended LC's and that it was (gasp) better than Pollo Express. Pretty high praise all things considered.


Anyway, I went in shortly after 1pm. My first impression was pretty good - small building, clean, not too fancy, but a definite mom and pop joint with some nice aromas working. There were a few customers around. But despite the small size, there were still plenty of tables. I seated myself and was greeted quickly. First negative - no chips and salsa. Yes, this is a Taco Tour and not a Chips and Salsa Tour. Still, I'm always disappointed to not get some on the house. Did I want to pay $2.99 for some? Nope! So I figured I would just buy an additional taco. After a quick run through the menu, I decided on 5 tacos: a carne asada, a deshebrada, al pastor, carnitas, and a Taco Americano.


After a reasonably short wait, my tacos arrived accompanied by two small bowls of red and green salsas. The tacos looked pretty good, (though a little smaller than I'd hoped). The carne asada was first and was a pretty good taco - meat was tender, slightly seasoned and had a decent amount of meat despite the smaller size. Deshebrada was a pulled beef taco and was also pretty good. The carnitas was a little different than most - while a lot of other places seem to want to season them into flavor submission, this one tasted a little more bare boned - not a bad thing either. There was some seasoning in it, but it still had quite a bit of it's porky flavor to it. Almost bacon-y. Which didn't bother me at all. The al pastor was probably my favorite of the bunch - a nice, slightly peppery seasoning to the red sauce it was cooked in. Which reminds me about the salsas - the green was probably barely above the realm of spicy and into the "slightly hot" rating. If you don't like spicy foods, I'd stay away from the green tomatillo. The red salsa they brought was pretty peppery - if I'd have had my eyes closed,  I would've almost thought I had swallowed a spoonful of ground black pepper. Go lightly with this one, especially on the al pastor which was already cooked in a similar seasoning. Last was the Taco Americano - basically an American style taco of ground beef on a fried flour shell with sour cream, lettuce, and tomato. The ground beef had just a few bits of potato cooked in which was a nice turn considering most places that use potato try to use it as a filler instead of ground beef. A decent taco, but nothing special about it.


Overall, I'd say this was a pretty good find. My server was quick and efficient and the owner came by to check on my food. The tacos were on the menu for 1.89/each (2.09 for the Americano). I didn't realize it until I was driving home, but I ended up with a receipt for $6.54 plus tip. Not sure if there is some kind of taco special on Wednesdays, so I will have to clarify that on my next trip. For now, HIGH marks for value assuming they got my ticket right. My overall ratings on the 5 Taco Scale are below.


Food Quality - 3.5 Tacos
Price - $
Value - 4.5 Tacos
Cleanliness - 3.5 Tacos
Service - 4.5 Tacos
Overall Experience - 4.0 Tacos
Likelihood to Return - 4.0 Tacos

Los Compadres

We heard a rumor that Los Compadres is better that Pollo Express. While I found that hard to believe, we had to find out for sure. 

Upon arriving, this is another tiny hole in the wall restaurant on W Central. They had a pretty nice taco selection and had chips and salsa. 

I started with the chicken taco. The meat was nice and tender but was lacking in flavor. 

Next was a ground beef Taco Americana. The ground beef was fantastic but the fried shell was stale. Worked out to bring a mediocre taco. 

Then I dove into the carne asada taco. The meat was delicious and tender. 

The carnitas can only be described as leaky... the meat was dipping wet making the shell squishy. The flavor was pretty ok but overall, I wouldn't order it again. 

The barbacoa was just plain bland. It was super drippy and the flavor just didn't exist. 

To make a log story short, they weren't terrible but I likely won't be back. 

Service- 🌮🌮🌮

Quality of food- 🌮🌮

Amount of meat on each taco- 🌮🌮

Overall value- 🌮🌮🌮

Overall experience- 🌮🌮

My late review of Gorditas Express

Sorry for getting a tad behind on my reviews. Here is my review of Gorditas Express. 

I went with the Al Pastor, chicken, green chili pork and desebarada. 

The al pastor taco was somehow dry but tender at the same time. It was an odd experience but the flavor was pretty good. 

The chicken was nice and tender and had great flavor. 

I waited too long to write my review so I don't recall the details of the desebarada other than it being yummy. 

The green chili pork was great the first bite. Then the slimy green sauce got old quickly. I wouldn't order it again. 

I would like to say that I would come back but let's be super realistic, Pollo Express is only about 5 minutes away. Pretty decent stop. 

Service- 🌮🌮🌮

Quality of food- 🌮🌮🌮

Amount of meat on each taco- 🌮🌮🌮🌮

Overall value- 🌮🌮🌮🌮

Overall experience- 🌮🌮🌮