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: