Travis - Taco Tour stop #47 - El Viejito Mexican Restaurant - 5518 W Central

I started seeing signs for a new Mexican restaurant a few weeks ago on west Central.  Since I work on Central, I drive by the place every day and finally noticed they were open.  I immediately put them on our list and today, with actual advance planning (thanks to your truly!), we went to the new El Viejito Mexican Restaurant.  The place is pretty small - but oddly it feels bigger inside than it looks outside.  I think there were only 5 tables or so, but it's spacious and not cramped. They've done a good job of converting it from the Chinese place I can't remember and never went to. It's clean, furnished with matching tables/chairs, and you can even pay with a card! No seriously though - it looks nice inside and out - they've done well on the remodel.

I arrived just ahead of the other two fools so made my way inside and ordered 3 tacos a la carte ($2.25/ea). Al Pastor, carne asada, and carnitas. They also had a chorizo that I skipped - and I heard Shon order a fish taco from somewhere else on the menu.

We sat down and in a few minutes, we were served complimentary chips and 3 salsas. A mild red, a mild green, and a reasonably spicy red sauce.  They were all enjoyable and different and I mixed it up and even used a few on my tacos later.

Even though I ordered first, I was served my tacos last.  I wouldn't say they were slow, but I would have said that if they took any longer.  The tacos looked pretty good and seemed to have plenty of meat.  One tortilla per taco.

I started with the al pastor - it was very hot temperature-wise. That's a welcome thing because sometimes when "open" tacos sit out, they cool off.  It had plenty of meat and in fact spilled out some as I ate. The tortilla started to crumble as I ate it, so I'd say they should probably use 2. It was a little greasy also which didn't help the tortilla.  It wasn't bad but it wasn't anything special either.  It had a nice red color to it that also made its way onto the tortilla, but the flavor wasn't as bold as I expected.  I kind of wanted it to be more than it was but it wasn't bad.

The asada was next and also had plenty of meat - but I managed to keep most of it in the taco.  It had an ok steak flavor but I still felt like something was a little lacking. I think with a bit more seasoning it could have been better.  I did add some green sauce and that helped - but I kind of don't like doing that on this tour because I want the tacos to stand on their own.  This one won't win any awards but it was acceptable.

Last was the carnitas and it ended a little disappointing.  It was dry - and seemed to be overcooked.  The meat was chewy so made it kind of tough to eat. In fact the tortilla managed to be a little dry and chewy too.  Again there wasn't a lot of seasoning - the meat had flavor but just nothing to "write home" about. I added some of the mild red sauce and that helped a little but couldn't overcome the dryness and chewy bits.  I want more flavor so this was a bit of a let down.

Side note, they have very small napkins - and since some was a bit greasy and messy, I used quite a few.  Not a complaint, just an annoyance.  Overall I'm going to call this new spot "middle-of-the-road".  They are VERY close to work for me, so I'll probably slide in again sometime to see if anything changes after they've been operating a bit longer.  I wouldn't call it a bad visit, but it just wasn't memorable.  It's worth my time to make one more stop, but I need the carnitas to be much better or I probably won't return very often (if at all).  They're also a Coke place, so that lowers my returnability by a slight tick.

Out of 5 tacos, here's my review:

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