Anyway, the restaurant is on Central, BUT you actually park behind (on the North side) off of Cleveland ("Cleave - Land?" - note to self: rewatch Howard the Duck). Park on the back side, come in through the "back" and it's a spacious restaurant. Not much activity on a Wednesday but the waitress informed us that Tuesdays are hopping thanks to $1 tacos. Dang.
I sat down and Chris was already there consuming chips and salsa. The table we sat at was conveniently located below a ceiling fan which was quite pleasant. The fan was INconveniently located below a fluorescent light - the strobe effect all lunch was quite UNpleasant.
The chips and salsa are TASTY! I think we refilled the basket 3 or 4 times. They have "Tacos Mexicano" - which are street tacos for $2.25 with the normal flavors. So I ordered my typical carne, carnitas, al pastor, and pollo. I also added a ground beef taco in a hard shell ($1.99). It did seem like it took quite awhile for our tacos to arrive. That's probably why we ate so many chips. I'm not entirely sure why either because they weren't busy at all - and typically these meats are already ready, they just need served.
When they finally did arrive, they looked pretty good and fairly typical with 2 tortillas and what seemed to be an adequate amount of meat. Unfortunately, I'm wondering if they sat for awhile because most of them were barely warm and by the time I was done, some were no longer warm at all.
I went for the pollo first - it had enough meat to be an adequate taco. Not sure why the other 2 didn't like this one because I actually kind of liked it. The meat had a nice grilled chicken flavor to it - something that is sometimes hit or miss at our other stops. It was sort of tender (but not awesomely tender). Overall I did enjoy this one.
The ground beef was next. Eh. Not bad - it wasn't warm. The shell was a little soft on the bottom even though I ate this one second. It had plenty of filling in the shell. We've definitely had better - and frankly, you can get just as good at "fast food" taco joints.
The carne was my next taco and it was slightly chewy but it did have plenty of meat. The flavor was okay - but nothing amazing. I tried the hot salsa on this one and it definitely brought out a little more flavor and a good kick.
Carnitas is one of my favorite tacos so I'm always anxious to try new ones at our stops. This one wasn't bad. It didn't have a bold flavor like some of my other favorites do, but it did taste good. It was a little on the chewy side. It had a subtle flavor that sort of comes in as you're eating it - but not obvious right when you take the bite. I kind of liked that about it, but it wasn't anything that will have me raving about it.
The al pastor was last and it was really an interesting taco. The meat was the nice red color we've come to expect from al pastor. It had an interesting sauce on the meat - a marinade that I don't recall having at our other stops. I couldn't figure out the flavor I was getting until Shon said it - pineapple. The more I thought about it, the more I liked this. It had that sweet but tangy touch and you definitely can taste the hint of pineapple. This would have easily been the best taco we had IF it would have been hot. Really kind of bummed it wasn't. I might go back and try this one again.
Overall, if you compare our reviews you'll see some consistencies and inconsistencies. I think you'll notice that most of our tacos weren't hot in temperature. Not sure if they sat waiting or what. The food definitely needs to come out hot - especially for "open face" tacos that cool fast. I think we all liked the al pastor - but the others were a mixed batch because of inconsistencies in meat quality. Last but not least, service was a little slow in spite of excellent chips and salsa. I found myself wanting to like this place. I'll probably give it another go - maybe on a Tuesday. Strictly out of curiosity, I also want to come back for the mariachi band.
Here's my ratings out of 5 tacos:
Out of 5 tacos, here's my ratings:
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