Well, after some back and forth, some delays, and a taco review that apparently isn't going to be a taco review (Chris and I went to El Patio without Travis last week, but Chris said we have to go back because he can't remember anything about it. JEEEZ) we finally got the three of us together again to hit one of the few east side places on our list: Lina's Mexican Food.
First off, let me say I had a good vibe about this place (although, thankfully I didn't pick it). I mean c'mon - it's got my mother's first name on it, and she's a great cook so it's HAS to be awesome, right? RIIIIIGHHHT?!?! It had the "hole in the wall" thing going for sure, as it seemed like the entire restaurant was about the size of my bedroom and there was very limited parking in the lot. There were a few people in the joint, so I hoped that would be a good sign. Anyway, I walked in and Thing 1 and Thing 2 were already sitting down waiting on their orders. One glance at the menu and the first thing that hit me was the price - $2.50 to $3.50 a taco depending on what you're getting. At those prices, they better be pretty darn good. I decided to go with 4 tacos - a fish taco, adobada, asada, and carnitas.
When my order came out, the plate didn't look too bad. My fish taco came out with some pico and cabbage while the other three came out with pico and guacamole. Definitely a little different than your standard street taco dressing of onion and cilantro. I decided to start with the fish taco. Plenty of fish and it was definitely better than some of the other fish tacos I've had. I had to throw on some lime for a little more flavor, but overall I'd say it was an "ok" fish taco. Next up was the asada taco - plenty of tender, decently cooked steak. But flavor wise? I'd say it was somewhere between bland and..... well.... boring. Not to mention none of my shells stayed together, which left me eating more taco salad than tacos. This was pretty much the theme of the last three tacos - plenty of boring meat covered by guac and pico (to TRY and flavor it up) on shells that tasted like crap and couldn't hold what they put in it.
Overall, it turned out to be a pretty mediocre plate of tacos. It really seemed like all the toppings were there to cover the fact that the meat just didn't have much flavor. As far as I'm concerned, they owe me and my mother an apology. My overall rankings on the 5 Taco Scale are below.
Food Quality - 2.0 Tacos
Price - $-$$
Value - 1.0 Tacos
Cleanliness - 2.5 Tacos
Service - 3.5 Tacos
Overall Experience - 1.5 Tacos
Likelihood To Return - 1.0 Tacos
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