Taqueria El Granjenal

Bring back Kim’s tacos! I’ve been coming here for years for the Kim’s (Korean tacos) tacos but they stopped serving them. Since no Korean tacos, I ended up ordering carnitas. They were good, but I miss the Kim’s tacos. Bring them back… best Korean tacos I’ve had in Orange County that’s not on wheels!

The review sound good in the pictures look good I must of had bad luck my Burrito had no meat. It was all fat an nerves

This place has proven itself over and over again to be a great delicious deal and meal. Vegan and vegetarians welcome. Make sure to order frijoles de la olla instead of the refried beans, since the refried ones have lard. I usually get their one taco combo with frijoles de la olla and no cheese, otherwise you get a boatload of cheese! The guacamole is included and always good. Good chips too!

Sorry to have to give a one star. Was looking forward to it after looking through photos and reviews. Had to be one of the worst Mexican food meals. Got the chicken flautas combo and Carne asada and all pastor tacos. Flautas were dry and I could taste the oil. Rice had no flavor and dry. Tacos were too dry to be edible BF said. We had to stop eating. Place was empty on a Friday night maybe that should’ve been a tip of. Unilocal peeps you were very wrong on this one.

The food is BOMB! Workers are friendly as well. Definitely my favorite taqueria in costa mesa (:

Bomb tacos. My go to place for tacos when I’m in the area. The Horchata gave it 5 stars.

No bottled hot sauce (e.g. El Tapatio, etc.), dry carnitas, spicy-​and-​dry al pastor with no pineapple in it, shredded American cheese ?!), no Jarritos… just another so-​so taqueria. I might go back to try something else, but the tacos were not worth the drive.

Still a great little gem hidden in the somewhat shaddy part of costa mesa. If you’re not a snob and want some AWESOME al pastor tortas. this is your spot, its been mine for over 20 years…

Street tacos here are delish. Authentic and perfectly seasoned asada meat on my tacos. Good serving size for street tacos. Good prices and friendly service. Only reason I gave 4 stars is because their patio/​eating area and patio wall could use a good pressure washing.

The best Mexican! Fresh juice! Freshest bread for Tortas! I’ve been coming here with my family sense I was a kid and they are still my favorite spot in Costa Mesa! If your ever in Costa Mesa you have to come here

The Kim Tacos… beef or pastor… are legit. Similar to Kogi. Really craving more now. That kind of taco! Their hot sauce is awesome. Fresh horchata is a must. Can be a bit sketchy at night but kinda adds to the flavor.

Food was yummy! Burritos are monstrous! Not salty nor greasy! Their Aguas Frecas are nom noms.
Man at the counter was very friendly.
Fresh and Delicious

Let’s say ten years ago to be safe, yes that was my last trip to this place.
Just for a time marker.
Saturday I am at home clicking through Unilocal looking for tacos in Costa Mesa and I bet I have been to 90% of the places listed. The here comes El Granjenal up on the top of the list, huh how about that.
I see the rave reviews for the Kim taco and think, what the heck lets go get one !
I turn on 19^th Street, pass El Metete and here were are, nothing has changed in a decade, maybe new paint on the benches?
We order a carnitas torta, crispy asada taco, a Kim taco and a bean tostada.
We take up a seat waiting for our order to be called.
Then in comes in a pair of apparent homeless guys on their bicycles with quart of beer in a bag. They proceed to the back booth and I believe they brought in a taco or sandwich from another place.
oh it gets better
One of them has a cell phone and puts it on speaker so he can consume the beer while cursing out instructions (to who ever is on the other end of this call) how to find his pipe.
Paraphrasing here: «the pipe is by the big tree on the end, near the entrance to the housing, where we throw the knives»
Yes, at that point we asked for our order to go, and they got the order wrong.
The torta was fine, the tostada had enough sour cream to choke a horse, the taco we came home with was a soft carne asada which proved to be the winner, and the irony to this misadventure was I did not get the Kim Taco.
Go on, have fun, the place is what it is.
I’ll see you in another ten, 2025.

Its a tad overpriced BUT you do seem to get what you pay for. The carne quesadillas are AWESOME. I was surprised at how much meat was in them! Pleasantly surprised I might add… Usually places skip on the meat. This was like and entire steak in the quesadilla. Ended being worth the extra money.

I live a few blocks away from this place and let me say how amazing it is!
Do yourself a favor and indulge in their super cheesy and topped to the max nachos (carnitas are my favorite).
And yes, the Kim’s taco is a super delicious take on a Kogi style taco. It has the right balance of sweet and spicy and topped with cabbage to give it an extra bit of crunch.
The folks who work here are super nice and it really is a great family joint.

Just had the Cubano Torta. It was just ok. Honestly the sandwich was dry. The star is the Kim Taco.

This taqueria has amazing food! My wife and I had the Kim’s beef taco which is similar to a Kogi truck taco, but better. We also had a carne asada taco and a bowl of pozole. Everything was juicy, well seasoned, and they don’t skimp on the meat. We also shared an orange agua fresca which tasted delicious and very refreshing. I will be back for more!

Needed something to soak up the alcohol from Casa so we found this joint (not much aside from Pizza Hut was open). No line and easy parking when we arrived. I chose regular nachos, while friends got carnitas nachos, beef taquitos and chicken street tacos.
The food came out about 10 mins later. I had mine to go so I got a couple sauce and sour cream cups. After opening the lid of the styrofoam container, I was elated to see crispy nachos doused in Guac and refried beans! My friend who ordered the pork definitely had no trouble finding the meat– very generous helping. The other meals also looked delicious and filling.
Definitely don’t be put off by its appearances. I am glad we chose to come here over Pizza Hut!

While Taqueria El Granjenal has many good reviews I’m not getting it, now I don’t think it was bad but just OK at best, a little shack that looks like it was formerly one of those old time Burger stands is now serving up Mexican food, though I can see many of these reviews are for a particular item called «Kim’s Tacos» which is one of those Koji style Asian Fusion Tacos with Beef or Pork.
Hey this is a Taqueria and I stuck with Mexican style tacos, similar to the place up the street the tacos are like $ 2.50 each and are larger than normal though I think the place up the street gave you a bit more meat.
Tacos —
Al Pastor —
Oddly as you can better see in the above photo they put Cabbage on the Al Pastor, not sure why maybe it’s the thing to do where their from? the Al Pastor… NO Trompo seasoning was light could have been more heavily marinated. 3-​Stars
Carne Asada —
Someone Call 911 this «Asada» has Anemia… lacking time on the grill and flavor. 1-​Star
Birria (Res/​Beef) —
Best of the Three I had, nice large pieces of beef, well seasoned and good flavor. 4-​Stars
Other than these guys have a place to sit down to eat IF that matters to you? otherwise head on over to El Toro Bravo…

Apparently 17^th street in Santa Ana and 17^th st in Costa Mesa are un related which is how we ended up here at this hole in the ground. Had my husband not been with me, I would of zipped by this place without looking twice. It is nor exactly in a nice area, but I never felt out of place. Their outside eating area brought back memories of being a kid and eating a old school burger stands.
They have something called Kim Tacos. which is why I should review Unilocal tips before ordering. I almost went back and ordered one, but we already had a bunch of food. Its on the menu but it is on its own banner outside the establishment. I went to my never fail me Carne Asada tacos which were double corn tortilla full of Carne Asada, onions and cilantro, served with a few chips and some kind of spicy sauce. One taco would of been plenty. You just never know if these places skimp on the meat, which surely they don’t. My husband ordered the Gauc and Chips. He said the gauc was very good. Unfortunately, I don’t like the texture or taste of Guacamole so I dont know… but he is pretty on it when it comes to good Guacamole.
Their large drinks are actually extra large or even considered a XXlarge, which satisfies my husbands everlasting thirst.