Taqueria Chapala

Taco and burritos here are authentic and delicious. Don’t order them if its your first time here, you MUST order the chicken. It is the best, juiciest most flavorful grilled chicken I have had in years. Fast, polite service is a plus too.

I love Taqueria Chapala! If you want authentic street tacos and a great burrito, this is the place! The guacamole is not to be missed!

The Elgin Barbeque place cross the street wouldn’t serve us because it was 20 minutes to close. At 10. On a Saturday. So we went here… AWESOME! AMAZING! The staff was fantastic: quickly greeted, took drink orders and brought it back in less than 5 mins from door to drink. Food orders were less than 5 mins on delivery to table as well. Food is 10 out of 10! Got the el pastor pork and carne asada tacos… EXCELLENT! Give them a shot, it’s totally worth it!

Driving by and was looking for a quick bite to eat. I am glad I spotted this joint from the road. I ordered two chicken tacos and a coke, and they were great. They came with grilled onions, jalapenos, and some fresh lime.
The hot sauce they have on the table is outstanding! They have a special for a whole chicken that I will have to come back to try out.

I think the chicken has amazing flavor and the tacos are good too. However, I rate them 3 stars based on cleanliness and lack of temperature regulation. There has been several times I get my order and the chicken is not fully cooked. They have the potential to be great if they address the consistency issue.

They sell grilled chicken. It is very good and comes with heated tortillas, grilled green onions, and grilled jalapenos. Serves about four adults for only $ 8. They tend to make alot of chicken all the time. This makes for a short wait time. I highly recommend the whole grilled chicken. The service is good and friendly.
I have had the tacos de pollo (chicken), carne asada (chopped steak), and the pastor (pork). The tacos are decent, but they are cheaper than anywhere else at $ 0.99.
The location in Wauconda has better tacos. There is a location in Streamwood as well. That one is inside a grocery store.

I’ve only been once. I had two tacos, one carne asada and one al pastor. The place itself is the quasi-​sit-​down sort of Mexican joint you find all over Elgin. It seemed like tables were being waited, but I got my stuff to go.
The place smelled a bit funny, but that’s pretty typical for such places. It seemed like the kitchen was busy with a large catering order at the time.
The tacos are quite cheap — around $ 0.99, making them cheaper than both of their nearby neighbors (La Flor and Los Comales). Both tacos were good enough, and the corn tortillas are fairly dark and pretty ‘earthy’, for lack of a better word. The al pastor was a bit charred, but that’s pretty common. Not lots of pastor flavor there. If it’s pastor you want, La Flor has a very distinctive recipe I think is much better. The steak was pretty ordinary, and that’s not a bad thing.
The tacos are ‘authentic’ in the sense that they are served with onions and cilantro instead of lettuce, tomato, and cheese. Most places have this option, but some, like La Flor (I believe), will serve the Americanized version unless you order tacos ‘Mexicano’.
Service was a bit gruff, but not surly. I’d give the place 3.5 stars. I would go again, just to dig deeper into the menu, especially to try a whole burrito. I feel like it’s difficult to gauge the quality from tacos only. Most places in the area make perfectly acceptable tacos.