El Rey Taqueria

Good atmosphere and food is good, but there melon drink is Delicious…

I decided to drive the five miles just to get breakfast tacos for my snoring boyfriend the other day. At 9 AM, the line was already long but the wait actually wasn’t too bad. There’s a large selection of breakfast tacos for under $ 3 and yummy coffee (voted by Houston Press!). My boyfriend also swears by the rotisserie chicken.
The only sad thing is… they’ve shortened their hours! WHY, El Rey?! Now I’ll have to go to Taco Bell to satisfy my after studying Mexican cravings. My taste buds are angry with you.

You may have a bit of a wait for your food, but it’s well worth it once you take your first bite! The chicken Cuban tacos are the beat I’ve ever eaten. The grilled plantains in them add a bit of sweetness to the chicken and the flavors just can’t be beat!

When my office was just down the street, this was my go-​to lunch spot. It’s fast, affordable, and delicious, which is a perfect combination of great lunch attributes. The chicken tortilla soup is so good that I even get it on days when it’s 100+ degrees outside. That’s love!
Also, on days when my boss would bring in breakfast tacos from here for the entire office, I would do an internal dance of joy. Best. Days. Ever. Now that my office has moved a few blocks further down Main, I’ll miss this place. Luckily, a new one opened up by my house, so I won’t miss it THAT much, ha!

Estupendo! My first time in Houston and I came into this place without a clue. All I needed to tell me that this place rocked was the long lines at lunch.
I asked for anything and the cashier recommended the Shrimp Tacos.
They gave me 3 tacos on corn tortillas with shrimp with a mango salsa. Plenty of salsas to top and a little bowl of the best black beans.
I am now at home and missing this charming little downtown establishment.

Hands down, one of the best taco places in town! (aside from late night roach-​coaches, of course)
I always get the El Rey (fish) and the Cuban (beef or chicken with black beans, fried plantains, and a dollop of sour cream) and I have never been disappointed at any of the 4 locations I have been to. Their pastor torta was good too but their tacos are, by far, my favorite.
Also, they have a margarita machine and a limited beer/​wine selection :)

I come from hispanic culture myself, and tacos are something that I am pretty much knowledgeable about. I come here when I am in a hurry to grab something for breakfast, but it is nothing to be amazed by.
I believe that the tacos are overpriced.
But when I am in a hurry and when I am starving, this place seems like heaven.
If you’re in the mood for a seemingly home cooked meal, then this is you’re place, it will fill you up and leave you with the good feeling of having chosen this instead of a greasy brown bag fast food joint.

My last paralegal introduced me to this place — for that reason I love her in a completely professional and appropriate way. I thanked her for recommending this place. This is the perfect lunch location to saunter over for a burrito on days I am in court. The little salsa jars they have out are awesome too — that is such a better method than the «salad bar» concept of salsa at Taco Cabana.
I have tried a bunch of different things on the menu. Everything is tasty. And it is not drenched in grease like some tex-​mex places. I tell myself that this is a reasonable and healthy lunch to charge up the body to go back to court or walk back to the office.
If I’m nearby when I get hungry, I am coming here to stuff my face. That is a pretty strong endorsement from me.

El Rey’s black beans are tippy tops.
everything else is pretty tasty too. okay so the veggies are a little on the buttery side, but i only know it would be better for me if they weren’t… it’s still delicious.
love the plantains, hate that they close so early: [
if they had coke products instead of pepsi, they would SO get five stars.

I got 3 Tacos.
Shrimp Taco was really good.
Fish Taco was really really good.
Then I had the Cuban Chicken Taco… Amazing. Flour tortilla, black beans, chicken, plantains then sour cream. Amazing.
I don’t like the pepsi products tho. I guess sierra mist will do.

I am working downtown this summer, and a few people recommended this place so I thought I’d give it a try. I have ended up returning a couple times. I did not really enjoy the beef fajitas on my first trip, but the rotisserie chicken and the chicken fajitas are pretty good. For downtown, the food is affordable (you can be full and satisfied for under $ 10). It’s definitely in a convenient location, as it right next to the light rail and within a few blocks walking distance of the courthouse. I have heard good things about their ceviche, so it’ll be next on my list of things to try.

My addiction here is now the Cuban tacos. The plantains and black beans combined with the meat makes for an incredible taco. Three Amigos, all beef Cubans on flour is what I order now.

I’ve been here couple times for a couple jury duty stints (sit around and get let out at lunch time) and a couple more times at the location on washington, and I must be missing something cause I don’t think their stuff really stands out. It all seems a little bland to me…
I guess I should make sure to read the other Unilocal reviews next time I do my civic duty.

El Rey is pretty darn good. Although it takes me a decent hike to get there, the light rail on the way back ensures that I won’t be hungry again.
I ordered the 3 Amigos with Chicken, Beef, and Pork. The pork had good flavor, but was a bit over done, the beef was great, and the chicken was pretty good. The rice was average, as were the beans, but that doesn’t really bother me. I like that they have Diet Dr Pepper on tap at the self serve soda station (alliteration!), and the food came fast for a reasonable price.
The décor is nice, although the large people on the wall have always confused me. I just don’t get the style. It is fine, I suppose, but why are they so fat? And why are their feet so big? None of us there had a solid answer, but we developed a few theories. Although, I must admit, I would still be curious even if they had small or normal sized feet. Pygmy feet might be more amusing.
Anyways, it is a small joint that will fill up relatively quick at lunch time, and the line to order could feel unbearable if you are really aching. You could fit a decent amount of people at the counters along the kitchen and windows, but there aren’t but 8 or 9 tables. I will be going back in the hopefully near future.

Nice looking place with modern designer furnitures that is overall clean except for the beverage dispenser area which looked like a stampede of hungry customers trampling and rumbling through it. It was messy and wet. I can’t say much about the tacos I ate. The only reason why I stopped in here was because I was looking for Spaghetti Warehouse and when I realized I had only 30 minutes left to eat for lunch, I had no choice but to stop in here to get lunch.
I wanted to give El Rey a try by ordering 3 kinds of taco. I ordered a veggie, bbq chicken, and a shrimp taco. They were all $ 1.85 each so around $ 2 a piece after tax. Little pricey in my opinion.
I started with the veggie which was just zucchinis. It was small and so bland that I had to use their salsa verde. I mean adding a little of onion would have enhanced the flavor of the taco but I guess they don’t have real chefs in their kitchen. I probably would have enjoyed it more with refried beans, onions, chipolte, and cilantro. I don’t know why they didn’t make their veggie taco like this. It’s a classic.
Then I tried the bbq chicken which was bland too. It couldn’t taste any of the bbq flavor to it. It tasted more like grilled chicken over the skillet. Again I had to use the salsa verde to make it more tasty. This taco was small with not much of anything else except chicken.
The shrimp taco however was stuffed with cheese and other stuff. It tasted good and the shrimp was fresh and crispy but it had only 3 medium size shrimp in it. I should have just ordered 3 shrimp tacos since they are the same price which I couldn’t figure out why.
Overall my experience with El Rey is nothing to shout about. It is nice clean place with not much of seating area. In fact, the majority of the available seats were bar stools. They may have like 5 tables that can sit 4. The tacos were pricey and bland. I may return with some friends for their company or to try their other items on the menu.

inexpensive and very good breakfast & lunch tacos. Horchata was very good too. Reasonable fast service compared to others in Houston.
Just wish they were open late during the week.

I stayed across the street at Icon while in Houston and I did not venture inside El Rey until the 3^rd day — what a sad thing to know I had missed breakfast tacos here for 2 days!
I love the breakfast tacos! Yummy chorizo, huevos rancheros and papas. It is just simple and cheap.
As far as atmosphere the place is way cuter on the inside than it looks from the outside. Although I haven’t tried it yet I think it would be the perfect late night snack.

I came here with my b/​f at 1:00 a.m. on a Friday night, immediately after flying in to Houston for a work related visit.
We both like Cuban food and he found El Rey on Unilocal,of course.
I enjoyed my flavorful vegetarian taco, cuban taco, my b/f’s sides of beans and plantains, and a slice of key lime pie, all while being entertained by drunk people and their slutty clothing choices.
The cuban taco includes chicken, beans, AND plantains, so I had to try it out of curiosity. It was actually kind of good, and I wasn’t even drunk!
This place is very large and clean and the staff was very friendly to us. I would love to go back here for more vegetarian tacos and plantains.

As per usual, my judgment of any Mexican/​Tex-​Mex/​hybrid is based upon their queso. And the queso at El Rey was a bit disappointing. Queso should not be watery. It should be thick and oozing so you know it’ll kill your arteries. I mean, what is the point of eating unhealthy if it just drips off the chips anyway?
I ended up with the beef nachos which were a decent size. My beef was dry and with the cheese being a bit too liquefied, it didn’t make for the happy place that I thought it would be after hearing all the rave reviews.
Everyone else seemed to enjoy their meals, so perhaps I just ordered the wrong thing. The food was quick and decently cheap, so I can’t complain about that. I’m not a downtown kinda gal, so I doubt I’d come back all that often even if the food were stellar, though after a few drinks I think the bar is substantially lowered. Perhaps if I wasn’t one of the designated drivers of the evening I would’ve enjoyed my experience at El Rey a little more?

Prices are reasonable and the food is delicious. While this may be a taqueria, this is actually a Cuban-​Mexican fusion type of taqueria. You can get mango, shrimp, into a taco as well as plantains, black beans, etc. It is an interesting mix and a great tasting one.
They are also famous for the rotisserie chicken which many claims are roasted Cuban or typical Latin American style. This is the newest location of the chain and is also the nicest looking.
I’ve been at the other location on Shepherd. Nice place too, but has more of an old 1950’s diner feel. And I mean «old» and they have stools by the counter and a drive thru there as well. Good nostalgia kinda place. But it doesn’t look as clean cut as the newest location at 233 Main in downtown Houston.
Their coffee is also well known and is good.