Apache’s Carnes Al Carbon

Been going to this spot for years since a kid actually and never disappoints! My usual is 2 tortas and 3 chorizo tacos with a cold horchata!

I’m kinda biased since I’ve been coming here for about 20 years. I almost always go with the burrito and have been great ⁹⁄₁₀ times. Their sopes, tacos, and tortas aren’t bad either. Overall, a simple hole in the wall place that’s pretty good and fairly priced.

Sometimes Unilocal misguides you. I was in the area and wanted some delicious burritos and tacos. I eat both of them 4 to 5 times out of the week. The «Burritos are bomb» and the «Best tacos in town» were all a lie. I ordered 2 Burritos and 2 tacos of asada for 2 people for this review. They say it’s al carbon, that’s a lie. It looked and tasted like carnitas. No rice in my burrito is a major down fall for me but I don’t care as long as the flavor is there. Unfortunately the beans tasted like the were canned so it just eliminated the burrito there. I move on to the taco, from that moment I knew I had stop and just move on to the next taco shop. Customer service needs servicing and the place is very small.

Best burritos and sopes a girl could ask for!
Limited seats.
totally worth it. ;)

I always try to support small businesses. This place is small so if you’re claustrophobic, good luck. j/​k When you walk in you immediately get this old school vibe. Counter seating on both sides of the restaurant with one table right next to the entrance. I ordered a torta, burrito and two sopes (wasn’t all for me). The food was ready within 5 minutes. Talk about not having to wait long for your food.
Now onto the food…
The torta was BOMB! The bread was toasted perfectly. Inside they put beans, lettuce, tomatoes, pickled jalapenos and carrots. And the carne asada meat was the star. perfectly cooked, not chewy, not fatty, it was very tender. The burrito comes with beans, onions, cilantro and your choice of meat and salsa on the side. The sopes come with beans, meat, lettuce, tomatoes and cheese. And the horchata was refreshing. Not super sweet like some other places. I would definitely recommend this spot.

I love the sopes! They food is always on point never disappointed with anything you order here

A whole on the wall. Very tiny place but giant in their specialty. Tacos and Sopes al Carbon. Love their sopes al carbon and chorizo too. Their tacos are good too but their sopes are delicious and so is their orchata drink. You got to try it at least once! :)

If you were to go into your kitchen and make sopes, burritos, and tacos. Thats what this place taste like. The best orchata HP land mark I think its been here longer than me :-)

Well I learned that one isn’t truly from «HP» unless they know this place
It’s tiny. For it’s a historical ground
Anyone who is anyone from this area knows that their burritos de carne asada is to die for. They grill it and the pieces come out tasting kind of like carnitas. Crunchy and salty. Bomb. Lol
But their burritos are expensive
Like $ 8 for a decent size burrito but without a side or drink
Place is too small to eat there and parking is nearly impossible.

So I could say I’m biased when it comes to this particular place. My family has been coming here for years, and I constantly bring friends and don’t think any have ever left disappointed. So I’ll give you a rundown of what I know about it.
Now, my fathers known the owner for quite some time (he’s been coming here since the 70s). To be completely honest, he’s often joked about how little money the owner has invested back into the place. Some will tell you in the reviews, this is literally a hole in the wall and it is pretty dated in décor. It has a jukebox in the corner that appeared sometime in the late 1990s to my recollection, and a tiny TV sitting up top near the ceiling that has only been around for a few years now. Their counters on either side of the restaurant, and each one has four stools to it and that’s about as many people fit. So realistically only eight people can eat in the restaurant. It’s street parking outside, usually meters so bring some quarters. You’ll probably only need about 40 minutes.
They used to only except cash payments, but I swear within the last year they’ve finally gotten on board and started excepting credit cards as payment.
It’s a pretty small and simple menu, and everything is very inexpensive in comparison to other places. I usually stick to their tacos al carbon (which are pretty packed with meat, cilantro, and chopped onion) as well as their sopes (small but topped with beans, chargrilled meat, lettuce, a slice of tomato, and some cheese sprinkled on top). I’m usually set with these items, but they offer more with burritos and tortas, some soups, and some fried fish on the menu to give you an idea. I’m a big fan of their beans, especially when they’re fresh. They offer you as an option to buy just a bowl of the stuff, and I know people that will just come for that. All meat is prepared fresh as soon as you order it, so you always have something fresh off the grill.
They offer other Mexican drinks like jamaica and horchata, which unlike other reviews on here, these drinks are pretty good. If you prefer something like a soda or just some plain water, there’s a liquor store next door.
Probably the main issue is their lack of consistency sometimes in the way the food is prepared, and this could be due to whoever the cook is that night. There have been occasions where I walk in and I’m not satisfied with the food as other times… mainly because the beans on his fresh warm as I like. To me they can really make or break what you’re eating.
All in all, I’ll continue to come back to this place it’s one of my favorite places to eat in general. Like I said I am biased because it is somewhere I’ve been going since I was young, but let me reiterate that I have brought many friends of many walks of life here and I have yet to have anyone say they don’t enjoy the food.

Those burritos are awesome n the tacos are full of meat its yummiii so many memories we share

For burritos, tacos, sopes, tortas and anything in that vein, this is the spot! I’ve been going there since I was like 12 years old (I’m 45 now) and it’s always been awesome! I never get tired of their food! Their food has always been consistent in quality and flavor. I have never had a bad eating experience there and the folks are always friendly. The best part for us is that we live 2.5 miles on the same street down from where El Apache is located (Gage)!
Great, home-​style, honest Mexican food. Very highly recommended!
PS Love the beans!

Run down hole in the wall place.
Pros :
Fast service
Inexpensive

Cons :
Run down place
No tables inside, only stools & counters
Small burrito
Taste of meat wasn’t all that
Salsa wasn’t all that
Even their lemons needed more flavor
Horchata lacked cinnamon & milk flavor
This place is fine to come get a quick bite to eat if you work or live nearby and don’t have time to go somewhere better to eat. This place may be a hole in the wall, but it’s no gem to be discovered
With soooooo many choices for Mexican food in Huntington Park, I would not come back to this place.

I love this place, reminds me of the old place in Boyle Heights. Great tasting sopes and arguably the best tasting Jamaica I’ve ever had and at a good price. Have no complains except that it’s in the middle of the ghetto, but the food is delicious. I had a burrito and some sopes, my dad got some sopes and tacos. Great service too.

them burritos man. I’ve been coming here for years and there #Burritos #Sopes & that #Salsa are bomb. The place could use some remodeling but other than that I give it a thumbs up.

This place is a joke! We ordered a burrito de asada, two sopes one chorizo and the other asada and a horchata. I read the reviews and everybody bragged about the asada and I wasn’t expecting a flavorless meat full of pieces of nasty fat. The chorizo was the same, you can tell that they got the lowest quality of meats. The horchata was like drinking dirty water. Nasty Nasty Nasty can’t put it any other way! Previous reviews that state this being a hole in the wall that’s worth it must of grown up on this place to think this or just don’t know what good food is. Plain and simple never coming here again.

THE BEST SOPES AND TORTAS! HANDS DOWN.
It’s such a hidden gem but once you find it, you’ll feel like you struck gold.
Don’t question it. Just go there, order anything on their menu and leave very very happy. (But don’t leave without drinking their agua de fresa. YUMMM!)
It’s inexpensive and authentic and I’m so happy to edit this post and say:
THEY ACCEPT DEBIT AND CREDIT CARDS NOW!!!
THERE IS A GOD!!!

It’s a good place to eat at, I come here whenever I’m in the area. They don’t have any tables inside. Just alongside the side they have some chairs. It’s a small place too but the food comes fast. Very casual setting and the sopes de carbon are the best. Parking is a hassle because there’s meters outside and parking on the side streets is hard because its very narrow.
It’s not expensive and looks like a hole in the wall but it’s a really good place to eat.

Tortas de carne al carbon! Nuf said.
The carne asada tortas here are… well…the best in L.A. I’m reluctant to say that about anything – usually just useless hyperbole – but I can’t think of any place else that has such incredible carne asada tortas. Yeah, sure, Ya-Ya’s up the street has great tortas (about 70 different varieties), but their carne asada tortas do not compare with El Apache.
First: you are NOT getting minced chopped up up meat (to be fair, Ya-Ya’s doesn’t mince theirs either). It’s cooked right on the open flames as a single piece of meat. I don’t know how they marinate it (if they marinate it?) but the flavor… keeps you coming back. The meat is always tender and the torta is surprisingly simple in its ingredients:
Fresh, soft bread, mayo, lettuce, tomato, refried beans and… the salsa. I’ve never had salsa like this anywhere else. At first you think, what the hell is that? It’s a thin, watery copper colored salsa, And they give it to you sparingly. But you don’t need much – it’s very flavorful and like some great reduction. It is not particularly hot, but it gets the job done. I either open the torta and add it to every inch or I add a little after each bite.
The tacos are just as good, but I prefer the tortas. The extra ingredients add to the experience. They sell burritos, sopes and even grilled fish, but it’s always the tortas I come back for.
As for drinks, just the traditional ones: horchata, jamaica, tamarindo, good coffee (de olla)…NO SODAS.
The place is small and can get warm (they have air-​conditioning – so if it’s not on, ask them to turn it on). There are no tables, just counters with barstools up against the walls.
This place USED to be open until 2:00 or 3:00 A.M. but not anymore. I think they close at 10 now, 11 or so on Fridays and Saturdays. Not sure. Ah well, it’s my own fault (and loss) for now going there late at night when I had the chance.
This is one of a small chain of restaurants. There’s another one on 1^st street in Boyle Heights (never been there myself).
Service is effcient and the meat is cooked only upon ordering – so it’s always fresh and hot. Street parking only.
I gave this place five stars. Not because it’s the best Mexican restaurant in L.A. It’s a taqueria, clearly. But DAMN they have good tortas de carne asada!

I want to rate a local hole in the wall and I’ve decided to go with this location.
To start off right when you get in you don’t expect much since there are no tables, but don’t be fooled.
As minimal the decoration and furniture is; the food matches just that.
Plain and simple burritos that taste amazing. Minimal yet delicious, nothing special but the love they put into each of their condiments, meats, even hand made sopa’s is in ample supply.
Affordable yummyness.