Taqueria El Jarochito

The fact that I work right across the street at the school probably makes my opinion biased. But I love this place. It’s tiny so don’t expect to come here with a big group and eat. However everytime i come here it’s always so busy. But I guess that just means their food is amazing!

I’ve tried the breakfast burritos at about 10 Mexican restaurants in the area, and El Jarochito is my favorite so far AND the cheapest!

I love this place! I remember always coming to this place with my parents after I would get out of school. I don’t like around the area anymore so I don’t go as often as I used too. But I don’t mind driving 30 minutes once a month for their amazing tacos since I live in Hayward. My favorite are the tripa tacos with are alway so crunching and delicious, not once have I been disappointed!

These guys actually had/​have a taco truck that used to stop by the Home Depot in San Carlos. Used to go there regularly but at the beginning of October 2010 they disappeared. Kind of sad, they never had much business, but lady used to bring her older kids and bore them to death hanging out in the truck all day. I never saw another white guy there– it was mostly day laborers from Home Depot– but they always hooked it up for their token gringo.
Al Pastor and Carne Asada was absolutely solid. Al Pastor was a bit on the greasy side but it is only a real concern for the trip back to work and the resulting residual grease that leaks through the paper bag. Chili Verde was lacking though– too dry– very unmotivating. Their super burritos and quesadillas were spot on and they always gave you more meat than was truly applicable for the culinary platform. $ 1 tacos too if that’s your deal– they were pretty good.
I really wonder what happened to their truck… such nice people who hook it up with the meat. Contrasts greatly with the awful trucks that have taken over from the 2 trucks of July-​October 2010.

Came for lunch a couple of days ago.
The good– some outdoor seating, cheap tacos ($ 1.15), and AMAZING spicy pickled carrots.
The bad– tacos were not great. While the carnitas were decent, the carne asada tasted like old rubbery chunks of brown nothingness and the al pastor was somewhere in between. The tortillas were way too greasy.
There’s fierce competition in Redwood City/​Menlo Park, and I doubt I’ll ever go back there again.

Tried to go to El Taco de Oro with a friend one day and it was closed! Damn! I was really in the mood for those tacos. My friend suggested we search for tacos elsewhere nearby. I wasn’t excited about the idea at first since I was all geared up for Tacos de Oro.
I pretty quickly snapped out of it once we started walking South and saw a little place with a cartoon-​ish boy’s head painted on the wall and the name «el Jarochito» above. I didn’t even know what «jarochito» meant (and I still don’t) but it looked intriguing. «I’ll bet that place is good!» I exclaimed.
We excitedly entered the small taqueria. The kitchen (the grill at least) is just beyond the ordering counter. There are about four small booths in the dining area. A big sign to the left lists their offerings. The tacos are $ 1.15 each. I think a couple of them (tripa and cabeza maybe?) are like $ 1.50 or something…
We were there for tacos so we ordered tacos. There was a good selection of carnes to choose from. Everything from your typical carne asada and pollo, to the more exotic carnes like cabeza, lengua and lengua. We were happy to see carnitas available, unlike at El Taco de Oro.
The woman at the counter was friendly, and the chef/​cook is very friendly as well. You order, take a seat and it seems to vary between someone bringing you your food and them calling your order out as it’s placed on the counter. The service is always speedy.
Back to that first experience. We got our tacos and they were seemingly better than those at El Taco de Oro. We were glad to find tacos to satisfy that urge. The tortillas were crisp along the edges and the carnes w/​salsas were rich and flavorful. I have been back to El Jarochito a few times now and their tacos are consistently good for the most part.
I have been back to El Taco de Oro a couple of times after the few times at El Jarochito as well. I think I’d give the slight edge to Oro, mostly because I prefer the flavor of the carnes and salsas there. Jarochito is a little inconsistent with which salsas you get on the tacos. Sometimes they vary per taco, sometimes you get all red salsa, sometimes they ask if you want hot or mild… I’d just prefer if they put on the salsa they deemed appropriate like at Oro.
Another slight hit to Jarochito is that it’s not as clean as Oro. It’s not dirty or anything, just a comparison between the two. Also the little booths are pretty cramped to sit in. A few very minor faults. Nitpicking really…
All in all, I’d definitely recommend El Jarochito. The friends I’ve taken there so far all love the tacos there! If anyone out there knows what «Jarochito» means, please let me know. I suppose I could just ask next time I’m there… duh.

We decided to go out to eat dinner around the time that most restaurants close, so we had to scramble around to find some place to eat that was actually open. We actually went out in search of another restaurant, but couldn’t find it. We were lost and hungry and decided to go here.
The restaurant is pretty small and the tacos are super cheap (like $ 1.15 each). Didn’t get them, though. I’m more of a super burrito person. Ordered the carne asada burrito. I really liked the seasoning that they use for the meat except where was the guacamole? It didn’t come with guacamole. I cannot function without guacamole on my burritos! Beyond that, though, it was a pretty solid burrito.
I was also thoroughly impressed by their horchata. It had an extra kick to it.

The best taqueria around the best burritos and tacos and you also get great customer service!!!

My favorite taqueria around. Try the chorizo super burrito and the huevos rancheros.

What can I say, I was looking for a good cheap eats place one day and I found this place to have a very strong aromatic fragrance coming from the outside and there were people inside. I decided to walk in with everyone staring at me, was it because I was strong and buff? Well that could be, but could possibly be that I’m Chinese walking into a taqueria and the surrounding neighborhood is predominately Mexican, Hispanic, Latino decent.
I must say I wanted to come here to try everything, but I knew my stomach couldn’t eat everything and so I ordered three tacos, which were over a $ 1 each. So I tried the carne asada (steak), the carnitas (fried pork), and the el pastor (bbq roasted pork). I must say that the best choice would have to go with the carnitas, the flavors just mingled well with each other and was quite delicioius. The el pastor had too much seasoning and kinda tasted like a chorizo I once had. The steak was just average.
Overall, I’m likely to come back if I want some cheap eats. It’s a small shack-​like restaurant with limited seating. All food is cooked to order and the staff is friendly.
***I posted a couple of pics***