Taqueria Los Jarritos

Another favorite Mexican food place of mine. Everything on their menu is delicious, I had the enchiladas with salsa verde… it was off the hook! They use to be a block away from me like Tacos Paisa but now they moved to Dyckman, it is still close to where I live so I will go there as well from time to time.

and sadly, gone.

If you want mexican, this is the spot. Burritos and tacos are pretty good and the serve them with two types of green sauces for all you picante lovers.

If you can get past the smell of whatever it is they use to clean the tables, then be ready to eat bland food. Had a chicharron gordita that tasted as if they had just thrown in some bread crumbs in it with lettuce and tomatoes. Their cecina taco was the best thing I tried and it was missable.
On a side note, some guy played the same song about 5 times back-​to-​back on the jukebox. «me tiene loco, loco, loco queta y su trompeta me tiene loco».

Very blah. The food was not terrible quality, but the flavors were nothing special. However, the place is pretty inexpensive. Tacos al pastor had too much sauce (?) on them, and the salted pork was too salty and without any other flavor. The tamale was okay, but did not have much meat at all in it. The tostada was the best thing, but it was still not that great.
It is in a little convenient store, but that is not what made the food mediocre. Also, it is cash only.

The food’s really good, but the food’s REALLY COLD when you get delivery. We are several blocks away, but it shouldn’t take 50 minutes to deliver.
On the phone they are pretty hard to understand and they are not good at answering questions about the menu– for example asking the difference between the American and Mexican nachos… I didn’t get an answer that made any sense.

Really great Mexican food, as Authentic as I’ve had anywhere in NYC. Just so you know, It’s pretty much the opposite of Tex-​Mex — for example, the salsas are not just infinitely spicier (not to mention more well spiced) than usual but they also have an entirely different consistency. Salsa means sauce after all, not a sort of salad or soup, which most of us are used to – and these are very bold and delicious.
Cecina nachos, chorizo burrito, carne asada burrito, verdes tamale, guacamole with chips, salsa with chips, $ 3 Negra Especial — everything I’ve ordered here has been absolutely terrific and satisfying. Portions are large, prices are extremely reasonable, and they’re very generous with complimentary salsas, creams, and pickled jalapenos & carrots.
Their English isn’t very good, but thankfully the menu has pictures of everything, so ordering is a breeze. For delivery, however, it can get a little difficult so I recommend keeping it simple, e.g., «Yes Spicy» or «No Spicy.»

I have not been to a *better* Mexican restaurant in NYC. I would say LaPalapa is about as good, but costs twice as much. You’re really missing out if you haven’t had the chicken enchiladas with Salsa Verde. I has steak with nopales (cactus) the other day and it was fine, but didn’t float my boat. Nachos are pretty good too, but not the reason most people go to an ‘authentic’ Mexican restaurant, whatever that means. Tacos are good and fresh.
The music is loud and there is some idiosyncratic Mexican décor and beer posters. Also for foodies there is a minimart in the front with imported snacks and ingredients.

Solid enchiladas. Extremely loud music in a very small space. Shocking to say considering it’s in wash heights. The bastion of peace and quiet.
Also the quesadilla is huge and cheap. Good deal.

We were heading up to the Cloisters and looking for some decent Mexican that we could hit up on the way. Based on fellow Unilocalers, we picked Taqueria and we are glad we did!
At first glance, it just looks like a deli counter. We walked in to discover a few tables on the other side. We sat and were promptly served by the girl working there. We were excited about the extensive list of Jarritos sodas and Mexican Coke and Pepsi.
I had a pork burrito which was huge and served already cut in two. It was stuffed with a lot of lettuce and cheese, but a decent amount of the pork and beans. It was impossible to eat with my hands, but that was ok. I added a load of the green avocado sauce they had. It was so filling. And for only $ 5.
My fiancé had the enchiladas rojas with chorizo. He was a huge fan. He loved the powdered white cheese and the sauce was very good (although heavy). He was stuffed after the meal.
The music is REALLY LOUD, as others have also said. It would stop for awhile while we there and just when we were used to the silence, it would come back on full volume. Oh well. Small price to pay for cheap and yummy food.

The poor waitress came by at least 4 times to ask if we were ready to order. I swear, I feel like the hungrier I am, the more indecisive I get! We even started getting all technical about which dishes to get because we wanted to «balance» our meal with equal portions of meat, cheese, «veggies» and fried goods. Well, all this breaking down of the menu was VERY rewarding because our meal was amaaaazing!
We ended up getting the Chicken Mole with rice and beans. I think it was called pollo con mole poblano [NOTE: the price on the menu for this item is incorrect! It says $ 8.00 but the waitress warned us that it was actually $ 10.00] This came with the small tortillas and it was deeeelicious! I looove mole. Something about that smoky flavor… it just goes so well with chicken! We also ordered the flautas with steak which came with creamy guacamole. You can order five flautas for $ 7 or three for $ 5.
Overall it was the perfect combination of crunchy, creamy and smokey goodness. OH and ask for the hot sauces! In the middle of biting into a flauta, I realized something was missing. Salsa verde! (I’m a sauce freak) The waitress brought out these two small jars of salsa verde and the hot sauce. NOW our meal was complete.
And yes, it’s very loud in there. The jukebox was on full blast at two in the afternoon. Party time!

Oh man, I have switched my allegiance. Lately, my former go-​to delivery WaHi Mexican, Tacos El Paisa, has been kind of off. Never any lengua, never any horchata, never any barbacoa (even on weekends). And their cecina kind of sucks. LAME LAME LAME.
So I started ordering from this place and they always have lengua and they sometimes have horchata and I have never even needed to ask for barbacoa because lengua is my top choice, always.
Yummy tortas, quick delivery. They put plenty of pickled jalapenos on the sammy but if you like a little salsa verde, make sure to ask for it. They don’t just throw it in the bag.
+++ They do an AWESOME goat taco. That meat is so tender man oh man it is good!

I’m a californian born and raised, so I’m picky about my mexican food. I checked Unilocal for a whole bunch of other places in this area only to see them veto’d by other californians as being inauthentic NY-​mexican garbage.
This place is the shit. They have a machine-​translated-​from-​spanish sign that says something along the lines of «all our food is made fresh, so please you will have to wait 15 – 20 minutes to be served.» Shit like this is always a good sign; it means the restaurant understands the tradeoff between speed and quality and is willing to take a stand for delicious food.
I had an excellent chicken mole, and the tacos were good too. My girl polished off several of their melon agua frescas, along with a fried fish dish that ive never had in california but that was pretty decent.
fellow bear stater’s in nyc, do not despair. TLJ has you covered!

I’m tired of hearing that there’s no good Mexican food in New York. That’s nonsense. It’s possible to get almost ANYTHING in New York, but some things (such as good Mexican food) can be harder to find than others. Chances of finding good Mexican seem to increase dramatically in places where sizable numbers of Mexicans actually live. St. Nicholas Ave around 187^th Street is such a place. That’s where we found Taqueria Los Jarritos and the very good Mexican food they serve there.
The menu is bilingual, but our server spoke little English. She hardly needed to; we were the only gringos there. The other diners were mostly young hombres watching a soccer game on a small flat screen television at the top of the far wall. Our server had a bit of a time getting from table to table, because there really wasn’t enough room in the place to fit the number of tables squeezed into it. The overall effect was more cozy than cramped, however. The jukebox was also too loud, but the music was so good it wasn’t bothersome. We fumbled our way through ordering in Spanish and waited.
The menu makes it clear that the food is cooked to order, and the wait for your meal could be up to 15 minutes. Our party of four waited just a little longer than that, but we took the sting out of it with drinks and some guacamole and chips ($ 5). The guac was a surprise: it was the thin, liquid style that often equates to a let down, but this guacamole was no let down. Cilantro and onion flavors were well represented, and it was delicious even though not our preferred type of the stuff.
Food varies by region in Mexico, and the food at Los Jarritos isn’t exactly what leaps to the American mind when thinking about Mexican food. This is not Tex-​Mex or California style. Fortunately, every dish is pictured on the menu, so you can figure out that the quesadilla here is a giant taco, instead of the more familiar flour tortilla and melted cheese combination. They even translate «quesadilla» on the menu as «Mexican hard shell taco,» removing any doubt. Also, the cheese used on the quesadillas and tacos bears more resemblance to parmesan than cheddar or jack. Mexican crema makes appearances as well. Tacos come with sliced radish and lime wedges, which makes me happy.
My wife had three quesadillas ($ 9), all of which were good, but the beef one was great. I went with three goat tacos ($ 6). I’m of the opinion goat makes far too few menu appearances in this town. The meat was tender, with a flavor reminiscent of middle eastern shawarma: very good. A less adventurous eater at our table had a couple of chicken tacos, which held their own just fine. Our tacos came wrapped in the obligatory couple of soft corn tortillas. Her hungry husband was in heaven over his beefsteak and onions plate, with beans and rice.
While stuffed, we decided to push things a bit with a few $ 1 hot drinks to finish the meal. A grandmother’s Mexican hot chocolate was just OK, and a bit watery. A hot rice pudding drink was novel, even delicious, but not something I’d order again. Best to pass on the coffee.
Our bill wasn’t even $ 50. We over tipped, and walked out feeling like we’d been on vacation — an inexpensive, yet entirely satisfying mini-​vacation in the midst of a NYC winter recession. We even had leftovers. Having friends in this neighborhood pretty much assures we’ll be back again for more. I’m eager to try the weekend specials of posole with pork and barbecued goat.
Taqueria Los Jarritos is cheap, delicious proof that you CAN find good Mexican food in New York.