Ray’s Drive Inn

Man oh man, do I love Ray’s. The supposed inventor of the puffy taco and what a thing to invent. These things are good. Damn good. I’d use a few other choice words to get across to you my feelings of how amazing the food is here but I may get kicked off Unilocal for that. The service is friendly, they do only take cash for payment but they do have an atm on premise. So again, damn this food is good. Damn.

The best puffy tacos in San Antonio!!! don’t ever believe anyone else… at her the way dangerous neighborhood stolen merchandise for sale if you ever need 1000 Tylenol tabs…

Food is meh… Very bland. Used to be better quality. Service is very poor. Puffy taco shell was so hard and chewy that I finally used my fork to eat the contents out of the shell.
The 2 stars is only for the fresh avocado.

After reading about this place, we HAD to give it a go… it may be in a not so great part of town, but, the puffy tacos here are yummy! Lots of choices and the BBQ brisket has an interesting, somewhat sweet, twist! I’m still searching for a puffy taco that doesn’t make me quiver at the sheer volume of grease, but I digress…
The service was fantastic and the ambiance is definitely unforgettable. We were a bit disappointed that we didn’t get pressured into buying a chainsaw or baskets of fruit by the ‘countless peddlers’, as so many Unilocalers mentioned, but there’s always next time!
We also tried the crispy dogs… all I can say is keep an open mind and give ‘em a whirl… I’m not gonna say they were amazing, but they were something I could totally see craving after a night of drinking… I mean, a hot dog, in a corn tortilla, fried to a perfect crisp, with salsa and mustard!!! Forgetaboutit! It was memorable to say the least. A fun little lunchtime excursion that you won’t soon forget!

I know this place is near and dear to so many here in San Antonio, and so I want to preface this review by stating that I mean no disrespect whatsoever to those who sing the praises of this restaurant.
Having said that, I have always been seriously underwhelmed when dining here. The puffy tacos have been voted «Best in San Antonio», and again, I respect that, but I wasn’t impressed with them at all. Beef is very bland, the tortilla is a greasy mess, and you have to pay extra for cheese, guacamole, etc. Plus, like the other Unilocaler said, you are constantly being bombarded by people trying to sell you oranges, or jewelry, or shampoo and deodorant. It’s ridiculous.
When the family makes plans to go here, I will, of course, go along with it, but I would never choose this place if there were other options.

You gotta have a puffy taco while in San Antonio — amiright?! And you should get your fix here — where it was invented.
Thank you, Arturo Lopez, for creating this delicious treat. May you rest in peace knowing that your creation will continue to put smiles on people’s faces for years to come.
As for the other offerings on the menu, they are just a-​ok. Typical Tex Mex fare. Nothing too exciting. I think the famous Crispy Dogs are gross though… just a regular hot dog, wrapped in corn tortilla, and deep fried… super salty and greasy. Not for me.
As others have mentioned, the area is a bit sketchy. Parking can be difficult. And the most annoying thing for me… people who wander into the restaurant and offer to sell diners anything from fruits to chainsaws. I’m not even kidding about this. My husband and I were interrupted 4 times by these «vendors» during our meal. Management and regulars didn’t seem to think this was weird. But, we did! It made our dining experience a bit unpleasant.
So while the puffy tacos are quite good, we won’t be coming here on a regular basis. Not a fan of the random vendors :/

It was good. I think the meat could have been seasoned better, I got the Carne quisada puffy and the pica dill puffy with rice and beans, you have to pay 1.00 extra PER taco for avocado and cheese was extra too. They were huge and filling the shell was way better than Henry’s Puffy Tacos, so I don’t know a out that other posters post. LoL. Beans were okay, rice was okay and tea was suuuuuupwr sweet. I would go back but I’d like to try the crispy dog next time. Oh and the chops they bring to the table are super greasy and the salsa was okay, a little too hot for chips and salsa for my taste but the chips were too greasy too eat anyway…

Whenever I visit a city, my first research is always about the local specialty. For San Antonio, puffy tacos seemed to be it. When I read that Ray’s Drive Inn was supposedly the birthplace of puffy tacos, it just became imperative for us to make sure we stop by before we left the city.
It may seem rather sketchy in the neighborhood, but as a local friend told us, «Well this is San Antonio, our ‘sketchy’ area is still probably safer than most neighborhoods in the country.» And he was correct. I thought the area was an older blue collar neighborhood and not at all «sketchy» since we did not feel unsafe for one single second.
The ambiance here is great — homey and welcoming. They have interesting décor — with old record players, juke boxes, a very eye-​catching altar, and other knickknacks serving as decorations. Not at all fancy, this is a joint that caters to locals (who are mostly regulars, I imagine). On our visit, it was clear that we were the only out-​of-​towners and first timers. I like!
The service was friendly and quick. Our waitress could tell this was our first time and was very patient with us when we kept changing our minds. We had a steady supply of free chips and flavorful salsa so taking our sweet time making up our minds took even longer than usual. After we ordered, the food was in front of us in less than ten minutes. We also never had to make mush of an effort to get our drinks refilled.
We ordered the puffy tacos — chicken fajitas, chicken, and beef. Everything was quite flavorful with the exception of chicken fajitas, which was really just… odd. There was nothing about the chicken fajita puffy tacos that made me think of chicken fajitas. I also ordered the chicken enchilada which was good, but was eclipsed by the puffy tacos. I get the popularity of puffy tacos and I wish we had some readily available near my home.
If you do visit, make sure you have cash or your debit card, since they have an ATM inside (I am not sure about surcharges, though, as we did not have to use it). The good news is that the menu items are cheap so $ 20 per (very hungry) person should be more than sufficient — their servings are more than filling.
I would not hesitate recommending Ray’s Drive Inn for people who want to have great puffy tacos with the locals. We would have gone back if we stayed in San Antonio longer.

I had the chance to revisit Ray’s yesterday and introduce the restaurant to my big sister. Now I’m way past the age of adding halves to how long I’ve been alive (8 ½, 9 ½ years old, etc…).
What I love about this place is the great vibe it has. We’re not looking at pictures which might be on the walls of your dentist’s, accountant’s or doctor’s offices. This place has tons of personality and style. I love the décor.
Do you want can’t miss food? Get the beef puffy taco plate which comes with 2 puffy tacos, rice and beans. Order yourself a tall glass of sweet tea and thank me later. It’s so good.
I make it a point of eating at a restaurant for lunch around 11am. I want to make sure there is plenty of parking and the food hasn’t been sitting for hours. For those people who have less than perfect service at a restaurant, maybe they come after a rush or near closing time. Restaurant workers get tired too so keep that kind of thing in mind.
This place doesn’t disappoint. This is classic San Antonio neighborhood food. They even have crispy dogs if it’s been awhile since you’ve made your own.

Had a lovely, «homey» experience here, and the puffy tacos are just fine. But honestly, I don’t think they’re any better than Henry’s Puffy Tacos (which is, unfortunately, a WAY more chain-​y in feel/​experience), and the food in general was a bit more bland. This is totally based on non-​meat tacos, so maybe the meat is off the chain.

2pm Sunday.
Order of nothing but puffy tacos took 25 minutes to come out of the kitchen.
All had iceberg lettuce and chopped tomato
Chicken taco– only semi redeeming item. (According to my date) Chicken was well done, tender, but flavorless.
Bean taco– canned beans
Fish taco– battered and fried. Consistency was fine, but again, zero seasoning. No spices, no flavoring. Not even salt.
Added lemon from our water and the watery table salsa to get through it.
Avocado taco– mashed avocado. No seasoning whatsoever. Would rather have had the whole slices rather than whoever the child is in the kitchen pretending they know how to make guacamole.
Chips and salsa– please see picture. Lazy, stale bag chips in a paper concession stand plate and a squeeze bottle of unspiced, watery salsa that only technically has a «kick» to it. Horrible.
The «jalapeño» they grace you with «if you order two or more tacos» is a jarred, unsmoked, un-​anything pepper.
We waited 15minutes for our bill.
Spent $ 15 on 7 tacos. Feel ripped off.
Unrelated note: fat bum opening the door panhandles the customers, and the employees didn’t care.
We came here for the famous puffy tacos. You can’t have this dirty hole-​in-​the wall décor and also have terrible food. We also set next to a shrine that had a vase of roses, probably a month old with stinky, green/​brown water rotting the stems.
We are mystified at the high reviews for this place.

Absolutely fantastic Tex-​Mex!
Whenever I travel I always make sure to check out Unilocal for places to eat locally. Ideally not just locally, but the food that is local. In San Antonio that’s Puffy Tacos. So what is a puffy taco? It’s a taco made with a corn tortilla that has been inflated with air and then fried. The result is a pure deliciousness.
So let’s talk about the décor here first. Pure Texas. A crazy mix of country, the West, Mexican, and nostalgia all blended together. Super weird (for me anyway) but in a way that seemed authentic and pretty damn cool.
The service was excellent. Our waitress did a great job of explaining the different menu items. I wanted to try a puffy taco but wasn’t sure which one. So I asked for whatever she would order. The result was 3 different tacos. One made with beef, one shredded chicken, and one steak. FANTASTIC! The meat was perfectly seasoned, the veggies super fresh, and the taco… PURE AWESOMENESS. Crunchy, yet soft within the outer layer.
Negatives? This place is cash only, so be sure to stop at the ATM first.
When visiting San Antonio be sure to stop at Ray’s. I promise that you won’t regret it.
In an unrelated side note — Who wants to open Buffalo’s first Puffy Taco joint? I’m in!

Landmark of the west side! Best puffy tacos in San Antonio. The food is good, the service is good, the only things I don’t like is how small the space it, the parking is impossible, and they only accept cash. I understand there’s only so much they can do with the space they have, I just hope this could be a future improvement.