Mayo’s Carniceria & Tacos

Didn’t set foot into this place myself, my family picked up food for me. Apparently, it’s a typical Mexican market setting and you can eat there.
The food was delicious. The carne was especially good. Perfectly tender and fatty and seasoned. Loved the menudo… Superb. Authentic. Chunky with innards, comes with cilantro, lime n diced white onions on the side. Green salsa was spicy n good.
The ceviche was mediocre. Small bits of fish, not impressed.
Still, I’m marking this place for great Mexican food.

Very nice tacos. I just finished two and they really make enough for four. Really! I am full from two!
Very polite and friendly, order in Spanish is best. And this is like a trip across the border without customs. The way it used to be. This is a good stop and I will be testing more of the menu in the future. Gracias por todo. Me Gustan Los tacos mucho.

Always get my carne asada from Mayos. Super nice owners. good customer service from the butcher

If you haven’t had freshly made carnitas and chicharrones, you have been depriving your palate of magnificent food pleasures. This is the place to go for those pleasures! Husband and I try to do weekly walks over to Mayo’s for those specific items. We always make plans to walk back to our home and make carnitas tacos. Sadly… the carnitas never make it home. We eat the whole purchase on our walk back. ALWAYS! The chicharrones never last more than 16 hours. They are that amazing!

I’ve had the privilege of knowing Mayo since i was a little boy. My mother would often send me to buy fresh cut meat from his store and their butcher don beto would always greet me and make me feel welcomed. Mayos named after the owner has been good to the neighborhood and to our town. He has proudly sponsored local activities and given food to events. My father knew Mayo when he was a young butcher at Villareal Market in the early 90s and though many carnicerias have gone and went Mayos is a testament to true customer service and quality. I have never been happier though than today. Mayo personally moved from the cash register and butchered three goats for my sons baptism. I stayed in awe seeing his work come alive this man truely enjoys what he does. He skillfully and quickly proved why this business is his business. Saving me the pain and time. Today i am very proud to say that Mayos has been good to my family. And i wish him and his family many years of success honest work equals honest pay.

This place was recommended to me by the worker at the clinic I came to town for. I was not disappointed! It’s a bit of a different setup, it’s like a liquor store and taqueria mashed together. There is nowhere to pay on the taqueria side, so I asked the guy at the cash register in the store and he said I just order from him. You have to look at the menu in the taqueria, then go into the store and order. If you want a drink, you just grab a bottled drink from the store. They were very nice, service was great, and the food was excellent. I recommend this place!
I subtracted one star just because it would be nice to have a fountain drink, for refills.

Decent for ceviche tacos tamales and burritos but nothing special especially in the Santa Barbara area where there are so many excellent choices to eat for Mexican food. Plus they need to clean up a little bit.

I ordered the rolled crunchy tacos which ended up being 9.00, the beans where dry and hard the rice was old and felt like plastic. The tacos, they where broken in half, burnt and dripping with grease. I later saw that the food is MICROWAVED! The store is pretty cool you can find a bit of everything but the food is not so great.

This is THE BEST BURRITO IN SB. We tried every burrito shop in town in our first month and a half in Santa Barbara. Lucy’s has good tacos, but no burritos, los agaves had decent burritos, but Mayo’s is by far the best. They are also super friendly, even though I’m a ginger with an awful spanish accent. They even gave me some free carne asada marinade to take home!

Grabbed a quick lunch here today. Had a pair of Taco’s for five bucks. The carnitas was very good. The carne asada was not quite as good. Parking looked sparse but I was on foot so it was not an issue.
It is a combo grill and market. You order at the grill and pay at the checkout.
The food was decent, filling and reasonably priced. I would eat here again if I was after a quick and cheap bite to eat when walking in this area.

Dang… came back today and had another torta (oink). This time it was carne asada and they had some pico de gallo out. Gut busting sandwich and oh, so tasty.
Torta wars!

Food was excellent. Very friendly staff, they gave us free carnitas to sample. The «rajas de queso» were superb. Also very good: pozole, chile verde burrito, and burrrito ahogada de adobada.

TERRIBLE. everything about the place was terrible. Apathetic service, cold food reheated in microwave (if I’d known that’s how it was made before I’d ordered I would have just walked out), and all the food was handled haphazardly and with bare hands. If you’re looking for a good chile relleno, AVOID THIS PLACE AT ALL COSTS. Try Los Agaves, they actually deserve your business.

Carnita Heaven. Attached store has extras (tortillas, pumpkin seeds, chicharrones, cactus candy, drinks). Service was very friendly. My favorite Mexican take out in Santa Barbara.

Let me preface this: forgive me because I’m not a native Californian and still am refining my palate for mexican food. That being said, this place seemed authentic, reminded me of Lilly’s tacos… part Carniceria, part restaurant.
You order on the left and pay in the right (the grocery store). it seemed very mom and pop shop to me. I ordered Carnitas, it was delicious. I will be back for more.

Very good tacos! No prices list and I dont remember what my total was, something near to $ 8 for two tacos and a bottle diet coke. Note to new visitors: you order on the left side and pay at the stand on the right side of the store. Got the adobada and carnitas tacos. Delicious! Definitely will be back again.
May go back sooner to try some of the interesting items in the grocery store half of the shop.

Best Carnitas in town

We are fortunate to live right around the corner from Mayo’s and have been coming here for years The burritos are excellent, especially the carnitas and the chorizo with egg and potato. Definitely worth a try.

I really like the tortas but bad service

A total gem hole in the wall! My boyfriend and I were driving up from LA to SF and we were hungry and wandered into Santa Barbara looking for a bite to eat. We were actually looking for a Japanese restaurant that was on the same street, and it was closed that day, so we wandered in here on a whim. First impressions are, uh, this place looks like a part butcher shop/​part grocery store. We were a little confused on where to order food. The store also smelled a little weird.
BUT! We decided to give it a shot anyway and ordered several burritos. My boyfriend ordered a carne asada burrito, and I had a breakfast one with chorizo and egg. The burritos had delicious pico de gallo, was spicy, and had lightly fried/​crisped tortilla on the outside. SO GOOD!
We will definitely come back on our next road trip! Don’t let the shop/​butcher part scare you from this gem!