Tacos El Rey

Tacos de Barbacoa are at 100% on point.
Taste just like the ones back in my Mexican hometown.
Definitely recommend them.

Can’t even pick a favorite! Ahi taco is the bomb, stomp one is very yummy with mango salsa. Carnitas are very juicy, el pastor is good too– as I said can’t pick one, they were all great. Service is wonderful too.
Ended up going there two days in a row out of two days being in SB. Love!!!

The best tacos and Mexican food !!! Authentic from mexico all others in SB can’t compare !

Sehr leckere Tacos. Exotisch zubereitet mit viel Früchte (Ananas, Mango, Avocado.) auf jedenfall hingehen. Ist ein kleiner laden sehr shön.

These are some pretty darn good tacos! We got ours for take out. I was really impressed as we were kinda disappointed by the other Mexican joints we had visited while in Santa Barbara. I had the chicken tacos and I have to say 2 was WAY more than enough. It was a ton of meat and very filling. I will be back and definitely recommend this place over the other places we tried.

The best fish tacos! Try all 3!
Had the shrimp, halibut, and tuna.
Can’t go wrong! Bring cash tho :)

Tacos on the street. The way they ought to be. While not the extensive meat offerings as some other notable taquerias in SB, El Ray will satisfy the cast majority.
Smal. Friendly. Cash Only. Quick. Delicious.
Weekday lunch on this particular day was not busy. Good thing as it’s small. Really small. Room for 6 or so on stools in the windows on the inside and tables for 8 – 10 on the sidewalk.
While I waited the few minutes for my taco creations, I hit the salsa bar.
Avocado Tomatillo is warm with a great burn
Mocajete is chunky is good too
The Habanero does not disappoint and burns hot
The red and chunky option is fantastic! Great heat with a little more flavor than the straight up habanero. This is my go-​to.
Carnitas MOIST! Thank you. So many serve up dried out strings of overcooked pork. Not here. You are not my #1 in SB for carnitas. Pair with the red sausa.
Barbacoa was delicious but very fatty. While that’s where the tenderness comes from, it may put off some. Perfect with the avocado salsa.
Al pastor was a little chewy. Did not see it on the SPIT so it may have been sitting for a couple days but worked well with the chunky salsa. I would try it again but only if I see it spinning first.
El Ray has a solid seat at the taco table of Santa Barbara. No exotic meats but that’s just fine by me. Not everyone likes Cachete and Trapas as much as this Gringo.

Picked up takeout here after work. The watermelon agua fresca and ahi poke taco were delicious! The al pastor taco was scrumptious as well — mine had a bit of grilled pineapple in it which I loved. The al pastor was about half the size of the ahi taco, so keep that in mind when you’re ordering. Quick service and fast, just a bit pricey for two tacos and a drink, though still not expensive.

What a great taco place to come to! A few friends and I came here after going to Sharkeez for some tacos. I love authentic Mexican tacos and I got just want I wanted here! Juicy meaty and full of flavor. Defiantly would recommend it to my family and friends and I’ll definitely be back. Missing a star because they ran out of the carnitas and the ahi taco I wanted to try other then that they would have gotten all 5.

So with a mess up earlier in the day looking for tacos, Wifey and I made a point to find some fish tacos. Boy did we find them. El Rey’s has a few different protein options; carnitas, chicken, pork, even tofu… but the star here is the fish of the day. Namely the mango pescador made with their catch of the day, loaded with mango salsa, bell pepper, excellently seared fish, and mounds of queso fresco on two small corn tortillas. Yea buddy! The quality of ingredients here is very high, even their ahi tuna is sushi grade. All the veggies and fruit were crisp and fresh. I definitely could put away three or four of those mango ones in an easy sitting. Be aware though, the place is cash only! Other than that, just wow! Trust the reviews on this one.

Super flavorful food and friendly service. Tacos are generously heaped with good quality meat. Veggie options (tofu, mushrooms) available. Salsas are great and the habanero is awesomely spicy! The guajillo and peanut is flavorful and exotic (and not too spicy). The green salsa is great on the carnitas tacos.
There’s a few things keeping them from a 5-​star rating in my book:
–Salsa bar had no utensils for onions, limes, and radishes, so people are just reaching in and grabbing limes and radishes with their bare hands. Yuck
— the Al pastor is very fresh, juicy, and flavorful, cut into larger sized chunks. But beware of big chunks of fat. Seems like maybe it is made with pork belly? A bit of fat and gristle is to be expected in tacos al pastor, but this was a bit much.
— The carnitas, while very rich in pork flavor, was stewed and shredded rather than fried then shredded like a traditional carnitas. The result is a much «wetter» taco. A nit pick, I know, but I’m a purist when it comes to my carnitas!
I’ll be back and I will bring friends. The flavors are unique enough to warrant a revisit!

Gold in the wall! We loved this place my girlfriend had the Al pastor taco and a fish and mango taco. Both were spectacular. The Al pastor had pineapples, juicy steak and went great with the peanut salsa. The mango fish taco was perfect and had a mild white cheese crumble — sorry, we scarfed it without knowing or asking the cheese because it was THAT damn good.
I got the SB burrito with lightly fried sea bass, avocado, sour cream, cheese and a whole lot of deliciousness packed into the flour tortilla that was neatly crisped on the outside to finish off this delectable behemoth of a burrito. I couldn’t put this down and it was great with both the house chipotle salsa and habanero salsa, though I will warn the faint of heart about the habanero salsa, this isn’t for the JV hot squad.
Service and staff were great and super friendly. Enjoy and don’t pass this one up.

Taco al pastor with Avocado tomatillo salsa. I bet you can’t eat just one. Yuuummmmmm.

Awesome food! Friendly service!
Had the spinning Al Pastor street tacos and the mango halibut taco! So so good! I know where I will be for! Oh and the Agua fresca was so refreshing!

I can see why this place is so popular some of the best tacos I’ve ever had. I had the carnitas, Al pastor, Ahi and fish taco. All amazing you can’t go wrong with anything on the menu also had the agua fresca so refreshing will definitely be back.

Nothing like delicious, authentic street tacos and Tacos el Rey does ‘em right!
Pastor was shaved right off the trompo and I was served a nice large portion on two perfectly charred tortillas. The carnitas were moist and almost as good as Lito’s.
Salsas were tasty but alas… no chips to dunk.
Service was friendly, cash only. Tacos are only $ 2.25.
Go here… it’s real good and right in the perfect spot, downtown.

The guy working there was super friendly and giving us lots of recommendations. I got the fish taco in a combo (came with one other taco and a drink) for $ 10. Still a little expensive for 2 tacos, but this is coming from someone who is used to huge burritos for $ 4 back home.
The fish in the fish taco was a little bit dry – I actually preferred the Al Pastor. And also was disappointed by the sauce bar because everything was low and they were also out of limes.

This place is «A» for authentic, and the tacos were deeeeelicious! The drink I favored was the fresh made cucumber lemonade, really a wonderful concoction that went perfectly with the fresh sea bass tacos & mango salsa! My only disappointment is they are missing chips and guacamole, which I am sure would be equally as awesome, especially since their salsa bar rocks, and the peanut salsa was a first for me. Note: Seating is limited, best for a couple only, no more. The service was five star friendly too.

El pastor tacos! The best I have ever had and I eat a lot of tacos! The pork was roasted perfectly with onions and pineapple. In general all their street tacos are bigger than other local favorite shops, (I actually managed to stuff down 4). I ordered the fancy $ 6 seared ahi taco last week and I liked that as well. Although for value and taste I’ll probably stick to the $ 2.25 street tacos. Haven’t tried the burrito yet, couldn’t actually since the owner said he was out of rice and beans,
I can’t really give this place 5 stars because I went with 3 friends and we had to sit at 2 small tables. The inside of the store has stool seating along one side of a wall. The outside has 3 tiny tables on the sidewalk of Haley street where you have balance your chair. There isn’t room for anything else so the owner is doing the best he can with what he’s got. Do not go expecting anything fancy. This a a hole in wall honest to your face taco shop. As one friend said last night «I wouldn’t take a date there but I’ll go back next week and eat 4 more tacos.»

found this place on Unilocal when passing through on the way to Paso, about two months ago. What a find! Tiny place with a couple tables on the sidewalk. The lack of ambiance was the ambiance.
Without a doubt, some of the best tacos I’ve ever had. Very authentic street tacos (had one of each!), and the fish and shrimp tacos were fresh and tasty. Agua frescas were terrific. Interesting peanut salsa, very spicy. Other salsas were also good, but a bit too spicy for the kids (great for me!) Owner was very friendly and helpful, great guy, let us sample the agua frescas before buying.
CASH ONLY!
Only street parking. We were early for lunch and got super lucky at one of the 15-​minute spots in front, and jammed through lunch.
If you can handle eating practically on the street, while chowing down on insanely good tacos, you will love this place.

Tacos like the ones I had yesterday make me appreciate the tacos that I had today.
The tacos here are what authentic tacos are supposed to taste like.
On todays plate:
Wait.Just so you know… they deserve a round of applause for the amount of meat they put in your tacos. My pictures do justice.
Carnitas: The carnitas were good. The perfect formula where they were not dry or too greasy. Add cilantro and onion to these with green salsa if you want to experience them Javier style. ⁴⁄₅
Al Pastor: MUST TRY. Best one out of the 3 types that I had. Made how al pastor tacos are supposed to be made. Pineapple and onions in the taco which complimented the amazing taste of the meat. The meat had a hint of spiciness to it. in the meat. how it’s supposed to be if prepared right! ⁵⁄₅
Barbacoa: This was okay. Average compared to the other 2 which were good. Meat was a tad bit too dry, but some flavor was there. ³⁄₅
The tortillas were good. Better than what you get from the average taco shop. I don’t think they were hand made but they had a good taste to them.
The salsa bar was good. Not diluted in any way. I only tried the habanero and green salsa’s but they were both very flavorful. ⁴⁄₅
They also have 3 different types of aguas frescas which the owner gladly let me sample.
Tamarindo: This had a good tamarind taste but a little too sweet, needed to be watered down just a bit. 3.5÷5
Cucumber mint: I had never tasted an agua fresca made with these 2 ingredients and I was surprised at how amazing it tasted! Very refreshing on a hot day. Best out of the 3 in my opinion. ⁴⁄₅
Horchata: This was just way too sweet. Tasted very generic but it should get the job done as most people are only used to the «Olé!» horchata anyways. 2.5÷5
They also have mexican refrescos (coke, fanta, etc.)
CASH ONLY! Tacos are 2.25 $ each, which seemed fair as they come with double tortilla and enough meat to make 2 tacos out of 1.
Customer service was great. It appears to be ran by a couple. I only interacted with the man and he was really nice. Gave samples of the aguas frescas and explained the different salsas that they had available.
Parking might be difficult to find as it is DT. Safest thing to do is park in the city lots and eat in under 90 minutes.
Unfortunately no bathroom, unless there’s one in the back of the kitchen that isn’t visible to the human eye. So bring hand sanitizer as cash only means you’re bound to have germs on those hands.
I was more than satisfied with my meal. Authentic Mexican tacos and friendly service. Compared to the highly praised Lilly’s they are different because the tacos here are more of what you’d find in a Mexican moms kitchen than the street vendor type of tacos that Lilly’s serves. The tacos here reminded me a bit of guisados in LA.
I DEFINITELY RECOMMEND COMING HERE! Don’t forget to get those AL PASTOR tacos.