Taqueria La Pasadita

ALERT: new owners! This is no longer our cherished La Pasadita. Don’t bother, its really not very good.

I’ve come to really love the salsas. I regularly drive from Richnond Heights to St. John to buy their salsas. I still have a problem with value. Their prices are too high for the size of the portions. There is a new taqueria in this location that I do not recommend, and La Pasadita is now over on the Rock Road. If money were no object, I’d call this best in St. Louis.

Pasadita is no longer there.
It’s new owners and a new name… This new place has been open for a couple weeks.
The food is OK, Chips didn’t seem too fresh. But the tacos were fine. Not what I was expecting (as I thought I was going to experience Taqueria La Pasadita again).

This location is now closed. They have a sign up front that tells you to go to the other location. It is about 2 miles north on Woodson.
The other location’s food is pretty much the exact same.
I have submitted to Unilocal moderators that this location is now closed.

I love this place! It’s like visiting your favorite aunt in Mexico and eating her delicious food. The salsa is not your typical chunky tomato base; it’s more of a red pepper sauce with a sweet kick. Her beans are the BEST in the area! The chulupa are super authentic, and the spicy pork rocks!

So I stopped in here this evening to give this place a try and I have to say, overall I’m impressed. Fist let me be clear in saying that this is a very small operation in a renovated Taco Bell and you can tell these people are working on a budget so the dining area doesn’t have the best atmosphere in the world. It feels a bit off like an elementary school’s class was trying to design a room for cultural awareness day helped by a very religious teacher (I think I counted 3 pictures of Christ hanging around). The tables and chairs are mismatched and could definitely be replaced, or covered with table clothes so they look the same.
That being said I still really enjoyed eating there. The lady behind the counter, who I assume to be one of the owners or at least related to the owner, was patient, friendly, and always wore a smile. While I waited I got a good look into the kitchen and I was impressed by how clean they keep it (cleaner than the dining room funny enough considering it’s usually the opposite). A kid was watching Nick-​Toons on the TV in one corner while a Spanish soap opera played in another. The entire time I felt more like I was in someone’s house while they cooked for me than I was in a restaurant.
For me the décor took this place down a point, and the friendliness of the people running it brought it back up and then a little more. As I said earlier when eating here I felt like someone’s mother was cooking for me from scratch the entire time. Sure it’s a person who’s mother obviously couldn’t afford the best ingredients in the world, but it had a very rustic and very authentic flavor to it. The salsa tasted very good (though I would have preferred it to be a bit on the chunkier side) and actually had some heat to it unlike so many salsa’s I get at Mexican restaurants.
I played it safe this time and ordered a steak burrito. I was worried that I wouldn’t be satisfied with just one burrito considering normally I an eat a ton of them when I go out, but this thing was of sufficient size to fill me up by itself along with the beans and rice. They brought out three different sauces with it, all of which appeared to be made there as well. All three were unique and tasty in their own right. The only real critique I have for the burrito was that the steak was a bit tough, but the flavor profile made me not mind that much. The rice was actually wonderfully flavored and perfectly cooked to be nice and fluffy. The Beans were flavored well, and not over salted. If I was rating this place just for the food I’d give it a high 3 stars.
I also have to point out that what also impressed me was the fact that while I was eating the lady came out and asked me how I enjoyed the meal… And I actually believed she cared how I responded.
I like this place and hope it succeeds. I will come back here again, probably fairly soon, and when I do I made a note to myself to try the whole fish that the owners were eating when I left. General rule of thumb… eat what the employees eat!

The tacos here were all good. I tried pork skin, tripe, tounge, and fish. The tripe was outstanding. I’d easily recommend this place for simple mexican tacos. I also tried the beef chimichanga. It was huge, but I wished the beef was a bit more flavorful.
It was a cold day and the place was a bit cold. But the food is definately worth trying.

Taqueria La Pasadita is located in a building that used to be a Taco Bell. It’s sort of between where I used to live when I was a young child and where my grandparents used to live before they were dead. My mom used to take me there to get tacos[1], then she’d drop me off at my grandparents’ house (via «warehousing»), and my grandfather would stand there and watch in amazement as I put down eight to ten of them in a sitting. Kids in the 1950s didn’t eat the way a young Bol would eat. Even most adults today don’t — and they shouldn’t!
Driving through the area 20+ years later, it’s clear that not a lot good has happened in the interim. This Taco Bell was one of those old school Taco Bells with the actual bell on the roof, and I notice it’s since been removed. I’m not sure if the building’s current owner had it removed on purpose, to make it look less like a dilapidated former Taco Bell, or if it was stolen in the night by tweakers who sold it for scrap, but let’s just say I wouldn’t be surprised if it were the latter.
La Pasadita back when it first opened was par for the course. The parking lot was in the worst shape I’ve ever seen a parking lot in — and I once ate at LC’s Diner, on Page a touch west of Pennsylvania. RIP (natch). Instead of taking the old Taco Bell menu down they just wrote over it. Then there was another menu on the wall. Then there was a paper take out menu. Then there was also an actual restaurant menu (in a taqueria). And these menus all said different things! Tha fuck? The floor, tables and chairs — if you can call them that — were obviously left over from Taco Bell.
These days Taqueria La Pasadita is borderline classy, at least by Overland standards. I’m not too familiar with the area, but I doubt there’s any real risk in declaring the new parking lot the very best parking lot in all of Overland, the fact that it’s at a weird incline notwithstanding. The rest of the restaurant is more or less the same as it was, and they don’t have heat in the winter, but what they do have is a guy who stands by the door and hands you the menu with the shit they actually serve on it.
Don’t be afraid to be didactic or patronizing with this guy. He has no idea what you’re talking about, and sometimes it helps if you just point to it. And for what it’s worth, miscommunication is a two way street. Sometimes he repeats my order back to me, and I’m not sure what he said, but I just nod okay anyway, and I end up with something way different from what I wanted, but delicious none the less.
You can’t go completely wrong at Pasadita, just kinda. If it’s a torta you’re wanting, I suggest you hit El Mexiquense around the corner. The tortas at Pasadita are filled with Nick Manning-​sized loads of fresh ingredients, including a surprising amount of avocado, but I’m not as crazy about the bread. It looks like they put it in a panini press, and all it does is burn the outside. The queso fresco is hardly even warm, let alone melted. Just because it’s called fresco doesn’t mean you should eat it that way. #FAIL
Your best bet is to go with the gorditas. They look like tortillas in the shape of pita bread stuffed with taco meat, cheese and what have you and dropped in a deep fryer, from which nothing but magic could possibly emerge. They cost about one and a half times as much as a taco, but they’re about four times as filling. That, my friends, is called value. On a calorie per dollar basis you’d have to buy a week’s worth of Hostess snack cakes with an EBT card to get a better deal.
[1] This was of course long before I knew they weren’t made with real beef. They may have even still been made with real beef at that point. I certainly found them to be tasty.

Want to try an authentic Mexican taqueria? Taqueria la Pasadita is the answer. Whether it is the delicious tortas, tacos, gorditas, or tamales I always leave a happy camper. When I am super-​hungry I go with the milanesa torta. Basically a Mexican take on a chicken-​fried steak in sandwich form. It’s delicious and filling. Their burritos are also substantial. The tacos are great, with your choice of meats topped with cilantro and onion. I usually go for tripa, chicharron, and my favorite al pastor. This place is a great value, with individual tacos going for less than 2 bucks each. You can get a complete meal that is fresh, delicious, and authentic Mexican for less than 10 bucks. The owners are friendly people who are glad to help you navigate the menu if you are unfamiliar with some of the selections. It’s no frills, but it’s awesome.

The quality seems to be getting better as time goes by. Today I had a carnitas torta and it was great. Tacos are also just excellent every time.
This is the epitome of a mom and pop establishment. Super nice people, too. Unilocalers, if you like Mexican — and I know there are a lot of you — go a little out of your way to show La Pasadita some love.
One downside, so be prepared, is that they don’t bring out chips and salsa.

Searching for a lunch spot on the north county side of the tracks can be a challenge. It’s not often I get out of the office for lunch, so we stopped in at the Taqueria to give it a try.
Upon arriving, there was an overwhelming smell of fertilizer when we got out of the car. Unfortunately, that odor followed us into the restaurant. That put a little damper on things from the start.
The service was very friendly — and the chef was genuinely interested if we enjoyed the mushroom quesedillas. (We did) My meal was not the most memorable, but the cheese dip was pretty good.
The set up of the place was a little odd– I would describe it as a taco bell el maguey hybrid. I’m glad I ventured out in a new part of town, I just hope the grass is really tall and green next time I stop by.

The location is not so great but the food is the best. I would go back there again for sure!

I sometimes wonder whether Overland avoided the I-​170 hubbub, or missed out on the I-​170 growth opportunity. You drive through the area and it’s in its own little world. People don’t drive THROUGH the area. People are there with a purpose. Whether it’s to go home, get to that butcher shop tucked away in a residential area, or to come to Taqueria La Pasadita.
This place is good and consistent. Every single time I’m in the mood for tacos, it’s more a matter of my being in the mood to drive through the area as opposed to taste that brings me here over Taqueria Monarca or Durango.
You have all the same stuff here and the beef tongue here is particularly good. I always go for the ceviche here as well. It’s pretty stupid how much they charge for this stuff at fancier restaurants.
I do have a particular soft spot for this area. I have absolutely no idea why. In the end, I’d like to think that Overland did right by not getting an intersection on the inner belt, just for nostalgia’s sake.

MMMM delicious.
Let’s be clear, you are not paying for atmosphere here. It is an old taco bell that was turned into a mom and pop stand. (mom and pop can cook!)
When we arrived the owners greeted us promptly and seated us. My wife ordered a fish taco (special of the day) and some steak enchiladas. She loved them. I ordered a Cubana cuz I can’t resist. MIne was also delicious. We also ordered chips and queso and they were very good too. The Queso was nice and spicy and the salsa was good. you know its more authentic because you can’t taste the mole in the salsa.
Servings were plenty big enough, prices plenty low enough, staff plenty friendly enough. It can seem like its in a bit of a sketchy area if you aren’t familiar with it but I say stop worrying and go! It was good and we’d go back.

So to answer your first question: Yes, it is indeed an old Taco Bell converted into a Mexican Restaurant. Well, not quite, they took off the bell.
The place is roughly the size of a Taco Bell, but much cleaner and better decorated on the inside. There are a couple of tiny tiny flat screen TV’s. Menu is on the wall, although there is a real menu and table service available as well. I think the wall is to reminisce to the Bell Years.
On the menu are the usual suspects you would expect to see at a local Mexian place, including Tacos, Tortas, Burritos, Chimichangas etc. They also have some unadvertised dishes if you ask, and daily specials that rotate. Today it was fish tacos, but another group a couple of tables down ordered a whole fish which looked mighty tasty. The last time I was there they had some fresh flan — ask for it!
I suggest trying the tacos and tortas here. They are excellent. If you have never had a torta before, it is basically a sandwich with meat, avocado, and many other vegetables. Very very good. My favorite meat is tongue, it may sound unappetizing but really it is just very tender beef. (Try it) The spicy pork is excellent as well.
The tacos are the classic style, on a soft tortilla with your choice of meat, and then onion, cilantro and lime.
Price: Not as cheap as The Bell, lunch of Torta + 2 Tacos + Mexican Coke came out to ~$ 12. If it was just the Torta + water it would have been about ½ that. For the quality of the food though, not bad.
I have 3 favorite authentic Mexican joints in the STL, and this is one of them. Big note here though: This is NOT Hacienda or Casa Gallardo. Everything is not covered in cheese and taco seasoning. They have their place… but not here.
Conclusion: Great food, good price, good to eat in or carry out an order of Tacos. Perfect.