Taqueria Los Tarascos

El. Portion is awesome! I have only been there 20 times but it is awesome every time, 1.99 margaritas don’t hurt any. I heve eaten many of the fajitas as well as the lovely fish tacos all excellent!

OK so a few things before I begin this:
(1) They changed the name of this place. It is no longer Taqueria Los Tarascos. It is El Porton.
(2) They STILL have authentic street tacos on their menu along with a small selection of other authentic dishes such as menundo (tripe soup.)
OK. Now that that’s over with…
I came here for lunch today by myself and it’s about an 8 minute drive from where I work so I was hoping it would be «awesome» so I’d be willing to return for many more meals in the future. Welll, it wasn’t terrible. But it wasn’t great either.
I was actually really worried after reading some reviews that this place was going to be purely Americanized Mexican food or tex-​mex or whatever. They do have those on the menu alongside traditional stuff but the authentic/​traditional menu is TINY. So you’ve been warned! And I don’t know how good their «Amerimex» food is either but I hope they season their ground beef more than they season their beef tongue… more on that in second.
The chips: deliciously crunch. Not hot but not cold either. Just right. And addictive!
The salsa: truly delicious and the one reason why this place didn’t get 1 or 2 stars.
The beans: were OK but had a slight bizarre aftertaste. I’ve noticed some places have weird tasting beans and others don’t. I realize that «weird tasting» is subjective.
The rice: also kinda… weird…tasting but thank god for delicious salsa. I drenched the rice in salsa and it became awesomeness.
The guacamole: not half bad! But a tiny bit spicy and needed more garlic and less lime juice.
The tacos: Ouch. This is where I gotta put my foot down. The meat was SO BLAND it was gross. I had to drench the tacos in salsa and guacamole to make them edible. Seriously, wtf? I used lime juice and cilantro too and still… STILL. Almost every place with street tacos has flavorful/​marinated meats. The lengua (tongue) here was so blah. It was even kind of… gummy…and not tender. Thankfully the al pastor was much better but only marginally so. If I came back I might try a different type of meat because tongue was not the way to go, sadly. And I generally love tongue tacos! I wanted cabeza (head) tacos but they were out of it. Maybe a blessing in disguise? lol.
The service… it was slow and very unprofessional. Space cadet teenage girls in their abercrombie shirts who were yelling at each other to clean up tables and direct guests to tables. Now I understand this is kind of a hole in the wall lunch spot but STILL. You can be unprofessional if you are just serving lunch but SLOW too? Lunch + slow = disaster, especially if you have a finite amount of time for a lunch break. Even an hour was not enough. Granted they seemed overwhelmed but man, it was just obnoxious. I ate almost the entire damn basket of chips and qualified for fatty status (über tasty salsa did not help my case) and when the food finally came I was not so hungry. Oh well.
I think if I do return I will make sure it’s on a day when I don’t need to do a lot of work and with low expectations of the meat and the service. The good news is that it was cheap. $ 7.70 for my entire meal (I had water to drink though) and she did not charge me for rice and beans presumably due to my wait.

Fantastic! Try the California Fajitas– so good! I eat here whenever I am in STL for the night. Much better then the Mex place just down the street.

Christian is a very talented server and a very amazing personality. Our group was impressed with him. Food was AMAZING

Excellent place with the usual menu and then a good selection of traditional favorites.
Sopes and and extra large version of the same (can’t remember the name) are awesome. Pastor pork is delicious.
If you stay with the traditional stuff (not the gringo stuff) you will get an awesome meal here.
Add they have street tacos and no pictures were on my menu. So previous Unilocal need to update again. :)

I went to the is place aftey they won the RFT Best Mexican Restaurant. They have great food (ahogada torta is my fav.) and pleasnt atmoshphere. Owned by the same owners as Tauqeria Los Torascos so not sure why the name change though.

Eghhhh…
Bad news, taco lovers… Los Tarascos has changed. It must have been pretty recently too as one of the other reviews on here was from February 2010 and were apparently still dealing out taco lovin’ madness. But oh, how tacos have changed.
The wife and I were super stoked about going to one of our favorite taco joints yesterday after church… we knew they had outside seating and we also knew that we would be getting some kick butt authentic street tacos (my wife already had her order of 4 carne asada tacos in mind… I was eager to try a torta this time). We had been here on multiple occasions never to be disappointed, so you can see our excitement.
Our first sign of bad things to come should have been the Bud Light banner hanging on the front awning and the intense American club music pumping through the speakers, but alas, we missed these signs as we were distracted by thoughts of grilled meat bliss. We were seated outside (by a young lady who seemed to be VERY bored with her job), our drink orders were taken (they still thankfully had giant glasses of Horchata, thus one star), we cracked open the menus, and the following is what transpired:
Janele: Huh, they changed their menu… it looks different? The taco selections don’t look the same?
Me: Wha? Where are the tacos even at?
Janele: Under ‘side items,’ and there’s only beef, chicken, or shrimp.
Me: Oh… my…God…look at the pictures all over this menu…
Janele: Is that a crunchy shell on that taco?
Me: *tearing up a little* Yes, I think it is… ohhhhhh noooooooo, where are the tortas??? There’s no more tortas!!! And where is the lamb on this menu!!!
Long story short… Los Tarascos is now Chevy’s. It has become completely Americanized, thus rendering it boring. I ordered the… ahem…‘Burrito Macho’ and Janele ordered the Enchiladas Verdes. The burrito description said it had beef tips… boring waitress informed me that it was just ground beef, but she said it so un-​convincingly that I doubted her and ordered it anyways, hoping the chefs would just get it right. Nope, ground beef… and boring. DANG IT!!! My wife’s was plain ol’ blando enchiladas… and the verde used to be sooooo goooood! Now? Not really… and they used something like unseasoned boiled chicken for the filling. It was all bland, no spice or flavor at all. Though the meal was satisfying in its beans and rice ways… completely boring. I would have rather that they just closed all together… the sting would have been a little less as at least they would have gone out with dignity. This was one of our favorites! I can honestly say that this was one of the first times that I’ve been a little angry at a restaurant. New owners? Not enough business? Why the change!!! Boo. Just boo.

We travel to Guadalajara, Mexico once or twice a year and are always amazed at the regional tacos which consist of 2 small soft corn tortillas wrapped around a seasoned meat filling and topped with a variety of fresh salsas. We have never been able to get these in the states, until we found this restaurant. Forget the rest of the menu – (which is actually great) — skip down to the taco section, order 6 different types, and you will see what we mean. The restaurant is bright and clean and they offer a full bar. It’s not easy to find, and indeed, the strip mall on Woodson is an odd location — but next time you are near the airport, definitely stop in or order the tacos to go.

Really great Mexican food. I ordered my food to go but the staff was friendly.
I ordered a steak quesodilla, it was awesome. They gave me a bag of chips and salsas in my to go bag for no charge as well. There was a lot on the menu that I wanted to order. All the normal Mexican food items you’re used to some with a twist. My second choice was a California Burrito, I think it came with avocado on the side and a chipotle sauce. The picture looked good anyway!

This is the real enchilada, people!
It’s regional Mexican cuisine in the most unlikely place, but then, isn’t every good find hard to find?
Tucked away in a dim strip mall off the ever more dim Woodson Road, right across from the airport, sits this happy little enclave of all things good and right in the world of food.
First, the horchata — a foggy concoction of sugar, cinnamon, rice and water that is like liquid pudding. They serve it in the biggest glass you’ve ever seen, perfect for greedy folks like me who can’t keep their mouth off the straw.
Then, the tacos. Just simple, nondescript little pieces of corn tortillas peppered with roasted chicken, lime, onions and cilantro. What’s so special about that, you ask? EVERYTHING! After all, it’s simplicity that is the most beautiful. Squeeze the lime over the top, dab it with a bit of the housemade guacamole (which is superstar status), and you’ve got nirvana on a plate.
That’s it, nothing else needed. Of course you get the de rigeuer chips and salsa. What’s not to love about that? They’re like the kind you’d find anywhere, but the real draw here is the other stuff. They’ve even got lamb on weekends. A perfect fiesta has taken flight.