El Mercado Taco Shop

Great great spot! We went here at lunch time and our family needed something quick and delicious and we definitely found the place. Everyone loved their tacos and the lunch special with two tacos and rice/beans was cheap and perfect for what we needed. The food had a lot of flavor and each person loved their order. We had somewhere we had to be and we let the server know and she was on it. The place wasn't busy when we went but we had a bigger party so it was nice that the serve was so attentive. We will for sure be back and we will recommend for anyone visiting!

Special carne asada came 30 minutes after we ordered. Cold. Meat was toughNot returning her. Mahi mahi tacos were ok.

Overall this was really solid. The ordering system for Togo is phone in only unless you are in store... knocked the score down a little, the chips while tasty but were way over salted(see pic), waited on the phone to order for 15-20 minutes and had to call back. Brian was awesome! All the other food was really good... and excellent portions for the price and location. They just have some things to work out like the awkward inside seating and the tv menus that are turned off. If they can just work a few small things out this place will be great. They do some events like trivia during the week. Could be a 3 star but has a ton of potential, thus the 4 star. And bTW - I'm not some fake social media person as one review insists that any good reviews are... and if he would have taken the time to ask or speak to Brian, he would know... just call over and ask if Brian works there to know that review is the fake one...

We ordered takeout for 9 ppl and were really impressed with our food! We ordered aguachile, tacos, burritos, chips and guac and caesar salad. We enjoyed all of it. It was all a bit elevated...not grindy but also not too fancy. The food to a bit long to come out but the server was very nice and our meals were worth the wait!

Honestly, this is the most overpriced food for such a mid taco. I mean it was fine just unexplainably mid.

Don't help these people extract money from your wallet for poor quality and poor service. They are trying to get fake reviews to up their star rating. Read the real local reviews and you'll know - not worth your time or money.This is just WRONG. Believe me. Expensive tacos at $19.00 and poor quality.I'm updating this review because, obviously, the owner has hired some social media marketing people to do fake reviews.. There is no "Bryan the server" as one person just wrote. How fake. Their new first choice for tacos? Laughable.This place has non-English speaking staff (ok with people coming here who want to work but owner has to make sure they can communicate with the customers). There is a dumb little touch pad terminal to order which is demeaning and actually pretty unsanitary. Do you want to touch the screen and order when the last person might have picked their nose before they touched the screen? I mean really - someone thought this was 'modern' but it's just impersonal. Obviously keeping costs down and bilking naive tourists was the strategy. Well that plan will run out late September when only the locals are patrons. They won't go here.READ the real reviews and decide for yourself. A real reviewer - no way - would say this is their "favorite!" with "great service!". That's fake and it's an impossibility here.

Bummer. I've watched this place under construction for the last...couple of years? Had such high hopes. Couldn't wait. Man, what a disappointment. To be fair, I'm sure they are working the kinks out but, they had better buy a really big iron. Service, horrible. Menu, horrible. Some highlights (or lowlights)....You can order a "rice bowl" for $15. Adding any protein is extra. Same with almost anything on the menu. Chips and salsa? You have to pay for that too. Don't know that I've ever been to a Mexican restaurant that charges for chips. And, after paying for the chips, I was further disappointed that they were, well, just regular old chips. I'm a local and I love to support local businesses. So, I'm going to wait a couple of weeks and go back. I'm really rooting for them to get those kinks out, please take all of this feedback as trying to help, I want you to succeed! Just make this a really good Mexican place and you will have a line out the door.

Cold Monday night on Balboa Island. We dropped in for the first time tonight. Banessa, our server, gave great recommendations. The tortilla soup warmed me up and ingredients were as fresh as could be. My wife had amazing carne asada tacos on homemade corn tortillas. Beef was tender. The chips are made in house and the salsa is delicious. We will be back!

Ok. This is a 5 star ! It is a wonderful fun environment and the food is fantastic!!!!Go see Antonio. He is the best server! You will not be disappointed. Everything is fresh!

Great place to enjoy some great Mexican food. The service was very friendly and quick. Banessa, the waitress, was awesome. She was able to make me a quick agua fresca that tasted great! Strongly recommend this place if you're ever near the Balboa Island area.