El Burro Pollo
★★★★☆ 4.2 (55) • $$
"El Burro Pollo gets a solid four stars out of me. This is one of a handful of restaurants at The Collective Food Hall at Coda at Georgia Tech's Technology Square in Midtown. At the time of writing this review, this is the only El Burro Pollo location in Atlanta.This location of El Burro Pollo opened on March 19, 2020, at the same time as The Collective Food Hall at Coda. Yep, just in time for the COVID-19 pandemic. I'm not sure they could've timed it any better.El Burro Pollo originally started as a burrito stand in the parking lot of Pura Vida, the old tapas restaurant in Poncey-Highland that closed on December 31, 2012 after 12 years in business: https://www.yelp.com/biz/pura-vida-atlanta. It was run by the same owner as today, chef Hector Santiago, who has become a celebrity chef in Atlanta.Currently, chef Hector also owns and runs the El Super Pan Latin restaurants and bars located at Ponce City Market and The Battery (two locations). With El Burro Pollo at The Collective, chef Hector and team have only opened businesses inside food courts and mixed-use developments. I've enjoyed the food at both El Super Pan locations. Therefore, it came as no surprise to me when I found the food at El Burro Pollo to be equally as enjoyable.To fans of El Super Pan and chef Hector - before there was El Super Pan, there was El Burro Pollo. In fact, this Yelp listing is the original. If you sort the reviews from oldest to newest, you'll see Yelp OG Stephie Z was the first to review El Burro Pollo on Yelp on August 9, 2010. That's how long this business has been around. The parking lot burrito stand on North Highland 11 years ago is now a fancy food court stall in the slick Coda high-rise building.Parking for El Burro Pollo and other restaurants at The Collective Food Hall at Coda is available on the streets surrounding the building: Spring, 4th, and West Peachtree. In all my visits to Coda so far, I've always been able to easily find parking on 4th St NW. You can pay a variety of ways. I use and recommend the ParkMobile app because you can easily pay using your phone, monitor your parking meter, and add time if needed. The parking zone number is 51548.Parking is enforced Monday-Saturday, 7am-10pm. Sunday and city holidays exempt. So basically, you have to pay to park during El Burro Pollo's business hours. Coda has a deck too, but I think it's more expensive than parking on the street. The last time I paid to park on the street here, it cost $2.30 for one hour.El Burro Pollo has a very nice stall inside The Collective. The Collective, in general, looks great. It's clean and contemporary. El Burro Pollo has an eight-seat breezeway-facing bar. When the weather is nice, they'll open up the glass doors so if you're sitting at the bar, it feels like you're sitting outside. The Collective has a spacious outdoor patio with a three giant digital displays. The bar wraps around to The Collective's inside dining area where there are plenty of seats, including at the counter of El Burro Pollo. The kitchen is open so you can see the staff prepare orders.The stall has two tablets for customers to place their orders. During my visit, one tablet was manned by an employee and the other was self-serve. I used the self-serve tablet. I noticed the menu on the tablet was slightly different than the menu posted on the wall as well as the laminated paper menus at the counter. More on that below.El Burro Pollo serves botanas (snacks) like Duros (Mexican wheat snack, $2) and Cueritos (blanched pork rinds, $5), Mexico west-coast-style ceviches, "Juarez-style" burritos, and specials like escabeche (tuna salad, $10.50).Here's what I got:* Beef Taquitos ($9.50)* Kimchi Quesadilla ($8.00) - flour tortilla, queso Chihuahua and queso fresco, kimchi, avocado sauce* El Burro Pollo burrito ($10.50) - charred 10" wheat tortilla, Chef Hector's chunky three-chili-hot-sauce-marinated Springer Mountain chicken, "Burro Pollo" slaw with fresh cabbage, carrots, radish, cilantro, and seasonal vegetables, "Banderita!" tomatillo, sour creamEverything was delicious. The Beef Taquitos and Kimchi Quesadilla weren't on the print menu. They were only on the tablet. A regular quesadilla was on the print menus, though. The Beef Taquitos were crispy and filled with a satisfying amount of tender and juicy meat inside. The outside had the same wonderful avocado sauce that was used on the Kimchi Quesadilla. The Kimchi Quesadilla was excellent, from the high-quality, delectably-charred tortilla to the two luscious cheeses inside. Finally, the original El Burro Pollo burrito was outstanding. It was fresh, filling (lots of tender, marinated, shredded chicken), and unique. I really liked the three-chili hot sauce that was used to marinate the chicken. As a fan of veggies, I loved the fresh and crunchy slaw. The tomatillo and sour cream tied everything together. The El Burro Pollo is one of the most gratifying burritos in Atlanta.Service was excellent."
"I'm always down for good food, even in a BP gas station. That's what you'll get at Taquería Taquito Express, which has a few other locations in metro Atlanta also inside gas stations (maybe BP as well?).There are tables and chairs and every time I've been to get food to-go, I find many of them occupied. The service can be a tad slow, but I think it's mostly because the employees are trying to find a groove. I bet they didn't expect for the place to be as popular as it is!AT and I have eaten tortas, burritos, tamales, quesadillas, empanadas, rice, and refried beans. AT loves the lengua and has had beef tongue in both burritos and tortas. I like the carne asada and barbacoa a lot, however everything else has been excellent and quite authentic. I even tried my first horchata here, which was tasty but a bit too sweet for my tastes. I ended up taking home my styrofoam cup and mixing it with tea for my own funky blend of milk tea, haha.I am curious about the breakfast items, so maybe if we can get out early enough one weekend morning, we can try breakfast tacos![#Yelp365: 82/365]"
"Two things that always cheer me up are tacos and nice people. I was in a bit of a funk and stumbled upon this place while I was out running errands. I've been to the butcher shop located in the same plaza before, but never noticed Taqueria El Vecino. They have a small patio and dining area, but I opted to sit at the bar. Luckily I came on a Tuesday when all tacos are $3.50. I ordered a Texas margarita that was good. I also got an assortment of tacos including carne asada, al pastor and Baja fish. All of the tacos were delicious. I also got a side of rice and it was light and fluffy. They have salsa bar that includes a variety of sauces and condiments.The staff was so amazing and checked on me frequently. I enjoyed my meal and look forward to returning."
