La Hacienda Market

The hot food counter is awesome. The only thing it's missing is fresh hot tortillas. I saw them pulling the tortillas out of a bag. Sad thing is, I saw a cooler with fresh hot tortillas from a bakery down the street, why couldn't you have used those? I'd have loved you even more.I tried the borrego, pastor, barbacoa, y lengua tacos. The borrego was really good. The meat didn't have too strong of a lamb flavor and I like that in my lamb. It was greasy but I can deal. The pastor seasonings were phenomenal. It had a bit of spice, with a lot of flavor. The barbacoa was super juicy and beyond tender. I wanted more of that greasy, heart stopping goodness. The lengua was chewy and tasty, but I did need some of their salsa verde to complete the taco. I added onions and cilantro to all my tacos. I topped the meal off with some orchata (spelling). MMM. Tasty meal that made me slightly sleepy at work.I had coworkers try the pork with tomatillo salsa and saiid that it as good as well. I want more. To be continued....

Great little tacos!While this place is definitely more of a grocery/market, they have a food counter with an awesome selection of taco options. The cooked meats are on display so you can get a good look at what you're gonna get. I think you can get the meats by the pound as well - which is pretty cool.Important note - you order food at the regular grocery checkout and then give the ticket to the nice ladies behind the food counter. They have about 10 stools if you want to eat right at the counter, otherwise it's to-go.I tried beef fajita and chicken tacos on my visit. The taco tortillas (flour) I got were a touch on the small side, but they piled them up with meat. They added cilantro and onions - which is such a simple thing, but it puts them right up there with other authentic mexican tacos I've tried. The beef was very tasty and not very fatty. The chicken was fantastic with a very tasty sauce (in the deli display you could see the chicken swimming in the red sauce with chunks of peppers and onions). They had a great verde salsa in squeeze bottles on the counter. Not as awesome as El Regio's, but close.There is no Menu and the ladies at the food counter didn't speak much english, so either brush up on your spanish or know what you want before you order.The back part of the store is the meat market. It looks very well stocked and they even had a big case of seemingly fresh chicharones.I think I'm going to need to hit these folks up for taco fixings by the pound next time.

The stars remain the same, but I'm slightly disappointed with their hot food counter. I've been on my Great Torta Quest for a while now, and I finally noticed that they have chicken tortas here. The main impetus for this is that practically every time I've been here recently, they're out of tamales. I've been wanting to try their Tamales Veracruzanos, but this time I went for the torta. There are two types of torta bread. This is the more popular kind (given my experience), but not what my El Paso cohorts would call the "correct" kind. This kind has to either be toasted really really well, or you will just have a really supremely messy torta experience. Which I had. The good: They put beans on their torta.They give you a side of their awesome green salsa and some limes.They use stewed chicken instead of chicken fajitaThey put crema on their torta.The not-so-good:Messy Messy torta experience due to bread falling apart.No avocados! Srsly?? I asked, and the lady said they didn't have any. huh?Stewed chicken had more than a couple bites of chicken parts I'd rather not eat. So, I'll be sticking to their tamales, and maybe try something else in the future, but these tortas don't measure up to Matamoros.

I saw this meat market on my way to work one day and I figured I'd go in and check it out. I love places where you can get fresh meats/produce. Ok, so I am hispanic....I walk in and everyone stops and stares. Great...I immediately feel out of place. Why? Who the heck knows? Instead of walking out, I grab a cart and push away. I will NOT be intimidated by the stares. So, I peruse the aisles in hopes of finding something I can't live without. The place is decent. They have a nice selection of meats and regular grocery products. However, the aisles are so dang cramped together. I hate feeling as if I can't breathe or as if the guy next to you will have to rub against you to push his way through the same aisle. ICKAnyway, I guess this place is ok. I just wish people wouldn't stare at you as if they've never seen a Hispanic who is native Texan instead of from the heart of Mexico. I still love to eat, too!I walked out with some cucumbers and a few canned goods. I don't think I'll be back unless I'm feeling ornery.

The other reviews are mostly about the food counter. I have never eaten at the food counter but I go to La Hacienda regularly for a few things:1) The red ribs, aka las costilla marinadas. These are mind-blowing. The marinade -which inevitably stains your fingers through the next morning- is made out of beer, pineapple, and other secret things and the ribs are cut across the bone much like Korean style beef ribs. They have several other meat products behind the counter with the same marinade but the ribs win, hands down. I have never met a person who didn't like these. In fact, these are so good that I didn't even tell people where to buy them until a couple years ago. Don't tell anyone else, okay? It's our little secret.2) Salsa verde, aka "TacoDeli's Doña salsa" but BETTER because it's not a stupid Tex-Mex chain's (or HEB's) appropriation of a very common Mexican salsa. This is made out of jalapeños, oil and garlic, and it is not for the faint of heart. Although really, why mild salsa is even an option irks me. But this green stuff... ohhhh it's good. We put it on EVERYTHING, from chips and tacos to eggs and brisket sandwiches. You might just lick the container. And if it's gone (it's in the refrigerated section across from the eggs) you can always get some from the food counter. Grab some El Milagro chips on your way out and you can snack on the drive home (because just dunking your fingers in it and licking would be uncouth).3) Tamales - I think these are seasonal but I'm not sure exactly what the season is. I just know if they have them, I buy them. They have the more common corn husk variety as well as the extra delicious style wrapped in banana leaves. 4) Mexican spices - big variety.5) Cheap piñatas. Like crazy cheap. Not as huge a selection as the piñata places on Cesar Chavez, but they'll do in a pinch.There's a much bigger, much crazier Mexican grocery store across 183 that seems to have cut down on La Hacienda's business, but the ribs and salsa are far superior at LH.

Excellent menudo Saturday morning. Good carnitas with hand made tortillas. You have to come inside the store and order at the checkout counter. Then proceed to the back of the store. The setting is very minimalist with a counter top like a sushi bar. Good authentic tacos.

The little things count! I stop by on a Saturday craving tamales de elote (huchepos) I got 4 from the hot counter I went home to eat them for lunch but they were horrible, dry and hard I couldn't event cut them with a knife is and insult to the clients to sale food that is un edible!!!!!

Love this place. I work close by. Visit this location for lunch twice a wk. Fresh food and cooked just right. Friendly staff. Only thing I wished was the majority of the staff spoke English. But by no means is it an issue, besides its a Mexican store... I'll make the adjustment. The customer service and patience of the employees make the experience GOOD! Will recommend to anyone.

The meat market buy at your own risk. This location in particular has given me spoiled meat a few times. The butchers/meat handlers whatever you wanna call them, are very rude.This is not really an actual complaint it's just to give people some knowledge that are wondering about this store. The store is very small and will get extremely crowded when busy.The reasoning behind my one star review is due to the rudeness of the butchers in meat market and the cashiers, also the uncleanliness of the produce area. I'm aware there is a hot food area. I honestly never eaten there...

You need to stick to the original recipe for Menudo . This last Sunday, April 3 , I tried this location and it was disgusting , It tasted nothing like menudo . First off, when the employee started to fill the container, the broth had a dirty water color, you forgot the red peppers! I didn't find out until I was back at home to enjoy it with my family, we also noticed lots and I do mean lots of fat in every slice of menudo. It lacked condiments. The only spice was too much (too hot)