El Zarape Restaurant

The scallop burrito is a steal for the cost! What a treat! The fish chimichanga was also very tasty and unique!I came based on a recommendation of Jessica from LA.

I should have paid closer attention to some of the reviews and tips for this University Heights taco joint. Long gone were the days of $0.99 fried fish tacos and other seafood tacos for less than $4. The prices have significantly increased due to inflation and labor wages. The parking situation remained atrocious in this neighborhood. I had to circle around the side streets multiple times on a weeknight before I was able to snag a curbside space. When I arrived, the shop was about half full of customers and there was no wait to place an order. Dine-in seating was sufficient to hold a couple of dozen customers.There was large chalkboard menu on the wall to the left of the service counter. Some smaller menus were also placed at the counter. I proceeded to order one fish taco, one scallop taco, and one wasabi taco. The last was a fried shrimp taco with a wasabi aioli/sauce added on top of the lettuce and tomato. It was the best of the trio as I felt the first two were very ordinary, especially for the scallop.If you live nearby, then El Zarapre is probably a decent stop for a quick Mexican fix. Otherwise, I think there are much better eateries around town without the hassle of searching for limited parking. My dining experience at this taqueria garnered three stars.

Bene here a couple of times, and most recently got the wasabi burrito. This place never struck me as that special, but I do appreciate that there are many choices on the menu for burritos, tacos, and ceviche, especially since I feel like not many places have ceviche. That being said, I feel like many of their different options are average. At least for the wasabi burrito, it had fried shrimp but not that many pieces, and mixed with sliced lettuce and wasabi and cheese, which didn't seem like the best combination of flavors and textures. There's always plenty of seating inside, usually pretty empty. Service is good though, they're efficient and nice and quick to get the food out.

I can't believe that shrinkflation caught up to this place. I ordered 2 surf and turf burritos because they have really good 1s here but was disappointed when I got it. It's the size of my iPhone!!! It's like they only had enough ingredients for 1 burrito and split that to make 2. It's no longer worth it for me to come back. It's a sad sad day.

Walking in it's a really great setting of a classic Mexican restaurant with cute hints of design throughout the restaurant. We were seated quite quickly and our food came out at a decent time. Although our food looks great it wasn't sadly. I hadn't even really eaten my soup. It was dry and just not a great flavor. My boyfriend hadn't enjoyed his food very much either.

Paid a visit here for taco Tuesday last night with my roommates. We got there about 7:00 p.m., we're sat right away. The restaurant wasn't too packed, maybe at 50% capacity. The patio was closed, which I feel like is the cutest part of the restaurant. I've watched a lot of Instagram stories about this place, so had a sort of idea of what to expect with the ambiance and vibe, however the inside is a lot more simple than I expected.We ordered a few drinks, and at first, I ordered the smoke mexcal mule. The first time I tried it, didn't taste the way expected. Not like a normal meal at all. I asked her a place to drink with a leychee martini, I know very different type of drink, but was amazing!They give you complimentary chips that comes with red and green sauce.I ordered the Taco Trio, which included a grilled shrimp taco and two birria tacos. My roommates ordered the oysters, ceviche, and chicken stir fry. Overall, the food was pretty satisfactory. I do think they could have added some more sauce or spice to give it some flavor.Overall, I would come back to sit outside and have a couple of drinks with friends. I'd also be interested to check out their brunch menu.

We ordered delivery from here via UberEats, and the food was really just OK. We got one lobster taco, two carne asada tacos, a potato taco, and two pollo asada tacos. Most of the tacos were disappointing as we weren't sure the lobster taco actually had lobster in it? The texture was more fish-like. Then the carne asada tacos had rancid beef in them which was super disappointing. Thankfully no one got sick but considering how much we paid for them and how good the reviews were I was expecting much better. The pollo tacos were edible, as was the potato taco. There really weren't any fixins on them either, like pico de gallo or onions/cilantro. They did however put guacamole on the tacos which meant you had to eat them immediately or scrape it off before it went brown. The tacos were a decent size but honestly would have preferred a smaller taco that was better tasting and seemed more like a taco than just some meat on a tortilla. The guacamole wasn't that special, it was avocado, onion, and probably some salt, no lemon because it went brown almost immediately. We got some salsas on the side which were okay, not as spicy as I would have hoped. I think they used almond milk in the horchata as well as my friend developed a rash from his allergy. Overall this was a bummer but you don't know some places unless you try them.

I went back for their chile rellano burrito and it was nothing like I had before. The chile rellano was crunchy and undercooked so it was hard to eat. I don't think I'll be coming back.

So I support local businesses, and I usually love this taco shop, but my biggest pet peeve is when a business closes before their posted hours...

I'm uncertain of the relationships between the three El Zarape restaurants on or off of Adams Ave however they are really good, this particular keeps up with the tradition of serving great Mexican food. The only negative is that the portions are kind of small especially considering the price point of taco shop nowadays but the food was excellent and it has a hole in the hole in the wall vibe which is what I want out of a late night taco shop. The cashier was great and kind of funny so I appreciated that, she was very personable.