Taqueria La Original

4/5 Beef Tacos4/5 Rice & Beans4/5 Chips4/5 Red Sauce5/5 Green Sauce5/5 service4/5 ambianceI've been coming here quarterly for about 8 years now and have gotten the same thing everytime. The taco plate with ground beef, no cilantro. The waitress is always quick with service, granted it is a very small hole in the wall so limited customer seating but still fast. And the time it takes to get my plate out is always less than 10 minutes. I always mix my green and red sauce together with the rice and beans and eat it as a dip, it's so tasty. That green sauce is spicy but so flavorful. The tacos are cooked to near perfection, their corn tortillas are on the crispy side which I love and the meat is always flavorful. Highly recommended!

Walked in and even though from the outside it may not have the looks . The food is of a great authentic flavor ! You will not be disappointed!

If your looking for authentic tacos this would not be the place their taco meat is rubbery and hard to chew cheaply made tacos. Plus they are overpriced!

This is a small, quirky, strip center gem that I never would have thought to go to without my Yelp friends' advice. It's dive-ish with a handful of tables but it's brightly covered walls, SD TV blaring a Mexican talent show and unusual mix of Tecate signs and posters of England hanging up let me know this place has personality. I was immediately greeted at the door and brought chips and two types of salsa. The green and red salsas are almost worth the trip alone. The green sauce is a wonderful mix of avocados, jalapeno and cilantro that is spicy and addictive. The red sauce compliments nicely with its sweet, smoky heat. I ordered the chile relleno which came out super quickly. it was one of the best chili Rihanna's I've had in a long time. the texture was great, the mild chili awesome and the sauce was killer. The rice and beans were only slightly above average but none remained on my plate at the end of the visit.I'm already looking forward to taking my friends to this place. or, maybe I should just keep this secret to myself! :-)

OH man. You gotta love any place that serves chips and a trio of salsas as soon as you sit down. Yum! The green salsa tastes extremely fresh and bright, but damn it's spicy! The dark red has an incredible smokey flavor and a serious kick, and the plain red is the most mild, but still delicious. Chips appear to be fried in house, but I'm not sure. Either way, they're pretty stellar.For lunch I ordered beef tips which came in a deep, savory, and amazing sauce, plus rice and refried beans. The beef tips were extremely tender and flavorful, and while the rice seemed a bit mediocre, the beans were piping hot and addictive. I put everything inside warm tortillas for a make-your-own taco delight. Order a sliced avocado on the side to make any meal extra awesome! The coke here is a classic Mexican coke in a bottle, so you know it's good. I honestly prefer nasty regular corn-syrup coke (the Mexican version is almost too sweet for me), but they aren't too pricey here and I drank the whole thing!Great lunch specials, a huge array of authentic options, and a homey, cozy atmosphere (like one tiny room). No complaints from me, Taqueria La Original is fantastic!

It's very difficult for me to find a Mexican place that I like for 2 reasons: 1) I'm Mexican and if I want authentic Mexican food I make it myself or go straight to my mothers house, NOTHING beats that.2) Most Mexican places cook with lard. Gross.I was craving street style tacos the other night and did not have the energy to make them myself, so I pulled up yelp and found this place. To start off they bring you chips and 2 different types of salsa. I was pleasantly surprised that the red salsa was actually pretty spicy. I ordered 2 asada and 2 barbacoa tacos. The asada was way better in my opinion. The barbacoa had more fat than meat. The platter also came with rice and beans (not terrible but not anything I'd crave again). The horchata was pretty damn good, though! I ordered the cheese enchilada for my 2 year old and he did not approve. I tried it myself and immediately felt terrible for even ordering it for himThe turn off was being able to see 3 huge buckets of lard when I looked back towards the kitchen area. I realize that most Mexican restaurants use lard, but I don't want it to be the first thing I see when I walk in through the front door.This place wasn't horrible (hence the 3 stars) but I don't know if I'll be back.

Every now and then you get caught off-guard by a seemingly unassuming and nondescript restaurant that serves you an unexpected and deeply soul-satisfying meal. Taqueria La Original did just that for me only moments ago! I have been living just down the street from this taco Mecca for 3 years and didn't even realize it was there. I feel cheated! Anyway, I was out and about and I happened to notice it and thought to myself "mmmm.....Tacos....yeah....that's the ticket." So I did a U-turn and in I went.The place is kind of a dive. It's pretty small and has six or so rickety tables and an old TV hanging from the ceiling locked onto a Mexican soap opera channel. It was LOVELY! I was greeted in short order and handed a menu. I found the tacos and they had several types. Now mind you, these aren't "regular" tacos. These are the street food type. The real deal. The filling is on 2- 4" diameter corn tortillas. You get 4 to an order and I got 2 tacos al pastor and 2 carnitas.The sauces are red or green. The chips were fresh and hot. Nice and thick too. I think they make them there. The green sauce was vibrant and it hit you immediately with fresh jalapeno. The red was very earthy up front followed by the smokiness of a tiny amount of chipotle peppers. Then BAM...heat! Very nice.The tacos came out quickly and I was excited. They are served with rice and beans. The rice wasn't noteworthy but the beans were lovely. The tacos al pastor transcend delicious entering into the sublime. I nearly wept! The flavors were almost too much to cope with. The freshness of the lime and cilantro contrasted the rich, earthy, almost buttery magic coming from whatever the spices are that were on that meat. I was in sheer ecstasy. I couldn't stop eating long enough to try and figure out the spices. Nor did I want to. The meat was incredibly tender and had a wonderfully soft texture. Amazing! I quickly realized what a horrible error I had made by not getting all 4 as al pastor.The poor carnitas tacos that followed could have stood up, done a jig and slipped me a $50 and it still would have failed against the pastor. Don't get me wrong, it was still good, just not as.I know what you're probably thinking... "This guy's gone batty! It's just a little dive!" Well, it is a dive and that's precisely why I was caught so off guard. I'm not sure about the rest of the food; it may all be awful, but one thing's for sure those tacos al pastor are simply amazing. Now that I know of the place, I'll be back often. Good job guys!

Very good food. Reasonable prices. Friendly service. This is not Tex-Mex. I've been going to the other location almost 15 years. Just discovered this location. Be patient as the food is made fresh. But, we'll worth it. The menu is the most recent version.

This is our go to Mexican restaurant spot! Food is always made hot and fresh. Staff is super friendly and the restaurant is impeccably clean. Great price and quality.

Came here with some friends for breakfast and we all had great meals. Will definitely be back to try out lunch/dinner. Our server was very nice and food came out at a good time. Beware of the salsa that comes with the chip, it's very good but very spicy.