La Estrella

Best in Lawrence! By far the closest thing I have had to really good Mexican good since I moved here from CO. Pastor is AMAZING the.salsas.all are.fresh amd.flavorful and a few have a WHOLE LOTTA ZING! Go again and again. Also have a nice little market downstairs

Location: Iowa Street with Clinton. On the back of Mezcal. Ambiance: I really like the set up. Upstairs the restaurant and downstairs a grocery store where you can find almost any Mexican food item.Food: This is the place to go to get Tacos. They feel more homemade and more authentic. Sure, you can find other good places like Taco Zone. But la estrella is more about the kind of tacos you could find in Mexico.My recommendation is not to adventure out the tacos. They offer quesadillas, torta, etc.Stay with tacosSpecial mention to the ice-cream. Plenty of options. Homemade. Service: You pay at the front desk and they call you when the food is ready. Sometimes, they bring the food to your table

Best Mexican restaurant/store hands down. Authentic, filling, delicious, I can't describe anymore how amazing this place is! I've tried other places in kc/op, nothing comes close to La Estrella. Tacos are simple with corn Tortilla, meat, onion, and Cilantro, really good. Sauces are also well made! Burrito has rice, beans, meat, lettuce... I can't tell because I finish the burrito before I notice what's in it hahaha. Service is really good too! Very nice people, quick, and consistent! Ambiance is pretty casual, noise level normal, very chill and relaxing! Upstairs is the restaurant, downstairs is the store. I always buy extra sauce but they also sell the meat they cook and a lot of other stuff!For meat, I suggest getting al pastor on everything. Just so good. Cabeza is really juicy good, perfect in their Quesadillas. Lengua is also very soft and juicy.

An extremely hidden gem. This place NEVER disappoints! The food is beyond excellent, the staff is always great, the inside feels like a visit to authentic mexican restaurants from childhood. Never ever pass this place up!

My husband and I were frequent visitors to La Estrella at their first location, when it was primarily a store with a little restaurant. I know some are mourning the loss of the old place, and the menu is definitely a change. But I think overall this is a great move in the right direction for this small business. The restaurant itself is charming, with plenty of seating at bright, painted chairs and tables. There is the main service counter and a separate place to order ice cream. Stairs lead down to their store and meat counter. We ordered a half order of the Chicken Mole (that's all that was left!), and it was still a generous portion. The chicken was tender and the mole sauce was, well, it was my first mole, but I loved it. We always got tacos al pastor or carnitas at the old place, but this time we tried their Tlaxcala Tacos--beef, chorizo, potatoes, peppers and onions in a fried corn tortilla. I had never had them before, or even heard of them, but they were absolutely delicious. The tortillas especially were perfectly fried. Next time I want to try their tortas to see how they compare with another favorite local spot's. I don't want to forget to mention that this is a good place to get the right cuts of meat for Latin American cooking. My husband visits at least once a week when it's his turn to cook. We only spent about $20 with sodas. Reasonable prices, great food. Congrats to the owners on their new location and menu! We'll be back, often.

La Estrella, how I've loved you in the past, but gone are the days of you having the very best street tacos in Lawrence, or even matching your efforts of the past. Why is surely a mystery because the same people cooking have now weathered two previous locations until landing here. I want the old style tacos back!The new interior is beautiful, the ordering system is all a go and working fine, the dining space is much improved. But the tacos... three times now... they're visibly and to the taste *much* drier than those served up at the two previous locations, and it's telling. And I'm not the only one that has noticed. So have a couple of buddies I frequent with, they've noticed, too. So while still pretty good, where's the secret sauce? You know what it is, right? It's meat drippings from pastor prep or other similar juicy goodness added to the taco before the onions and cilantro are added. A dry taco with no juicy goodness is an unhappy taco. Go to the great tacquerias in Kansas City (like San Antonio on Kansas Ave.) and you can visibly see them adding juice to the taco as part of the preparation.Another possible culprit? Just musing to myself now but I wonder if the expanded menu has cut into what's possible. Too many offerings clouding the effort of what made them great. Known for their fantastic street tacos and an occasional other menu item, they've graduated to a full restaurant style menu. I'm holding out that they'll figure this out but until then, the best tacos in town right now are at another location, and that makes me a little sad for La Estrella and happy for the new kid in town.

So good! Stopped here for dinner when visiting my daughter and can't wait to come back next time I'm in town! The food is greasy, beautifully seasoned and flavorful. We ordered Huarache de Asada, and three tacos: asada, lengua, and carnitas. I was full before I finished my huarache but couldn't stop eating at it because it was awesome.Highly recommend!

The tacos looked good, but my tamales were cold inside. They look like store-bought tamales that have been in the refrigerator and heated up in the microwave. One other person in our party ordered a water and she had to pay $1.25 for tapwater. The tamales had very little filling, and not a lot of flavor.

This place is legit. Came in here for lunch and was immediately in love. They have queso birra, which was delicious. I also had their chicharron tacos. The chicharron was rich and flavorful, tangy -- just the perfect bite. This being my first time, I didn't see the agua and panela counter to the right of the entrance right away, so I was initially disappointed that they had no aguas. Boy was I wrong. They had eight of them, including a really tasty fresa agua. The food came out quick. Next time I'm in Lawrence I'll definitely pay them a visit, and you'd do well to do the same.

Although they have a limited selection and the chicken was overcooked, the carnitas and bistec were really good. We are from California and their tacos are authentic and tasty.