Taqueria El Jalisquillo

The restaurant owners/who I think are the owners have always been super friendly and nice...That being said, after giving them three tries and striking out, my time with them has ended. We have tried tacos, burritos, with al pastor, carne asada, and chicken. I've ordered super burritos, I've tried all the salsas, rice, and beans. Unfortunately the food here doesn't sit well with my palette. It's also not just one thing we had difficulty with in terms of taste. It was all the food we ordered, each time. I will say their al pastro taco wasn't bad.My taste buds didn't hit but maybe yours will. Again, they were very friendly.

Another solid taqueria in east san jo. 2 things this town cannot fail you on 1) Vietnamese fare; and 2) Casual Mexican eats. I'm just randomly trying things out without much research/searching on Yelp, cuz to me to run into a decent/good place strictly out of serendipity is much more fun and rewarding. Which is how I walked into here, just did it one day, and it was so legit, I came back a few weeks later to try another dish. Think I can give them my seal of approval, with over hundreds of taquerias under my belt. First, I love how this place rocks a couple of murals. My fave being a street scene from the old world depicting a small family on a cobblestone street with an ox for transport in a pastoral town with church in the background. And next to that mural is a small fountain/shrine of Mother Mary that makes eating said tacos next to it, that much more legit to me. Service has always been super friendly too. Even though it is order and pay at the counter, they'll bring out the food and even ask part way through if everything is going okay. Not the norm for casual ordering format, even more rare for today's standard of service. Chips and salsa come with an order. There's a small salsa bar where you can knock yourself out. Not a ton of stuff in there, maybe 3-4 salsas, some grilled onions and maybe some grilled as well as pickled jalapenos. But their chips are nice and thick with a great crunch. And I like to blend 2 salsas, one thin tomato-y one, with another spicier one with black flecks of charred dried chiles. The flavor of both together is one of the better salsa dips I've ever had. I usually don't eat all the chips given to me, but here I'm even willing to ask for a bit more...cuz that salsa hits bruh!Tacos ($2.50-$3 depending on what you get) I tried 2 types one day.Carne Asada (4.5*) Super legit and packed to the gills. Heartier than your typical street taco, more beef and umphhh. This is quite authentic as they start out with some flat meat then chops it so fine that it almost resembles ground beef. To some (many Americanized peeps) they'd rather have bigger chunks and some will even go as far as to slander a place cuz the meat is not medium or medium rare. Come on brah, no place in Mexico will cook carne asada in that fashion.Anyhoo, what this fine chopping does is it welcomes and soaks in their tasty salsa much more readily. Kinda like a sponge, where the 2 can mingle and bring one taco joy. And the meat is nicely browned so the meat flavor really delivers. And that taco is right off the grill, so it is so hot that if you eat there, you will not be able to pick one up comfortably. I was hAngry one afternoon and risked slight burns on my fingertips to hastily devour these bad boys. Hashtag do as I say, not what I do. Also tried some Tripas (4*) action as I needed to earn my street cred on that first visit. I actually tried to order some lengua too, but they didn't have any. They didn't even have any on my 2nd out, so it seems it is something they don't really want to do, even though it is on their menu. Just FYI for any lengua afficianados.But the tripas were indeed legit, fried to a crisp so it gave off some chicharone vibes, but still had a chew to the interior. Just pretty greasy that half way through the 2nd taco, I kinda was done with it. I do like this with extra pickled jalapenos tho and a cold Mexi lager. TRUSTSecond visit I tried something more substantial. Tried a 2 meat Plato ($18) with rice, beans and tortillas. So basically DIY tacos at this point, but with the added fillers of rice and beans. Chose Barbacoa (4*) and Carnitas (4.5*)The barbacoa was strange at first. Dead on looked like corned beef brisket just done in a more Mexican fashion. I'm still gonna hold on to my claim with that. Barbacoa is just a tough piece of meat that is cooked super slow and long, so the meat is quite shred-able and juicy. This had the texture and taste, just the pinkish hue that corned beef has due to the curing salts, threw me off. Still made some bomb tacos with their salsas.Carnitas were legit, super tender with a nice crisping. But crisping done per order on their flat top versus an oven or broiler. I also prefer meatier hunks of meat, as this was pretty chopped up with a cleaver, but still not a legit knock. Rice and beans were standard, so it fit the plates snugly. Always stuffed when I leave here and with the additions of friendly service, cool loud Mexican tunes and quirky artwork with strong cultural vibes, just scores another win for my East San Jo adventures. Yeahhh Buddy!

I really really wanted to like this place but unfortunately I did not. I want to start off by saying that the staff was amazing and that was my reason for 3 stars. They were very accommodating and helpful. So I came here for taco Tuesday. There is plenty of parking and a couple tables inside. But it seems everyone that came took their orders to go. I got 4 chicken tacos, 1 birria taco, 1 cabeza taco and 1buche. I also got 2 carnitas meat only and a side of rice. They also had a little salsa bar, the cashier gave me some foil so I could take some limes so roasted chilies. I thought that was nice. I also took my order to go and everything was all packaged well. Now for the food, the meat was ok but needed a little more flavor. The carnitas were the best tasting but was still missing something. I didn't taste the chicken since it was for someone else. The rice I got for my daughter and it was very salty. Overall I'm sad I did not enjoy it. But maybe it was an off day. Undecided if I will give them another try.

These Mexican spot is the best! These place gives you good vibes best place to go to!

Great expense here tonight! Yummy food and reasonably priced for being in the Bay Area. Satisfied my hunger.The waitress was very nice.The vibe was pretty comfy.

Food here was delicious. One of the best Mexican restaurants I've had in a long time. The lady behind the counter was very nice and even gave some recommendations. Would definitely eat here again!

Awesome murals inside and very kind staff, but the food has gone downhill since it was Eduardo's a few years ago. It was a regular stop of ours for years, but we don't plan on returning for now. Refried beans had a weird off flavor like soured milk or vinegar, burrito was mostly tortilla, and al pastor tacos were not even 3rd best in the region (even la Vic's, which is too salty, is better). The salsa bar is probably the saving grace here - absolutely delicious. Too bad the rest of the food doesn't match. :-(

Not that great. My family ordered via DoorDash. We asked for multiple salsas and even though ordered different ones, we got the same for all of them. Not very good, no spice. The rice in my burrito was mushy, no flavor other than salt. No guac or salsa in the burrito. My family were just eh over their tacos. They said it tasted like boiled meat which should have been grilled. We won't order again.

Excellent pozole! Small restaurant, very clean, super friendly service, very attentive, colorful place. My boyfriend loved his tacos too. We adored and devoured everything in the salsa bar. I liked how the salsas are covered, I found that more hygienic than in most places I have been. Only with the fantastic free chips and salsa I got full, so I got half of my pozole to go and it was excellent the next day. Very cool discovery of a rainy Sunday.

It is always disappointing when you don't get what you have ordered and paid for. There was no guacamole or sourcream in two of the burritos we ordered that should have had guacamole. The extra side of guacamole we bought was not guacamole, just a soupy green tomatillo (?) sauce. One wrong is an acceptable mistake, but three wrongs shows carelessness. The food was OK, nothing special, and the order took too long, while other customers that came in after us got their food first. It's a shame, because we play many soccer games closeby, so it would have been nice to find a good food option for our family and the soccer team. Unfortunately, we won't be coming back.