El Mezquite Taqueria

My first time I went to El Mezquite was last year in the spring and had delicious gorditas! Now I went back after so long and had some sopes and really enjoyed them! However, one thing I didn’t really like was the price. I think my order of sopes was a bit too much, but that means I’ll be ordering a meal next time! The food, especially the salsas are awesome! If you want some real Mexican food, especially from Mexico City, then you should eat here! Gracias El Mezquite por recuerdame del D.F.

Friendly customer service! The Vampiro juice drink is incredible. It has beets, carrots, celery, and apple in it! This was the best way to start my morning today!

I thought this place was delicious. Probably the best horchata I’ve had in a while, and was really loving the chipotle salsa they brought to the table. I ordered two asada tacos and one sesos. Theasada was so good. I wasn’t a fan of the sesos, but I tried it out of curiosity. My boyfriend really enjoyed it though when I gave it to him. The prices are slightly higher than I would have expected but I’ll be back and I’d recommend it to others.

We like this place so very much. The food has been very consistent and delicious and we love Maria :)

I had lunch there today by myself during my lunch break. I ordered a steak burrito and let me tell you, I’ve had plenty of Mexican food, but the meat here had too much fat. I’m usually not a picky eater but this place really didn’t cut it for me. As for the service, the waitress didn’t check up after me after serving my meal nor did she come and ask to pack my meal to go. I had to physically take my plate to go. Disgusting food and horrible service

I was here yesterday and saw something that will never erase from my mind!!! I came to this place last to get a chicken salad and have been here previously to get tacos and never had a problem until yesterday. I saw the cook put his spatula into raw chicken, put that same spatula into the oil to sprinkle on top of the chicken. After that he flips another customers food with the same spatula that he put in raw chicken and oil!!! WTF! That is cross contamination at its finest! But it doesn’t stop there, he uses the same spatulas to keep turning the raw chicken that’s on the flattop and adds steak to the flattop and uses the spatula on that steak… I couldn’t eat my salad after that and will never be back to this place again. They’re going to kill someone, get your shit together and hire someone with some brains please!!!

The guacamole is fantastic. They’re able to prepare according to spicy preference. It was fresh, lightly salted, with chunks of tomatoes, diced onions and cilantro and a ting of lemon to bring out the taste. Lucille, the server is attentive and offers a variety of alternatives to non meat eaters. The food does not come out quickly, but the quality and authenticity is worth the wait. It’s made from scratch.

This place was great and the waitress Lucia was very attentive and described the different items on the menu. Food equals yummy and I highly recommend people to order the guacamole. It is so tasty and the taco with shredded chicken (tinga de pollo) is excellent.

My husband and I have given this place so many chances. The reason for that is because they are the moodiest bunch of proprietors and staff we have ever encountered! It’s bizarre. One day, you will go in there, and they’ll be so accommodating and gracious, and another day, rude, dismissive, and giving you the feeling that you’re «putting them out.» Last night was our last visit, because they really went too far. We walked inside, tentative, as usual, not knowing which end of the polar we would get this time. Things seemed OK when the young Mexican girl sat us. We had never seen her before, so we kept an open mind. Until it came time to ordering. She did not speak a lick of English, and it was really hard to communicate our question about a certain item on the menu. She finally called out to the cook who came over and he, also, had a hard time with the language barrier, although he was definitely more pleasant about it. Then she suddenly stormed off with no words, and I looked pleadingly at the table next to me to ask them to please translate. When she came back, the young lady at the table next to us politely tried to ask her in Spanish what we had asked, but instead of answering that question, she told the young lady that she had called someone on the phone who spoke more English to come and help us. Then, she literally stood between our table and theirs in an unnatural stance that kept her back completely to us, which was very obviously a «talk to the hand» kind of message. So when she left that table, my husband and I expressed dismay that she would take this kind of attitude with us and asked the young lady next to us if she would please ask our «server» if she was upset with us. The server just repeated that she had called someone, according to our translator. The interesting thing about all this is that we did our very best to speak Spanish to her. Even our greeting in as we entered the door showed respect for their language. And here in Pilsen, we do this all time. In fact, we are hyper-​conscious and sensitive to the fact that many of the Mexican population here feel that us white people are trying to squeeze them out with gentrification attempts, so we go out of our way to show them that we are not the enemy. I was genuinely hurt by this experience. I felt it to be not only unjust that in a public restaurant in an English speaking country, non-​English speaking people are hired to wait on those who don’t speak any other language but the one of the land, but also that if we don’t speak Spanish, it is we who are the burden to them! My husband and I are both from different countries, and between the two of us, we speak seven other languages besides our native English, and this is because in our travels and living abroad, we worked hard to learn the language of the land so as not to be a burden to the natives. Furthermore, we were never hired unless we spoke the native language, nor were we allowed to go to public schools unless we did. And my husband has had to learn Spanish in order to keep up with the other construction workers who would make jokes about him in Spanish. His Spanish is limited still, but he tries. And he tried with miss thing at El Mezquite. We felt further offended that we were meant to wait there, hungry and unattended, until some other employee showed up to speak English with us. Honestly, it is my contention that the only reason this place has 3 stars is due to the fact that those who attended either speak Spanish, or happened to luck out on one of the days per week that these people actually try to put the customer first. El Mezquite has just lost two previously loyal customers, and I will also remove them from the Guide Book I created for all the visiting guests I receive into my home, of which there are many.

I won’t be ordering food here again. Service sucks. Food sucks. Too long of a wait for food that I ended up just throwing away. Their steak tacos are made up of nothing but gummy fat meat pieces. It was disgusting. How can you possibly be so bad at making a simple taco…

Not all that. Some of their breakfast are ok. When it comes to there stake tacos, yuck! I spent most of my time picking out the fat part of the meat which was most of the ‘meat’. I wasnt about to eat meat fat tacos. Their costumer service can improve as well.

The gorditas are awesome! I’ve lived in Pilsen for two years and eaten at a decent amount of restaurants around here and this is by far my favorite gordita spot. I always get the chicken. The prices are legit. Service usually sucks and the water is served room temp so get it to go and have a picnic in the park across the street instead.

BAD SERVICE!!! The order took long and I decided to cancel and pay for what was served, two flavored water drinks. After letting the waitress know, she called the owner, but the owner was and obnoxious JERK! He wanted to pick a fight after I told him that the service was taking too long, 30 minutes for 2 veggie tacos, rice and beans??? That’s too long! The owner almost hit my boyfriend on the face. We called 911. Do NOT GO HERE!

Food was good
Prices ok
They charge Extra for every thing you order
The owner and waitress are ladyes a mean over 50
I toll they have actitude
I think they don’t like to be there
But is the business and they have to work
Werever I don’t think I go back
No more
I don’t feel comfortable there
it took like 20 minutes to pay mi bill
No comunicamos between waitress and owner
In one minute I think I will not leave a tip
Then I feel bad for the ladyes and yes I leave tip

Honestly, they are terrible with service. The owner doesn’t like taking deliveries because he’s a pompous jerk. I’ve tried to give them my business and each time the lady that answers the phone says she’s «too busy to take my card number.»
What kind of business doesn’t have time for business? Kind of stupid if you ask me. It’s such a terrible shame because their food is alright tasting.

Good price, darn tasty guacamole. I had the enchiladas verde. Hot sauce was good, medium sauce just ok. Would like to try something different next time

Great steak burrito. So good you almost don’t need lime! But strictly from Earth’s standpoint: 1
Positives: Their food is served in reusable plastic baskets along with real silverware.
Negatives: El Mezquite uses styrofoam for their to-​go container, styrofoam cups for their horchata, plastic bags and plastic straws. El Mezquite also has no recycling bin for their loads of cans and bottled products that they sell.
Please try to be a bit more responsible and offer biodegradable options, along with a recycling bin.

Located conveniently half a block from my house, I’ve been coming here for six months. This is the most consistent, inexpensive and authentic taqueria on the 18^th Street drag in Pilsen.
Staff is extra friendly and always helpful explaining specials that are a mainstay of the light board on the wall.
What this place lacks in atmosphere it makes up for in the quality of food, from breakfast to late night dinner. The enchiladas are stellar!
Caution: if you’re from Texas like I am an order migas thinking you’re going to get eggs, you’ll end up with a soup bowl of tripe, hominy and a vertebrae bone.
Stick to the classics and you can’t go wrong.

I make a trip here almost weekly on the way home from work and it’s perfect. The menu is expansive if you’re looking for all types of Mexican cuisine.
If you’re just looking for standard fare, the tacos, burritos, and tortas I’ve tried have all been delicious. Outdoor seating in the summer is a plus, and the staff is extremely friendly and helpful.

This is my FAVORITE place in Pilsen to go for mexican food.
Why?
1 — All the different types of mexican food under the sun.
You can literally get pretty much anything anybody eats in Mexico including speciality soups, desayuno (breakfast), and specialty drinks & smoothies. You can also get any filling in your taco/​burrito/​torta/​etc. that you want in them.
2 — The food is seasoned really well
Sometimes some mexican food can be bland, but they flavor everything they make really well!
3 — It’s cheap & you get your food fast
It’s really cheap & your food comes usually in 5 – 8 minutes, even if it’s busy
4 — They’re nice
I value niceness highly in any establishment I visit and they are lovely.
You know what? I’m going to go get a burrito right now from them. Later cats & dogs.