Rico’s Tacos

They charge for chips and the meat is dry in small portions…

So I just stopped in for the first time at Ricos. BIG MISTAKE. I ordered a super taco. I ate it in five bites for a 5 dollar taco. They were out of sour cream. It is 3 ½ minutes to safeway. When I addressed it with the cashier she was unconserned. Avoid this place and go to taco bell.

This type of restaurant has so much potential. But over the course of time, observing the lack cleanliness and food safety has been a growing concern for me to the point that I can no longer order from this restaurant.

GREAT FOOD, GOOD SERVICE, BUT CONSISTENCY IS SLIPPING! i order the exact same burrito at every taqueria: black beans, extra cilantro, hot salsa, guacamole. one day here i get a mexican log i can hardly finish its so big. the next time i get a tortilla thats so comparatively empty its more like a flourf ruit roll-​up thats less than half the size. Overall, its my go-​to taqueria, but they really need to put more focus on consistency and value. when a customer says, ‘no…’ you should automatically sub with more of what they DO want, not eliminate volume. veggie burritos should always be bigger, and cheaper. dairy and (blecchh!) meat are the expensive ingredients. not beans and cilantro and tomoatos.

Sometimes a little hole in the wall place has the best tacos. This is not one of those times.

The best breakfast burrito I’ve ever had. Chorizo usually isn’t my favorite but this place knows how to serve it sans grease. Also refreshingly not loaded with potato. A legit meal for about $ 5.

This is no SF Mission style taqueria, but for mountain mexican, it gets the job done. The nachos are a little meh but I like everything else i guess. Breakfast burrito is really good, and they got some decent street tacos. The al pastor is hit or miss though.

Best tacos in Grass Valley by far. Love this place. Try the horchata too. You won’t regret it! No fuss taqueria. Not the best ambiance, not the best bathroom, not the best hours, but what else matters when they have the best tacos.

I love Rico’s… I can’t see why it gets so many bad reviews because I have never had a bad experience there. The food is reliably good, the chips and salsa are great, and it’s cheap. The staff is all friendly.

Food was okay.
Salsa was good but the bar was dirty.
The place is filthy. I eat in taquerias all the time and this place is the dirtiest.

This is so difficult because there is only one place that I think competes with Rico’s and it’s in Nevada City. Because there just isn’t any other competition, it’s kind of the only place in town for Taco Tuesday (half the time, Paco’s isn’t even open). That being said, the flies are outrageous and the service is very poor. Despite being given a number, our food has been given away to other patrons, dine-​in packed up to-​go and the other way around. The food seems to be fine but it’s just not the greatest. This specific location has been Mexican food under different names and owners multiple times but this by far is the worst. As far as convenience, it’s not bad… but you will get charged for eating salsa from the salsa bar…

Update. I came here for the Tuesday taco deal. But looking at the menu, I noticed that their prices have gone way up. I’ve already mentioned their sub-​par food in my previous review, but now a super burrito is like 9 bucks. Go away, Ricos.

I’m a to-​go sort of person, so I try and be explicit in what I want. I’ve been to Rico’s dozens of times, but they are quite inconsistent. Last night? Two Super burrito’s loaded and two tacos for about twenty bucks. I get home? The barest burrito’s you can imagine. No cheese, no guac and no sour cream. Really?

I have never had a bad or even mediocre meal here. The carne asada burrito is my favorite.

How disappointing. I went to Rico’s two years ago and it was really good. Not to mention, I seem to remember complimentary chips. They charge extra for chips now. I suppose it’s in order to help offset the cost of… well, I’m not certain.
So my boyfriend and I were at a tournament @ NU and thought we’d grab something quick between games. Enter Rico’s Tacos, right down the road and… why didn’t we just walk out???
Two girls were working (granted there was a Help Wanted sign in the window-​to their credit), dirty tables and a very unorganized kitchen. Do I get the «hole in the wall» concept? Completely. But this presentation was lacking in more areas than one.
We ordered a chicken quesadilla, which was dry with burn marks and two tacos. The quesadilla arrived uncut and without any sort of garnish (no lettuce, sour cream, pico… nada). I give the second star SOLELY based on the presentation and amenities on the tacos. One was crispy fish, one regular taco but both were properly garnished. The flavor was lacking, but at least they arrived looking appealing enough to eat.
I seriously can’t imagine what the appeal of this restaurant is for Nevada County residents. It’s not like the prices are great, and the watery salsa, dirty atmosphere and poor quality just disappoints.
The icing on the cake? While we ate and even when we went to get a «to-​go» box for our cardboard quesadilla? There was NOBODY visible in the kitchen or anywhere, for that matter. I actually tore of a piece of tin foil from behind the counter, unnoticed.
This place is horrible.

Four star carnitas tacos, very good chile Rellenos, ok rice and beans. The service is friendly. Only minus is the salsa, although it is tasty, it is really watery. We are regulars here. FYI; Taco Tuesday can be busy, tacos $ 1 all day. Really the only place in GV for a street taco.

This place has gone down hill… Too bad. Prices have been jacked up while quality is now nonexistent. Really dirty also. :(

If this taqueria was in SF I would give it 3 stars because there is so much competition, but Rico’s is the only game in town in the Grass Valley area, so they get another star just for being here. Keep in mind that I’m talking about a taqueria, not a sit down restaurant which Grass Valley has a few of. I’ve lived in the Grass Valley area since the late 1980’s and it has been a cultural hell hole when it comes to food until more recently. Rico’s isn’t perfect, but it’s HERE and the sheltered people of Grass Valley now have access to a real taqueria. I went to high school is SF and my wife is from Mexico, so I know good Mexican food when I see it and Rico’s is decent. Not great, but decent. My wife likes their sopes, and if anyone is qualified to critique Mexican food, it’s her. I prefer my wife’s cooking, but I’ll eat at Rico’s if I’m in a pinch.
I wish they wouldn’t charge extra for their chips. That’s kind of a no-​no with taquerias and I should say my review is more like 3.5 stars just because of that.
I haven’t tried everything on the menu, but the burritos are decent sized, and the enchilada plate is tasty. They finally started offering salsa that’s actually spicy as well. When they first opened, the salsa they had at the salsa bar was a joke.

Excited, you betcha! Here in Nevada County Mexican Food Wasteland it’s been a long time since i’ve had «real» tacos… since LA 30 years ago!
I’m so happy, see how happy I am!!! I admit that a few great places exist in the foothills, Roseville the closest. Zoom me back… looked like East LA, tasted like Mexico… don’t change, please… but please:
1) keep the salsa/​chips table clean & filled, containers avail & the tables wiped down
2) dump the styrofoam, I felt bad every time I even looked at it and guilty for taking it — won’t do that again (will take my own container LOL)
Tell ‘em I sent ya!

I read other reviews before I wrote this again darn it. I got to quit doing that, it’s warping my opinions.
Everybody who panned this place needs to quit being so snotty. There HAS to be a contingent of transplanted locals from near the border who were raised on latin food from roadside places with names like ALBERTOS#32, that had 101 menu items ((Quero flautas camarones #86 por favor) and the guy who took your money was about 4’8 fresh from escaping a civil war in Central America somewhere and also cooked your food without washing his hands and it was delicious.
All nostalgia aside, Rico’s isn’t that. But it’s OK for these parts. If you want the serious goods, you got to go to the barrio to get it, and that can be a little gamey for some of us. «Authentic» is one of the most dangerous words in the food lexicon. If we remember that then these places meet the expectation.