Taqueria El Mexicano

Tried it after seeing it touted in the WaPo. As much as we wanted to like it, we probably won’t be going back. The food at La Casita is so much better.

Such an unassuming place but the food was great. I went in at 1:30p on a Monday for lunch. One other person inside. Counter service was great, food came out fast and the tacos carnitas were really good. Also ordered beans and rice.

Chourico tacos. Really, that’s all you need to know.
This little place is in an unassuming strip mall just off of 193. Surrounded by beauty supply stores ad lube shops, it’s easy to miss, but you really don’t want to – you REALLY don’t want to.
This food is fresh, flovorful and super authentic. We went for a smattering of tacos, and while everything was delicious, the chourico took the (eh-​hem) taco. SO GOOD.
Service is friendly, and relatively quick. Our to-​go order was ready within 10-​minutes, meaning it was prepared fresh and just for us (I like that). While corn tortillas aren’t normally my favorite, these were smooth and held together well — none of that gritty, crumbly mess at all.
The ambience isn’t exactly awesome, nor is the horchata — there was actually a very distinct flavor of moth balls to it, which meant I couldn’t get it down, which meant it was a waste of money. I am sure this can be improved upon easily (hint, hint).
I love you, Taqueria El Mexicano. I’ll be back as soon as I can!

This place was featured in the Washingtonian Top 100 in 2016. Came here for lunch. Good service. In enjoyed the food.

I wavered on this rating, as this place could easily be a 4 or 5 if some things were fixed. It’s clear that this restaurant brought out their A-​game at the time of the Washington Post review (and raised their prices when the clientele started to change…). Things have been inconsistent in my recent visits, as I had feared. First of all, it’s annoying that you have to specifically request the house made tortillas, and when you do, they look at you like you have three heads. That’s been my experience. I saw the comment about the owner being rude. In my experience, it depends on who’s at the counter. There’s a guy who works there in the evenings who is very friendly and helpful, however, the lady who I’ve seen during the day definitely has an edge, and I did not feel particularly welcomed. The cooking has been inconsistent. Tamales that on one visit were luscious and beautiful, were stale and clearly microwaved (to the point that the ends were inedible concrete) on a recent visit. When I ordered pork posole, it came out as chicken posole. on the last visit I asked for the home –made tortillas, and they still brought me the tasteless store-​bought ones. The one time I was succesfully able to get the real-​deal tortillas was when my salvadoran friend came with me. I guess. If I go alone and request them, I get the three-​headed look. I guess they think people like me don’t know the difference? Well, we do.
All that being said, some things are just really good here. When the Posole comes with pork as requested, it is rich, deeply-​flavored and satisfying. The pork adobado I tried had my mouth watering at the memory of it, and the tamales (when fresh) are worthy of the trip.

This restaurant was on the Washingtonian Best Places to Eat. It should not be. The owner is rude, the food is terrible. The parking is abysmal.
The prices were raised recently by scratching the original prices and writing over them with new prices. So G.H.E.T.T.O. (YES. I’m being petty).
There is another restaurant that has received excellent reviews. It’s called El Mexireno, and it is in Oxon Hill, MD. This restaurant is great, not because it’s on some arbitrary «Best of» list. A list skewed toward DC and VA, to the dismay and punishment of PGC and Montgomery County (I’m being petty again). It’s great because of all the reasons a restaurant should be great. Great food. Great service. Great parking.
Plus you get the added benefit of obtaining cool points derived from your own adventurous spirit, and not because of some «off-​the-​rack» review that was handed to you by a person who never rides the Green line (Yeah. I went there).

Awesome tacos! First, the homemade corn tortillas here are incredible. They stand up to the taco toppings but are not dry. Had the chorizo, carnitas, barbacoa, cueritas, and lengua tacos. All are flavorful and amazing. They come with lime, radishes, and 3 salsas.
Also had the bean and puerco pupusas. The pork, beans, and slaw had loud flavors and the pupusa dough was the perfect consistency. Also had the chicken flautas. Love the crunch in the shells and the queso fresco that is layered on top. Chicken is not super flavorful, however, the salsas are varied and perfect. They infuse instant flavor into the flautas.
The place was clean and the service was 100% friendly. Can’t wait to come back and try even more dishes!

I want this place to be good since its so close to my house, but it just isn’t. I have tried the tacos on a couple of occasions and they are just bad. I am a Texan so I have pretty high standards but the meat quality on the carne asada was poor, over salty, and burnt. The carnitas was greasy and flavorless. It seems like their strengths might be the non-​taco dishes based on other reviews so I might give it another try for that, but do not get the tacos.

I ordered 3 tacos from here, 2 barbacoa and 1 carnita. These tacos were so greasy and lacked flavor and for almost 3 dollars each taco I would expect more meat. Disliked won’t be coming back. I’ll stick to taqueria tres Reyes which is up the street.

Everything was delicious! After hearing this place was in the Washingtonian best 20, we ventured over. The restaurant is situated in a little strip of storefronts that is sort of hidden, across from Tick Tock Liquor. It is obviously frequented by locals; we were the only non-​Spanish speakers there. Much of the menu is in pictures on the wall behind the counter, though, so that combined with some elementary Spanish made ordering easier. They also have daily specials, and a printed menu that had some different selections.
We ordered the Adobo Pork, which came with corn tortillas, rice, and beans. It was very good– great, rich flavor to the sauce. Even the beans were noticeable superior to usual beans. We ordered the bean and cheese Pupusas. These were also wonderful– perfect and crispy. I don’t understand how just beans and cheese and dough can be so freaking good. Carbs, I guess. The slaw and sauce were great and enhanced the dish. We also ordered two tamales– the red sauce, and a mole sauce tamale, which was a daily special. They both had uniquely rich and different tastes.
I will definitely come back here. So many other dishes look great. The food was prepared perfectly, with fresh ingredients and a wide variety of dishes and flavors. Prices are reasonable. Seating area is adequate, although perhaps not the most comfortable. If I have one complaint, it’s that they don’t carry diet coke (regular coke only)!

Delicious. Shit bangs. Carnitas were on point. Guac was stellar as well. Looking forward to going back for more.

Came here because it’s ranked number 90 on Washingtonian’s Top 100 Restaurants of the year and it’s not too far outside of DC. We tried the mole poblano and costillos as our main dishes and shared a few tacos and tamales. I found the tacos to be pretty basic and couldn’t tell the carnitas from the chicken and the costillos were a little salty. However, everything else was good. I loved the mole sauce on the chicken, I dipped everything in it; even the ribs were better with the mole. The mole tamale was my favorite thing. I typically only eat tamales until the filling is gone and toss the rest of the corn masa but even the masa on these was delicious and I didn’t waste a bite. There was only one woman at the register and her English was somewhat limited, luckily they have a gigantic picture menu posted for those of us with limited Spanish.

Serious Mexican food. No frills, everything freshly made, and outstanding homemade tortillas. Can’t wait to go back!

Excellent Mexican food. My wife is from Mexico and we know what real Mexican food is. We were so happy with this place. The tacos (barbacoa, al pastor, lengua, and carnita) were great. Also had the pork pozole. The pozole was rich in flavor and very meaty. This can be a meal in itself.

Four stars. The star off is for the *very* small servings of meats in the non-​taco dishes that we tried (pork posole, chicken mole). The meat portions in these dishes are miserly, stingy, mean– pick your own adjective. Specifically:
–The pork posole ($ 11.50) had a few pieces of pork in it– enough to be identifiable, but not enough to make an outstanding posole.
–The chicken mole ($ 11.95) had 1 reasonably good sized chicken leg, but the «second» piece of meat was *virtually all bone.*
Tacos and tamales are thus better buys here– at $ 2.75 each, they offer more meat for your money.
So why the 4 stars? Notwithstanding the paucity of meats, the food is delicious and served with a dazzling array of condiments.
The pork posole was a gigantic bowl of spicy red soup (all posole here is red) that can be doctored to your taste with lime, radish pieces, chopped lettuce, onion and (if you request it) chopped cilantro and green pepper. You can also add one or more of the 3 complimentary salsas to the soup: a mildly spicy red, hot green or a chopped tomato and onion. The end result is delicious. (We made ample use of lime and cilantro, with lashings of green salsa, onions and radish. The radish pieces are reminiscent of potato cubes when dunked in the hot soup.)
The chicken mole, accompanied by yellow rice and pinto beans, boasts a superb mole sauce. The sauce is thick and multi-​dimensional, combining chocolate notes with smokiness and an anise undertone. Easily the best mole sauce we’ve ever tasted. Get a side order of corn tortillas– excellent eating in their own right– to sop up any extra mole sauce.
We recommend the tacos: we tried carnitas (good) and lengua (excellent). Both are wrapped in supple corn tortillas. If you wish, combine them with the complimentary salsas and condiments. A delicious bargain at $ 2.75 each. Tamales are also available, including one with a chicken mole filling– probably a bigger bang for your buck than the chicken mole entrée.
This is a small, simple place. You order at the counter to carry out or eat in. If you elect to eat in, your order will be brought to your table. No alcohol is available, but a broad array of soft drinks are on offer.

I’m originally from San Diego and finding good Mexican food here in Maryland is a challenge. I usually divide Mexican restaurants in the U.S. into two categories: larger, chain restaurants that will serve chips & salsa, quacamole, sour cream, & margaritas. The second category is smaller, more traditional places that have none of the above ingredients and where you’ll generally find the truly latin folks going for their daily meals. Although there are good establishments in both categories, the second category is the type I truly enjoy as I grew up on this type of food in San Diego. Taqueria El Mexicano’s flavors are exactly the same as the food I miss in California and definitely falls into the second category, so if you prefer chips & salsa and margaritas this is not the place for you.
So far I’ve tried the tamales (all of their flavors), guarache, tacos, eggs & jamon, mole poblano, plus the chile relleno special they had on sale one day. All of these are delicious and remarkably true to the flavors of Mexico. As other reviewers have mentioned, their tortillas are freshly made and do not come from a factory — big bonus point as far as I’m concerned. The salsas they bring to the table are also delicious and come packing heat. The tomatillo salsa is so good I even use it on the tamales — it’s definitely my favorite though you can’t go wrong the tomato/​cilantro and green salsa as well. I’ve enjoyed every meal I’ve had there and highly recommend this place to anyone who enjoys more traditional Mexican food. The staff is friendly as well and always attentive.

Nice, tasty visit; my second.
Many Hispanic customers, but wait staff is quite bilingual.
Today I had Chile rellenos platter. Awesome. Cheese and beef stuffed Chile, in sauce. Tasty flavored rice. Warm corn tortillas, bowl of frijoles. Three fresh salsas.
Lots of bottled drinks, but also horchata, cantelope, and another fresh fruit drink.

This was my second visit. My mom and I came here the first time after her doctors appointment and decided to make it a thing. We had been looking for great Mexican food since we moved from San Diego in 2008 and this place was promising on the first visit. We ordered al pastor taco platter with rice and beans. Red and green chicken tamales. Red enchiladas. Pupusas. Sopes. Tamarindo juice and a sprite! The food was delicious. Very few complaints on that visit. I didn’t like how a family behind us was served first and they ordered just as much or more food. Food wise, I wasn’t a fan of the pupusas (and I love pupusas). The sope was delicious but it was different than I’m used to. I was hoping for the pinched sides on the sope shell but it was flatbread (still yummy). The rice wasn’t the red rice I’m used to. This rice was orange and may have been seasoned with saffron instead of tomatoes (still yummy). The second visit another family behind us was served first again (and I was soooo hungry). We ordered red and green tamales, flautas, al pastor platter with rice and beans, coke and jamaica. We also ordered five tamales to go; two pork, three chicken. The flautas were not what I expected although very yummy. When I usually get flautas it’s large rolled FLOUR tortillas stuffed with meat as opposed to CORN tortillas. I like both corn and flour but wasn’t expecting to get corn (I prefer corn but had a taste for flour that day). The tamales we ordered to go were very different from what we were served. The chicken tamales were wrapped in banana leaves (which I have never liked because I like the lines on the masa from the corn husk shells) and on top of that when he ate in the restaurant the chicken tamales were wrapped in corn husk so it was strange we would get banana wrapped to go. Once home my brother sat to eat one of the chicken tamales. It looked like mush just thrown together in a banana leaf. Once he opened it up he found a chicken bone inside (it was terrible). I would have gave a hour but the tamales to go were sooo terrible. I’m on the fence about going back here but my mom wants to try again.

Rave review in Washingtonian led me to this local restaurant. They loved the mole and I have to agree — unique and delicious flavor. Tiny chicken leg and thigh though. Rice was great, beans ok. Corn tortillas piping hot and fresh made though it’s not a favorite of mine. Clean place with quite fast service and friendly staff But keep your eyes open, this a neighborhood with high crime

Delicious and legitimate Mexican food (not Salvadoran-​Mexican or Tex-​Mex). Friendly and fast service.