Big Enchilada

I order takeout from here a few times a month. It’s decent Mexican. Not great, but certainly not bad either. I typically get the big enchilada platter with shrimp and black beans. The portions are huge, well-​priced and service at the restaurant is fast and friendly.
Not a place I’d go out of my way to order from, but it’s a short walk from where I live and the food is consistent.

How, how, how does this place have 3 stars? Taco Bell is two blocks north and even though that is the dirtiest Taco Bell I’ve ever seen the decision would now be hard for me. I’ve had the Big E 3 times, each time hoping that it would be good. I’m not looking for great, its a cheap taco joint, just good would have sufficed. The tortillas are like a wet sponge and nothing has ANY taste. It’s almost bizarre how they’re perfected sucking the flavor out of everything, even my beloved sour cream didn’t pack its usual punch!

Let’s be honest, we’re not talking about Rosa Mexicana here (that place is the shiz for great Mexican but it definitely isn’t a place you’d go to SAVE money…) we’re comparing Big Enchilada to the 100’s of cheap-​o Mexican joints in the city. In my opinion, this is the BEST hole-​in-​the-​wall Mexican place in NYC. However, I only order the large nacho platter with chicken every time I go, so perhaps they just have the best cheap nacho platter in the city… I will say, that the delivery is not too consistently good.
Again, if you are looking for San Diego Mexican (which is so good I want to move there for it) then go to SD. If you want an exquisite Mexican meal complete with great margheritas, go to Rosa Mexicana. For a cheap Mexican fix this is the BEST.

I am from California, so I occasionally need my fill for good Mexican food. Unfortunately, this is not the spot to go.
But to be fair, I had my food delivered, so some of the tortilla did get soggy. Even so, the food was bland, the ingredients were questionable, and just not worth the space in your stomach.
Everything I ordered was terrible…
Stewed chicken soft taco (recommended meat choice by the employee; $ 2.09)
Steak Fajita ($ 2.45)
Shrimp Fajita Burrito ($ 4.55 + $ 2.29 w/​rice and beans) — my mistake for even thinking of ordering this, but just wanted a different filling — and this was probably the worst of the order.
Definitely a pass on this restaurant.

Not bad, but still not California Mexican food! I had the chicken fajita enchiladas, which were ok. They come with rice and beans all for $ 6, which is a pretty good deal.
The service was ok, but the food was not particularly special. I guess if you’re looking for some cheap Mexican food then why not com here? Try to avoid lunch-​time because there is a surprisingly long line.

Anything with the grilled vegetables or stewed chicken is great here.

This is a horrible little spot. Any option is better than this one. Go somewhere else.

While it’s not a destination place, the food is fine for grabbing a quick bite in the neighborhood.
The portions are decent and the salsa tasted fresh.
Cheers!
N.

Everything that’s wrong with Mexican food in NYC can be found right here. Store bought stale crumbling corn tortilla’s. Poor standard cheese mix, not so fresh ingredients, low grade dried out chicken & steak, guacamole that’s more of a spread with zero chunk, soggy tortilla chips, and a suspect menu. No tamales, but quesadillas? Quesadillas are for Chili’s or Southwestern/​Tex-​Mex style dining, that is not real Mexican food.
With the arrival of Dos Toros close by I predict this place will go out of business. Hopefully something cool comes in it’s place.

I
Have a
Passion for
Cheap Mexican
Food but this is neither cheap nor real food.

I am never coming here again. I ordered some nachos with chicken and guac thinking they would be no more than $ 6 – 7. Very standard for nachos. Boy was I shocked when I was charged $ 10.05 for a small ass plate of mushy, soggy tortilla chips with bits of chicken. This is not Rosa Mexicana! And if you think perhaps I just had bad luck, note that I also ate here a few years ago and ordered an enchilada and it was not memorable.
I would rather eat at any Tex-​Mex place than here. This place is not a good value and the food is not good.

I see a ton of hatin’ on Big Enchilada…
but why?
Was the dining ambiance ruined when i entered the place and saw dirty chairs and greasy tables, with some of those tables already with bits of ground beef on it?
or was i disappointed when my dainty fingers were soiled by the use of disposable plastic cutlery and paper plates?
or how about the lack of waiter service?
My wallet was not brutally attacked (not by a long shot!) while filling my belly, however i did notice a lack of taste in my large and inexpensive meal. Did i complain? No! because its HUGE and still tasty enough
k’mon, guy! stop all the hatin’ this place comes as it is and brags nothing more!
…
…
…
BUT! this place has some of the damned hottest hot sauce i’ve EVER had in a plastic greasy cheap gringo oriented place
HOT
HOT
HOT
BURN YOUR TONGUE SO SUPER HOT YOU NEED MILK AND CHEESE AND STILL CONTEMPLATING AN ICEY

You look like LA, you smell like LA, you are priced (almost) like LA, but you do not taste like LA.

I get suckered to go to this place about once every other month since it is conveniently located across the street. It is either the cheese, the steak, the chorizo or the beans that make it horrible. It could be all of them.
The tortilla soup is edible and just short of being good.

«It is what it is.»
Phrases are like persons. No. Phrases are more like celebrities. No. Phrases are definitely exactly like the various semi– to well-​recognizable persons in our lives that exist in our minds as mere representations of what we perceive them to be.
I consider the phrase, «It is what it is,» as something of a second-​rate actor, perhaps a character actor, that, from time to time lands a role that is perfectly suitable for him — a role where he gets to «act» himself — and shines a bit.
Yes, you know I’m thinking along the lines of Paul Giamatti, Cuba Gooding Jr., Greg Kinnear, maybe even Vince Vaughn (minus his genuinely funny moments).
When you catch Big Enchilada during their 2-​for-​1 Taco Time (4 to 6pm), you’ll say, «Hey, this place isn’t bad.» Otherwise, you probably won’t be compelled to go look for the little nondescript joint off University Place.
Oh, and their «Chorizo» is some ground-​beef-​like worthlessness. Imagine consuming two ground-​beef-​like Tacos after being excited about Chorizo. Ummm, yeah. Not so Yum. Even if the second one was for free.

In Annie Hall, Woody Allen tells a story of two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort:
Elderly Lady #1: «Boy, the food at this place is really terrible.»
Elderly Lady #2: «Yeah, I know; and such small portions.»
I’m like Elderly Lady #1. If the food isn’t good, it doesn’t matter if it’s good value. Tacos are $ 2 or less but the meat is bleh. I was excited to see a chorizo taco but it was disgusting. I wished it had a smaller portion! The chorizo was all ground-​up instead of chopped. Icky texture.
The burritos come in two sizes — a ‘burrito’ in the $ 3-​$ 3.50 range and ‘burrito grande’ in the $ 6-​$ 7 range. I had the smaller and it was plenty big. The stewed chicken wasn’t awful — just wasn’t that great. Fillings were ok.
So if you’re an Elderly Lady #1 like me, skip this place. If you’re an Elderly Lady #2 type, go for the chicken burrito…

I come here between 4−6pm when they have 2 for 1 tacos special so I can only comment on their tacos.
I want to believe tacos are healthy, as I’m here more often than I should be. I mean, aren’t they healthy? Those ripe tomatoes, shredded cabbage, the chunky chicken, dairy (i.e. cheese), some carbohydrates… It’s like the entire pyramid over here.
For the price you pay, you get what you deserve. When I used to live in LA, I relied on ghetto taco trucks for cheap and unhealthy tacos. Is Big Enchilada a good substitute? Well… NO.
But they try and I appreciate.

The food here tasted like nothing. I suppose it was okay in that there was a lot of it, and there wasn’t a toe in it or anything, but that’s all that saves this place from a 1.
Edit: «Flaccid Tortilla.» hahaha.

Don’t want to read this full review? Here’s the short story: Big Enchilada performed a bit of magic by piling every «Mexican» ingredient into a tasteless lump.
Let’s start with the basics: I got a big enchilada from Big Enchilada. You’d kind of think their signature dish would be flavorful, bold, and clearly a banner item.
Here’s why, specifically, that was not the case.
— The tortillas were thin and tasteless. A good enchilada has a medium-​thickness tortilla that adds flavor to the dish.
— The frozen chicken cubes (yes, the ones you choose to not get in the frozen food section because they’re disgusting) weren’t even so much as spiced or flavored. They just tossed them into the soggy tortilla.
— Aren’t enchiladas meant to have, I dunno, sauce on them? I think it’s called enchilada sauce.
— More cheese than one should find on a large pizza. Look, I’m all for generous servings, but just tossing a block of melted cheese onto a flaccid tortilla, some heated beans, and some bland chicken cubes doesn’t make a good meal.
— The rice and beans were straight from the bag/​can, into the oil, and onto the plate. No interest whatsoever in making them taste like anything.
— I should mention the service was atrocious. The unfriendly lady somehow made me feel like a burden when I asked how much more food comes in the «big enchilada» versus the «enchilada.» Gosh. How couldn’t I have known?
The only reason this place didn’t get 1 star is because it didn’t do anything blatantly offensive. No rats. No spit in the food. No hair laced in the fork.

Any place that makes me feel un-​mexican is a great place to be in. Walking into Big Enchilada is always a treat. The cow skulls on the wall, the old mexican movie posters, the bright colors — it all stirs the little mexican in me. When I walk up and place my order, and the staff looks at me confused that I don’t know spanish, a wave of emotion and feeling swamps over me.
I feel at home.
The Big Enchilada is cheap, tasty, delicious, wonderful, and trumps every mexican place within a 30 block radius. It has a menu with 100 items on it and all of them — ALL OF THEM — involve beans, rice, and meat like substances wrapped in corn or flour. The prices are super cheap as well. The stewed chicken rice/​bean platter is my personal favorite. They also accept special requests (like no tomatoes or cheese, which is blasphemy). I’ve been to high end restaurants — I’ve sat down and shell out benjamins for 16 course dinners, I’ve eat foie gras, devoured delicacies from around the around and Big Enchilada blows all of those out of the water. I’m probably totally biased but caviar has nothing on the big enchiladas from The Big Enchilada. It makes me proud of my mexican ancestry.
Viva la Reconquista!