El Brasero Mexican Cart

Why does this cart have such a low rating!!!
I see many complaining about items being out, or some of the fancier stuff not being great. I’ve never had food spilled on me, or an incorrect order here. My experience is limited, however, because I only ever order the bean & cheese burrito. Sometimes two, depending on how much drinking I have done beforehand. No regrets. This place has my favorite B&C burrito in the city, and is my favorite cart in this pod.
The wait here is usually pretty long late at night and on weekends but you can’t really complain because the Hawthorne food cart pod is a blast at this hour, might as well be a block party. If you are the sober person who can’t deal with the wait at 2am, you’re doing it wrong… go next door to High Dive and grab a quick shot. Or go during the «off-​hours.»

Great service. Great food. The lady is so kind and I thoroughly enjoyed my experience. Despite so many bad ratings, I think everyone is giving this truck a hard time. The lady is aware of some of the service discrepancies and is doing her best to work them out, but from my personal experience, it was amazing.

So… at 2/​am they were out of two things I tried to order. They had two tamales left, and I learned this after the very youthful guy who gave me my order informed me he had to refund me for one, because they only had two left and he dropped one. The tamale was very overheated/​cooked — but if I had gotten one not super dried out at the ends, it would have been one of the best tamales I’ve had in awhile…
I’ll try them again mid-​day. Steer clear at night.

Horrible service. I would eat something off the ground before I ate here again.

Terrible! Poor service and even worse food. No flavor, hardly warm, and took 15 min to make when I was the only one waiting. Raw onions? Come one guys. Please TRY.

I ordered a bacon breakfast burrito and it only had potatoes, cheese and bacon on. A great waste of food and my $ 4.50. I want my brunch back.

Tacos were delicious, and the salsa was hot, but service was lacking.
I ordered three tacos, asked for them to be made with meat and cheese only. The guy that was working was obviously having a bad day, and it unfortunately spilled over on to me.
Tacos arrived with no cheese, but had onions and cilantro. It’s not what I wanted, it’s not what I ordered. He offered to remake them, so I joined my friends and waited for new tacos. After about ten minutes, I went back to the cart to ask about my tacos, and the guy said, «Oh, I didn’t think you wanted them. I will make them for you now.»
A few minutes later, my tacos arrived. Good tacos, great salsa, rice was good.
His attitude almost ruined the experience. The miscommunications did ruin the experience. The tacos were good, but they weren’t made with love, and they didn’t blow me away. Probably will not return. This is my second time eating there, and I can get better tacos elsewhere. Also, Poutine at a different cart in the same pod.

I just waited 45 minutes for my food, because the kid working was fucking around on his phone. When I asked for my money back, he raised his voice at me and I had to argue to get my money back.

0 OUT OF 5 STARS. It’s obvious they are money laundering because the food tastes «void of perceivable effort on all possible levels». Where to begin, you charged me for Lettuce (soggy lettuce ffs) and for Avocado when I asked for CHEESE! The food was cooked like it had zero flavor — maybe a very light base of grease. The sauce (you only had red sauce) was probably the only thing that had anything going for it, not even super great, but it wasn’t terrible, unlike my food. The fact that I had to dock up my food at home just so it was palatable speaks volumes :’(

What is wrong with your light and weak burritos? Meat is flavorless and needs more Mexican spices. Sauces are dull.
9.00 dollars for a cheap burrito and I’m still hungry.
Those guys need to be schooled by LOS GORDITOS.
Maybe I should try their breakfast burritos only.

If I could give this place 0 stars I would.
I’m not one to complain and write reviews due to a one time bad experience, but I have never received such horrible customer service at any food establishment like I have here. Granted it is a food cart so not much is to be expected, and though slightly busy and there was only one person working at the time it is still UNACCEPTABLE to treat your customers like trash! The server at the time did not even have the decency to smile, say hi, or ask to take our order.
There was no line outside the food truck and we waited for a good 30 min. before he finally took our order, and when we asked if we could place an order, he rudely responded with «I can’t, I’m making someone’s food right now.» Looking back, I’m not even sure why I left a $ 2 tip. A friend and I order the chicken tacos and the chicken looked and tasted like it was cooked from the day before. It was not fresh at all & had we not been starving we would not have wasted our time here. By all means, visit the rest of the food carts in the area, but do not waste your time here! My friends and I will not be back.

OK, you got me mexican food cart.
I think, hey, lets go to the cart that’s not the potato cart, and that’s not the weird Greek cart that sells grape leaves wrapped around vaguely familiar tasting things. That cart is like the weird kid at school that brings a fish for lunch. and who eats crepes? Just have a pancake.
Lets get a giant burrito meant for two people, and just eat it. Eat the whole thing. Don’t even take off the tinfoil. Worry about that later when your doctor looks at you and says, «again?» and you say, «hey. Who’s paying the bills around here?» and he says, «you’re in collections» and you say «what’s that?»
Eat at the potato cart. Eat at the Greek sour food place. Eat out of the dumpster. Don’t eat at El Brasero. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think El Brasero means «dying burro» in Spanish. You’re the burro.

We are friendly reasonable people. We were flexible with our order. We ordered 20 burritos. You think a business would be excited to receive a big order, yes? Wrong. Dude man seemed pissed off that I wanted to order 150 bucks of food. It’s not like people were lining up at his cart otherwise. We wanted to make a last minute change to our order before we even paid. He scoffed, pretty much said no. I cannot believe that we actually paid, vs taking our business elsewhere. This poor review is based entirely on customer service, not food quality.

Shoulda looked at Unilocal.The bad reviews don’t lie.
I went to the friendly neighborhood food cart pod with intentions of eating elsewhere, but then from far in the corner, I heard the siren song:
Maaaaaatttttttt!
I’m a carniiiiiitas burrrrrrritooooo!
You lovvvvveeeeee me!
I’m deeeeeelicous!
And like some easily confused sailor, next thing you know I’m in line at El Brasero. Next thing after that? I’m woefully disappointed. For $ 6.50, I got a tortilla that was mostly filled with rice and refried beans, followed by lettuce (and btw, lettuce in a burrito is gross!) Carnitas was hardly there, merely an afterthought. Texturally it was pretty awful. The whole thing was a bland, mushy burrito of sadness.
And my quest for good Mexican food in PDX continues…

Worst customer service. The guys working were argumentative when I asked if I could get shredded beef in a burrito. I had it the night before and they didn’t believe me and went as far going through the last nights orders to prove me wrong. It does not make me want to go back when the manager makes me feel like a liar. It’s fucking Mexican food, get over yourself.

Hooray for late night burritos! Even better– late night, friendly, cheap burritos! I wish they served breakfast burritos all the time, but with so many things on the menu, they probably have space and storage limitations. The food itself is unexceptional but satisfying, and I love the atmosphere at Cartopia.
I’ve had El Brasero’s basic bean-​n-​cheese, several of their breakfast burritos, mushroom fajita burrito, and I think a few of their tacos in the past. All have been tasty. It takes a while to prepare them, but that’s standard for Cartopia carts. Lots of demand.
I also appreciate it that they tell me they’ve run out of one of the ingredients in case I want to change my order, rather than leaving it out and hoping I don’t notice. Great service.

This place is pretty middle of the road. Definitely not terrible and it hits the spot if you are craving a burrito or tacos but there are much better options nearby. The only reason I bought a burrito last time I was in this pod was because Pyro Pizza was out of pizza. So I got a carnitas burrito and it was standard fair. Came with salsa verde and rojas which help boost the flavor a bit. Can’t say I won’t be back here because I’m sure I will. I’d add a star depending on the level of inebriation during burrito consumption.

So I saw these guys in the corner and really wanted a burrito. I attempted to get a breakfast burrito but was told they stop making them at noon. So that kinda sucked. Instead I got a bean and cheese. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t awesome either. I woulda liked cheddar in it as well but still an alright burrito and if in the neighborhood and looking for a burrito, I’d go again.

I was really hoping that this place would end my several months-​long streak of incidental run-​ins with laughably bad nachos across PDX. It seemed to be worth a shot. It was not.
$ 8.50 (plus $ 0.75 if using a card) for some stale chips, very little cheese, oddly sweet pico de gallo, beans, soyrizo, and sour cream. Service wasn’t particularly friendly.
The burritos and tacos are probably better than the nachos, but I don’t think I’m going to bother. Not impressed by this cart.

I’ve always loved visiting Portland for the great food and wondered why we never went to a Mexican spot. After finally trying some Mexican, I understand why it’s better to stick with my native SF for our tacos + burritos.
VEGETARIANS BURRITOS
* Cactus (rice, black beans, fresh cheese, pico de gallo & lettuce. Avocado replaces dairy for vegan style. $ 7) — 2 stars
pic:
Really just not impressive. Loosely packed, the tortilla wasn’t too fresh, and the cactus (and all the veggies!) seemed very very old & was overcooked, soggy, and flavorless. The black beans were decent but all the ingredients were not distributed well so when you took a bite it was either all beans and rice or all veggies or all avocado.
Menu: