El Local Latin Food

This place is my favorite Mexican food spot in Portland! The guacamole veggie burrito bowl is the bomb, complete with kale, broccoli, potatoes, and chips and guac. It’s basically two meals for $ 7!
Pablo is so kind and always smiling. Love this place!

These guys have restored my faith in food carts. I was with food carts when they first came to Portland and you could buy a snack or light meal for less than 5 bucks or string together a few selections and have a feast for several people… Then along came every socially inept culinary school grad who couldn’t get along with a kitchen staff but had a 5 star meal to sell from a shack in a cardboard box for $ 12…and of course, then came the recently unemployed whose friends told them they should open a food cart to feature some mediocre dish they were ‘known’ for, which may not have been that bad if they too didn’t charge ‘chef’ prices… needless to say it’s been a few years since I’ve visited food carts and only came to this one because a co-​worker gave me a taco… seriously…$ 1.50/taco…now that’s the original principle behind the success of the food cart movement: Cheap, small bites made by passionate young men & women who love what they do… if I want to spend $ 12, I’ll take my business to a brick & mortar… but for now if I’m looking for a light lunch I’ll enjoy a couple of these tasty tacos and only be out $ 3…WIN-WIN!

This place IZZ THA BIZZ-​NESS! Excellent portions, the best chicken i’ve had from a cart in PDX, lots of great veggies, and the dude’s that run this joint are way chill and efficient at whipping out a high volume of orders… Their portions are very generous (fish tacos are like mini burritos).C’MON PPL?! Help your local biz and don’t hurt it by undercutting the stars — These Guys kick a$$ and deserve the respect!

Great quality! They are always fast and super friendly.

Fast and friendly service. Best fish tacos in town!

Great tacos. Quality fresh ingredients well prepared. And large tacos. Will return to try other dishes. Easy parking too.

El local has some of the most delicious and well priced food I’ve found in portland. Their tacos are absolutely fantastic and the guys that work here are two of the hardest working friendly people in the business. I recommend this place to all of my co workers and close friends. I suggest the al pastor tacos and the light green sauce (home made). Soooooo good.

El Local makes decent Mexican food and has a good variety of options on the menu. That said, it’s pretty ordinary, a little overpriced, and the portions are inconsistent.
I’ve come here twice now. The first time, I ordered three tacos al pastor. I was pleased that they came with just cilantro, onion, and a slice of lime. I’ve still yet to find a carne al pastor in Portland that really delivers perfection. El Local’s was pretty good, with a little sweetness and tanginess, but I thought it needed a little more kick. While adding salsa helped, it defeated the purpose a bit by drowning out the original flavors of the meat. Each taco was $ 1.50, which is a good price, but they weren’t double-​wrapped in their tortillas, and none of them had tons of meat. Too bad, as the tortillas were great! Unfortunately, unlike with some other Mexican carts in Portland, I was still hungry after three tacos. They weren’t at all bad, but they didn’t really knock me out, nor did they really fill me up.
Today, I had a carnitas burrito. As it didn’t come with sour cream, I had them add it to the mix, which featured meat, rice, pinto beans, cheese, and guacamole. Big and fat, it was expertly wrapped so as to contain its generous portions of ingredients. The carnitas was solid, though perhaps it could’ve been a little more moist. I like it when it’s really shredded and falling apart, and El Local’s was a little drier and chunkier. The rice was OK, but nothing special. The beans tasted pretty dry and undercooked to me, which was a bummer. The guacamole was quite tasty. Clearly freshly made. I really liked how big the burrito was (especially in contrast to the tacos), but at the same time, it was not at all mixed. One bite would give me nothing but pork, another nothing but sour cream, and another only beans. Had it been mixed better, perhaps the juicier ingredients might’ve improved the beans. $ 7 is a little steep for a burrito, but I’d pay it for something that truly delivered. This burrito, while decent, didn’t merit that price tag.
Salsas here generally tasted kind of diluted. The roja seemed like it would’ve been great, had it had a little more kick to it, and the verde was nice and fresh, but it didn’t impart flavor nearly as well as it could’ve. There was a dark green salsa, too, which was much spicier, but fairly one-​dimensional. Again, a really nice salsa might’ve improved the burrito some, but it didn’t here.
El Local isn’t bad, but it’s not really great, either. If it delivered a little more on taste or quantity, I’d give them another star. In the meantime, I think I’ll go to the other carts in the pod and seek Mexican food elsewhere. If I’m really feeling Mexican food and am at that pod, I might return, but only for a taco or two to satisfy a craving, not for a whole meal.

Really good, I got the chicken adobo bowl. Lots of good food for $ 7, and an al pastor taco for $ 1.50. Tasty too. The guacamole in the bowl was super!

Chicken isn’t fresh. It just kind of squishes in your mouth and has a horrible flavor. I should’ve tried the carnitas.

This is the best, must fresh Mexican food I’ve found in Portland. You’ll wait a little longer than most places, since they prepare pretty much everything fresh to order. When your order guacamole, they start cutting an avocado. If the next person does, avocado gets cut again. These small details make consistent, delicious food. It’s got lots of fresh veggies, the meats are cooked on site, and the guys there are super nice.

Surprisingly good. I had a burrito with beef. It was huge! Inside was filled with beans, rice, salsa, and meat. They give you 2 salsas to dip or pour on your food. One was green and one was yellow/​orange. Both tasted good with my burrito.
My wife got a Carnitas bowl and that was awesome! I would get that next time. It looked like a teriyaki/​Chinese food bowl but it was all Latin food. Very tasty and fun to eat too. I will definitely be back.
Update: it turns out I love this place. I changed my 4 stars to 5. The bowls are amazing!

Everything I’ve tried here has been delish! One of my favorite carts. Can’t go wrong with anything carnitas, my favorite is the quesadilla. The Juevoes rancheros are also amazing!
The guy that runs the cart is also super friendly and they are fast!
Go here. You’re welcome. :)

What can I add to the accolades. not only is the food delicious here, Paulo puts a smile on my face every time I see his smiling face, though that may be a pavlov-​esque reaction because my body knows it will soon be getting some good carnitas or roast chicken. The taco plates are what keeps me coming back here…3 tacos with a side salad and homemade chips, little bit of rice and beans, perfect lunch and only six bucks. If you want even more goodness go for the guac chicken burrito bowl for a dollar more, it also includes chips and its delicious. Fish tacos are also good, 2 to a plate. These guys are inventive in adding fresh vegetables to the dishes, like zucchini, cabbage and potato in the veggie burrito, and it all blends together harmoniously.

I read reviews and thought I’d try this place out, hoping it was good.
It was great.
For $ 6 you get a HUGE burrito. Huge being as big as my forearm — length and width.
I got the chicken adobo burrito. It comes with mexican rice, pinto beans, onions, cilantro, guacamole, and juicy marinaded chicken.
It was a quick trip, even with 9 people in front of me, he had my order in and out to me in about 10 minutes.
To say these are delicious and big is an understatement. I tapped out half way through one. You definitely want to hit this place up if you’re ever in the area. Well worth it.

Unbelievably good food for super cheap (relative to the amount of food you get). I’m not kidding when I say that the burrito is the size of my face; I had to actually use a fork and knife to eat it.
We had the pork & guacamole burrito, which was packed with flavor and texture. Amazing. The two people working the cart looked like a father-​daughter team and were a delight.
This is a definite must-​try!

Insane amount of food at a great price. Everything was delicious, packed with flavor and cooked perfectly.

El Local is now my favorite burrito in all the land. Came for lunch an hour ago. I still have about a quarter of my burrito left because it’s huge. They know it’s huge. On the menu, they are listed as «Massive Burritos». Don’t believe me? Try it for yourself.
The other menu options include tacos and bowls with pork or carnitas. For the low price of $ 7, you can get yourself a solid meal (including above described burrito). They do take Square for credit cards as well.
Word to the wise, the lighter yellow sauce might be Habanero cause it’s hot. The lighter green one is quite tasty as well. I definitely see myself lunching (and depending on how hungry I am, using the same meal for dining) regularly.

This cart is top notch. It’s healthy– veggie packed mexican food. The carnitas are perfect. I can’t help but eat here every day.

A solid cart at the Central Eastside pod.
The menu has tacos, burritos, burrito bowls, and a few rotating specials.
Burritos come with rice, refried beans, and veggies. I ordered a guacamole carnitas burrito ($ 7) which also includes fresh guacamole and juicy pork.
The panda loves the portion size. Large burritos here that should make most people quite fluffy. Everything was cooked wonderfully. The burrito came with a green hot sauce (jalapeño) and an orange sauce (habanero).
Another notable menu item I saw: Huevos Rancheros. There’s an option to add pork to this.
Guess the panda will be back for more noshing in the future!