Francisco Taqueria

The enchilada burrito!!! Hands down the best thing I’ve ever done for my mouth… I got the carne Asada and the meat was perfectly flavored, the sauce rocked and it was HUGE. Absolutely delicious. I also got the horchata which was homemade and perfectly topped off my meal. WOW.

Great late night food cart. They are open quite late. The prices are somewhat reasonable, excellent salsa be sure to ask for enough!
Has a covered sitting area its quite nice to have a place to sit and eat. Francisco is a nice guy, i am pretty sure i’ve seen him give food to people anyways who were a little short on funds who were in need.
The food is pretty good, definitely if you have a meal you don’t like don’t let that scare you away, there are lots of options, the style is a little more authentic. I have 3 favorites on the menu, the hours on the website are mis-​reported! They do their best to keep the area cleaned up, but sometimes it can be messy in the eating area and dark at night.
I’ve never had a bad experience, onetime i forgot to get my change for a $ 20 and almost a half hour later, i returned and they had it waiting for me! Honesty counts! For some reason they don’t have huge lines considering how good the food is. if you’ve never tried items at this food cart make a few stops and give it a try.

I like the prices!
I just got the carnitas burrito here for lunch and the carnitas is very salty. You could say it’s very flavorful. Just a little sickly for my tastes… I’m having a hard time continuing it. They did not skimp on the meat portions, which is great. I wish there was something that balanced it out better to make it less of a salt lick. Other than that, it seems to have been made fresh, but came out VERY fast, nice and hot, well wrapped. Came with red sauce and green sauce.
If I were to come here again I’d try something different.

Damn good food cart, friendly guy at the window, cheap and they’ll make just about anything if you ask for it

Hands down best chicken tacos I’ve had downtown from the food carts. I can’t vouch for anything else because all I get is the chicken tacos because they’re just too addicting, just like how I’ve had them in Mexico, the chicken is marinated and I’m assuming boiled, to perfection! The use of spices and tomato base of the chicken is well done. You get a lot of taco for $ 1.50.
Anything else that you may want that you don’t see you can still order and they will make it. They have almost anything and everything food wise here. It’s highly suggested by myself and about 8 of my co workers to come try this place.
Well played Francisco, well played.

Francisco Taqueria, near the water, is open for long hours as I went right before a ten o’clock movie downtown. I ordered and it was $ 6.50, $ 5.50 for a basic steak burrito and $ 1 for a can of soda. Interestingly, I received my order in two minutes.
I found seating at a table on the side of the truck before I ate. Then I had my burrito and it wasn’t the best or the worst. It was like a usual day at Chipotle. The cheese and the meat, the rice and the beans and whatnot were all good. But it lacked even something like guacamole or a unifying spice to make it stand out. The cheese was very noticeable so it tasted good, but not too complex.
If you’re around the block and it suits you well, go for it. Late at night, there’s lots of gyro trucks too, some of which provide really, really good gyros. This is a shrug of the shoulder, not «yay» or «uhh». Downtown Portland has lots of Mexican, so a place really has to stand out to get any attention.

Hello. My name is Tamara. I am addicted to tacos.
When the need strikes, which is often, I dart over to Francisco’s Taqueria and shamelessly gobble down tacos like there is no tomorrow. What is also nice is that he has a little seating area next to his cart for paying customers to relax and enjoy their piping hot and fresh tacos.
The shrimp taco is my favorite and it doesn’t cost more than the other tacos either. At $ 1.50, it must be everyone else’s favorite too because sometimes he does run out of the shrimp, so don’t dilly-​dally! Get your caboose over there and get yourself some of that shrimpy, taco goodness!
2014 — Review # 71

Whenever I travel to other places and I get Mexican food I’m always reminded of how good I have it in SoCal. I love being able to roll outside and find a taco shop that’s open at all times of night. I’m sure that’s available in the Northwest but it wasn’t at Francisco. Don’t get me wrong. Francisco is good, but it’s certainly not classic SoCal street Mexican food.
When we noticed how big the street food scene is in Portland we knew we’d have to hit up something during our visit. We were slightly hungover so naturally, we chose to get a couple tacos on our way to Deschutes. The service was great and the menu had all of the standard taco shop staples. I opted for a couple of crunchy beef tacos. Now being born and raised in SoCal when I order a crunchy beef taco I’m expecting shredded beef with shredded cheese in a corn tortilla that’s then fried to a crisp. I know that’s a far cry from the authentic tacos which are just meat, cilantro, and onions but when I’m hungover the fried option is the best. What I got reminded me of Taco Bell, almost. They were a whole heck of a lot better than Taco Bell but not what I was expecting.
Francisco uses crunchy taco shells. Like the ones you buy on the Ethnic foods aisle of the grocery store that come in the box. The taco was topped with ground beef, cheese, sour cream, tomatoes, and lettuce. He gave us hot sauce and my bf got a little crazy with it. The hot sauce is HOT! Definitely not for beginners.
All in all the tacos were good. Now I know what to expect when I’m in PDX.

I have noticed, now that I will go here about monthly. they simply have too much onion. It is overpowering the burrito. Upsets the stomach and makes it taste bad. Decrease the onion content (please), and it might improve.

Second burrito from them is even better than the first. New category favorite for certain. Tortillas are just the right balance of chewy and crispy, beans are not from a can, no scrimping on the cheese. An excellent way to spend $ 3.

It’s quick, cheap and satisfied my taco craving… but it I can’t say that I’d go back. Nothing about the food really stood out to me, pretty standard taco’s that I could whip up in my kitchen.

Hey, THANKS FOR THE DIARRHEA AND FOOD POISONING.
That was really cool.
Both myself AND my date got nice and sick the next day.
It wouldn’t have been so bad if the food had even been REMOTELY decent.
I am not a picky man. This food just SUCKED.
So, I tell my friend about it and he goes «Oh, you mean that food cart on Stark? Yeah, don’t eat there. That place sucks.»
Yeah, NOW he tells me.

I was craving some taco truck tacos today and decided to give this place a go. I wanted some more authentic Mexican tacos (that means no lettuce, no cheese, no other stuff. Basically just meat, pico, and cilantro).
Although the four tacos that I got (shredded beef, pastor, carnitas and fish) all came with lettuce, cheese and sour cream, I suspect it was my own fault. If the people milling around the cart when I was there are any indication, I think most people expect their tacos to come with lettuce and cheese, so that’s how they serve them. I don’t they would have batted an eye if I had asked for no lettuce, cheese or sour cream because that’s how most authentic trucks and taquerias will serve them.
This place is by no means unauthentic, I just think that being in a relatively prominent pod requires them to cater to the lowest common denominator a little bit. So, it’s just easier for them to serve tacos the way most Americans expect them rather than having to deal with suburban housewives complaining about how their taco doesn’t have lettuce on it.
Despite my disappointment to see the lettuce, cheese and sour cream, the food was quite tasty. The meats were all flavorful and the sauces that come with were pretty great as well, leaving me sweaty and reaching for my Jarritos, but also thoroughly satisfied with their flavor. The tortillas were fresh and the service was friendly and fast. As others have noted, the seating isn’t great, but it’s about as good as it gets for a food cart. I’ll almost definitely be back for more whenever I get a hankering for some tacos (but next time, I’ll have them hold the «gringo» stuff)

Had the Torta de Asada. Two of them because one wasn’t enough!
This place is very good. I give 4 starts because the bread wasn’t as soft and because seating was also pretty sketchy.
Being in Phoenix for a year, this place has Mexican food up to par with them!

Open super late — star #1
Expansive menu, as big or bigger than many taco shoppes— star #2
Servicio muy amable —- star #3
There are more stars earned for particular dishes @ Don Francisco*s, but they get dinged for their incredibly loud, nasty rap music blaring at jumbo-​jet levels of decibels. Pretty surprising the po-​po haven*t been contacted to shut it down for the sake of the neighbors, to say nothing of the patrons.
Hard to believe these folks could be so naieve or so poorly calibrated socially that they don*t realize how incredibly inappropriate that kind of music is in a public forum especially cranked up so loud/​maybe they use the noise as vagrant repellant/​or to deter more of the food carts from also staying open late, to prevent more competition/​Whatever it is, no bueno!!!
Por amos de Dios — — apagarla !

Opens late.
2am. $ 1.50 tacos. Fish and chicken. Lettuce, cheese, sauce. Not too Mexican, but it was the perfect food at the perfect time.
Thank you.

Briefs: When does a taco become an intermezzo? When it’s only $ 1.50. Generous portions of meat, savory salsa, and you’re ready for the next course.
Death by PDX — An Extended Weekend of Eating #14.
Dinner Course #3 (of 5).

You know what are awesome? Meat grinders. I’ve never understood why any civilization capable of producing grinders would bother with pulling or shredding meat. Technology is your friend.
Therefore, I’m a big fan of these tacos. Not only do they offer ground beef in addition to various things with Spanish codenames, said ground beef is only lightly seasoned and not at all spicy. Then they use cheddar cheese. Either they worship at the same anti-​authenticity (antithicity?) altar I do, or they laugh at palefaces like me as I walk away with a crappy burrito.
Whatever. I dig it. I ate it all. I loved it.

Portland is over-​saturated with Mexican carts and because the food is so heavy, I tend to take awhile to try out these carts. Really, most of the Mexican carts could all have the same name and nobody would notice — for the most part, anyway. This is one of those carts.
I got the carnitas burrito for $ 5 and it was out in a flash. Seriously, way fast. The burrito itself was just okay. The pork was perfectly salted, though.
This seems to be the perfect late-​night destination after a night of drinking. For lunch, I probably will want something better.

This guy has seen it all.
Which translates to for the rest of us: Fear not! He will not judge you if you are blacked out drunk. Even if he has seen you on better days.
On one of these many days I have eaten here I was actually stumbling home after a Unilocal Elite event at Gilt Club. My bf had walked east for band practice and I was left to fend for myself on the walk home. I thought my body would thank me if I stopped for a fish burrito at Francisco’s first. I’ve eaten here lots before & he didn’t bat an eye when I slurred a jumble of words that seemed to make sense to him.
I was handed a huge burrito & I handed him $ 6 because I knew I wasn’t likely to make the extra $ 1 into the tip jar. He tried to give the $ 1 back and I kept saying to keep it. It’s nice to know that he wouldn’t take advantage of a drunk girl desiring some mex food.
I was walking zigzag home, but it just gave me more quality time with my burrito. About halfway home was when a really creepy guy rolled down his window shouting at me & started following me home in his car. I started walking faster and faster and the «wrong way» on one way streets clutching my burrito that was the only thing giving me comfort. All this dodging in high heels and I was still eating my burrito. Thinking about it now, it must’ve been a really weird sight.
Before and since then, I’ve eaten there many many times. Tortas, burritos, etc. All yummy. They also have the very hard to find Jamaica (Hibiscus) flavored Jarritos. Everything comes with two small containers of their red sauce and green sauce. They’re actually a bit spicy unlike most I’ve had.
I’m not sure why there are only negative reviews. I’ve always gotten great service and food here. He’s also always open unlike most food carts. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it not open. I’ver never gotten a single soggy tortilla. Always warm and chewy. And this is probably almost 10 burritos later.
So next time you see a drunk girl running in zigzags, dodging you, and still trying to eat a burrito, it’s most likely from Francisco’s and please give the poor girl a break. Her heels are hurting her feet.