El Taco Feliz

Poor bastard had to close while the pathetic and far inferior El Sol gets to trudge on with their horrible food and confused décor. RIP El Taco Feliz.

El Taco Feliz is great… where else can you get a quality lunch of chicken tacos (on what taste like homemade corn tortillas), beans/​rice, soda, and all-​you-​can-​eat chip/​salsa bar for $ 7.50 + tax? These guys are friendly and service is quick. Definitely my favorite quick lunch option in Point Richmond!

I recently found this little gem thanks to fellow Unilocalers. The staff here are nice folks, willing to help you choose from the variety of Mexican food offerings, or allow you to try a certain sauce you aren’t sure of. I especially liked the dark red salsa (nice and spicy), and their beans are fantastic
The price is fair, the food is good, seating is plentiful, and there is a decent amount of street parking available at lunch, unlike in most areas of Pt Richmond. (I sorta hate for that little secret to get out, but I also want to help support the place… conflicted!)

It’s great to have a basic but well-​run taqueria in little Point Richmond. The food has always been delicious and the owners are sweet and helpful. So far, my favorites are the fish tacos and the carnitas in taco or burrito form. The affordable prices definitely get them an extra star in my book.
Overall: decent place to grab a quick lunch.

Until recently, when we didn’t have time to drive over to Richmond’s venerable Portumex, we’d head over to El Sol in our little town of Point Richmond for so-​so Mexican food. Of late we’ve been seeing a lot of traffic at the new El Taco Feliz over by Chevron. So, we tried it out for lunch and were pleasantly surprised. While the décor is truly Spartan, the food is well spiced, fresh and amply portioned at decent prices. Though not on a par with Portumex, the convenient location will find us returning.

Awesome Tacos. Excellent customer service and a friendly atmosphere. What more could I ask for?

Unilocalers, sometimes you gotta give people a break when they’re first starting out. I mean it’s not easy or cheap. And it’s usually not perfect in the first few weeks. Geez!
I drove by and found a sidewalk sign, «Now Open». It’s a typical taqueria menu with a large dining area, a soda fountain, and a fresh salsa bar with warm chips.
The prices are decent so I ordered a few tacos to try. The owner was at cashier and he welcomed me and said the tacos would be good. After a wait, he brought them over and they were some of the biggest tacos I’ve had. A lot of meat! For two bucks, you can’t beat this in the Richmond area. The meat was tender and well seasoned and they had those slightly crispy tortillas. I’ll be back to try the burritos.
They’ve seemed to fix a few of the complaints from the early reviews so they seem to be trying. Do them and the economy a favor and give this place a try. It’s probably the best taqueria in Point Richmond. Street parking is easy.

After reading the first two reviews, I still decided to give this place a try. They’ve expanded their hours and are open Mon-​Fri 5am-​8pm, Sat 7am-​6pm, closed Sundays. At 4pm I was the only customer. Thankfully the TV wasn’t on, instead there was exuberant music of the Latin variety playing overhead.
Their menu lists a variety of tacos, burritos, quesadillas, platillos, tipical platillos. Their meat options are grilled steak, refried pork, chile verde, marinated pork, beef tongue, shrimp, ground beef. They also offer grilled chicken salad, chicken ceasar salad, quacamole and chips, tortilla soup. For dessert, they offer flan, or a small fruit bowl.
I placed my order to take away. I wanted to try the lengua they didn’t have any available so I ordered two carne asada tacos instead, and the chile verde super burrito. They have a chips and salsa/​condiment bar available. The chips sit under a heat lamp somewhat close to the counter. I half-​filled a lunch-​sized bag with chips. I was going to pass on the salsa because there isn’t a sneeze guard and everything sits in open containers, but at least they were all on ice. So I took a chance and ladled small sample cups of all three salsas — one verde, two rojas.
I watched as the tortillas for my tacos were being cooked on the griddle. The cook was pressing them with a spatula to get them to puff up. When they were ready, he put them into a carry-​out tray, scooped out measured amounts of carne asada from the steam table and garnished with some chopped onion and cilantro.
In the meantime the music is playing, then there is a loud jarring beep sounded behind the counter. I’m thinking «hmmmm, microwave ???». He finished up with my tacos then set to work on my super burrito.
He had a flour tortilla on what looked like a pizza pan. He moved over to the steam table scooping up rice, beans, pico de gallo, guacamole, sour cream and shredded cheese. There was a mountain of food and still no chile verde. Then he reaches over to the microwave and *bing* a huge bowl of chile verde is poured over the whole thing. I had no idea how he was going to fold it without it exploding like el volcán Popocatépetl. But he did manage to wrap it up in an aluminum sheet, pack everything up into a plastic bag and sent me on my way.
I hope in the car, drive straight home and arranged plates for me and DH with one taco each, some chips and half a burrito. In tasting the salsas, one of the rojas was a little hotter than the other and slightly smoky chile flavors. The verde had just enough acidity, some heat and also flavorful.
The carne asada in my taco was tasty but a bit dry (maybe because it was past the prime lunch hour?). Drizzling spoonfuls of salsa with each bite improved things, thank goodness for salsa. The burrito had too much rice in it for my taste, but the chile verde itself was delicious even if barely warm. Taking into account that it may have taken 10 – 12 minutes from the time I walked out of the restaurant to when I plated at home, I think the burrito should still have been warm. (Whenever I order Thai food from Kao Sarn, their food friggin’ steams up the inside of my car windows on the ride home.)
I’m pretty sure that the person who took my order, Leonardo, is the owner. He is was quite friendly seems eager to please. He said they have been open about three weeks. I asked if he knew what happened to the owner of Edibles but he couldn’t (or wouldn’t) elaborate too much. He’s hired one person who used to work with the previous restaurant, and she works the morning shift.
Breakfasts look hopeful. They offer the standards — eggs however you want, home fries, sausage, bacon, omelets, pancakes, french toast, crepes. Their Mexican breakfasts consist of huevos rancheros, chilaquiles, omelets that come with rice, beans and tortillas. Their paper menu doesn’t list chorizo as a meat option, but perhaps they have it. They also offer fresh orange juice (I saw a citrus juicer there) and carrot juice. I might give them a try in the future.
+1 for value. A couple of tacos and the super burrito (at 7.50 $) can easily feed two. Tacos start at 2 $, burritos at 4 $, quesadillas at 5 $, tipical platillos at 11 $, platillos at 12 $. Breakfasts range from 4.95 $ to 8.50 $ (most run at about 7 $).

This place opened in the space that used to be Edibles. I had two tacos and they were decent — the carnitas better than the al pastor. The ague fresco was supposed to be Jaimica, but it could of been iced tea for all I know. Sweet, kinda lemony, but not very delicious.
This place is gonna need some help. It doesnt seem like they really know how to run or set up a restaurant. The sign outside is tiny. The menu is not up on the wall, there doesn’t seem to be table service. The salsa bar is makeshift and the salsa is nothing impressive. Even for a taqueria, the menu is kinda limited, though they do serve breakfast. They should have waited until they figured out the basics before opening. I guess they have to try to pay the rent ASAP.
The guy really didn’t even seem to be able to take my order the first time. I see nothing here that says come back. And I hate eating with a TV blaring at me.
The hours must be directed at the Chevron employees — they’re open from 5 am to 4 pm. I’ll be surprised if they survive. But ya never know.
For now, I think the El Agritor Truck near the Chevron station on Canal has the best Mexican food in town.