La Esperanza Market

First time here, & I left with mixed feelings. Needed lots of limes & immediately Unilocaled a «mexican grocery store» because they usually have them better priced than safeway or any other store. I am so spoiled from living in the peninsula with so many options of mexican groceries but here in santa cruz this may be the only one.
–I got 2 cilandros for .59 cents each but they were super wilted, brownish, and half dead. However i didn’t want to drive over to safeway– soquel just for 2 darn cilandros when I’m mixing them anyway.
–2 tomatos.
–8 limes for 99cents.
Total: $ 2.67 Not bad at all, but quality was very suspect.
When i want fresh ingredients this will not be my go to place, but will definitely be back when i need just limes or mexican canned products. I checked out their meat butcher section: variety of selection, but it smelled funny in the tiny shop, & the lean steak (aracherra) which i would usually order did not look appetizing & with lots of fat which should be lean :(oh well.
Don’t know if it matters but the lady at the cash register was super nice!

The Lengua tacos are so tender, they melt in your mouth. The meat is flavorful and stewed with tomatoes. You can tell it’s been cooked for hours.
The carnitas tacos are good too. You get a big chunk, which you can either bite into, or shred like pulled pork. Make sure you get the middle piece. My friend got a center cut and it was all moist and juicy, but I got the skin, which was tough and dry.
Friendly people that work here. What a find! This little Mexican super market is right off the highway 1 in that little downtown part before you reach Davenport. We stopped and got beers, limes, and tacos!
The LENGUA is delicious!

This little gem of a market is located on the Beach Flats end of Ocean St.
Everything is very reasonably priced and they have lots of awesome items like Mexican Coke and cheap delicious tortillas.
Great place to stop at before heading to the boardwalk or the beach!