| Sister location to famed Taqueria Los Charros but nicer and larger |
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 992
Reviewed: 7/11/2007
Rating: 9
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I'll save the veterans of Taqueria Los Charros reading time. The food at Los Charros Restaurant is as good as the little taqueria stand. I've visited twice for lunch and never had to wait for a table. The menu offers more traditional mexican items but you can still order foil wrapped burritos. Impress your business clients/friends, show them great mexican food at taqueria prices. Mustache guy was manning the register one of the times I visited.
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For the other folks who've never experienced Taqueria Los Charros, it's one of the most popular taqueria joints in the downtown Mountain View. When I worked in Mountain View, Taqueria Los Charros was one of my favorite places after Taqueria La Bamba. Their dining area wasn't particularly large and was always packed with customers. It's no surprise with the success of the small taqueria that it was time to expand to a larger restaurant.
They opened up a new location on El Camino Real called Los Charros Restaurant. Loyal customers of the taqueria, you have to see their new place. There are enough tables to seat over 100 people and a bar large enough to host a small company party. The furniture items are all hand painted and hand carved. Los Charros outdone themselves with the new decor. The restaurant looks GREAT.
Chips and Salsa - free and one of the best. Their chips are heated under a lamp and brought with 2 types of wonderful salsa. Try to do your best and not load up on the chips because the meal portions are big.
Pollo Asado Burrito - I had this on my 1st visit and it was incredible. I would even consider this better than the Pollo Asado at Taqueria La Bamba. Plenty of grilled chicken in every bite. The chicken isn't grilled over an open fire but had the right amount of flavorful seasonings. Beans melt in your mouth and rice was moist. I made the mistake of loading up on the chips/salsa and brought half back to work. I gave it to my coworker Ethan and he thought it was a great burrito. It's a 9 for sure.
Camarones al Ajillo (images 9, 10) - translates to prawns cooked in butter and garlic. I shouldn't have to describe how seafood+butter+garlic tastes. It's just one of those prefect combos like peanut butter and jelly. So flippin great I was immediately high off the 1st couple of bites. The dish is served with 8 large prawns, small cup of beans, cup of spanish rice, guacamole, romaine/tomato salad, your choice of tortillas, and this insane green lime salsa. The saltiness of the prawns mixed with the tart salsa just brings it over the top. I'd give it a spectacular rating. I don't have a problem paying the $11-13 during lunch time as it was soooooooo worth it.
Both lunch visits are 9's. Just visit and take my word for it or I'll send the Macho Mustache guy to kick your ass.
Suggestions for Los Charros Restaurant
- your menu doesn't list the meats anymore for the burritos. Only die hard customers like myself remembered 90% of the meats. Print the selection of meats somewhere on the menu.
- I think you need to transition the taqueria plating techniques to restaurant style. Burritos shouldn't come wrapped in foil anymore. Serving salsa in plastic cups (lime salsa) needs to be replaced with small ramekins or something other than clear plastic.
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Reviewer: Dan
Total Reviews: 71
Reviewed: 1/7/2008
Rating: 8
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On my first visit to Los Charros I looked carefully at the interior. It basically splits the difference between a taqueria and a Mexican restaurant. It is nicer, cleaner and bigger than your typical taqueria, but not as nice as most Mexican restaurants I've been to. Decoration was done on the cheap: very basic, no frills, adobe colored walls. The place is a bit too brightly lit for me. It reminded my of a cafeteria. Unlike most taquerias, however, Los Charros has a bar.
I asked about huevos rancheros but was denied. Doh! This is only offered in the morning. Oh well. Decided to get the camarones al ajillo since the pics looked so good on Jatbar. $12.95 is on the high side for lunch, but I had to check it out. Service was excellent, with wait staff refilling water and adding napkins w/o me requesting. Fresh chips arrived quickly, and these appeared to be homemade. Thumbs Up!. I enjoyed every last bite. My food arrived and looked awesome. The red oily sauce smothering the camarones had an odd smell though. Shrimp – good and nicely spiced, but some were really chewy. Not the best quality shrimp. Rice was very good. Beans too. Guac was a bit on the thin side ( I like mine chunkier) but flavor was pretty good. And true to other reviews, it came with a pretty nice salad, incl. dressing. Overall this was not a knock-off-my-socks meal but very tasty. Total with tip though was $15.80. Yikes! More than I like to spend, but OK for the nicer dish. Still, with the lower quality shrimp I'll drop my 8.5 meal to a rating of 8.
On other visits I have tried the following:
Chicken Enchilada plate – Los Charros doesn't have green or red chile sauce, only tomatillo. Damn. I ordered the red sauce, which the waitress said was spicier. It wasn't spicy, or that flavorful. Chicken quality was so-so. Rice, beans and salad were as good as before. Since the sauce usually makes or breaks an enchilada, this was a bit disappointing. 7.0 for this meal.
Taco plate with two tacos, beans and rice. This wasn't on the menu but the waitress said she could make it happen. Warm fresh chips as usual – awesome. The carnitas taco was thin on the meat and pretty flavorful – an 8. Carne asada taco was gigantic but not all that flavorful – maybe a 7.5. Total cost plus tip was $10, the most expensive yet! 7.5 for this visit
Posole (po-SO-lay) – This is only offered on Fri, Sat, Sun. A large bowl of soupy stew consisting of hominy and pork in a spicy broth. The pork was a mixture of shredded style and chunks. (It was almost like they ran out of one kind and switched to the other). Meal includes a side plate with limes, chopped onions, shredded cabbage, and spices, so you can tailor your posole flavor and spiciness. I went for onions, cabbage, oregano, and lots of lime. It also comes with toasted corn tortillas which you can dip into the broth. Mmmm. All in all, this was pretty good but kind of standard posole. Total cost was $11.25 with tax and tip. Kind of high but the meal was quite satisfying. 8.0.
Tortilla Soup – I don't often see this on a menu. This is basically Mexican style chicken soup loaded with fried corn tortilla strips and a little cheese melted into the broth; A traditional holiday meal for my family in years past. This version is not as good as my Mom's (it needed more onions and bell pepper) but it was still tasty. Nevertheless, a very satisfying meal and some of the best tortilla soup I've had in a restaurant. Cost was 10 bucks and change. A lot for a bowl of soup that didn't quite fill me up. So I'll take my initial 9.0 rating down to an 8.5.
Wet chicken burrito – Green sauce was equivalent to the version offered at the sister location, but the chicken was not quite as savory. Also, some of the pieces were a bit rubbery. Total of $10 incl. tip. 7.5 rating for this meal.
When all is said and done, this Los Charros is a much different animal than its sister taqueria in downtown Mtn View. The menu is broader and has some interesting items, but none are total home runs for me. The standard taqueria items (tacos, burritos, etc.) are not as good as the downtown location IMHO. Still, with small crowds, easy parking, and proximity to my workplace, I will probably be back.
Pros: Not crowded; Decent parking; Good menu variety
Cons: Higher lunch prices; Does not deliver same quality food as sister restaurant in downtown Mtn View |
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