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Naranjos Taqueria (Mexican cuisine)  $

 8
JaT Rating

2647 Broadway St, Redwood City, 94063  (Directions)


650.369.9196


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Small taqueria shop in Redwood City making rather large tacos


Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1040
Reviewed: 5/6/2007
Rating: 8
My photo gallery 		Feliz Seis de Mayo!!! Where's the celebration? Where was everybody? It was fairly quiet at this Redwood City taqueria. I was on my way to Fry's and made a quick lunch visit. Naranjo's Taqueria comes hand delivered by one of our agents Dan. I was told to get "suave" style but blanked out when I ordered. I guess next time?

The taqueria is tiny with 3-4 tables in cramp seating. There's another 3 tables outside if you fancy the sun. Prices are the norm with particular bargains on the tacos. They are under $2 but these tacos are 2x the size of normal tacos. I ordered 3 tacos and soda for $7.67.

salsa - there were 2 types of salsa on the taco. One was the standard salsa verde and the other was a cabbage pico de gallo (very rare). You won't believe how much I hate cabbage but I hate wasting food even more. After plowing through my 1st taco, I kinda liked it. I think I might be conquering my cabbage phobia.

tortillas - these are the large taco size, about the size you see at taco bell but a darker yellowish color double-deckered. Not too much grilling and if you don't eat fast enough, your tortillas will split down the middle. Very good tortillas

barbacoa (image 4) - not often you find barbacoa on the menus. It's slow cooked meat with most of the flavors emitting from the meat. The texture is soft and moist which might be a put off to some. There's little spices involved but the flavor is delicious.

carnitas (image 5) - I'm completely confused on the taste of these carnitas. It's not your run of the mill crunchy pork but more of a bbq flavoring. Like I said, my taste buds were off on this one but whatever I had, I enjoyed it. Excellent portions of meat.

pollo asado (image 6) - my favorite of the bunch. Although the barbacoa had the best flavor, the pollo asado had generous amounts of meat with texture. I believe the chicken was thigh meat and served with a lot of the cabbage pico de gallo mix. More seasoned than the others, a tad on the salty side.

I didn't get a chance to try the burritos so I have no idea what they look like. When I ate there, everyone had tacos so I'm gonna go with recommending the tacos for now. If you have a big appetite, go with the 3 tacos. Other than that, Naranjo's Taqueria serves very good tacos.
 
7.5
Agent Rating


Reviewer: Dan
Total Reviews: 84
Reviewed: 4/14/2008
Rating: 7.5
My photo gallery		 Naranjos is close to home, and I have typically called in food orders at night and picked them up, mostly burritos. They have always been delicious. Nevertheless, I got out of the habit of eating here, and had to make a few visits recently to rediscover this taqueria.

First visit – I Ordered my standard chicken burrito, to go. They don't do regular vs. super burritos here, just their version of super, so I asked them to hold the sour cream which is equivalent to what most taquerias call a "regular" plus guacamole. Total cost was $5.79 w/ tax. Pretty good. What I received was not overly large, but tasty. I wasn't all that hungry and planned to eat only half, but it was so good I couldn't help myself. They provided a large quantity of chips, always a good thing, but these were obviously store-bought, and not all that good. So an 8.0 inside of 8.5 for this visit.

On a follow-up visit I ordered one barbacoa taco and one carne suave taco. The woman behind the register looked at the silly gringo (me) like he was on drugs. (This is not the first time I have been treated with skeptical curiosity here). As for the tacos, both contained finely shredded beef in a reddish sauce, very much like BBQ beef. They were pretty good, but I couldn't really tell the difference between the two, and I was too embarrassed to ask at this point.

On my most recent visit I wanted to order a taco plate, but Naranjo's doesn't offer one. So I built one as follows: One chicken taco order, one carnitas taco order, one order of rice and beans. Since this was a la carte, the total price was on the high side, around $8.50. The chicken taco was good, but a little cold in spots, like they had recently reheated it. The carnitas taco was really tasty, with large chunks of flavorful pork. This would have been a killer taco if the carnitas didn't also taste like they had just been unevenly reheated. Rice and beans were above average. Tough to decide on rating for this meal. Maybe a 7.5.

Naranjo's has a tiny dining room in front with only two long tables. It's not very appealing and they don't keep it exactly spotless. For this reason, Naranjo's works best as take-out joint, and that will be my modus operandi in the future.

Pros: Great burritos; carne suave and barbacoa offered in meat selection
Cons: Tiny dining area; service can be cold; No taco plate offered; not overly clean
 
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Boscoj ate...

barbacoa

“I thought it was delicious and very reasonable. That's the only thing I've had there. Mui Bueno!”

5/7/2007 8:25:49 PM