Upon arrival you see the exterior bar seating and can smell savory the tacos cooking! You enter…read morethrough a side door into this stylish, medium sized, and warmly lit dining area, and the hostess/cook/server is there to greet you. She was kind and attentive, and brought me right over to a nice wooden table where she gave me a menu to look over, while she attended the other already dining customers. It didn't take her more than three minutes to come by for my order.
I ordered three tacos one adobada, one ribeye with bone marrow (tuetano), and one El Taqualli, with everything (guacamole, onion and cilantro). She brought over my drink, a Mexican Coke Zero, and also came with three salsas, an orange one (hot), a red one (mild) and a green one (mild), and radishes to use on my tacos. My favorite salsa was the green one because it is more citrusy and tastes excellent with the fatty tuetano, although it was not spicy enough, so I also used the orange one to add the heat, which was also delicious. When my tacos came they were displayed beautifully on a wooden board, wrapped in paper to aid the homemade tortilla in holding everything together. The charred ribeye and tuetano, red adobada and cheesy Taqualli were a work of art covered with bright green guacamole on each of them. I added salt lime and salsa and devoured them. They were so freaking good, I want more as I'm writing this. The adobada was so savory with a hint of fruit possibly pineapple, but what stood out most to me was the ribeye with tuetano. It had a buttery and sensationally grilled taste, contrasted by the lime and onions, with the chile adding heat and complexity to the flavor, every bite was heaven. The Taqualli taco felt like a remix of just that, and was a good note to end on.
This little restaurant really impressed me, and I'm definitely going back before I leave. There was a point in time where I was eating those finger licking good tacos that I picked up my glass bottle of Coke Zero and felt the cold condensation run onto my fingers as I drank it, and coupled with the noises of cooking and chatting customers, and the smell of searing meat, that the entire moment felt holistic and beautiful. As a Mexican-American, in some strange way the Taqualli made me feel home, and I'm from El Paso, so I'm familiar with tacos, but not Tijuana tacos.
I loved this place for it's wonderful vibe, excellent service, and remarkable tacos. I hardly ever post Yelp reviews but this one definitely deserves it. Thank you to the Taqualli for an excellent dining experience! Also, they take card and US cash, and all that only cost me about $13.50 USD plus tip (They could easily charge double).