Taqueria Juanita’s

I’ve eaten at about 15+ taco joints in Bryan, TX. Over the years, we’ve seen great taco stands come and go and I must say that this is one of my favorites. The seasoning is what really makes the food. The pastor, fajita and even chicken are extremely good. The red and green sauces are out of this world.
As for it being safe… I don’t know what kind of pansy feels that a taco joint is unsafe, but if that’s your feeling, then maybe you should go down to Fuego and enjoy $ 4.50 tacos. Please.
If you go on the weekends, they are open til 4AM and have some awesome beans that you get for free. They’ve got a bunch of serrano peppers in them and have a pickled flavor. They are great.

Well here we go, I finally caught this place open during the day (they don’t open until 2pm), and I tried the tacos. See the many photos I just uploaded including stealth photos of the kitchen.
See all those burglar bars? That’s the type of neighborhood you are in here. I felt somewhat safe as it was during the day.
I tried a fajita taco. It was bland. As you will see by the photos I took of the kitchen, and HAR HAR, the boxes of store bought tortillas, this place uses store bought tortillas. And they are dry.
The best thing I can say is that this place is clean, and that’s a damn good thing considering the photos I just uploaded. This place has a drive through and from what I can see it is busy with a different type of customer than what the REAL taco place, Tio just a block away has and serves.
My taco was dry, I was not even offered any taco sauce and had to go back to the counter and ask for sauce (I picked red and it was okay). Yet they didn’t offer any lime slices.
In my opinion, this is a dangerous location at night. The tacos are not real authentic ones, just a shadow of what could be, and I have total proof that they are using store bought tortillas, as not only have I uploaded a photo of the boxes of them themselves, yet three of the kitchen that show this as well.
No thanks. I will go to El Tio where they make their own tortillas, as it’s only a block away. Amazing that such a short difference would make such a large difference.
The only reason I am not giving just a single star is that the service was nice, and the place is clean (as evidenced by my stealth photos). :) Don’t ya just love it? (ed)? :)
BTW: This location is in Bryan Texas, not Austin as Unilocal has it listed wrong. I have emailed Unilocal twice to inform them of this error…

I stopped by this tiny taqueria after a visit to the Mexican bakery (panaderia) behind it. I didn’t even see their sign until I was unlocking my car. A short stroll across the lot, and I walked in to find a small kitchen, and a dining area consisting of 4 bar stools on one wall, and 2 by the door, kind of like the wall seating arrangement at the Northgate Freebirds.
I asked the lady at the counter about the pastor taco meat, but decided on the beef fajita tacos. The cook evidently heard me say pastor, because that’s what I got.
The pastor was made with a cheap sauce as a deep marinade, leaving me disappointed compared with the memory of a recent trial of a very good pastor taco from a taqueria not 2 blocks away.
I’ve had some excellent Mexican food lately, so I might have pretty high expectations for such a little shack, but one of the best places I’ve been to is smaller than this.