Los Pinos

I got to this restaurant around 9:00 pm. I was really craving some authentic Mexican food. As I went to order I noticed the cooking area was filthy. I was hungry and usually not picky so I overlooked the lack of cleanliness. As I placed my order there was a young man cleaning the floor where the food was prepared and served to customers. He was dousing the floor with soapy water. Once my order was placed to my horror the person that was cleaning the floor was starting to serve my food! He didn’t even bother to change the gloves he used to douse the floor with water. He touched all of my food with those same gloves. It was horrible. As I noticed that I proceeded to take a look at the food that was behind the counter and saw all of the dried up food that seemed to be there all day. Very bad experience…

Came here last Sunday for some burritos and was disappointed. The meats for my burritos had to be heated up from some bag. The chicken was little dry cubes, no saucy simmered chicken. The rice and beans were ho hum. Salsa was ho hum. I got one of the burritos wet and the salsa on top was clearly from a can. No limons or radishes with my meal. Yeah, I can get better from about 6 different places in the area.

My previous review still applies, limes are juicy, service was fast (less than 5 minutes from order to tacos in my hands) and with a smile. I’m pleased to say the bag of chips is half full, unlike last time when it was only a ¼ full or ¾ empty… however you may see it.

I get really excited about things like delicious tacos. And chips and salsa. Craving a little bit of both the other night, I stopped in here on my way home. Pretty sure I’ve never been in there. There was limited seating (because it’s small, not because it was full), and one TV airing Telemundo.
Bueno. My kind a’ place.
I ordered a pollo, carnitas, and asada taco and chips and salsa, with a $ 4 Corona to wash it all down. Total was under $ 10. I walked over to the salsa bar which had 3 types of salsa, plus limes and jalepeno carrots. The chips were awesome. The salsas were. OK. It actually made me sad that they were just OK. I wanted amazing. I asked for a hotter one and got kind of lucky when the guy working brought out a fourth one, but it wasn’t that hot and astonished me with a lack of much flavor; like the others.
The tacos made up for this. How can you make tacos so great and salsa so mediocre!!! They were the best tacos on Monument I’ve ever had. Good portion of meat — perfectly seasoned. I’ll come back here before trying somewhere else new. Maybe it’ll be on a good salsa day. Or I’ll just bring my own…
I’m starting to really get into Telemundo. The new actor on the show (Jade) is pretty guapo. Jade and tacos… MMMmmmMMM.

Three for starters; could be a four depending on future visits. This is in the same spot where Chivo’s used to be. Don’t know if it’s related to the other Los Pinos in Concord.
Bright, clean interior, if a bit spartan. I ordered a Super Burrito (carnitas), for $ 5.95. Good heft, tasty meat, served on a plate without a foil wrapper. My only gripe is that a «super burrito» should come with cheese automatically and it wasn’t until after I received mine that I saw on the menu that melted cheese on top is an extra 99 cents. A small basket of fresh chips was served with my meal. The salsa bar has four salsas and some other condiments. Salsas were tasty.
I need to go back and try something else; the menu looks pretty good.