Taqueria El Mex-Cal

Good menudo recomendado. Barbacoa, birria. Handmade tortillas are the best. Really good service. Fresh authentic Mexican food.

The best taqueria around this area! Love their super burritos and the carne asada fries!

This place has been here for decades. It is my goto place for Mexican food if I’m around the area.
Quality seems to have went down over the years. Last time I ordered a burrito, it came out to almost 9 dollars. Meat was kind of dry and fillings weren’t hot rather warm. Tortilla was whatever as well. They have no selection for their salsa bar.
But it does the job if you are craving Mexican food!

The best authentic Mexican food in my neighborhood. They hand make their corn tortillas, fresh and hot. So if you’re in the Fremont area and craving Mexican food. Then you should stop in and try it out. 5

shredded chicken is good.
Sometimes the carnitas or grilled chicken has been grilled ‘too much.’ Hence only 4 stars, other stuff is really good and they usually give free nacho’s, unlilke other places that make you buy them…
The salsa is usually very spicy, although I had it today and it seemed milder than normal? But, it has been very hot, almost burningly good hot! Love it that way. Usually have limes as well.
Like the super taco or super burrito.

This place is definitely my go to place for good Mexican food! I’ve been to different Mexican restaurants but this taqueria is by far my favorite. I especially love their salsa and beans!

Carnitas is how the way it should be — crunchy! My husband had burrito and I had the tacos — delicious! Lengua was tasty too!

* Food tastes really good
* Quantity good
* Quality good
* Definitely go try it out

So damn good. Had the carne asada burrito and it was killer. After ordering though I looked at the menu though and there were at least 8 – 10 other things that looked way good too.

I decided to give it another try. They have changed their food. The postor super nachos are really yummy. The carniatas are good as well.

This is my neighborhood Mexican place. I like them because I love seafood and my husband prefers more typical Mexican food (burritos, nachos, tacos etc). I usually order the 7 Mares soup or tostada de ceviche. The carne asada fries are also super yummy. We love that we can order togo. Just a tip, it can get busy at night time and the service may be a little slow. It’s usually 1 or 2 people working the cashier, busting and serving. It sometimes takes a while for them to clean the tables and serve the food but it’s definitely worth the wait.

Three words. Carne. Asada. Fries.
Yes. This place has some bomb ass carne asada fries. For $ 6.88 or so, you can’t go wrong. They pack it up with fries, carne asada, sour cream and guac. Only downside is the wait time. I want my fries and I want em’ now!
All in all, great place to hit up if you have a craving for some carne asada fries!

This is a legit carne asada super burrito! I asked a coworker for her recommendation and was a little bummed I’d have to drive from Hayward to Fremont, but it is WORTH the drive. And my burrito was still fresh and hot when I got back to the office.
Carne was nice small chopped bits, not dry but not fatty either, just the right amount of crunchy grilled texture. Everything was flavorful, no salsa needed.
Carne asada super burrito with extra cheese cost me about 8. 50 and I could not even finish it, probably about ²⁄₃ and then I scooped out some of the inside with the chips. I have a very happy tummy right now!

If you want «Taco Bell», you are in the wrong spot, if you want authentic Mexican Tacos, you chose wisely. You have several authentic and tasty options for your Tacos– I like the carne asada and also al pastor. There are other great dishes on the menu too.

I am a burrito guy and ordered regular burrito for $ 6.88. My friend ordered a shrimp cancun for $ 13.88, it’s delicious and served us well.
The flour is a bit thick, and the knife for me is plastic one, it is difficult to cut the burrito.

I’m a taco guy. Tacos here are $ 2.29, but I always get 4 and pay slightly under $ 10. The tortillas used here are very delicious; I sometimes see a worker hand press them. I like how the cook heats up the tortilla to make it a bit crunchy, but doesn’t drench it in oil like Tacos El Chavo taco truck.
My favorite meat here is Al Pastor. Sometimes the meat is in bigger chunks, sometimes it’s diced into small pieces. Either way, the taco is gonna taste great. I’m not a fan of the Carne Asada here, but everything else I tried (the Pastor, carnitas, barbacoa, lengua, cabeza, pollo, chorizo) is delicious. The pollo, carnitas, and lengua are good options if you’re trying to eat less oily. The Pastor tacos here are so good that I had some for lunch and went back again for dinner.
The free chips are good (½ thin, half thick) but the salsa bar sucks. Only one type of salsa (red) and it’s ok, nothing special. Also limes and pickled jalapenos are available at the salsa bar.
Be careful which chair you sit on, I’ve sat on one where it was wobbly, and the replacement wasn’t much better. (lol) There are also tons of dirty dishes around too, which really irks me. The new white girl (she’s nice) with the glasses cleans the tables, while the Mexican lady there sits on her butt and plays on her phone. I don’t feel very comfortable eating around so many piled up dirty dishes around me. I haven’t gotten sick from the food yet, but if I ever do, that’s some serious shit cuz I’ve got a super strong stomach.
⁴⁄₅ for the tacos and meat
²⁄₅ for wobbly chairs and dirty tables

I’ve lived fairly close to this place for a while now and have never tried it. I decided to since we were at Lucky’s picking up a few things. They offer standard options like burritos, tacos, nachos, etc. The salsa bar offers red salsa, lemon wedges, and cured jalapeños. There’s only one salsa but it’s fairly good.
The employees are nice and keep the tables clean. The giant wet burrito that I ordered came with a small bag of chips for $ 9 even. The bag of chips had two different chips inside– round and triangular. The triangular ones were way better. They have a small refrigerator on the counter that has flan and cheesecake inside. I don’t know that I would ever have enough room left in my stomach to get dessert since the burrito was so big. I only ate half of it for dinner so I’ll have the other half tomorrow for lunch.
I’ll have to come back to try more food on the menu! Not bad and so convenient.

El Mec-​Cal had the big prices up on the menu, steady flow of patrons. chips on house if one buys an order and eats in
eats: lengua taco (2.29)
–lots of meat w/​onions, cilantro. hot salsa, limes, available.
–2 soft layers of tortilla, meat tender but not juicy,
3.5 stars, assuming quality/​portion same for other entrees.
easily 4 stars for some people, for me, yes for value, not for quality.

I’ve been here a few times. It’s close to my new place and convenient for me. The food is ok. It’s not the best in the area, not the worse, but these are things I do for convenience.
My first time here, ordered a tacos and a platter. They completely forgot to pack the tacos, so I had to go back to pick up our order. To make it up, they gave me an extra one (which we didn’t eat cause I ordered just what I wanted to eat) so that was just blah. I wish they had offered like two free tacos on my next order to ensure i would come back.
Anyways today is my second visit. I ordered three item plate enchilada and 5 tacos for the family. They must have microwaved the enchilada in the plastic to-​go box, because by the time I got to the bottom of the plastic, it burnt through a hole from the hot cheese. GROSS. I basically ate part of the plastic as part of my food. Again, food is mediocre and average at best.
I will not be coming back here unless desperation sets in, aka convenience. I would rather go to whipple taqueria in union city or Taco Los Gallos in Newark.

Born and raised in Southern California, I was spoiled with excellent Mexican food. The best Mexican food this side of the border are served in hole-​in-​the-​wall mom and pop shops. There’s no denying that statement. If you think going to a place and paying a premium guarantees «better» food, you’re wrong. Places like Javier’s in Orange County or Tropisueno in San Francisco are good, but you’ll spend too much on food that doesn’t even come close. I’ve always said a good meal at a Mexican joint should never cost more than a cheap handle of tequila.
Enter Taqueria El Mex-​Cal (TEM-​C). A true-​to-​form mom and pop shop offering excellent food at very reasonable prices. There’s nothing fancy about this place. Everything from the décor to the atmosphere is lacking. However, they focus all their attention on their product and that’s where TEM-​C hits the nail square on the head — FOOD!
THREE ITEM PLATE ~ 4 stars: I got two tacos al pastor and one enchilada barbacoa. It also came with a generous side of rice and beans. The al pastor was cut into bigger chunks than what I’m used to, so it was meaty. Combine that with excellent flavor, you get a winner. The enchilada was pretty standard. It wasn’t bad, it was just average. If I didn’t know it was barbacoa, I would have assumed it was just regular beef. I have to say the enchilada sauce they use didn’t do the meat any favors. It pretty much masked the taste. However, it was still delicious. The refried beans were packed with flavor. They either cook it with broth or use special seasoning because it was definitely different than the norm.
WET BURRITO AL PASTOR ~ 4 stars: Ok, it was really a wet chimichanga. Don’t ask me why but Sandy ordered this. I don’t think she understands the concept of a chimichanga. The tortilla is supposed to be crispy so if you drench it with sauce it, well, doesn’t stay crispy! So she essentially ordered a wet burrito. However, all the flavors were still there. With the same al pastor I had with my tacos, this thing was a hit. Packed with your typical fillings of rice, beans, onions, cilantro, salsa and meat, this thing was a winner.
HORCHATA (large) ~ 4 stars: TEM-​C makes a pretty damn good horchata. It’s not grainy but very smooth with the right amount of cinnamon and sugar. Absolutely refreshing and does a great job countering the spiciness of their salsa and pickled peppers (available at the salsa bar). FYI, their large cup is f*cking huge. It’s pretty much the size of a carafe.
This whole meal went down for around $ 26.20 w/​tip. I was excited to try this place because it’s been on my radar and it didn’t disappoint. It’s a very casual place to grab a bite and it’s always busy during lunch on the weekends. We went for dinner on a Wednesday night and it wasn’t that packed.