El Taco Real

I love the food, the staff, Ray the owner, and Kathy the bartender. A region favorite. Queso Fundido is simply amazing!

We have been eating here for over 40 years. Their pork suiza is sooooo good. Try it. You won’t be sorry!!!

If you only have one meal left before you perish, please, please, come here for the queso fundido with pork! You will move on to the after life with a full belly and a smile on your face. It is simply to die for. Warm, melty, creamy, salty, cheese with just the right amount of sauce and hunks of indescribably tender, pork. You ladle a healthy portion of this into a warm tortilla. Wrap tightly into a little bundle of joy and welcome to amazingville.
The pork tacos are fantastic. The ground beef enchilda suiza is so flavorful. The nachito appetizer with meat are great too.
Have I mentioned the pork?!? It truly should be designated a national treasure. The recipe should be kept in the National Archives next to the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Epic in every way.
The service is top notch. Many of the staff have been the for years and years and welcome you like family.
Do yourself the favor and drive out to Hammond to explore this gem yourself.

Had lunch here with friends from work. Good was great service was good too. Will definitely be back.

Have been to this restaurant a few times since the last review and wish to provide an update. Perhaps the wait staff or owners have been reading the Unilocal reviews? The service has improved a bit, although you will still not be offered a refill on chips or salsa — you still must request and will have to request more than once (forgetful?). Their Enchiladas «the works» are excellent! But, we noticed over the past couple of visits that their pop is some off-​brand, not Pepsi or Coke. It has an odd off-​flavor, kinda like you get with the Sodastream syrups in home machines. All-​in-​all, we’ll continue to go here and perhaps as we explore more of their menu and observe their service, the rating will continue to go up.

The food was good, no doubt, but maybe a little over-​hyped. It just didn’t stand out to me as much as everyone acted like it would, but it’s still a solid Mexican restaurant. The service also wasn’t bad. I’d go back sometime.

This place used to be good when they first opened doors but the food has changed from homemade Mexican food to more Tex mex style. I used to eat there as a child and was good went back as an adult and noticed the transformation plus very over priced for what you get will never go back again

The food as usual is very good, but on our last several visits the service had been terrible, hence the two stars. Once our order was taken, the server was no where to be found. It’s almost impossible to get refills on your drinks, or additional chips and salsa, no one comes back to check on your food or to see if you need anything else.

This is the worst Mexican restaurant in town. The staff wears some racist «No Gringo food» t-​shirts the food is ridiculously expensive and the servers are horribly rude. They say we can’t just have drinks and they have to charge us for some kind of food so they forced us to pay for chips and salsa that we didn’t order or eat. The margarita tasted like strawberry juice and when we brought it up the arrogant waitress argued no it was strong. If you go here don’t say I didn’t tell you so.

Please don’t waste your money or time on this place. Over priced for the quality of food. Salsa tasted like tomato soup, guacamole not fresh at all, rice, beans, carne asada, steak taco, etc lacked flavor. Won’t be returning ever, lesson learned on this place.

Been there a couple times. Very overpriced for average Mexican food. Won’t be going back. Too many better options around.

I heard people talking about so had to try it. It’s a real restaurant so nothing is cheap but reasonable.
Food was ok. Hot sauce tasted exactly like tomato soup. The pico de gallo was fresh. Chips were ok.
Tried chicken enchiladas with beans and rice. Came with no sour cream and guacamole. The enchiladas were so so and the sauce bland Came «cheese» but was dried powered cheese. I always had melted cheese every where.
Staff was nice and friendly. Neighborhood seems nice. Another taco /​pizza place is across the street. Place was clean but is very outdated and very dark inside even during the day. Price was .50 higher then the menu. Their is small dimly lit bar in back.
I have eaten a lot better places all the time. I wouldn’t come back.

I have been coming here since I was a kid that lived a block away. The place has never failed me. Food is amazing and great service from the ladies that have been there since I was little.

Went here on a Friday night, and it was busy. Still felt that the service was run like a well-​oiled machine. The only hitch was that the computers went down and it took a while to get our check. I don’t blame this on the staff or owners. It happens.
I’d actually give this place 4.5 stars, but I was not impressed by the normal salsa. It honestly tasted like someone opened a can of tomato sauce, put some salt in it and dished it up. A few minutes later they dropped off dishes of what appeared to be pico de guyo, which I would have eaten right off the bat and thought was fine, and gave this place five stars.
The plain fundido is served with flour tortillas and can feed two people easily. Fantastic. I got the pork enchiladas, and I dig how they serve everything with beans and rice. It’s like they made the perfect Mexican restaurant for me. Wide variety of the basics: tacos, burritos, enchiladas, etc. But there are also some interesting dishes not served in the «food pillow» style that I would like to try another time.
Kind of a haul for the family, but if you’re in the area, well worth it.

I gave this place two stars because the food is highly over priced. As I was looking at the menu, I could not believe the prices for a taco. I got a chicken enchilada with rice. I thought the prices were ridiculous, because I did not get a meal but al la carte. As soon as my food came out, I began feeling constipated with all the cheese that was on the enchilada. I ordered one enchilada and there was more cheese. As I’m trying to eat, I had to dig through the levels of cheese before reaching the chicken or shell. At least for three or four bites all I ate was cheese, I could not believe how much cheese was on this one enchilada. I even began cutting it with a knife and I still couldn’t reach any chicken. once I finally got to the chicken, I should have just stuck to the cheese. The chicken was so bland and I’m used to places using white meat chicken, but I did not have any white meat but only brown meat. As I was eating I thought it would get better, but nope didn’t happen. I don’t even think I saw a piece of shell because the cheese absorbed it. There’s not much I can say about the rice because it was just that, rice. How can you really mess up rice, but whatever.
The first course on the menu was chips and salsa with a side of pico de galo. I really liked the chips, they were fried well, very sturdy and crispy. However, the salsa that went with it was so soupy. I was like red water and bland, but the pico de galo was excellent. I felt that the pico de galo should have went into the salsa to give it some taste, but maybe the salsa was a hit and miss thing.
I went to El Taco Real because my aunt just adores this restaurant, the people, and the food. Today she was very adamant about going to this restaurant, so I was open to it. The outside of the restaurant was nice; I thought the outside was inviting. However, the inside of the restaurant was not that inviting at all to me. It was dark inside and all of the seating was tight. I did like that the staff was constantly cleaning the restaurant. I really liked the cleanliness of this place. The employees were very friendly. All the staff was so inviting, they wanted to make the customers make the customers feel comfortable and enjoy their experiences while there. While we were eating they were attentive, and if we couldn’t get our servers’ attention and asked someone else to do something for us; our server rushed over to see what we needed. I really liked that because it showed that they somewhat cared.
I have definitely had better food than this. I believe this restaurant only deserves one star, but with the great customer service, they’ll get two. Never again will I subject myself to this type of misery.

This place is way overrated.
Except for their queso fundido which is magnifico. Everything else is sub-​par and expensive.

I’ve heard about this place since the 70’s and thought it was the «rave». Wow were we disappointed! They charge extra for more of their poor tasting salsa on the table that flavorless tomato sauce (not joking). The prices are high. The food did not look appealing and was burnt and salty. The food was also bland. The dessert was small and expensive. Spanish rice– packaged. Refried beans– canned. Chips– bagged. Margaritas– unnaturally chartreuse and sweet was weak and diluted. The place does not look clean either.
I frequent a lot of Mexican restaurants and rate this one far below all of them. I would recommend a chain type establishment over this poor excuse for Mexican food. The «down and dirty» of it is the same people don’t run it anymore, I hear the son or somebody who does not care about quality and fair prices and only greed is at the head of it.
Check your bill twice because they may over charge, at least I was.
It is not worth the drive here, so don’t waste your precious time and hard earned money.
Don’t go here, hurt them in the cash register and maybe they will turn it around!

This place is an institution! Not somewhere I go all that often, but never disappointed when I make it back there. Between the awesome sopes, fresh pico, and guacamole– I usually walk out of there with my pants just a little bit more snug…
The staff is always friendly and knowledgeable.

Has been a few years since I been here.
Still one of the BEST Margaritas I ever had. (no mix here)
Was just a little disappointed in Sopes. The Sope Cups were a little to thick, and the Pork filling which was very little was not to flavorful and and to much. And it was cubed not shredded. They still give you warm salsa with chips, but no jalapenos or Queso Cheese like before. My wife did LOVE the Enchiladas.
Seems like everyone has to focus on FAST service. The waitresses were running around rushing. I hate that. I like taking my time.
Maybe I just had the wrong thing. Hated to reevaluate this one the way I did.

El Taco Real. Real BAD. The first bite I took of the chips and salsa, I had a terrible flashback of a Mexican restaurant experience in New Buffalo Michigan during 1999. This is not real Mexican food.
The first thing you’ll notice is the chips and salsa: Dry unsalted bland chips from a bag, and the tomato sauce they refer to as «salsa.» Then I ordered the Tostadas «The Works». Instead of your traditional tostadas with the ingredients on it, you get a crisp tortilla (not tasty at all) with beans and meat and cheese. I had gotten beef, chicken and pork on each of the 3 tostadas.
Problem 1: The colorless lettuce and diced tomatoes were thrown off to the side on a separate plate with out-​of-​the-​can dry beans and rice.
Problem 2: My tostadas looked like mini pizza hut pizzas, and the cheese didn’t taste like Chihuahua cheese. It kind of tasted a bit like mozzarella. I couldn’t quite identify the cheese.
Problem 3: No sour cream. No guacamole. No jalapenos. Nothing really here to compliment my tostadas except tomato sauce, which at this point I’d much rather have the Diablo Sauce from Bartolini’s Italian Restaurant in Midlothian IL because at least that sauce tastes great and is spicy.
Problem 4: One bite of the beef tostada and I had flashbacks to my elementary school in Chicago. It tasted like lunchroom cafeteria food. Chicken tasted like bland chicken. Pork tasted like it was out of a can with some red sauce — that was the best of the 3 which isn’t saying much.
Problem 5: The back bottom of the menu reads to please be courteous «if there is a long line to get in, someone is waiting for YOUR table.» So basically, eat and Get the F out if we’re busy.
Problem 6… oh nevermind, you know where I am going. HOUSTON WE HAVE PROBLEMS.
Summary: El Taco Gringo. Otherwise «El Taco Real» is just plain sarcasm. The only thing real about this place is the non-​authentic food and the check at the end of your meal. If you like this place, that’s okay — not everyone likes real Mexican food. Gringos have to eat, too.