Taqueria El Pollo Jr

The food is really good, BUT unfortunately the experience was ruined by too many flies inside the restaurant. It’s a real turn off when a place is too cheap to run the AC, so they open the doors allowing flies to swarm the place. Not only is it a nusance to constantly swat flies away, but it’s also disgusting and unsanitary. Needless to say, I won’t be back.

«Meh. I’ve experienced better.» There’s no better way to describe my experience at this place, although I swear it is called «Baja Taco» and it replaced a little joint called «Tandoori Café.» I guess if I get this address wrong I can always delete this review… but I SWEAR that this is the place I grabbed a quick dinner at tonight.
Believe me, nobody understands more sorely than yours truly that it’s fairly expensive and risky to put up any kind of restaurant in this particular area of South Orange County. I know this, man. However, for freaking $ 1.75 a taco I better get waaaay more than this. Although the guy behind the counter was as nice as ever, his kindness still doesn’t make up for the fact that (a) the food took WAY long to come out, which I can probably attribute to freshness, and fresh the tacos were indeed; (b) the salsas are disgusting — the habanero doesn’t have any other flavor other than HOT, the roasted red tomato is the same way, just not as hot, and the tomatillo is actually decent; and © these must have been the ABSOLUTE TINIEST «TJ» TACOS you will ever encounter.
Their only saving grace, aside from a running-​out tomatillo salsa, was the actual meat itself. The cabeza was tasty and not too chewy at all, the lengua actually had a nice subtle flavor to it and wasn’t too fatty, and the tripa was nice and crispy and really good. I can’t believe something like small intestines of a cow can truly save a place from the dreaded one star, but here it is.
If you’re expecting more of a bang for your buck, head about two miles north to the open-​24-​hours Taco Stop. Still a traditional South OC rip off Mexican place, but at least you get as much food as you pay for — at least that’s how it was a couple years ago when I went there last. But for truly good quality tacos without having to sacrifice a large chunk of your gas money, head to a Mexican supermarket in the area (Tula will do) or any of the random market-​slash-​food places all on El Toro Road. Although this place’s menu is interestingly diverse (they sell bacon-​wrapped hot dogs, which is freaking AWESOME, and they also have the non-​traditional non-​carnitas/​pollo/​carne asada meats that I looove), it’s not likely that I’ll return unless I have a coupon or something.

As sad as I was to see Zabiha go, I was also rather shocked that something took over the location so quickly. I went in today and they were already open for business (opened yesterday in fact), and although the menu is currently very limited, you can grab some tacos or a plate at very reasonable prices.
I opted for 3 tacos — carne asada, carnitas and this special chicken in a red sauce dish the woman recommended. The tacos are very small — kinda miniature if you ask me so you might need a few if you’re hungry.
The carnitas was very dry. It was dry to the point of almost jerky consistency. I didn’t like that. The carne asada had a strange aroma to it which I didn’t really like either. However, the special chicken in a red sauce was fantastic. It was spicy and tender and most of all, very flavorful.
If I was to rate only this chicken, it would get 4 stars, but unfortunately, I had the other stuff too so it only gets a 3 star rating. I’ll definitely be back for more of this chicken! 3 tacos came to $ 5.66 — a bargain if you ask me.
Lady who owns this place also owns Casa Franco around the corner. She tells me that this place serves more authentic flavors while Casa Franco is more Americanized. I’d never been enticed to go into Casa Franco and after reading the reviews on here, I guess I know why!
3 stars for now, but will definitely reassess at a later date.