Taco’s El Norte

al pastor torta
breakfast burrito
beef flautas
carne asada taco
most authentic mexican flavors
outside of mexico
and east of california.
no cheese, tomato salsa,
topped lettuce or sour cream drizzled!

This place is the most authentic Mexican restaurant I’ve been to that is in America. It is simply because it wasn’t meant for an American market but for a Mexican neighborhood that it is in the middle of. Be careful what you eat and what you eat after. It may cause some diarrhea if mixed with the wrong for. I say it’s worth the shit!

Great authentic mexican food. I recommend the Carne Asada Burrito Suizo Dinner!

Go elsewhere. I can’t speak to some of the customer service issue others have noted; they seemed pretty nice to us. However, the food was a problem. The best word I can think to use for my meal is sloppy. Everything was piled on and mixed up. The preparation/​presentation wasn’t good at all. The place itself isn’t exactly inviting either. I definitely would not go back.

One of the best Mexican food joints in the nation! I ate here growing up and nothing comes close (mom’s authentic homemade food is better) but when it comes to eating out, this is the spot. I’ve been living in San Diego for 8 yrs now and I still crave Tacos El Norte. SoCal Mexican food is garbage, the hype is nonsense. What Mexicans put french fries in their food? None. This is purely a socal phenomenon.

Love the one in Lake Zurich. This one lacked tomato sauce and stringy melted cheese on the enchiladas (unlike Lake Zurich)…and the beans were stone cold.
In fact, the enchiladas didn’t really come together at all. Almost seemed like I hit them upon opening and they hastily threw a plate together… cept it was near noon-​time.

My favorite taco and torta joint in Lake County!
There’s an old adage that says «Fast, cheap, or good: Pick two.» In pretty much every situation this applies, EXCEPT at Tacos El Norte. You can get a bunch of delicious tacos super cheap and they come out so quickly! Everything is tasty. I normally avoid chorizo tacos, but here it is great! And the tortas are perfect. Way better food than McDonald’s at the same price point.
Lunch hour is usually packed, so time your visit to come a little early or later. There is a lot with about 20 spaces but it is for three stores and a set of apartments. There is some street parking on Shadydell.
Afterwards, check out the mercado next door — you can get Mexican candies, peppers, lots of good food and cooking supplies there too.

Terrific Mexican restaurant! Have eaten here on approximately 10 occasions. Always hot, fast, and great tasting. Sometimes it can get a little noisy, but not an issue 9 of 10 times. Service has always been friendly and have never had a mistake in an order.

One of the best Mexican restaurants in the NW burbs. Several locations but we prefer MUNDELEIN and Lk Zurich. The one in libertyville is «meh»
Great food, (tacos etc of course) but ceviche, Posole, pork or beef ribs in green chile sauce, carne asada, everything is good.
Staff is friendly and helpful, service is good, and you have fast delicious food quickly even if they are so busy people are waiting for a seat.
Recommend definitely!

Ate here for lunch today! Took them 2 hours to bring our lunch for 3 people and didn’t come to our table after our food was delivered to check if needed more water or sodas we were drinking. My colleague went to the manager to complain and he basically too bad we are short staffed just to cut them a break and he couldn’t do anything and he walked away mid conversation. She was super pissed. They had two other birthday parties which came after us and wanted to entertain them. It’s sad because we are corporate customers and dine their frequently. We won’t be going back!
If he would have apologized and at least given some kind of discount and was really sorry instead of being apathetic we would have been understanding.
Really unfortunate because I have dined there before and picked this over another restaurant. But it’s apparent management doesn’t care about their patrons. I will not being giving any corporate business to them any further.

This place was packed, which is usually a good sign. Now, I’m unsure if authentic Mexican means inedible food that gives you diarrhea. Me and my wife’s insides were destroyed by the tasteless overlooked meat served; or maybe it was the stale, cold and rock hard chips? Never again.

I love this place. Great guac… and everything comes out SO fast!
My husband loves the chili relleno burrito.
The vegetarian torta was good.
All very nice people too :)

cozy little joint with friendly service and a pretty good chicken burrito and chips and salsa
on am on my quest to try a chicken burrito at every mexican joint in mundelein

The food is authentic and tasty. I agree that, you can tell a lot about how good the food is going to be by the salsa and chips and the salsa and chips were fresh and yummy. The food was yummy too. The service is fast and the portions are good. However, the service overall, is not so good. It seemed to me, that, unless you’re a spanish-​speaker, they don’t treat you nearly as well. I think the servers talk badly about and make fun of the customers that are not spanish-​speakers, because I do understand some spanish.
They have also screwed up my bill twice and I think it was intentional. It’s a shame, though, because the food is really good. But, I can’t support a business that’s run by rude and unfriendly people, who laugh and bash their customers for no good reason. I would rather go somewhere where the food is mediocre, but at least they treat their customers well.
I was also charged $ 1.50 for a tablespoon serving size of sour cream, that I never ordered. I assumed that sour cream came with every entrée, since that has always been the case, everywhere else I’ve eaten. I never eat sour cream, as I don’t care for it… not that that matters, but why should there should be a separate charge for that, when it came on the same plate that my entrée was? Their way of doing business has been shady and untrustworthy.
Like I said, the food is delicious, but I’ll not return on account of their customer service/​business practices. Such a shame, because imo, the cooks at this location, seem better than some of the other Tacos El Norte locations, I’ve tried before. I was originally drawn to this place, because of the good food and reasonable prices, but after all of my experiences and many chances, I don’t think I’ll be returning.

I had a terrible experience at this place… as I stood in line and waited for my turn to order, the lady at the register started taking the order from the Spanish man behind me! I asked her why she was not taking my order first and she yelled at me in Spanish. No more money from me for these folks!

My daughter & I had lunch last friday. We started with chips, order guacamole, it was great. We both had burritos, and they also were great. I was charged $ 1.50 for a dollop of sour cream, I asked our waitress about the charge and she said, «That’s what it is!», I don’t think I can return!

Looking for a great authentic Mexican restaurant, we found it here. You can often tell how good a Mexican restaurant is going to be by the salsa & chips. They were tasty so it was a good sign. The food was fast, fresh and plentiful. And the service was excellent. Will definitely be back.

Yummy food and a convenient (for me) location. My son had the chicken tacos and although the meat was seasoned it wasn’t too spicy for him. The complimentary salsa with the chips was too spicy. My veggie burrito was good. Tons of avocado which makes me happy. Staff was nice. They had dinner at a nearby table while we ate but they still came by to check on us. I will definitely return.
Another reviewer mentioned that the restaurant was cash only. I was prepared but they do accept cards.

Love this place. Just discovered it with my husband a few weeks ago. The portions were generous and tasty. We had nachos and guacamole to start. They made the nachos without the meat for us and we both had vegetable burritos. I asked them to add scrambled egg to mine and it was delicious. I would have loved to try their desserts but we didn’t have room (and also had some left to take home). As others have said, it’s not fancy but we weren’t looking for that. It was comfy, cozy, and yummy! The staff was also great. We both recommend it!

I was a bit surprised by the reviews for this place. I mean it was okay, but nothing spectacular. I know its fast food Mexican Taylor, what did you expect? Well I guess I was hoping for better meat quality like Moe’s or Grande Jake’s. I know generic Americanized Mexican food places, but at least their meat isn’t fatty. I’m get weird about fatty meat. Yes, it adds flavor, but to me it seems like a cheap filler that I have to weed out from my food.
Other than the fattiness of the meat, I thought Taco’s El Norte seemed pretty authentic. The service was friendly. We ordered our food for carry out and it was ready to go in about five minutes. I really liked the green sauce you can top your burrito with. While we were waiting we ordered a horichata (I probably butchered that). I am not usually a fan of it, but it was pretty good here.
I would go back, but next time I will not order the steak!