El Tapatio

Love this place. Great food and great prices. The spicy pork is wonderful and the chicken combo can’t be beat. Nice hole-​in-​the-​wall place.

I go out of my way to stop here. The food has great flavor, portions are large, and the price is right. My happiness starts with the fresh lime slice in my water, and continues as I watch the cooks make everything fresh — chopping limes, slicing meat, frying chips… I dream of this good — the guacamole, salsas, warm tortillas, flavorful rice & beans (I usually pass on those), flavorful meats and veggies…
They say the sign of a good ethnic restaurant is people of that nationality eating there. You will most definitely find that here. And don’t panic if you end up with a menu on Spanish. Just ask for (or use hand signals to request) an English version

This was my first time here and I went with a Mexican guy. It was delicious. I had a gordita with beef and sausage spicy… Have mercy! It was out of this world. This is now my favorite place for Mexican food!

This is the closest thing to a gourmet Mexican restaurant I know of in Nashville, although it’s very casual (plastic plates) and has no ambience. If they had a fancier place along with the items people expect, such as enchiladas, they would kick ass. You can get street tacos at El Tapatio, though they aren’t very good at either of the two locations; better luck across the street at Taqueria Dollar. But they’re good for what they have. This would be an average restaurant in CA.

Why? Why do I go anywhere else but here for tacos? Use the chili powder with the beer. Just do it!

Low quality steak, dirty, and overcharged. On the positive side they do serve an authentic Mexican menu and the waitresses speak English.

Traveling through and it was close to our hotel, and the Unilocal reviews were good so we tried it. The reviews were on target — food here is excellent. Spicy pork burrito was extremely tasty; refried beans were great. Salsa was a bit spicy. Cheese quesadilla was very tasty. Ambience extremely basic; service was excellent. Clearly popular with the locals. Strongly recommend it.

First time purchasing food from this establishment. As a new comer to Nashville from NYC I’m missing the variety of ethnic foods. Well the Spanish side was filled today. Their chicken was very good and flavorful. It came with rice, frijoles and corn tortillas. I ordered half a chicken. Besides the chicken being a bit on the dryer side and the portion of rice to frijoles completely unbalanced — all in all it was a flavorful dinner with a great price tag.

Sorry to be so impressed, but this has been my best Unilocal experience in 2 years.
Went at 11pm on a weekday.
Everything is Spanish, menu, tv, etc.
Tacos are small, but at $ 1.25 each —
Amazing.
Red salsa is spicy with a hint of bean flavor.
Can’t believe I almost went to applebees tonight.

Shot threw the window, but they’re to blame /​/​Lack of guacamole prevents a perfect grade.
So much LOVE for this place! Super cheap street style tacos and excellent guacamole… when available. Sadly, I don’t think they make their guac in house. For several visits I was told they were sold out of guac, but yet my meal still contained large slices of avocado.
They serve their beer with a lime slice dipped in spice. Sounds weird, but it so GOOD. Food flavor varies depending on daily cook and ingredient selection. My pork tacos usually include avocado, cilantro and onion, but on good days they toss in pineapple. Not knowing exactly what you’re going to get makes the experience that much more enjoyable.
You can always count on Spanish soap operas playing on their TVs. Don’t forget to check out the bullet hole in the window. Gives the atmosphere just little something extra.
Overall: good, authentic tacos at a great price.

I was in Woodbine and was feeling hungry. It was past 21h and La Hacienda was closed. So I checked Unilocal and El Tapatio was open. It was great. Nelsey greeted me with a wonderful smile and it seems like I had personal service. I decided on Carne Asada tacos and ceviche. The ceviche had mayonnaise, which was different. If I could do it over again, I’d opt for no mayo. I really loved their green salsa.
Just what the doctor ordered. Tacos ‘with everything’ onion, cilantro.
It was so welcoming. Nelsey spoke to me en Español.
Great little place.

Straight to the point, the food SUCKS & is NASTY
Wait staff eh not really friendly or helpful
pricey$

I give it 3.5 starts…
They do have a good pastor and they are doing it on the spit the way it done in Mexico. But my down fall was the quality of the Corn Tortillas. I will go back and try them again. I only had the Pastor and Asada tacos.

Best Mexican hands down ! The 3 piece chicken dinner $ 5.95 is fantastic. Comes with rice and refried beans (which are great) and corn tortilla’s. I always sit inside or on the patio and the service is great. I have had most all of the tacos but the barbacoa taco is my favorite by far. Very silky, rich beef flavor .
I’m not sure what it is called but the shrimp/​octopus cocktail is great ! Tons of boiled shrimp in a fantastic tomato, avocado, cilantro and onion cocktail like soup. Don’t get it thinking it is an appetizer though. It’s a meal ! Yes we used crackers so it was definitely a meal !

I’ve only been here once and I really enjoyed my chicken tacos. They were definitely prepared the authentic street version way with just the meat, cilantro, onion, and you add whatever salsa that tickles your fancy!
I will definitely come back again when I need my real Mexican taco fix. Be warned this is a hole in the wall place where probably at least half of the people working and the clients don’t speak a lick of English. Love it!
If you are feeling adventurous give it a go. I’m wary of anything on the menu that wasn’t a taco, but I may give it a try next time I go.
Provecho!

In a hugely competitive Mexican food market, this was way below average. No smoke from the grill should have been a give away. The chicken was very dry and had no hint of flavor. Pollo Plate was $ 7.50 which we split and was adequate for two. A bowl of guacamole was brought out ahead of time, we thought it was free… it was not. Someone else complained while we were there about being charged for something they did not ask for. No salsa came out with the chips.
The search for the perfect chicken since the demise of Super Pollo continues…

I got the spicy pork + pineapple taco, steak taco, and chicken taco. I got it to-​go, so I’m not sure how it’s like to dine-​in.
Anyway, they were a bit frugal on the lime. I like at least ¼ lime per taco minimum. Unfortunately, I had to use that one slice of lime for four tacos (I ordered one steak, one chicken, and two spicy pork — which I’m glad I did because it was the only one that was worth raving about.)
Prices are decent. I asked for the pickled radishes & carrots. But they were raw cuts or not fully pickled. Really bummed me out. The salsas included were okay.
I’ll go back for the spicy pork tacos. They were flavorful. It’s Nashville, you don’t really have that much options.

I love Saturday road trips, even if they are just down to Nolensville. We packed ourselves into the car and headed towards the land of Essex and tacos. We attempted to hit up Don Juan’s but they were closed for the day. With a wrench thrown into the plan we drove and stopped at El Tapatio since it was close to Essex. The place was inviting and we were the only non-​Spanish speakers inside of the establishment. Once inside we were promptly seated.
I choose to go with a spicy pork street taco and a carnitas combo plate. The spicy pork wasn’t spicy but it was spiced well. The carnitas pork was okay, kind of bland actually but that was okay, I added some homemade salsa. Beer was surprisingly pricey. $ 3.50 for a Sol but it did come with a lime that had spices on it. I’ve never seen it before but it smelled yummy. The food came relatively fast and I wished I had ordered the spicy pork on my combo plate. Overall the place was good, not great. I would probably come back for a taco but only after I try the other Mexican restaurants/​trucks on Nolensville.

OMG

Though located off the beaten path, this place is fantastic!
The food is delicious, authentic and inexpensive! Does it get any better than that? I even got a chance to practice my Spanish to communicate with our server! And for those without too much Spanish knowledge… no worries. pointing on the menu will work just fine!
My husband and I ordered the tacos. We tried several different meats. Our favorite was probably the spicy pork. YUM!!! I loved how simple but tasty the tacos were, much like we saw in California. The tacos basically consisted of meat, cilantro, and some chopped onions on a fresh corn tortilla! The sauces that came with the meal = delicious!
We did get a little lost trying to locate this place, because as others have said it’s a bit of a hole in the wall. Plus, it’s on the side of town I rarely go. But I would say it was definitely worth the trip!