Mr Taco

With so many delicious food carts to choose from, why do I continually return to Mr. Taco? Amazing carnitas burritos in fresh, chewy tortillas w/​great red hot sauce is why! Do yourself a favor and try one with everything w/​a cold Mexican Coke in a frosty bottle. Om nom nom.

Best bargain for Mexican on 5^th. The enchilada combo is a ton of food for the money, and delicious too. They don’t mention it clearly on the menu, but you can substitute black beans in place of the refried pintos.

Sometimes it is late at night and you are drunk and you need a burrito. Mr Taco sells them. But even though it’s very late, and you’re very drunk, that burrito will be very average. Sober customers need not apply.
Four friends. Four thousand drinks. Four burritos. Four «meh» reactions. But hey, at least they’re reasonably priced and really big. Plus the staff is friendly. They’ll get the job done, but I doubt you’ll be happy about it.

I was pretty much obsessed with this place when I lived downtown. By far the best taco cart in the area! The crunchy beef tacos satisfy my need for tex mex and the fajita chicken tacos are a more ‘authentic’ experience. Both are amazingly delicious. I always get the shredded beef burrito and it never disappoints. The leftovers are so amazing that they rarely make it in the microwave. They are usually just scarfed down cold. Their salsas are awesome but i’m always so excited I usually forget to use them. I simply LOVE this place. The food is incredible at a great price and the service is fast and always friendly. I miss living walking distance but I still find myself making the drive here any time I want my favorite burrito and tacos!

The food at Mr. Taco manages to mostly delight. They have breakfast burritos, regular burritos, tortas, tacos, quesadillas, beverages and more. Unlike La Jarochita however, they do not have seating. Interestingly, the seating attached to Mr. Taco, not attached to La Jarochita, is for La Jarochita customers only. Some items such as their breakfast burritos could be far better, but staples such as quesadillas are done with decent skill.
I walked up to them for a pork quesadilla. It was ready after six minutes, so it was not too speedy. The pork tasted good and the cheese integrated skillfully with the meat. It was also five dollars, four for the quesadilla and one for the cola. Ultimately, there is some competition with seating inches away. However, lots are provided at the usual prices, so it’s fairly good and you can sit on some nearby benches. I wasn’t much of a fan of their breakfast burrito awhile back, and it was not that good, at least from what I ordered. The portion for the quesadilla was no less than spectacular.
When you want Mexican, Mr. Taco is a reasonable option.

breakfast burrito #10: three eggs, sausage, cheese, veggies, sour cream. *really* tasty — doesn’t need salsa! — and only $ 4.75. Definitely a great choice for a greasy, delicious mess.

The street tacos are authentic. These are not your momma’s Americanized tacos.
No, these are steak and onions and cilantro oh my! Perfectly cooked, flavorful and three for five bucks! Nicely crafted yummage.

There are a LOT of places that sell burritos in Portland so there are a lot of comparisons to be made. I have my usual spots so sometimes it’s hard to venture into new territory but the other day, I decided I must.
I will be honest, I’m always nervous trying something new when I know that there is something I will like right around the corner. But adventure is the spice of life (or is that the hot sauce?).
I got a basic beef burrito which came with beans, cheese, sour cream and pico (I skipped the gauc because it’s just not me) but I did get the hot sauce. The burrito was big, it was filling, and I really enjoyed the flavor. It was a great departure from the burritos I usually get (I know burritos all seem the same but they CAN be a little different tasting).
I will definitely be coming back as I think this cart is worthy of being added into the burrito rotation. They also offer other items, like tacos, fajitas, nachos, so there are a number of other things to give a try as well. This one is a thumbs up all the way!

Meh.
Had a carnitas burrito. It was okay. I’d call this a ‘hangover style’ burrito. Heavy on refried beans and rice, light on the rest of the stuff. Certainly fills the belly. But there are far better burritos at plenty of other Mexican carts. For that reason I’d likely go elsewhere next time. It was $ 5, this burrito. I’d pay $ 6 to improve the beans and rice to other good stuff ratio.

I tried the shredded beef burrito for lunch one day and a breakfast burrito the next day. Both were possibly the best I’d ever had, and I grew up in Southern California! I think the tortillas are homemade! My son said his cheese quesadilla was the best thing he ever ate (but he’s only six). The prices are great, too! Under $ 6! Great value. Love this place!

Take that, hangover!!!
This is my favorite place to come first thing in the morning for a giant burrito and some really spicy sauce. The lady who works here, I assume she is the owner, is a total sweetie. I love that she calls me «Miss.» Eat here. Do it.

Very yummy chicken burritos. They are large burritos for the price. I appreciate the friendly workers. I was not impressed with their asada it was incredibly chewy.

Ventured out towards the food carts yesterday. I ended up eating here. Bought a breakfast burrito (a #4 or 5, whichever has bacon) and a coke. Let me just say I have not been disappointed by the food carts yet. It was a giant burrito, I actually had to save the rest for later because I couldn’t eat it all in on sitting.
The guy who took my order was super friendly to my friend and I, and our orders came out quick and hot. This food cart is on my list of yummy places to eat! Yay!

I usually don’t want to give food carts less than three stars. Like the rest of us, they do their best to make a living and do honest work. However, I feel if I’m not honest with all of you out there then I’m not living by the Unilocal code.
So here it goes.
I got the breakfast burrito. I almost threw it away before finishing it. The ingredients were not bad; they were the regular stuff that you expect in a breakfast burrito. However, for some reason, they grounded up the potatoes. In my world, that’s definitely a no-​go. I want to chew on potatoes dices that were cooked along with ham, bacon, and other goodies. I don’t want to «drink» down grounded potatoes in my breakfast burrito! Arrggg…

Good, solid Mexican food. Nothing fancy, just lots of good food. I picked up a chorizo breakfast burrito on Tuesday morning on the way to work. I kept it simple with chorizo, potatoes and cheese. You can pick the pre-​fabs off the menu or create your own. The thing was huge. It must have been two pounds. You can’t beat that for $ 4.50.
Service was nice and quick. They cook to order so it takes a few minutes but usually less than five.
I got back to the office and chowed down, bite, salsa, bite… mmm. Lots of gooey melty cheese mixed with the spicy tang of chorizo, delish. That monster burrito was so filling, I skipped lunch.
The bottom line:
Service: ***
Food: ****
Price: ****
3.6 round up to 4.

I decided to grab some carne asade tacos while visiting in Portland. When I went to San Diego State, I used to love going to Rosarito to get the taco stand tacos: perfectly marinated carne asada cooked on a little grill until there was the tiniest bit of charring. Then it was quickly chopped on an ancient cutting board, placed inside two tortillas, throw in three or four beans, cilantro, onions, squirt of lime, add salsa, and that was all you needed. Perfect. Mr. Taco’s were okay, not great. And they put cheddar cheese on them — a cardinal sin and something you don’t see in Mexico. Overall, the place was just okay. Especially with so may other great Mexican places. I was disappointed.

I sort of have a soft spot in my heart for Mr. Taco. It was literally my first food cart experience in Portland. The first time I tried it, I got a breakfast burrito, and I thought I had died and went to food heaven.
100+ amazing carts and restaurants later, including a number of great Mexican carts, Mr. Taco doesn’t quite stand up so well anymore. They still make a solid breakfast burrito, but not as good as a number of other carts. And their standard burritos don’t fare as well as their now «decent but average» breakfast burrito and are unfortunately only mediocre.
Perhaps that’s less of a criticism of Mr. Taco and more of a praise and testament to the incredible food scene here in Portland. But in a crowded downtown lunch scene with at least 3 other better Mexican carts, and considering the Mexican cart that sits next door to Mr. Taco, they are a hard sell unless that other cart is closed. They simply do not stand out above the crowd.
Maybe if they moved to 12^th & Hawthorne to compete with a certain «less-​than-​stellar» (to put it nicely) Mexican cart at that location, they would find their niche.

Breakfast burritos? In Portland. And fairly tasty, large ones at that?
No really, it does exist. And depending on when you need them, there are multiple options at the 5^th and Oak cart pod. And while my overall go-​to has always been La Jarochita, Mr. Taco recently won some of my business. for when I was downtown at 9:25am and in need of some serious BBurrito, La Jarochita was not open yet. And Mr. Taco was. And against my better judgment (and due to my lack of time to wait for Jarochita to get it together and open), I decided to try out this little stand.
And I wasn’t actually all that disappointed.
For $ 4.50 you get yourself a hefty burrito filled with eggs, potatoes, and other sorts of fun (for me it was spinach and cheese). The eggs were cooked well, the spinach quite tasty, and there was a lot of cheesy goodness. Overall it satisfied.
I still love you Jaroichita, but if you can’t get open for the breakfast hour to serve me breakfast burritos, then I’m going to have to go to Mr. Taco instead.

Terrible name, wicked good breakfast burrito! I nearly dropped it when the guy handed it to me, it was so heavy. It was piping hot, ingredients mixed and seasoned well — potatoes, spinach, egg, cheese, wrapped up in a giant tortilla that appeared to have then been thrown on the grill for a minute. THUMBS UP, that thing was delicious.
Breakfast burritos are a fabulous meal. I would get another from Mr Taco again for sure. $ 4.50 — quick, hot, tasty meal.

Ya know, I never thought about mole being served at a food cart, so when I stepped up to Mr. Taco’s window and saw the Mole Chicken Plate special, I was really unprepared to make a good decision on my order. The mole was pretty bad, but you might enjoy it if you’re not super familiar with mole. I have had some amazing mole in my life and it can be so damn good! Lesson learned: never order mole from a food cart unless if someday an all-​mole menu make an appearance — there might be something there.
BUT, my failure to order the ill-​advised dish just makes me want to come back and try a more traditional dish for comparison. Everything else about the meal was great and the other food coming out the window looked good, so I don’t think you’ll go wrong here.
Or should I be suspicious of food from such an unauthentic-​sounding name as Mr. Taco?