Mendoza’s Taqueria

Great authentic Mexican food! The chavelas are extremely flavorful! I’ve had their Birria, tacos, some seafood and chavelas.
Meats are good and cooked perfect.
Salsas are great and spicy.
Menudo was ok but it was a little over cooked for me.
Aguachile is amazing!
One star lost because it’s a little pricey but hey it’s San Jose.

If you haven’t been here you should check it out really good authentic cooking like you would have at your abuelitas house. The birria which is goat is one of the best things in the menu the give you a side of the broth when you order the tacos. The enchiladas estilo michoacan are also the best.

The food is very good.
You must try the Michoacán enchiladas con pollo. SO GOOD.
You won’t regret it. They are different than what most Americanos think enchiladas are.
If you want the one you are used to, then get the Enchilada Suizas. Those are good as well.
Excellent red sauce.
Perfect rice and beans.
You really can’t go wrong her for lunch.
Fast service for lunch for to go orders and they take cards as well.
This is my second visit and my coworker and I love this place.

Great food. But with every visit the service has gotten worse. This time was the last straw. We got there placed our order. Which took 10 minutes for someone to come around. We waited 30 minutes and the only thing they brought me was a beer. When we talked to the waitress we were given a bunch of excuses. Which were not valid since a few customers after us got serviced. We ended up walking out because we noticed that they were not interested in remedying the situation.

This place has a good thing going for themselves. We had the birria de chivo en caldo, caldo de res and a gordita de asada and it was all SO good! AND they make their own aguas frescas which are hella good too! Can’t wait to go back and try more of their menu.
You go mendoza’s!

Good food but I had the mole de pollo and the chicken is on the bone.
Do you realize how messy it is trying to get chicken off the bone when it’s drenched in mole sauce???
Not to mention there was more bone than meat.

I gave this restaurant a 3 star, their foods and drinks was good plus the music felt like you are in Mexico. I was a bit confuse about serving their free chips and salsa because some place would give you that when you do come to eat at their restaurant. I would still go again, but i will ask them with their free chips and salsa

NEVER COMING HERE AGAIN! I’ve been to so many taquerias and never experienced HORRIBLE customer service in my life! I didn’t mind the mediocre tacos, since they had music, BUT wow jus horrible in general. I didn’t expect this place to be 5 star quality, but at least have a decent server. never again omg I should’ve just stick to what I know. I only had to give this place one star because it would not let me post

The servers here are always so friendly and the food is delicious! Try the huchepos and the enchiladas michoacanas!

I think it’s alright… this place makes good Michoacan enchiladas… you should really try those if you go. On this visit I had the beef soup… but it was hella greasy… it had good flavor but you can totally make such soup without so much grease!!! The toppings of cilantro and onion and hot sauce made it taste good. My man had a torta and it had too many jalapenos. They also use panela cheese which is grilled a little.
This place is filled with Mexican people so you know it’s good. I see a lot of them ordering birria… goat meat… served with a consome.
The menu has many choices and now they take cards and the receipt has a coupon for $ 3 off your next visit. Also, be ready for multiple sellers coming in with flowers, and now Mexican jello and chopped fruit in a bag (the coconut looked good but I couldn’t do it due to worrying about germs eek). Additionally, there is little business selling certain other things, just don’t go here when it’s too dark for your own good!
All in all, it’s aight…

The waitress was friendly, but service was slow. Receiving the food and paying took longer then usual.
As a burrito connoisseur, I would say the super burrito is a little heavy on the rice. The meat, salsa, and beans tasted authentic. All the ingredients were distributed nicely throughout the burrito. I feel like I tasted all the ingredients in every single bite.
The super nachos were presented beautifully, but the chips could of been crunchier. Unlike most nachos, every layer was covered with cheese, sour cream, salsa etc.
I would recommend it if you’re looking for an authentic tasting burrito, and you don’t mind waiting a little bit.

The food is delicious. Definitely recommend Enchiladas de pollo. Went on a sunday was seated right away. Waitress was very attentive. Food was brought in a timely manner. The only down side it was hot. They need some type of ac or fan by the stage

Look, the food here is awesome. Bar selection is great. Salsa trio is definitely interesting but the service is completely inconsistent and to be quite frank, horrible at times. Seems to be a rotating theme in San Jose these days. I used to love taking my family in here but after being treated second rate by the owner several occasions, we’ve decided to take our business elsewhere going forward.
They need to hire more staff for the dinner crowd. Doubt that will happen though.

Awesome Mexican food lots of pride in the food realistic prices. I had a Michilada with modelo especial a gordita with chicharone shrimp cocktail enchilada suiza. Fat Boi! I know. Service was nice all the waitresses are super cute and friendly. I was the only Caucasian there (which is a great sign «authentic») and felt very welcomed.

Muy buen lugar, bale la pena la espera para entrar, la comida tiene un excelente sabor a auténtica comida mexicana! Eso es lo importa!

I honestly don’t think the food is authentic. I feel they could do a better job seems like the food is made in a rush.

Several of my friends have recommended this place, so I thought I would give this place a try. Went on a whim on a Sunday evening. I would compare this place to like Tlaquepaque and Tequilas Taqueria. Authentic Mexican restaurant. DEF NOT like Aquis.
Menu:
Typical options. I did not see carnitas as an option. Not sure if it’s offered but they have all the other typical meat choices — carne asada, chili verde, etc. If you like to drink micheladas, I would recommend getting them. They are very refreshing.
Food:
I ordered the wet burrito chicken. It was alrite. I did not know that the chicken was shredded. I felt like there was more chicken than anything else. The chicken was also dry. Should have ordered the carne asada instead. My friend ordered a chicken enchilada plate which he said was very authentic. The chicken was fried. He said that is how his mom would make it.
Service:
Good!
They also had a banda on Sunday which made it somewhat entertaining. Made me want to BAILA! Will be here again to try the other food options and for the micheladas.

Left disappointed, the food was not good and definitely overpriced. The ambiance and Micheladas were good though.

This place is not a fancy Mexican restaurant so if you are
used to Aquis and Wahoos tacos please stay away .U wont be able to
recognize authentic Mexican food anyways.
For some real foodies this is the place for you.
This place has some of the best Mexican food in the bay area!
But can your stomach handle it ?
Just kidding .lol. this place offers all the Mexican dishes you can
imagine plus more.
make sure to try out their street style snacks. the platters
with the beer cans and shrimp and peanuts and hot sauce .
*drool*
servings are definitely huge.
it gets super packed on the weekends and really loud with
live music.
staff is always attentive
parking is good
give it a try.

A coworker of mine said this place is pretty awesome so two of my friends and I decided to try it out! Right away our waitress was super nice and she definitely showed she cared about us being satisfied with everything. She gave us enough time to decide what we wanted and she even suggested a couple of things from the menu.
You also get complimentary salsa and chips! But just to warn you, the salsa is SUPER spicy. For me, at least. Wish they offered a milder salsa. So far, so good… until I got my food. I ordered the enchiladas suivas with the grilled steak. I usually like enchiladas but the red sauce was not cutting it. It lacked taste and the steak was super dry. I don’t know if it was bad luck, but my rice was hard every now and then too. I also ordered a hupecho on the side and they’re pretty damn good. It definitely gets tiring towards the middle though. I also got a small horchata and it was standard, not the best I’ve ever had. It wasn’t the worst Mexican food I’ve tried but I wasn’t jumping out of my chair.
One thing that was freakin’ ridiculous was that she charged us $ 1.50 for water… She did bring us bottled water so I guess that was «kind of» a hint, but I wish she could’ve informed us about that because I have never been charged for water at any restaurant before…
So overall, this restaurant isn’t too shabby but it’s not my #1 go to place.
P. S. They do take credit/​debit cards now! I know that can be inconvenient for some folks.

This is place is absolutely my favorite taco spot in all of Eastside San Jose, which is saying a ton! Their tortillas are handmade and are just amazing. Their tacos are huge! If you normally order three tacos at most places, you should order two here. But hey serve their tacos with an extra tortilla because their is so much meat! Their Birria is incredible and on Sundays it is packed with Mexicano familias and lively cultural music (always a good sign!).
Possible my favorite part of Mendoza’s is that they give you plates full of cilantro and onion so you can make your taco how you like it!
The only downside to Mendoza’s is that they take only cash, but almost every spot on the Eastside is ‘solo efectivo’ so get your cash out and have some of the no best tacos this side of the border!

Really enjoyed the birria de chivo; got it seca style (dry), props for the moist n’ yummy maize tortilla’s. The meat was flavorful, sweet and not salty. Excellente!!!
As the plates went by to various tables, my stomach grew more impatient.
Large screen TV’s showcase local advertising.
Customer service: excellent.
Parking: fine.

The homemade tortillas separate this place from the others by far. They’re fresh, hot, and have a nice thick texture to them. So far I’ve tried their birria, adobado, and carne asada tacos. My favorite was the adobado, which is basically al pastor, just cooked on the grill instead of on a spit. The birria overall was good, a little bland, but came with this delicious consommé that was perfect with the tortillas. Also watch out for bones in the birria! My boyfriend found a few of them in his taco. My least favorite was the carne asada because it was just bland and needed a lot of salsa to make it edible.
Definitely will be back to try more stuff.

Very disappointed on my last visit!:(
Cold food, poor service, and lack of attention to details to customers. It might be my time here.
Time to look for a new place to eat.

PLEASE READ!
First off I would like to start off by saying that I wish Unilocal had a 10 Star Review because this place is by far OFF THE CHARTS! I haven’t had Mexican food this good in my entire life. No Lie, I wanted to cry when I was eating. Seriously, This place is by far is the best. If you want top notch Mexican food at a great price, PLEASE, I beg you come to Mendoza’s!
The food was full of flavor, the tortillas were hand made and so FRESH it was insane! I literally had 10 tortillas, that’s how dam good they were. I had the Fajitas which consisted of shrimp, chicken, and steak and my Fiancé had the Birria. We also had Corona Michelada’s. The tables are set with 3 salsas already on the table, cream, onions and cilantro. The salsa’s were so incredible and full of flavor as well. To be honest I really can’t even explain the goodness without shedding a tear. Food so good that makes you wanna cry? You know the food is beyond Amazing.
If your ever in San Jose and are looking for Mexican food do yourself a favor and make sure you go to Mendoza’s. Don’t even second guess after reading this review, just GO! Make yourself one happy camper as I was. I found this place by doing a Unilocal review and it was a debate between this place and a few others but I sure am happy that I chose this place. My first experience here was the best experience in my life. Oh, on another note, this isn’t just some regular ol’ Taqueria, It actually has a restaurant like setting which I enjoyed. The staff is very polite and quick which was a major plus! The kitchen is full of OG’s who clearly know what they are doing and deserve to be praised!
I LOVE MENDOZA’S!

No recomiendo ir acomer alas 9:00 am por que no tienen tamales de elotes, end morisqueta

Amazing taqueria that serves delicious, fresh, Michoacan food in the heart of East San Jose. Whenever my husband and I go to a Mexican restaurant anywhere, this is the gold standard for us – all places, especially places that give the impression that they are authentic taquerias – get compared to Mendoza’s.
Along with another a la carte item I usually order at least one taco. Their tacos allow the fresh, corn tortilla and juicy meat to shine, with minimal condiments (they do have fresh cilantro and chopped onion at the tables, though years ago I also thought they used to put sour cream and/​or a little queso fresco but not anymore). This past visit they did not have carnitas, which dashed my dreams of having an amazing porktastic taco =*(
The chavindeca and gordita are also so delicious, in part, I think, because they are so simple. Meat can be a touch too dry, including the adobado this last trip, but still full of flavor. My husband usually orders a huge burrito, and the one bite that he allots for me is an amazing, juicy combination of flavors and textures, with meat, cheese, sour cream, avocado, and rice.
Another thing I enjoyed is the horchata which is extremely difficult to find in the Kansas City area, which is where I live now. I like my horchata a little sweeter and with more cinnamon, but perhaps that’s not the authentic way of making it.
Great, authentic taqueria with great, authentic food. Every city needs a place that serves amazing food like Mendoza’s Taqueria.