La Chonita Catering

Ok, third time here. Service is bad every time. Once overcharged. Long waits. Food is just OK. First two times I put change in the guy’s meter… you would think that he could make a customer feel welcome. Salsa is runny.

I really like this place & I visit them several times per month as I have eaten thousands of tacos from hundreds of places & these are flat out excellent tacos! Freshly made to order, and excellent service. The homemade green chile is terrific but I’ve never tried the red. Occasionally they have fish tacos as well — patronage the small mom & pop shops Unilocalers and enjoy!

first of all to Cristine G, you do know that most catering trucks don’t have seating areas or tables, those are found in restaurants, I ahve eaten at this catering truck many of times while in the Santa Ana and I have never had rotten food they are very generous and excellent in service, very friendly and the menu is home style cooking, delighhtful on the palate, salsas are perfected.

Probably the last person who reviewed this place got there early when the food was still fresh, I was not so lucky though.
So, my sister and I just got through watching a disturbing movie at the Yost theatre and we were scoping the area where to get our grub on. Forget the playhouse it was packed and the wait is an hour or so. We decided to head on back closer to home when I spied a food truck parked across the street from my parked car. Hey, I thought, we could be adventurous and check it out. It wasn’t one of the well known trucks so, I was kinda skeptical, but the rumbly in my tumbly won over and so we decided to give it a try. The pictures looked inviting enough.
I was getting frozen as each minute ticked by while my sister was pondering on what to order. She finally settled for a carnitas torta while I ordered a carnitas burrito with beans and rice on the side. The vendor exclaimed «but a burrito is best eaten with everything mixed together» to which I answered with the biggest, sweetest smile I can paste on my almost frost-​bitten face «but that is how I eat my burrito– just all meat, the beans and rice on the side.» He was about to retry his case but thought better of it. Since, there were no tables, nor chairs to sit on, except for a makeshift one of empty milk crates turned on its side lengthwise, we ordered our food to go. I also got a steaming cup of champorado. It was cloyingly sweet with not enough milk to give it the creaminess that I was so hoping for. Still it did the job of warming me up and keeping the hungry wolves at bay.
Finally when we arrived home I pounced on the bag. My sis was already cutting into her torta which looked as big as a salad plate. Crisp lettuce, juicy tomato and creamy slices of avocado packed with shredded carnitas. Didn’t get to try it though ;(
So I proceeded to take the plastic lining of the side tray of rice and beans when the unmistakable smell of spoiled food wafted to my nostrils. Yup, the rice was way past its expiration time. I hurriedly slapped the plastic back on and dumped it in the trash. I so do not like throwing food away as I feel guilty knowing there are people who go hungry everyday, but there was no way I’d eat that nor would I even try to pass it on even to the neighborhood transient. Fail!
I am so glad I separated the beans and rice from my burrito or else I would’ve dumped the whole thing in the trash. As it was, the burrito tasted ok. Nothing spectacular, the salsa wasn’t all that either. Combined, it made the burrito taste ok. I ate half of the burrito and shared the remainder with my son. Washed it all down with ice cold water knowing that my dreams will be full of slimy, spoiled rice slowly inching towards me while I am held down by the pasty refried beans. Whoa! Wake up!!! One star because the carnitas tasted ok, but total fail for serving spoiled rice to paying customer. So wrong on any level. You can send patrons to the hospital for this, food poisoning is not a joke.
You know you don’t have to ask if I’d go back looking for this truck in downtown Santa Ana because it’s a most definite and resounding NO!