El Patron

Their food is the bomb!

I had a little too much hope for this place. My chile relleno was fairly bland, as were the beans and rice that came with it. This would be an OK place to take someone out to eat if you didn’t want any surprises at all. However, I prefer flavor over playing it safe.
When you read that this is a «no frills» place, believe it. Not that that has anything to do with how good the food may or may not be.
The «salsa bar» was red or green. Two salsas makes not a salsa bar. It makes two sauce bowls in some ice.
Maybe it is the «best Mexican food in Vacaville» but maybe it’s also time to leave town once in a while. Life exists beyond the city limits.

Good Mexican food, we ordered al pastor tacos and posole. Both were delicious and had decent flavor. I love the «salsa bar» it had my favorite pickled jalapeños and carrots. We’ll definitely be back.

I’ve been visiting El Patron for about seven years now. Everything is great! What still surprises me is how delicious they manage to make a vegetarian burrito. I’m no vegetarian, but I still frequently order it – it’s that good! So flavorful. I’m convinced it’s something they add to the sour cream. Wonderful comfort food!

Solid tacos in a no frills space. You order at the counter, sit down and wait for someone to bring out your food. Very inexpensive too so it’s worth a visit if you’re in the area.

Meet there for a meet and greet and had a taco, delicious. I wish I had gotten more. I gave them a 4 because they close at 8 on a Tuesday. Thought that was a little early.

My favorite Mexican place in vacaville. I get the carnitas torta, with green Chile sauce. I love this place

Super amazing mexican food! Me and hubby’s favorite mexican place and it totally helps that the food is priced so affordably! Can’t wait to come back here again.

Love this place! By far the best Mexican food in Vacaville. I recommend the chile verde.

Just tried this place for the first time. Got a super steak burrito and crispy chicken taco. Awesome! Great salsa and the have fountain drinks. Kind of a hole in the wall but sometimes those are the best places to eat. Highly recommended!

The food was yummy and fast. The guys were super nice also!
Found this place on Unilocal.Just looking for a quick place to grab some Mexican. Happy we stopped!

I was working in Vacaville in 2009, I use to go here a lot, great food! Great chile! My GF said it is the best lengua tacos around, thanks El Pateon.

Salsa at the salsa bar was fresh and was the first thing that jumped out at me. It was chunky and fresh. I ate the Pozole and it was delish! Pork was tender and white hominy was not over cooked.

Love this place! Real authentic food. Best Pico de Gallo ever! Also the owner is super friendly! And it’s downtown!

Best taqueria in Vacaville. We eat bfast and lunch/​dinner burritos here regularly. We adore the guy at the counter, the prices are great, food is tasty, it’s super low key, and it’s always quick quick quick.

My kids and I go almost weekly for the Pozole. We love it. Great flavor. Comes with cabbage, limes, onion, and salsa options from the salsa bar. My son also gets the shrimp taco. It’s fairly priced and tastes good. I enjoy the bean and cheese burrito. Their frijoles are yummy and again this burrito is fairly priced.
The food is always served fresh. The people are always nice.
There are many Mexican food restaurants is Vacaville. We always find ourselves going back. Good food. Fair prices.

Average but legit Mexican food. I had three tacos. The carnitas was a little dry but al pastor tasted pretty good. Carne asada was decent too. I like the free chips and salsa that comes with your order.

My brothers and I were the first ones here for an early lunch. Their walls are plastered with a lot of interesting cultural pieces. They also had a lot of pictures of their lunch/​dinner plates. It helped make the selection faster. And, be sure to order at the counter. They will bring the food to your table.
Food was alright– nothing special. Had the tamales and enchiladas. Wish the chicken tamales came with sour cream, but it was already drowning in this orange hot sauce. So, I ended up eating it without any sauces or condiments. The enchilada dinner plate came with 3 enchiladas, rice, refried beans and a salad. The rice was a bit mushy and the beans were okay. The enchiladas alone were good though.
Orders come with tortilla chips. They have a salsa bar here as well. Try the red hot salsa. It was probably the highlight of my brunch here.

* Welcome Experience
— Ordinary
Walk up to the counter and order. Been here lots of times. The same guy is behind the counter. He seems very friendly but no nonsense. I order a flan every time. He forgets to give it to me every time. It’s fine.
* Establishment
— Ordinary
Ordinary with a lean towards odd and messy. Would like to see a cohesive touch here. Maybe a bit more care if it were up to me. If the food was dynamite then who cares right? It’s not.
* Service
— Ordinary
He takes your order. They make it. He brings it to your table. There are few words exchanged. This is that kind of place and it’s fine. He will forget your flan. When you go back and ask him for it he’s nice about it. It’s fine.
* Food Quantity /​Quality /​Presentation
— Discouraging
Here’s the thing. I dream of a place in Vacaville where I can go and love Mexican food. Honestly I would just love that. I’ve tried to make this that place for like YEARS. PROMISE you, there’s just something OFF about the food. It’s FINE, but barely. The first thing I know is very consistent is that it’s BLAND. Even the chips. Look at the picture I took of my tacos… It looks GOOD! It was JUST OK! I was baffled! How was THAT PLATE bland? It’s odd, but consistent the 40 times I’ve been here.
Why do I keep going back? Because it’s FINE and I just keep HOPING I’ll order something GREAT. It’s unfairly inexpensive too. I wish the owner would charge more but care more too.
***** There is one thing that is GREAT about this place, however, and that is OMG FLAN. Here’s a challenge UnilocalERS, direct me to BETTER LOCAL FLAN. Anywhere. I’d LOVE TO KNOW how it gets better than that. It’s really really good. Fresh. All creamy no gelatin. ******
* What I’ll remember
The flan. Every second. I dream of it.
* What I can’t wait to forget
The fact that I keep coming back even though the food is barely FINE.

Considering the number of Mexican restaurants in Vacaville it might be a bit much to try and review them all but it doesn’t hurt to try…
El Patron is located in the heart of downtown Vacaville, right across from Pure Grain Bakery. It is an unassuming location that can be easily missed as there is nothing flashy about it. The interior does not look any better with almost hallway looking narrow appearance with tables placed next to the walls on each side. The décor is outdated (Corona posters and similar taqueria ‘artwork’) but that is not unexpected with this type of an establishment.
The menu is standard for a taqueria and so are the prices. You order at the register and they bring the food out to you. They have multiple lunch specials that will do the job of getting you through the rest of the workday. The food is more or less mediocre, the rice and beans were not the freshest and the Carne Asada in my enchiladas was a bit stale from reheating. It came out quickly though so there is trade-​off. I always prefer freshness over ultra-​fast food prep time though. They have a salsa bar with salsas of varying degrees of heat, all of them pretty decent.
If you are willing to spend a bit more $ and enjoy better food in nicer environment you an just walk over across the street to Los Reyes. However, if in hurry and looking for a cheap meal El Patron is not all that bad…