El Tarasco

Beer fridge is a low key miracle. It might or might not be free. Pretty sure it was free though. Five stars!

The portion of their shrimp ceviche was huge! It was very fresh and there were lots of shrimp, tomatoes, onions, cilantro and avocado. All for $ 8.50. You really can’t beat that.

Haven’t been here in about 20 years but went with the family tonight. We tried Cabo Cantina first and they wouldn’t let our sons in. Fine, we could walk to Baja Cantina, a staple in Venice. As we were walking there we saw El Tarasco and decided to head here instead. My compadre’s father used to rave about the one in El Segundo and it’s authenticity. I hadn’t been here in years but what the hell. We decided to check it out once again. I ordered the carnitas burrito and the wife got a carnitas tostada. The boys got chicken taquitos. Overall we were all pleasantly surprised. The quality of the food and the reasonable prices were a welcome treat. Especially for this location. We would have paid twice as much if we went to Cabo Cantina or Baja Cantina. Much larger than it used to be and a nice option so close to the beach. Glad we decided to stop here.

I came here the other day and sat down for lunch. They give you chips and salsa which tastes super good. I ordered the chicken burrito and added rice. It was just okay. The chicken was dry and there wasn’t any sauce so I kept adding tapatio but the burrito still felt like it needed something more. This place was okay. I would come again. The workers were nice too.

Chips are good thickness and served warm, and the salsa is spicy and enjoyable– The puréed type, not chunky. The Super Deluxe Burrito with Carne Asada is awesome, but the Jr. version of the same has sour cream while the large on doesn’t. They’ll make you nachos however you feel like having them. Service was very cheerful and polite, although we did wait for a while for refills at one point.
The three adults in our party shared a Super Deluxe Burrito with carne Asada and an order of nachos with the same meat. Plenty of food for three people to share.

Serious eats for fast casual beach tacos/​burritos. Definitely my favorite when I’m craving Mexican — I always order to-​go!

EXCELLENT, especially for a super casual «BEACHY» restaurant. One of the more «authentic» Mexican restaurants in the area. I’ve been eating here for many years, and have tried just about everything on the menu, and it’s great. In all the years I’ve been eating here, I think I got two dishes that were just a tad off in terms of either too much salt, or a clam that was slightly over cooked, but as for the rest, it’s all fresh, and cooked really well. Plus, the size of the portions are pretty large for a very fair price.
Today, I had the 7-​seas soup (Caldo De Siete Mares) and I could only eat half of it… [see picture with tape measure :-) ] … it was roughly a half gallon of soup for around $ 11 that was LOADED with CRAB in the shell, Large Clams in the shell, medium sized SHRIMP in the shell, and the shell was edible, and delicious. Plus, both the small BAY, and larger SEA SCALLOPS, with a WHITEFISH, & finally, SQUID… Not to mention, potatoes, squash, onions, tomatoes, etc… Plus chips, salsa, tortillas, crackers… etc. «Caldo De Siete Mares» Soup of the Seven Seas. Highly recommend it. BE HUNGRY… VERY, VERY HUNGRY!!!
Also, if you are a fan of Jalapenos, they cook some fresh Jalapenos with salt on their griddle to perfection, but I think you need to ask for it as I don’t see it on the menu. Excellent Chile Relleno, Salsas, Pork in Salsa Verde, Machaco, etc, etc. etc. IT’s ALL GOOD.
I could go on, but I think you get the point… Next time you are in Venice /​Marina del Rey, this place is one block from the beach on the north side of Washington… Check it out. You’ll love it.

A sudden storm put a damper in our beach walk and we decided to have dinner earlier than what we had planned and thankfully ended up in this quaint restaurant. The food was delicious; I ordered their tacos and my husband their bean/​cheese burrito. Because everyone scrambled into any shop they found open they were packed, but even with all the chaos the staff was very friendly and it was noticeable they tried their best to not make you wait for too long. We will return, hopefully when it isn’t raining. :)

This is so not real mexican food. And the guac, not sure what was in that but it looked super white and green nothing else added to it.

Super casual and inexpensive place to stop in for a quick and tasty bite of real, homestyle, traditional Mexican food. I had the bean and cheese nachos and the hubby had a bean and cheese burrito. It was like what Mom would make for you if you had a Mexican Mom, I imagine. If you’re looking for ambience or a date night, look elsewhere. No ambience here — just good food!

This place is beyond legit and authentic
This place never disappoints !
I have been eating here for over 14 years and it’s a true gem
Super authentic Mexican
The salsa is my fave in town and the Jamaica and Horchata have always been on point !
I’m a sucker for their wet burritos but everything is amazing here !

Hands down the best mexican place ive ever had! Their flour tortillas were amazing! Ive never eaten tortillas quite like it! Im guessing they make it themselves.

Pretty good food! And really reasonably priced. I came here the other day with my boyfriend and sat outside and enjoyed fish tacos with rice and beans and a carne Asada burrito.
The only reason for 4 stars was the fish tasted a little funky, but the service was great and I believe the man who helped us was possibly the owner. If he is he is running the place right. Restaurant inside can be a little hot, I just mentioned to my boyfriend that I was hot inside and the man without question opened the doors and tried to make it more comfortable, we decided to dine outside. We ordered and I went to the restroom and not kidding I was in there for maybe 3 minutes and I came out and our late lunch was already outside waiting on the table!
Great place to eat and enjoy a very affordable lunch or dinner. Will be coming back and suggest this to others!

Great ceviche, friendly staff, good prices and conveniently located close to the tourist area.
It saved us from eating Italian or some other food not related to the area.

Good prices for beachish location and fast service.
Good pit stop after a long walk and bike ride
Been here a few times. Usually only get the more flavorful taco.
Is the best taco joint? No, but far better than El Pollo Loco, Baja Fresh, El Taco Bell.

The carne asada burrito was good. My girlfriend ordered the Diablo shrimp and gives it a 1. The margarita used agave wine and tasted like shit. Where’s the real margarita? Chips and salsa were good. I wouldn’t recommend this joint. I finished my plate, my girl didn’t and neither of us finished our margaritas.

This is my dear my dear friend Tiff’s favorite place and she took me here one day, I ordered the red chill plate which had made my night! What the amazing beef with stewed tomatoes, and the apices just perfectly combined and melted in my mouth. I literally licked the plate! I took my hubby there three times in two weeks and he absolutely loves it. We think they use all the fresh ingredients and never let the food sits in a pot for more than a day, because we can taste the freshness every time. We live down the street for years and we just discovered it recently. Since we moved to LA in 2007, we had so much Mexican food in the first three, four years until I can not face another taco and burrito, but this place turned me around. I love Mexican food again. Life is great when you can taste it!

Horrible. My husband randomly picked this place because he was extremely hungry from being on the road forever. I was handed a paper menu. hmm okay that works I guess?
Long story short, I picked a fish taco because never in my life have I ever been to a restaurant that has ever messed up a fish taco. So when you think of fish taco you think of flaky fried fish, fresh cabbage, nicely diced tomatoes and some kind of cream base sauce to top it off right? WRONG!
My fish taco came out and I knew I was going to be unhappy! I was looking for the fish and what do you know it was the cheap frozen fish sticks that don’t even have real fish in them! My cabbage was ice berg lettuce. My tomatoes were chopped into huge 2 inch pieces due to laziness in dicing correctly, and to top it off there was NO SAUCE. Not even salsa or anything! Just plain jane!
Looked even deeper into my taco and one of the tomatoes was an end piece with mold –_​– NO NO NO. If you have a restaurant within steps to the beach. Why are your fish tacos NOT up to par?!? And forget about the service. Just lazy women on their phones and when they serve you they slam your plates on the table.
Del Taco has better fish tacos than this place. And that statement alone says a lot!
Oh and hubby’s chorizo and eggs? Chorizo looked like burnt scrapings off the grill.

Ugh. C’mon. This is not Mexican food! This place is only in business because it’s in a very touristy part of Venice. That said, I like their chips and salsa. The rest is really unremarkable (and very watered down for U.S. taste buds). My best guess is that they use canned beans. The rice lacks flavor. The meat is of a pretty low quality. Also, I really did not care for their guacamole, and their «wet» burrito sauce tasted like it came from a can.
The restaurant doesn’t seem to be very clean most of the time. You order at the counter, and after the staff brings your food, they pretty much don’t check on you again. Parking can be very difficult because it’s so close to Venice Beach, but there are a couple of spots right behind the restaurant.
I would not recommend this place. There are plenty of better Mexican restaurants in the area.

Good, homestyle Mexican food. The caldo de res is excellent on a cool summer night: loaded with beef, potatoes, squash, carrots, and served with rice and tortillas. The posole, with pork, has a vivid red broth that is not as flavorful as the beef stew. The taco de camaron, prepared with grilled or battered and fried shrimp, is fine. The refried beans are creamy and delicious, if a bit salty. And the chips (whole corn tortillas, uncut) and salsa is good. The prices are very reasonable.
The service is a bit lackluster, but not unbearable, and there are a few outside tables so you can people watch.