Trejos Carnitas

Literally a true diamond in the rough. Ive been to several places in Mexico and around the U.S. Trying carnitas but none of the come close. The carnitas at this joint come out juicy in the inside and are marvelous on the outside. The price is really cheap as well compare to other places. Staff are really nice and take their time to explain their menu and prices. I ate in and got rice, beans and 1 pound and a half with the fam. They were so good that i bought 2 pounds to go. That good. This place gets packed but people eat and leave so theres always room, and they have a table outside and several tables inside. They sell tortas, tacos and a whole bunch of other stuff, cant really go wrong with whatever you order.

I have mixed feelings about visiting this place.
Pros:
Great value: 14 bucks for 1 lb of carnitas (no skin), a dozen of tortillas, and two bottles of water.
Fast service: wait time is very minimal. Our food was served quickly.
Cons:
Silverware: we used plastic forks and paper plates. It would be nice to have real forks and china.
Ambience: table set up is weird and the place could look cleaner. It has some Mexican heritage items but they are not aesthetically great. I am not to fond of the jukebox either.
Parking lot: The parking smells like sewer waste.
Menu: they need to provide menus for people who dine. It’s outrageous that I have to stand to see the big menu behind the counter. (Btw the menu has spanish spelling errors).
Verdict: The carnitas are good but not great. They need to be a little bit softer and juicier. They need a little bit more salt as well.
You decide whether this restaurant suits your needs!
I am looking forward to check out their other place and write a review as well.

Good tasting but not great!, the waitress is too young and careless. You have to raise your hand to get her attention. Service needs a lot of improvement. If they’re alwys sooo busy why do they only have one cashier?

They only want to speak spanish. They take your request… nod…then give you whatever… then get mad when you complain… outside tables and inside floor dirty and if they’d turn the music down or move the speaker away from the order area MAYBE they would get the orders right

It had been a long time since I went there, but we were craving some good carnitas and I though we would go to what we knew was the best place for that in Watsonville. I was quite disappointed at what we got. I order two pound to go. I asked the lady there to please give me only meat as we don’t really like the skin that much, especially the kids. She responded in a kid of annoyed form that it had to be rib, skin and meat. Since I had no choice, I took two pound of that, within 30 seconds, they had my order packed and in a bag; I though initially that it was good that service as quick, I realized later they have had it pre-​packed. When I got home, we were all extremely disappointed to see what was in the package. There were large bones, lots of them, lots of skin and not one piece of solid meat. Since we were hungry and in a hurry, we eat what we got. I do have a scale at home so after we finished eating, we collected the bones and found that it weighted to a bit more than half of a pound. It is likely that we also got about one pound of skin leaving it to only about half a pound of meat.
I am extremely disappointed at the service and the poor quality of the food. It is a disgrace that this place gives you half a pound of bones. No other place does that!!!
If you there to go to this place, you will see a poorly hand-​written sign that says «check your change and food before leaving; there’s no returns»… I can only imagine you have to have a sign like this because that happens very often; I would have been one of those returning your crapy order.
My advice, avoid this place unless you want a bunch of bones in your order!

Road side restaurant, family owned n operated. Always a line, local families bring own containers for pork by the pound. Good priced burritos, fresh ingredients not for those needing glamour but want to return here to contribute to locally owned businesses.

Carnitas were really good, but customer service sucked the lady that helped us was rude, we walked about 530 and we asked if we could take a seat to eat and she said no. It clearly says they close at 600,

Great tortillas… amazing carnitas.
I wish they had real silverware to eat with however.
The quality (or lack thereof) of their plastic cutlery leaves MUCH to be desired.
Grungy exterior… interior could be cleaner… and if you are overly picky about appearances, you might want to look elsewhere.
But if you want the real deal on food… you should give this place a try.

If I could give this place 0 stars I would. We ordered Tortas and one of them was for my siblings and since they don’t like carnitas we ordered Asada for the kids. When they brought the food the meat looked discolored and old. We had a bite of their meat and it was disgusting and the kids didn’t like it as well. It tasted like it was at least 2 or 3 days old. The kids didn’t want to eat it so we told the waitress about the problem and they said they could change it but for the same meat so then we said we would get one of carnitas then to see if my siblings would actually eat it. They looked mad and were giving bad service right off the bat. When my dad got up to pay the bill the owner refused to charge us and told us to «investigate» what we wanted instead of changing our mind on what we wanted because we can’t change our mind (which we didn’t do). My dad kept insisting to pay and he didn’t accept but followed by saying that we need to find somewhere else to eat and not come back.
The owner is rude and clearly doesn’t know how to run a successful business. Instead of apologizing for the inconvenience he threw us out!!! What kind of business owner is that? We are a traveling family and we have eaten at a good share of restaurants and we have never experienced anything like this. You can’t complain because they’ll theow you out??? Don’t worry, it’s not a place I would go back to and I’ll make sure to tell everyone what incredibly BAD place that is.

There carnitas are hands down the best in Watsonville. However that doesn’t mean that they should have terrible customer service when you are ordering or over the phone. I had called to make an order and the cashier was very rude instead of saying How can I help you today? she simply said Carnitas Trejos. After making my order she than said is that it I replied yes. She hung up the phone… I really like this place but some of the cashiers there should be better in their customer service skills because, I can always just go to Carnitas Michoacan which they actually have great customer service and the Carnitas are actually better then these. Moreover if they don’t fix it they will lose me as a customer. I’m sure others can agree with the service.

Best carnitas ever! I drive from San Jose to Watsonville just to eat here. Good for large groups. I will definitely be back to eat here again. Not the best looking place but for sure the best place to eat. Cash only place. I recommend to get there early it gets pretty busy and the earlier you come the fresher the carnitas taste. Their service is pretty good and fast.

Can’t beat this place for carnitas. Absolutely delicious. The ambiance can be very noisy-​loud juke box playing and I was there once with an actual live banda playing. Gets crowded most of the time but none of this could damper my appetite for their awesome carnitas. Can order by the pound or their special order plate comes with rice and beans and tangy salad and avocado on the side.
They make huge home made flour tortillas and small corn tortillas. They use to be hand made but are now homemade machine made tortillas-​still good but a little on the small side.
Like I said before place can be busy and not the best ambiance but worth the wait and loud music is tolerable because you are not going to find better carnitas. True Michoacan style. Their burritos are excellent and they also have mole which is delicious. Love their mole burrito with chicken !!!

Best carnitas in California!
This is a smaller place but it has by far the best carnitas I’ve ever tasted! All the rest of the food is also fresh and flavorful; beans and red rice. It’s a cash only place but has an ATM inside the restaurant.

Don’t bother coming here unless you speak Spanish. While the food is good, it’s just not worth being treated less than human. Another note, the health dept might want to check out both Carnitas Trejo locations. The people handling the food do not wear gloves, even after handling money. Very concerning.
Will never, ever go back.

Only in Watsonville can you find great authentic Mexican food… this is not a high priced Santa Cruz taquirea. it is as real as it gets. One of the best in the area… And the carnitas are gluten free w/​corn tortillas…

If you want an authentic Mexican carnitas experience, this is as real as it gets!
Bring you fat guy pants cause it is delicious and finger licking good. The juke box plays banda and the walls are covered with photos of Emiliano Zapata. Well worth the drive or a quick detour anytime you are in the neighborhood.
Try the variedad or straight up carnitas with a dozen tortillas. You will be greatly rewarded!!!
Take some to go cause even though its best fresh (what isn’t?) or live with the craving for more until next time your near Watsonville.

I think they have the BEST Pork Carnitas in town. Although La Colmena comes in at a close 2^nd place, Trejos are a bit more «moist» and flavorful + here they offer Home Made Tortillas! +++++++ The only bad thing is the parking SUCKS! Especially on the weekend, don’t even try and park. The parking lot is CRAMED with people who don’t know how to drive. During the week is the best time to go.

Watson native, and hands down the BEST carnitas I’ve ever had. The place is usually closed a few months during the winter but it’s always a good call on a Sunday!
The mixed carnitas (with cueritos) burrito is the way to go. It might put you to sleep but two thumbs up on this!

Awesome authentic Mexican de Michocan. The Carnitas are six dollars a pound and if you ask for them you can get Tortillas hecho de mano! (Hand made tortillas) Great salsa! Love love love this place… btw it’s only open thurs through Sunday…

I always say that I like the idea of the burrito more than I like burritos per se. While the concept of meat and other adornments harmoniously united within a tortilla enclosure sounds great, the reality of most restaurants’ burritos decimates that dream like an IED. Substandard ingredients, improper filling ratios (especially overuse of fillers like rice and iceberg lettuce), poor seasoning, and overstuffing all lead to the dream deferred… burritus interruptus, if you will.
Practically starving around lunchtime in the far reaches of Watsonville, it was the Unilocal app to the rescue yet again. Trejo’s sports a totally unassuming façade on an uremarkable stretch of road. Inside, though awaits an unbelievable treasure, the burrito version of Indiana Jones’ golden statue. Fortunately, this costs only 6 bucks or so and doesn’t involve running from a giant boulder at great personal peril. Rather, your reward is one of moist, mind-​bendingly savory chunks of pork, tastefully accented by the other ingredients, including Trejo’s righteous salsa roja.
Order one (or three, if you’re smart about meal planning for the week), and try to hang on… let it rest in the wrapper for a while, allowing the goodness to coalesce. Now peel back the foil prom dress, put on some Usher slow jams, and get to it. Not too fast, now, tiger… a burrito likes to be treated right. Take a generous, but not gluttonous, first bite. Feel the juicy texture of the meat, the supporting savoriness of the other ingredients, a bit of heat from the salsa, all lovingly enrobed by the tortilla. You may want to be alone for this truly meditative moment, both for your own enjoyment and to prevent others from coveting your burrito bliss.
Repeat.
See the face of God.
Die happy.