Taqueria Los Portales

Good near authentic mexican food. I’ve eaten here a few times. I’m sure I will be back.

AMAZING Mexican food and super cheap. The lunch burrito is $ 7.50 and will carry most folks through two meals. They have a bar for salsas/​hot sauces (all made in house), as well as a salad of onions, tomatoes, cilantro, jalapeños, and red cabbage (delicious!), beans, shredded lettuce, radishes, etc. We went with a group of five — everyone got different dishes, and everyone left super happy… with to-​go containers.

La Tapatia across the street by Harris Teeter is fresher, better, cleaner, and salsa bar is much better kept. This place ok but greasy and the salsa bar is wilted and dirty.

This was a good authentic mexican place. Most of the people in here were speaking Spanish so don’t expect and americanized version of the food. We had the carnitas taco platter and the chicken taco platter. They have a condiment bar with lettuce, radishes, cilantro, cucumbers, beans and a couple of salsas. The lettuce and some of the veggies looked a little wilted but the salsas were very good. Refried beans and rice nothing to write home about and the portions are not large. The carnitas were good, the chicken had really no flavor at all. When you come in, you order at the counter and they bring your food out to you and it is self serve on the toppings. Definitely try the salsas to spice up your food, they are worth the trip.

Great little taqueria to score some great authentic Mexican food, kinda like a little Mexican sports bar, they have a few tv’s around the place and alot of sports memorabilia on the walls like autographed and framed soccer jerseys, they have a bar on one side of the restaurant. I was here at lunch on my visits so there wasn’t much action goin’ on, but I bet that all changes at night.
The food I had from here was just great, had a few different varieties of Mexican tacos, which are 2 little corn tortillas with whatever your meat option is, they come with nothing on them as they have a salsa/​toppings bar for you to dress your tacos yourself. The bar has a few homemade salsas which were all great, with some big heat. My favorite was the dark reddish brown one, it has a big smokey flavor and big heat, the creamy green one is pretty awesome too, it’s made with avacodo and jalapeño, both were outstanding on the tacos. The little bar also has your cilantro, onions, radish & cucumber slices, lettuce and a Mexican type slaw that was really really good with the tacos.
Of the tacos, I think the pork carnitas were my favorite, they were pretty outstanding. I also had a barbacoa sope on one stop which was really nice too, even though they made it with a flat gordita and not a regular corn sope, no big deal, both made of corn masa, just a sope is in a little bowl shape to hold everything and not flat.
I’ll definitely be stoppin’ by here more whenever I’m in town.

I stumbled in here after looking for an open sushi restaurant. This place is awesome. Great authentic Mexican food and micheladas!

Best tacos in Wilmington! I have only eaten the tacos at this restaurant, so the perfect score is based solely on the tacos! The tortillas are authentic and tasty– the meat well cooked and addictively delicious! There is also a hot sauce (salsa to some) bar with other condiments as well. The sauces are AMaZinG! All of them! My only complaint is that sometimes there is no clean table to occupy. I just bring my own Lysol wipes and do it myself since I don’t want to bother anyone to do it. Overall– my favorite taco place!

Delissssssh! Got the Torta Mixta and my husband got the Tacos al Castor and it was delish. The salsas were hot and tasty.

Hands down the best tacos and burritos in town. Wonderful selection of proteins and you definitely get bang for your buck. The staff is always really friendly and it may be the only place in Wilmington that constantly has the Futbol Network on. Love it!

What can I say but excellente. Diveish hole in the wall place with excellent service and very authentic Mexican food. Seasonings were just right and lotsa spicy salsa when asked for. Burrito was outstanding. Definitely will visit next time I go back to Wilmington.

Just another true Mexican «hole in the wall» so first off use this place for take-​out only… I just do not get the people walking into this dump and then bitching because it is too noisy. Did you think your eyes deceived you somehow? Did you forget to count the number of blaring soccer games on the TVs around the room? Did you think the place was going to change suddenly or they would turn all that stuff off and start talking English to your ignorant ass once you sat down? I am just saying it’s a dive and you can tell it is a dirty noisy dive when you walk in the door so why the hell are you so surprised it remains a dive?
Biggest and tastiest burrito in town. This is the real deal Mexican food wise which is rare here in the south home of your typical corporate Mexican buffet style garbage plate with no flavor. This place serves every part of the cow so yes they have cheek and tongue and all the other parts confirming their authenticity. If you miss the typical California taqueria truck here in sad pathetic going nowhere fast Wilmington go here and order up some good stuffs and forget where you are for a few minutes.

Not the best experience. My husband and I decided to check this place out since we heard good things about it. We went around 3:00pm. First thing I noticed was the smell of bleach and food Ugh! But I figured oh well they are cleaning. Our bill came out to 19.69 but the cashier charged us 79.69. On top of that she didn’t know how to refund our money so we got cash back. So I went to get my drink and noticed the smell of trash, of course the trash cans are right beside the drink fountains… double ugh. I don’t even know why I decided to still eat there. I ordered two chicken tostadas with rice. My rice must have been sitting with older burnt rice because it was yellow but smelled burnt! So we got a box and left. We will not be back. I love Mexican food, but this is not authentic!!! I’d rather go to Cerro Grande and I will continue to give them my business :)

We happened upon this place by accident, and are so glad we did. Neither of us can remember the last time we had an authentic Mexican meal in the US. It was lunchtime on a Sunday, and very crowded, a good sign. We each had an order of Cinco with steak and pico de gallo, plus shared a bowl of menudo. Though tripe is not one of my favorite tastes, it was good. We had wanted the other soup that is only sold on weekends but it was sold out. Glad we have a couple more days in town; we can come back!

These reviewers who complain they you don’t get «chips and queso» need to just go and eat Chipotle. This place is the real deal when it comes to tacos’. K38, tower 7 and even Islands (which I love) pale in comparison. Again, if you want American Mexican, go elsewhere. If you want an authentic Mexican experience, then check this place out!

Best, most authentic tacos I’ve found! Pastor is my fave but the chorizo is also fabulous. Quick service and a robust sauce bar make this my Wilmington go-​to place for tacos!

Authentic… Huge portions… This is the only place in Wilmington you will find authentic fresh Mexican food, prepped with love and an understanding of the cultures need to use fresh ingredients. This is NO Tex-​Mex but instead REAL food that comes to us from generations of recipes you will not find any where near Wilmington.
Enjoy the very best culture and food.

I came here a few nights ago because I had a coupon.
The food: My beef quesadilla was awesome! My girlfriend got the chirizo quesadilla and it was REALLY REALLY oily, it actually made her feel sick later… The «salad» that came with it was just a pile of lettuce and guacamole… I didn’t really expect it to be a real salad but I wasn’t really impressed. If I didn’t have a coupon I wouldn’t have wanted to pay the amount I would have for the meal.
The service: The lady at the counter wasn’t very friendly and she was soft spoken so I felt weird asking her to repeat herself when I couldn’t really hear her. The soda at the fountain was flat and we got nervous to tell the lady at the counter because she seemed mad. Some other customers had 2 beers sent to my girlfriend and I from another table, which was flattering but kind of weird.
The ambiance: Well, this place isn’t fancy, it’s casual. it’s not super nice, kind of reminds me of some kind of Mexican caeteria.
Honestly, I was disappointed they didn’t have chips and queso. If they had that i would’ve given them another star I think.
But if you want authentic Mexican food, then this is your place!

I wanted to get the «authentic» Mexican experience, and this place seemed to be recommended most frequently. I walked in and ordered the 3-​taco special, which comes with rice and beans, and a specialty burrito for my boyfriend. I got 3 different meats, chicken, marinated pork, and beef cheek. I also ordered a side of chips and got four different salsas to try out. The salsa bar also had other toppings for tacos, such as lettuce, some type of «slaw» with pickled veggies, tomatoes, cilantro, and various other things. I was almost on my way home when the young woman working ran to my car to give me my forgotten chips. That was appreciated.
I brought my meals home to devour. The chicken and pork were both good, maybe a tad on the dry side. The beef was amazing. I never had anything like it before — very moist and flavorful. The fajitas were clearly homemade and very good. My boyfriend said his burrito was delicious but fell apart while trying to eat it. The burrito had 3 different meats and cactus inside. The cactus was interesting, as I never tasted it before. Similar to green pepper, but meatier. The salsas were a bit disappointing because they were extremely spicy, just about inedible. I wanted to use them to dip my chips (as well as on my tacos) and that was very hard to do.
I will say this place is probably a good choice for authentic Mexican in Wilmington, although I will admit I do not really know what makes a «good» authentic place. Maybe I prefer the Americanized version, but I was just not really «wowed» by my meal, although it was good.

Best spot for authentic Mexican food!!! Visiting from Cali where the good stuff is lol and this spot satisfied our appetite for good Mexican food. As close to home as we can get! The shrimp cocktail here is excellent! This is our spot from now on! Yummmm

Great place!!! Awesome AUTHENTIC MEXICAN TACOS just like home.
I found this place driving by:
My family and I have been here 3 times within 2 weeks… Love it…