ARIANA’S MEXICAN MARKET & GRILL Morro Bay ♦
CHAPALA MEXICAN GRILL  Morro Bay  ◊
MORRO DELI Morro Bay ♦♦
TACOS DE MEXICO Morro Bay ◊

TACO TEMPLE  Morro Bay   ◊◊

LOS OSOS MEXICAN MARKET  Los Osos  ♦♦
SAN MIGUEL MARKET Los Osos  ◊

I have created this separate TAQUERIA LIST because people constantly ask me to recommend tacos and Central Coast taquerias get somewhat lost in the general list and also ratings comparative to casual or fine dining are not fair for numerous reasons.  First of all, I have ordered ONE ITEM at each of the following restaurants.  “Tacos al Pastor”, “Pastor Tacos”, “Tacos Adobada”, or “Marinated Pork Tacos”, depending on the location and individual Mexican provenance of the proprietors.  I have not had the gringo burritos, the refried beans, the tostadas, the taquitos, the tamales, the side salads, the ceviche, NOTHING ELSE on the menu but Tacos al Pastor.
This is what I eat at a taqueria and it makes the playing field very level.  Frequently, this grouping of taquerias is confused as a “Best Mexican Food” list.  It is NOT a ‘Best Mexican Food’ list.  It is a TACO LIST, period.  Secondly, NOTHING BUT THE FOOD is reflected in the score–this is quite the opposite of my regular restaurant scoring.  Cleanliness, Ambiance, Service, Price, Presentation, Communication, ALL ARE IGNORED in the judging of a taqueria.  I don’t care if cockroaches are falling off the ceiling, has blaring music or TVs or has 10,000 bad YELPs about how rude they are or how sick you got or how there’s nothing vegetarian on the menu.  The only things considered are Marinade, Preparation of Meat, Tortilla Quality, Salsa, and Meat Quality.  Nothing else matters.  I should add there are three basic methods of preparing “Tacos al Pastor” in a restaurant environment, and which method is used will play hard into the rating:

1.  A seasoning salt–typically bright red–is applied to the chopped meat which is

fried upon ordering.  This method is disgraceful and no restaurant serving

tacos prepared this way will ever get over ◊.  HUNDREDS of sit-down

Mexican restaurants frequented by gringos serve it in this fashion.  It is disgraceful and almost ALWAYS miserably grainy and salty.

2.  The meat is chopped and soaked for long periods in a marinade and fried to order.

Many, MANY of the ♦, ♦♦, and even ♦♦♦ taquerias on

this list have meat prepared this way.  There is a significant nuance of pineapple in the better versions of this method.  It is not *perfectly correct* but is realistic

and often tasty.  The meat will be uniformly brown and often remnants of peppers or onions will be visible fried alongside.

3.  The meat is marinated and stacked tightly in slabs on a vertical spit revolving slowly against an infrared burner.  It is sliced off in thin layers as ordered.  Classically,

large pineapple chunks are attached to the spit at the top so the juice flows

down over the meat and typically every taco gets a small chunk of

pineapple included.  The meat is brown top and bottom but still blond in between.

Taquerias preparing al Pastor in this fashion are marked with an *.

Like the ‘General Restaurant List’, this list will be edited as additions or changes are made.  Because of the La, Le, Los El and Taqueria prefixes and the issues involved with alphabetizing, I have sorted by TOWN, North-to-South.  Santa Maria is further divided into (North) and (South) for convenience.  All links are from YELP because these types of places do not have web-sites.  I used yelp for mapping convenience and continuity.  I am not using YELP so you can read the reviews.  Please do not.  Just because some Barbie saw a cockroach is no reason to avoid a taqueria, in fact: go ahead, read the reviews.  I guarantee the WORSE the reviews run, the better the tacos.

◊◊   A complete Gringo dining experience, absolutely NOTHING on the menu resembles or comes close to an authentic taco.  Typically piled high with iceberg lettuce or cabbage, and topped with sour cream and grated cheese, portioned MASSIVELY and always with dry, bland, horrid meat.  To be avoided at all costs.
◊   Unpleasant off-flavors; “dog-food” smell to meat; bad seasoning, large tortillas, *stuff* in the tacos besides Onion, Cilantro, Salsa and Meat.  Will never return.
♦   Mediocre seasoning and preparation, Pico de Gallo or similar faulty salsa, slight “dog-food” smell to meat but completely edible.  These taquerias ‘do in a pinch’.
♦♦   Excellent marinade of correct seasonings.  Good-textured meat with plenty of fat.  Good size, quality tortillas.  Provided salsa or choices of salsa excellent.  This is a taqueria I will return to over and over.
♦♦♦   An outstanding taco and one worth going quite out-of-one’s-way to experience.  When you taste and feel it you know it.

FOLLOW @eatdrinkCA on INSTAGRAM

THE FULL RESTAURANT LIST