Jalapeños

The Location: Jalapeños, 1413 21st Street Sacramento, CA  

The Taco: "Tacos Special" 2 crispy carnitas tacos with lettuce cheese and sour cream served on a plate with beans and rice.

The Price: $6.95

The Verdict: The menu clearly states no substitutions, however, I was able to order my carnitas just the way I like them. Carnitas on a crispy shell with lettuce on top.  I seemed to have received a double portion of rice, since I asked for no beans, which was alright by me. The rice was pretty typical of what you'll find at most taquerias, fairly dry fluffy orange rice with nothing special added to it. Specifically, just the way I like my taqueria rice.

The staff was extremely friendly and the gentleman that took our order also brought us our food. He even noticed we hadn't helped ourselves to the silverware so he brought us forks and knives even though our table was just behind the self serve station.

Upon first impression, the tacos looked small, but it was late, I was hungry and I had a long night ahead of me. In the end they did fill me up, but I was not stuffed. The taco shells were perfectly formed so you could get a clean crisp bite every time. The carnitas meat was fried really well. Crispy edges, juicy meat in the middle. I did have one bite in one of my tacos that seemed overly fatty, but we'll just chalk that up to them being carnitas after all.

Now, I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Salsa can make or break a taco restaurant review. I noticed when we walked into the small establishment with just about 7 tables there was no salsa bar. Each meal came with one tiny cup of really thin red salsa, not a lump of tomato or jalepeño to be found.  The salsa was so thin, it didn't seem to have much flavor at all, on top of that, it was relatively spice-less. It's no wonder they keep Tapatío on every table.

I marked deductions for the salsa (or lack there of) and the less than perfect carnitas meat.


 The Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)