El Chingon — Restaurant in Paris

Absolutely terrible food. Soggy lukewarm tortillas filled with bland meat, paper thin cheese and avocado. I was very disappointed. I was looking forward to the bowl of frijoles refritos that the nice waitress agreed to serve me without a tortilla. I would bet money that they came from a can! Tasted exactly like a cheap can of refried beans with a few whole beans added to hide this shame. I asked the server if they were homemade and she said she didn’t know and walked off. Didn’t even attempt to alter my observation. They should check out Rick Baylee’s recipe which is simple and delicious. Imagine being at à Chinese restaurant and having to ask if the rice is homemade? Beans are a staple. I should have tried them first and stopped right there and left. I don’t usually write reviews but I left feeling totally arnaqué... spending 70€ for 2 people. The margarita was ok tasting but when you drink 2 of them at 8€ you’d like to taste a bit more tequila. No mexicain buzz going on in these cocktails. The whopper and perfect example of really feeling screwed is the quesadilla ! For 5€ (around $7) I’m used to a flour tortilla topped with a generous yet appropriate amount of cheese and scoop full of whole pinto or black beans, Pico de Gallo, à bit of créma topped with a few sprigs of cilantro and cibolla ( white crunchy onions) then folded over and flipped a few times so the outside of the tortilla is hot and a bit crispy and soft inside with the side where the cheese was laid down cooked longer so melted throughout with the cream and cilantro still a bit cool on the top side. It does not take a genius to achieve this. BUT INSTEAD ... EL CHINGON’s version....was another lukewarm corn tortilla topped with a huge clump of melted cheese that smelled and tasted of bad refrigeration (as if the cheese had stayed too long in a refrigerator and was poorly covered in plastic wrap). This happens to butter. I’m sure who ever is reading this knows the smell and taste of which I write. So the plate set in front of me was this : one tortilla topped with a greasy lump of cheese. That’s all folks. No condiment in the world could salvage this small catastrophe. After having added their one tasty well executed sauce which is a salsa verde with ginger, some overly chopped cilantro and onions, I folded this poorly rescued envelope of queso and bit off the first chew which was enough to really feel taken for a fool. The owner whom I met waiting for a bus one day who kindly sold me a coffee one morning told me that he traveled extensively throughout Mexico to learn to cook. WTF happened ? Such a disappointment. The restaurant itself is cozy, well lit and not overly Mexicain (where you feel like it’s Christmas all year long) and the wait staff, if a bit distracted, were nice enough.. polite and were trying to do well. This experience has helped me make the decision to start (yet another) food blog. It’s time to start taking these “restaurants” down by fully describing why people should avoid them which I attempted here. Look for the key words “Disgusting”and “Paris” soon 😂. I’m honest and fair.....these arnaqueries need to change or leave and make room for restaurateurs who...

real honest review loading:

Ok - so i’m from the US (Miami) and i’m hispanic . i’m here for the summer with my husband as we have a home here and I was CRAVING Mexican food for like 2 weeks — after ordering chipotle to try and appease my craving (It failed) , I found this place . we came with my stepdaughter and it’s super cute… the decor/music is very festive and “on brand” for what you would expect for a Mexican restaurant . We made reservations (make reservations!) and got there around 7. The menu is limited to mostly “tacos” and I have to tell you , I love that (they even had vegan options for me! I did beans, cauliflower and vegetable tacos , they were out of the tofu — the cauliflower wasn’t great but the other 2 were! and It was good . The corn tortillas were great (and smaller! which our waitress did a great job explaining to us!)

my husband enjoyed his chicken and beef tacos . my stepdaughter liked her chicken but said the shrimp were blah.. no flavor)

we also had a starter of the guacamole which was very good!

OOH the sauces they give you (they don’t have traditional mexican commercial hot sauces like Tapatio or Cholula) but they made this mango chili habanero hot sauce and the other one that was like a smoky hot sauce — I would buy that and take It home with me if I could have!

as for alcohol, we had drinks — they’re definitely not super strong but they’re good… so if you’re wanting stronger drinks, maybe ask for a double in whatever you order.

The only reasons I am giving 4 stars instead of 5 is because they were out of tofu, drinks a tad bit weak & the dessert was not available which my husband and stepdaughter were really excited about ….

I have read some of the reviews about long waits , bad service , etc . I really just think that it’s a small place and it’s hard to give quality service when places get busy .. because we came earlier — we had great service but as the dinner rush crowd came and we were finishing our drinks … we had troubles getting the waitress who had started off great . we could see she was overwhelmed — we didn’t hold It against her. That’s not her fault !

I have also seen comments about “authentic” mexican — well, we’re in Paris— not Mexico … I think the restaurant is great … I think the pricing is fair for the food

my ONLY advice to the restaurant — drinks need to be a bit stronger for the prices… that’s real authentic Mexico!

we’ll be back !! def give...

In Paris and curious to try Mexican food, I saw a TikTok of the restaurant and was curios that they had flour tortillas, I decided to try it. I ordered birria tacos on corn tortillas and a quesadilla on a flower tortilla. The birria was good, it had good Mexican spices, however I had never had birria in chunks, it’s always been shredded beef, but it was good. The quesadilla was made with Gouda cheese ( I was surprised that it did taste a little like queso cosido from Mexico, I just never compared it before) the quesadilla was overall good, the salsas had a kick to them and good. Service was great, very pleasant staff and great customer service. The opportunities are, the corn tortillas are tiny, and very thin, usually in Mexico those street tacos are small and come with 2tortillas each taco, but definitely the tortillas did not have the flavor or texture from Mexico, the quesadilla was put on one flour tortilla and toasted on the bottom and open cheese on top, like a tostada, I never had a quesadilla with that presentation, I folded it in half and ate it, it felt more normal. The flour tortilla was missing the flavor and texture of Mexican cuisine, I never tasted a Mexican tortilla with less flavor, not even when my aunt was learning how to make tortilla and accidentally added baking soda instead oh baking powder, they tasted weird and looked like frisbee’s, all in all I think they have a good basic understanding of Mexican cuisine but need a little adjustments to make the food amazing and more authentic, my mothers family is from Sonora Mexico and flour and corn tortillas are basic food items that we eat daily, but they are supposed to complement the rest of the food not take away from the mixture of flavors. I loved the vibe of the staff, restaurant and how clean the location was. A couple of small changes will make the food more authentic Mexican. Portions are important also, it does not cost that much to make a single taco, if the cost is 6 euros it should be a good size taco, in Phoenix Az they run for 1.25 dollar ( equal to about 1 euro) on doble tortillas about 2inches larger than that. I loved they gave limes with the tacos- made the tacos...