MASA Tongan Store — Restaurant in Taipei

[ UPDATED, 2023-09-22 ] MASA used to be my default taco place in Taipei, but no longer: they have taken steps to lower the quality of food and the ambience of the storefront.

My experience today at MASA was wholly dissatisfying. The place has gone downhill: they simplified their menu (removed the smash burgers), installed an automated ordering machine, now serve you your food through a tiny service window like you’re in a prison cafeteria, provide Kirkland Signature tortilla chips instead of house-fried, and stopped making their green sauce (which was my favourite).

The tacos themselves seem to be the same as before, but the tortilla chips shifting to Costco chips was a super disappointing change. (Truth be told, I like and have these chips at home, but that’s not what I’d expect from a taco joint!) And their green sauce before was creamy and delicious, but now has been replaced with an orange one that doesn’t quite hit right.

I saw others ordered the cauliflower, which looks the same as it was before, but the sauce looked to be paler. Not sure if it was an anomaly or a real recipe change?

On top of that, it’s a weird, human-less experience, especially as their kitchen is hidden away: you only see evidence of humans through a tiny window where they push out the orders (incl UberEats) that are ready. So you order at a machine, wait for your number, then get your food from the window … the same as UberEats drivers do when they come pick up. Then you go to the condiment station (which used to be the front counter), bring to your table, eat, and take the trays and dining ware to the return shelf.

It’s not just that: with adopting the ordering system they didn’t change their front counter (an understandable budget-based decision). So it sits front and center and confuses everyone: every person approaches the counter, waiting to see if someone will take their order. Including 4 UberEats drivers within the 10 minutes I was watching. So 1 of the 3 back-of-house employees closest to the window also has to direct everyone.

All these changes make me wonder whether they’ve had a change of ownership or ownership structure, or are just focused on cutting here and there to shrink costs. I get it—businesses have to figure out how to redesign, but in my view they’ve lost significant customer value in these updates.

For the above reasons, I’ve had to drop my rating by 2 stars, and probably won’t return for a long long time while I seek another taco place to make my regular.

[ ORIGINAL REVIEW, 2020/2021, ABRIDGED ] Pretty good tacos. The place is small, but adequate seating for about 6 people. Cash only!

I ordered the carnitas, al pastor, chorizo, and lengua (beef tongue). All were decent.

Carnitas is made from pork hock (lower leg and feet), making them fattier and more gelatinous than pork shoulder (how I make mine), and they serve it with oil dripping all over the place.

Al pastor is paired with pineapple chunks, but I feel the pineapple could use more of the al pastor flavour, or at least let the two meld together more. Even dicing the pineapple down a bit more would help them mix better per bite.

The chorizo didn’t have a classic chorizo texture I was expecting, but the flavour’s good. The texture is kind of like fast food taco ground beef sauce, like it’s been ultra-food-processored down and mixed with fillers or something. I didn’t care for it as much as the others.

Finally, the lengua (tongue) was good, cooked tenderly but flavour didn’t penetrate. At $120NT, I expected a bit more care in it, but fillings are generous.

All the tacos were topped with a very healthy salsa of minced onions and cilantro. At times it was a bit overpowering, but it’s good if you like a strong assault of every flavour in each bite. For me, it was too heavy-handed.

All in all, I enjoyed the place and I...

For those of you who crave a good an authentic Mexican Taco in Taipei, this place is worth checking out. For me the benchmarks of a good Taco includes Taqueria De Anda (LA), as well as 11 Westside (HK location owned by the famous chef, Esdras Ochoa aka LA's Taco King). Masa pleasantly surprised me with how they held their own to the best of the best with an amazing Carnitas Taco. The pork was very flavorful and juicy and the Chef's choice of simple traditional garnish using just onions and cilantro with a salsa rojo, brought back memories for me of what a proper Taco should taste like.

My second favorite was their Lengua Taco. While not what I used to get in LA, it was very soft and flavorful. This is also a must try.

The rest of the menu was just okay. They have a wide selection including your basic carne asada, tripe, and more. The Asada disappointed as they chose to make it more Tex-Mex in flavor as opposed to true Taqueria style which from their store presentation was more their vibe. Their tripe and chorizo left me with more questions than delight.. Their fries was packed with meat.. but that's about it.. For spicy lovers, know that their hot sauce is more flavor in nature as opposed to heat. No salsa rojo, but they do have some salsa verde.

Drinks menu is also proper featuring a good Horchata, Jamaica, and if you're "thirsty" they have cerveza.

If you google Masa you will see people claiming MASA is authentic Mexican... I need to disagree. I'd say they are a fusion of Taqueria style, Tex Mex, and a dash of "creativity". All things considered, while they did not bring truly authentic Taqueria to Taiwan, they are probably one of the two best options in town because the great job they do on the carnitas and lengua. Space is small and seating is limited so get there early if you want to try for yourself. I'd say they are head to head with Twinkey's Tacos, but of which is more bay area style Tacos, also...

The best tacos everrrr! I didn't expect to find this here in Taipei. I stumbled upon it while walking around Xinyi Anhe. I've had a lot of bad Mexican food experiences in Taiwan where it's always greasy, overpriced and fakey and are Never comparable to the states.

Masa's is SO good - I'd say they're premium yet they're humble, authentic and have a home cooked kitchen feel.

it's actually high up on my favorite tacos of the world list. I lived in LA for 5+ years and used to eat every thing from Dollar Tacos to Gourmet Mexican shops. The tacos here remind me of a famous place called Guisados that focused on handmade tortilla, a huge menu of interesting flavors.

High quality meat (their beef steak is premium juicy, shrimps are huge), I'm used to both those meats being dry and never worth purchasing, so I'm pleasantly surprised. Big portions so it's worth the price for me. 2-3 tacos hits the happy spot

you'll find fresh toppings, distinct and tasty flavors. Highly recommend you try their carne asada beef with guac tacos 😍 I could eat a whole platter of those by myself. I also love their shrimp with avocado taco, light and fresh.

Only downside is no ubereats / foodpanda here :( wish they'd get online You have to self pickup (although to be fair theyre super fast at fulfilling orders and if you really want you can use their Oddle app or get...