Trejo’s Tacos - Notting Hill — Restaurant in London

Trejos tacos

Let me start off with positives

The hot sauces are so good. Great balance of acidity and viscosity creates a nice coat on the tongue.

£7 per taco is on the higher end of what I would be willing to pay if the other companions of the overall meal balanced things out. It didn't.

On the table, we had the carnitas, oG beer batter fish, cauliflower, and mushroom tacos. An order of nachos with guacamole, two fried chicken kids, tacos & chicken with tater tots.

Out of the 4, the batter fish was the least flavourful. The carnitas was good pork still moist and dry tortilla I would say it lacked a little but of salt as it tasted under seasoned however, there wasn't any salt on the table to add to your dish.

Mushrooms were tasteful, and balance would have enjoyed a more savory crunch rather than the radish

Cauliflower is definitely the winner with all the textures, great maillard, and still a bite to the veg.

Kids' chicken was ok. The tots/hashbrowns were tasty.

On to the negatives

The nachos that came with the guacamole was good until I bit into one that wouldn't snap and then another and another totaling to 6 where I didn't want to be surprised if I was getting a fresh one or a rubbery old one. So I asked the waitress and she was fine with bringing out a new batch.

I ordered a mint & honey julep horrible choice. From quantity to quality was poor. They did use the right cup for presentation.

We asked for water for the whole table the Waitress was quick to bring a bottle of water however long to return for us to ask if it would be possible for her to bring us glasses so we could drink water. She apologized for her mistake.

1 of the 2 fried chicken tacos came out, and I am a well seasoned traveler and been to Mexico and LA, and never have I seen fried chicken like this. I'll let you decide the picture is attached and labeled.

I asked twice and a third time and they confirmed that it is the fried chicken taco.

Now I'll be a bit picky. Why might you ask...if i am paying on the higher end for a taco/s there has to be a standard. With the hot sauces, I had a black tinted coloured sauce that, in my opinion, is fabulous in a habanero bottle. Where the red was as original and the green sauce in another bottle labeled habanero. Upon taking off the tops and flipping them down on the table to colours inside, it didn't match. Picture attached.

Now to the WORST EXPERIENCED moment of today's visit. I have two little girls one is turning 6 in June & the other just turned 4. Both of them needed to use the toilets, so I went to usher them to use them. Making our way down a non illuminated steep stairway into a dark basement, what seemed to be an unfinished work in progress where the toilets were located. So my girls went into the females toilet one stall each. My little girls were taking longer than usual, but I thought nothing of it until I realized that other females were coming down and in and immediately turning away as the stalls were in use. Then a member of staff came down our Waitress went in and out like the others. Down comes Cristina. She goes in and also comes right out with a face of disgust . Saying outloud with attitude " don't go in there they've pood the floor, you should have went in with tjem"

In shock, I replied, " Would it be possible for you to get my wife to come down?" A logical response as it is a female toilet.

Her quick response still with attitude "NO!"

So I get up knowing that only my two girls are the only two in there for sure as I had waited all that time and paid attention to the traffic. I go in, and there is poo on the floor. When I asked my little one how this had happen she replied " that she was usually the toilet and went to use toilet roll but, the toilet paper roll was at the end and she got off the seat to turn around and grab another roll from behind her in doing so she must have dropped some unfinished business on the floor. Being 4yrs old and in a new situation didn't know how to fix it.

(I'm limited to how much I can post so I'll add a pt 2...

Had an unfortunately very disappointing experience at Trejos tacos. we went there before a show at the royal albert hall in pre-christmas time. You'd think that would mean the place would be packed but we were the only customers in the whole establishment for the whole time we were there. We started with a trio of margarita cocktails which were all yummy. I then tried to order a frozen paloma and got told they don't have that today. I then ask if they could make me just a normal one which they could. So if they can make a frozen margarita and a normal paloma why can't you make the frozen paloma? either way, not a big deal, my paloma was delicious and well made. Our waiter was either new or didn't care that much as the service itself wasn't great. my partner ordered the cheesy beans and chips which are genuinely utterly divine. they are the best thing on the menu. the beans are delicios and the chips are crunchy, greatly seasoned and an absolute highlight. the starter that I wanted, the corn, was not available. we ordered a variety of tacos, the pork one being the worst one. it genuinely felt like the chef might have mixed up the salt with sugar. it was SO sweet, it was genuinely inedible. a different waiter asked us if everything was alright when we didn't touch it after a bite and we gave him the feedback and he kindly offered us to bring us something else which we declined, mainly because we had ordered lots of different tacos already and didn't need more food but the gesture was appreciated. The steak asada taco was nice, but nothing special, the chicken tikka taco was again another highlight, funky, tikka-ish but still staying true to being a taco. the best thing we had was the grilled chicken taco which comes on a bed of lettuce and unfortunately, isn't really a taco anymore. the meat is absolute perfection, as is the sauce, but there is no way that you'd be able to pick it up and eat it as a taco. we also had the spicy shrimp and mushroom tacos which were fine but again nothing special. I guess my biggest complaint with trejos tacos is that for a taco joint they don't care about tacos that much. some tacos come with flour and some with corn tortillas, it's nowhere indicated which one you're going to get and you can't choose it which just seems counter productive. there are definitely some highlights in there like the cheese and bean dip, the chicken taco and even the own beer which are genuinely lovely. it just didn't end up being worth the price tag of £100+ for two people. I also have to say that the ambience was weird, it was cold in the restaurant, I had to sit there in my coat, and the music that was playing was a weird late 90s early 2000s mix which kept cutting out and then being re started. after the waiter cleared our table he was done with us. we wanted to order the churros (because who doesn't love churros) and some more drinks but he never came back to our table - considering we were the only table that just wasn't good enough. when we left, the two waiters were just chilling on one of the sofas in the restaurant, I can't blame them if it really is such a slow evening, but it wasn't a good look. overall we would not return. the food wasn't good enough overall for the price tag and the service and ambience...

After much anticipation, I was sadly let down by Trejo’s Tacos. As a former resident of LA, I was very excited to see this restaurant about to open up in London but it simply did not live up to the hype.

Good stuff first. They have totally nailed the vibe. The decor is absolutely lovely and even though it wasn’t open yet, I can tell they have great plans in store for downstairs. The staff is also lovely. Very friendly, though still finding their footing, but they are doing their best. I even witnessed one poor server have to deal with one incredibly high maintenence guest who was attempting to order from the LA menu (who does that???). But the server handled it like a pro.

But where TT let me down was the food! We started with chips and guacamole, which wasn’t bad but it also wasn’t very good. Overall bland and just not an impressive starter.

For the meal, I always like to try a place’s recommendations so I appreciated the little symbols indicating ‘Danny’s favourites’ for the Carnitas and the Fish tacos. I was a little apprehensive about there being pineapple on the carnitas but hey, why not! Seemed like a potentially interesting flavour combo. So I was completely shocked when the two tacos came out and BOTH had pineapple. Why would you have BOTH of your suggested tacos with pineapple and not have this mentioned on the menu?

Now the Carnitas meat was decent but the rest of the taco was pretty average. And I honestly can’t tell you much about the Fish taco because the pineapple was the only thing I could taste.

I also wasn’t overly impressed with the presentation. I know it’s a taco but I expect a slightly higher level of plating in a restaurant vs what I can do in my own kitchen.

My lunch date also had a Fish taco (he was also confused by the pineapple surprise as this was the reason he decided against the Carnitas) and the Surf and Turf burrito. In fairness, the burrito was very good (I may have stolen a bite or two).

Without ANY alcoholic beverages (only water) the bill came to £30 per person and I didn’t leave feeling full. I don’t think I’ll be back unless there are some big changes...