Tortilleria La Sabrocita — Restaurant in Austin

Two kinds of restaurants occupy the same eating world, but hail from parallel universes. The first kind strives to be a go-to restaurant for constantly evolving culinary fashion, and as a foodie I occasionally like to break bread with the comet chasers and grail seekers of the trends. Yet my favorite kind of restaurant expresses the evolving & cutting edge of long-standing traditions. Some people call these ethnic restaurants as if their own restaurants aren't ethnic with roots and influences in still other ethnicities.

The food at this little tortilleria on Rundberg in a strip center just east of I-35, is authentic and consequently delicious. This isn't a restaurant striving to emulate some ideal or pay lip service to some local misconception about what people in other places eat. Nor does it tone things down so as not to offend the untraveled and the unimaginitive. The food here expresses the heart of a living breathing culture that's not from somewhere else but from the Mexican American community that lives here and now in Austin.

Here the diner is safe from the Tex-Mex tradition's endless combinations and permutations of mystery meat, cheese, beans, grease, and tortillas. Of course the Tortilleria in the name means they make tortillas, and I stood at the counter and watched the corn-based flat bread roll down the conveyor belt to form stacks. A worker grabs fat stacks and deftly wraps them by hand, and holding one of these tightly wrapped hot tortillas fresh out of the oven is like holding some living creature in my hands.

The freshness spans the menu from tortillas to the huevos rancheros I had for breakfast. My eggs -- you can have them however you want; I got scrambled -- lay hidden beneath a thick layer of a mild red sauce. Servings of refried beans, Spanish rice, and grilled onions made perfect harmony, and I literally loved every bite.

Tortilleria La Sabrocita comprises two rooms. One is a store where a queue a dozen people deep waits to buy tortillas and other to-go items. The adjacent room offers sit-down dining with table service from friendly waitresses. Those rancheros were so good that I was desperately sponging my plate for maverick bits of sauce with my last tortilla.

My discovery of this place was completely accidental. I was in the area for business other than eating, but now I'll travel purely for the pleasure of eating here. Do you...

The menu clearly states 3 tacos any type of meat with a drink and beans and rice for 11.99. We were charged 13.99 plus .50 extra per taco for each of the three and no drink. When we asked the server about the discrepancy she stated that the prices went up and they have not changed the menu. Mind you we asked up front about the price and we made sure before we ordered. She said the price on the menu was correct. We asked to speak to person in charge and she said a man by the name of Ramon was in charge but he did not want to come out from behind to set things right. So buyer beware, looks to me it's a little bait and switch...

Talking food, service is good but customer service is bad bad. I order something and was given a completely different plate. When I told the waitress all she said was " as you can see we're just too busy" didn't even bother to ask if I'd like what I actually ordered. Not to mention I was not the only one but 4-5 different other customer also got the wrong order.Besides that, they were charging wrong orders. Total and complete mess. Not organized at all. I'd recommend this place but only if you're taking out and triple make sure you get and paid what you ordered. Other than that...