Taqueria El Paisano — Restaurant in Beaverton

June 2023 update:

They're back, baby

It's so good again. The current staff are amazing and it shows. Super consistent, quality, flavorful, fresh. Textures on point. The sauces are what they used to be. It's awesome.

July 2022 update: I adjusted from 5 to 3 stars. The owners are amazing, skilled, and deserve to enjoy the benefit of having staff run the restaurant so that they can not work themselves so hard all the time. The staff that started in June or July, though, are really not good. The meats are constantly dry or burnt and the portions are inconsistent and smaller than they used to be, the tortillas accidentally split, and the consistency of the sauces just isn't what it used to be. The new staff generally plays pop music genuinely painfully loud and have kind of a flippant attitude about everything. Hopefully they improve back to their former glory, but the contrast in quality and experience is so stark that I just had to stop going :/

S Tier Mexican food. Not "this is great for what you can get in the PNW". This is great. Period.

You know how people from california or Texas complain how incredibly difficult it is to get actual, quality, Mexican food outside of the bay area/los angeles/san diego/new mexico/south texas?

Well, here's your chance to experience that.

I'm honestly blown away such a place exists in the pnw. I fully expected to resign to the fact that if I wanted to experience Mexican food, I'd have to fly back down south.

Everything sans tortillas is made fresh in house. The sauces are so good I like to take a bunch extra home for other stuff. No refried beans. The meat they use and how they season and cook it is fantastic. Pastor, cabeza, carnitas, and barbacoa are absolutely money. Cilantro, marinated onions, and roast peppers for days. All the meats are tender and flavorful with no sinewy or roughness. The prices are proper, too. None of that 3 tacos for $17 bull. $2.00-3.00 apiece.

I fully attribute this place to why I gained so much weight in the past few months and I don't care at all.

You're probably rolling your eyes, but I'm not joking. This place is really damn good. I don't think there's another stand like this in this city.

It's a shame whoever thought opening a muchas gracias next door was a good idea. They're probably giving this place more business than they're...

SOMETIME BEFORE I THOUGHT THIS WOULD BE A GREAT PLACE TO STOP AND EAT BETWEEN A LONG DAY OR AFTER . AND THESE LAYINOS ARE RACIST AND VERY SELECTIVE OF WHO THE GIVE CERTAIN MEAT TO. WHEN I ORDER NON PORK ITEMS THEY THROW PORK IN THERE ANYWAY. ONE DAY I CE BY ALL SMILES AND HOPING THEY WOULD SEE ME AS A PERSON I SAT BACK AND WHATCH THE NIGHT GRILL COOK SPLASH SOME KIND OF LIQUID FROM A DIRTY WHITE BUCKET INTO A TORTILLA HE WAS PRE ROLLING FOR ME. THEN WHEN HE WASFINISHED WRAPPING PORK INTO THE BURRITO I DID NOT ASK FOR PORK BY THE WAY , HE WAS ALL SMILES. ONE EVENING I GAVE MY STORY OF REAL LIFE WITH HUMILITY TO A GRILL COOK THAT WASNT THIS GUY ( THAT IS ALWAYS THERE AROUND THE SWING SHIFT ) HE DISAPPEARED , THIS GUY THAT REALLY SHOWED A KIND HEART AND UMDERSTANDING OR AT LEAST WANT TO HAVE DIALOGUE ABOUT EUROLATINO RACISM TOWARDS MY BLACK DIASPORA , THIS MAN I HAVEN'T SEEN AGAIN AFATER THE NEXT WEEK. BUT THE EVENING GRILL COOK GAVE ME THE WRONG ORDER WHEN I MADE IT CLEAR NO PORK. I ALSO TELL THEM NO RICE , THEY STILL PUT BOTH, IF YOU DONT STAND IN FRONT OF THEM AND WATCH AND CATCH THEM , THEY DO WHATEVER AND THEN TALK ABOUT YOU IN SPANISH. LIKE GOSSIPING CLUCKING CHICKENS. ( BECAUSE YOU DONT SPEAK SPANISH , OR THE WAY YOU SPEAK , THEY HAVE TO BE CAREFUL SBOUT THEIR RACISM AND PREJUDICE REMARS) I GAVE THIS COMPANY PAISANO CHANCE AFTER , CHANCE AFTER CHANCE. THEY ARE MORE RESPECTFUL AND LOVING TOWARDS THEIR PRIMOS THE NEIGHBORING ENGLISH GERMAN POLISH RUSSIAN AND ASIAN DESCENDANTS. THAN THEY AREBFRIM THE BLACK DIASPORIAN PEOPLE THAT LIBERATED THEM FROM EUROPEANS THE SPANIARDS . ( MEXICAN INDEPENDENCE) I DIGRESS.

I GOT OFF TOPICR, UT SO MANY TIMES I HAVE TRIED TO ORDER FROM THEM. NEVER GETTING WHAT I ORDERED. TODAY LIKE MANY DAYS I ORDERED BEEF TOGUE ( FOR THE 4th x's ) AND STILL DIDN'T GET IT, 1ST SHIFT COOK SAID ONLY AFTER TRYING TO PUT WHAT I DONT EAT ON THE BURRITO ( AFTER I SAID IT 3x's ,) He was distracted, bcus he was talking to the swing shift after the second time I said it. HE THEN PUT BEEF BRAIN ON THE BURRITO , WHEN I ASKED FOR TONGUE AND THEN HE SAYS " OH WE DONT HAVE TONGUE SORRY" I KNOW THE DIFFERENCE . AND ANOTHER TIME I ASKED FOR BEEF TONGUE AND I RECEIVED PORK IM TIRED OF THIS RESTAURANT AM I THE ONLY BLACK PERSON EXPERIENCING WEIRD SERVICE . THAT...

This review is for Taqueria El Paisano and Muchas Gracias Mexican Food. Both restaurants are next to each other and both contributed to our bad experience. We originally wanted to eat at the Taqueria which we heard great things about and was recommended by friends to come try. When we walked up to the grill outside we asked, "do we order here or inside?" The man at the grill said inside and pointed at the door to muchas gracias. We didn't know there were 2 DIFFERENT restaurants here and went inside. While ordering our food, we asked a question about how something was prepared. The girl working the counter did not speak ANY English and was just confused with our question. We never got an answer so I just ordered and thought that it must be authentic and good if they don't even speak English. I was very wrong. The food was terrible, an absolute tragedy! The enchiladas barely had any sauce, the meat inside was dry and bland. The burrito was literally just beans, with more beans as a side. Cmon $20 for a plate of beans and a horrible enchilada. We sat outside and noticed many others came to the grill outside and ordered. It left me questioning why us white boys were turned away from the grill at Taqueria El Paisano. We literally had no idea these weren't the same restaurant till we were leaving. I ate a few bites of food and then had to stop because it was just that bad. We were about to leave when we realized we never got the chips and salsa we paid for. We went back inside to ask for a refund but the girl didn't understand and tried to give us the chips to go. We pushed for a refund. She was too confused and had to call someone on the phone. She then pulled $8 from her till and gave it to us. Unfortunately for her, she shorted her till. She needed to refund it to our card not cash. Because of the harsh language barrier, we just took it and left. We now notice there was a $50 charge for the terrible food which was way more than the bill should have been. We will now be disputing this with the bank. Unfortunately, I do not recommend either of these restaurants. Please go eat somewhere else, they do not deserve...