El Jefe's Taqueria - Symphony — Restaurant in Boston

I should start off by stating clearly, this is a positive review:

I feel targeted and attacked by the chefs who prepared my three taco dish tonight. After getting in very late on a delayed flight, I was starving. Among the few open options was El Jefe’s, and the tacos were calling my name. Quick and easy, light, and shouldn’t be much fuss. The tacos arrived ahead of schedule; but as soon as I grabbed the bag from the delivery guy I felt something was amiss.

Never before have I held a bag of three tacos and thought, “Damn that’s heavy!” Until tonight that is. I was convinced that perhaps there was a massive burrito inside but low and behold three tacos, three MASSIVE OVERLOADED tacos. I did order a decent selection of toppings, shrimp, cabbage, roasted veggies, guacamole, plantains (more on those later), black beans, lettuce, medium salsa, and Mexican rice.

Each taco contained at least 6 full size shrimp, mounds of veggies, a full layer of rice, another full layer of beans, and all the other mix ins. The tacos barely fit in their container, let alone their soft shells. This is where the attack comes in.

For a post 1am delivery, I expected a hastily made, lightly filled taco trio that would satiate the hunger, fulfill my order, and be all around adequate. One look and I knew, I’m going to bed in a food coma, and with a huge mess on my hands because there’s no way those shells don’t disintegrate under the weight of their fillings.

I couldn’t get the first taco an inch out of the container before losing half the shell and taco contents spilling everywhere in the container and on my table. Each taco proceeded the same way. You can bet your behind though that I ate every last bit. Everything was excellent - even the prosciutto thin soft shells that would’ve struggled with half the weight.

The chef threw down a challenge. The shells couldn’t handle it, but I powered through. For just over $12 after tax I got double my money’s worth and it was all great.

P.S. plantains on tacos is massively underrated and worth a go. Never had it before, but will now insist on it...

I just went in to grab a burrito and while I was watching the staff prepare it, the person who was stationed by the guac/cheese area kept wiping her fingers on a dirty rag, then touching my burrito, even at one point accidentally wiping the burrito with the rag. She then wrapped the burrito up incorrectly and it exploded pretty bad. She broke the tortilla trying to re-wrap it (a lot of the burrito had been smushed out at this point) so another member of the staff had to come and see what she had done. She tried to grab a new tortilla to make a new burrito but the other staff member just re-wrapped the mushed burrito (which was gross at this point, also the rag action was pretty gross too), and handed it off to the cashier who looked at it in disgust. I was pretty shocked that they were still trying to sell it to me. I didn't want to cause any issues because there was a line building up so I just bought it. The cashier seemed surprised I bought it, but didn't say anything. The whole thing felt pretty unsanitary and I'm surprised they didn't ask me to get back in line to re-make it. I ended up throwing it out immediately because I don't want to eat something that's been touched by a kitchen rag and then kind of destroyed. I feel bad writing this because up until this point I really liked this place!! I also completely understand how busy the place can get but I feel like there was a better way to remedy the situation and...

Am I being Punk'd?? I don't know what it is with this place and spice. I really wanted to like this place. Last time I got a bowl with spicy mayo, figuring like most spicy mayo it would be quite mild and edible. It was the spiciest mayo I have ever had in my life, spicier honestly than most hot sauces -like ghost pepper hot. It made the bowl inedible and actually made me sick. I tried again today, zero spicy ingredients. Steak, pico de Gallo, veggies, etc, things that should have no spice. I have one bite. Within a second, my mouth is on fire like you would not believe. The steak has an insane spice on it, like ghost pepper hot. It is infused in the whole bowl. This is the spiciest thing I have ever ordered in my life and none of the ingredients are meant to spicy. It is inedible and like some sort of sick joke. This place has so much promise but I just don't get it. Why are my bowls spicy like they come from hell, even when I get no spicy ingredients. I had to throw away the bowl. Literally the worst experience I may have ever had eating food, and twice in a row (I think from different locations). Also as an aside the ingredients seem to lack flavor when you can even taste past the spice And this from someone who was eager to give this place 5 stars. Maybe someone (owner) can explain...