El Picosito Mexican Food — Restaurant in Duarte

Quisiera dos tacos de lengua y dos tacos de cabeza. What do you want? Yo necesito dos tacos de lengua y dos tacos de cabeza. ¡Oh, no me di cuenta de que hablabas español! Yes, I would like to have two beef tongue tacos and two beef face tacos. Para aqui.

This is a conversation between I and the cashier at a Mexican restaurant. Yeah, I'm learning Spanish.

I could never have imagined that I would visit a restaurant five times in four weeks. Never, ever. Recently, I've been having my dinners at Mexican/Latino restaurants because I'm learning Spanish and need more practice. I've visited Rosarito in Pasadena, Holbox in Los Angeles, Tacos Estrella in Duarte, and Fonda Doña Julia in Pasadena, among others. I've found very good menudo and also some not-so-good Latino restaurants.

One morning, I was planning to go to Panda Express. I parked my car, and two other groups parked their cars beside me. They all went into the restaurant in front of the parking lot, which was next door to Panda Express. I followed them and walked up to the curb. A gentleman was holding the door open for me, but I told him I wanted to go next door, to Panda Express.

Panda Express was closed—it wouldn't open until 9:30. I felt embarrassed to step back to the original restaurant and open the door.

"Hey buddy, you made the right decision!"

The man holding the door yelled at me, kindly.

That day, I had two Baja fish tacos. Good taste, but not surprising. They were a different style compared to Taco Nazo, which has big portions and crispy shells. This one had more flavor instead of portion size--much smaller but balanced so well.

By the way, the restaurant's name is El Picosito. It's listed as El Picosito Mexican Food on Google Maps and El Picosito Taqueria on Yelp and the receipt.

I went there a second time and ordered two beef tongue tacos to take away. The tortillas were too moist because of the packaging, but the taste was so good. The beef tongue was soft, tender, and juicy.

The third time, I dined in. They served hot, fried tortillas that were so good--crispy but not oily. This time, I had beef tongue and beef cheek (or face). The second one was fatty and juicy, with oil dripping from my fingertips.

I went there again and again, always ordering beef tongue tacos and beef face tacos. They are the best tacos I've ever had. I've complimented other tacos before, but these are the best--much better than the ones I've ever rated as good.

The restaurant has a self-service bar where you can get various pickles, red and green salsas, limes, and other toppings. Help yourself and enjoy!

Strongly recommended--trust me.

By the...

Don't go to this place. For starters, they don't take debit or credit cards, only cash... I didn't mine that, but they make you use there in house ATM, I noticed when using the ATM the price for transaction was fair $1.50, but two weeks go by and noticed additional charges $2.50 from were? I called the ATM 800 number a rep. told me to check my bank, so I did. My bank said it was not My Bank or the ATM company, so who is charging additional fees??? My bank said it's the restaurant who is charging additional fees??? What??? Now... It dawned on me. It's a Scam!!! You are forced to pay cash, but No Cash use the ATM... WoW!!! The restaurant is making more money in forcing people to use their ATM machines. I am currently looking to file a lawsuit for this kind of business practice. They don't give no Recipts, so that means they are not reporting some transactions.

This place is doing shady business...

I like how the establishment wants to justify, It was not them...? The proof is in the charges and transactions made by the restaurant. The good thing my Bank can trace and dispute that unauthorized charges made to my account. I recommend any one reading this to dispute the additional charges you see in your statement. Soon that place will get its just desert for scamming customers...

Stay Tune Readers...

Oh yeah, God Bless...

I don’t want to give any star, but one star for the only man there, he is very friendly and gave nice services. When we finished ordering, there was no table so I asked one of the women there whether they had any place for waiting. The restaurant is a little bit small, I even don’t know where to stand. But She replied that she couldn’t kick out anyone there. I said “Yes, I know. I just said where can I wait?” She said if u want, u can stand near the front door and wait. Then, in the food, there is a string, I am sure it’s a hair. I was going to show it to the man who’s doing the reception, but there was customer in front of me, so I showed it to the girl who was cleaning. She took it as soon as she saw it without saying any words. Her attitude was like I was cheating and I was treated in a bad way. There’s no point that I put it by myself since the hair was stuck inside the burrito, and it’s so long that can’t even pull it out. I should take the photo though. The guy from the counter usually came and asked to every table that what was needed. I told the incident earlier and he apologized even though he didn’t see what happened exactly. I do appreciate for his service but I was very unsatisfied with everything in the restaurant....