Tacos Ensenada — Restaurant in East Los Angeles

Just a couple months ago, a new Mexican food place opened up just a couple blocks from my house, and today, I finally got the opportunity to go down and check it out. This site used to be home to Manny's El Loco, an establishment that was pretty horrific. I hadn't been there for several years, but they had done plenty to lose my business.

Now the space is home to Tacos Ensenada, a Mexican take-out restaurant focused on seafood, tacos, burritos, tostadas, cocktails of fish or shrimp and aguas. They do have a small selection of food made from land grazing animals, but seafood is certainly their primary focus. Tacos Ensenada sits in a strip mall on the doorstep of the Metro Gold Line Atlantic station and next door to a Kaiser Permanente building, so they should have plenty of opportunity for foot traffic. You step inside the door and are welcomed with an explosion of color, vibrant paint and decorations. In front of you is the order/pickup counter and their open kitchen, to the right is their menu and sides bar (chiles, salsas, etc.), and to the left the dining area. There are a lot of windows, so it is a very bright, clean, and exciting space. I was there during the lunch rush, around 12:30, every table was taken and the busy atmosphere made it a great place to have a meal.

I ordered a shrimp burrito. It was a good size, weighing in at nearly a pound and a half. Inside was plenty of shrimp (fried), with rice, beans, cabbage, onions, tomato, and a cream sauce. Let me tell you, they got the balance and flavor in this burrito right. That thing was OUTSTANDING. The shrimp was tender and all the other components worked together nicely.

One of East LA's staples is "Tacos Baja" down on Whittier Blvd, just a couple miles away, a place that is often busy and serves good food. The burro' that I got at Tacos Ensenada was just a bit better, but very similar, don't know if the two places are linked in any way, other than cuisine. This place is GREAT and I'll be dropping by soon, maybe on Tuesday for their 99 cent special on fist tacos.

HIGHLY...

☆☆☆☆Carne asada fries☆☆☆☆

Visited there last week (January 17, 2018) around 630 PM on the advice of some co-workers who raved about their Carne asada fries. Not having had such a concoction before, I was a bit reluctant.

Let me say this, there's only a few places that I've ever visited that have excellent Carne asada, so I usually only get Carne asada from those specific places.

Due to my co-workers ranting and raving, I tried it. Before ordering, the restaurant was sort of empty. But I later found it was taco Tuesday where they have tacos for a buck. Shortly after we arrived, the place got packed(all I mean standing room only).

Seeing all the good looking items on the menu, it was a hard decision. But I gave it a shot and was most pleasantly surprised. The dish was excellent! The carne asada was some of the best I've ever had and the overall flavor was superb. Along with the fries were Carne asada (of course), slices of avocado, sour cream, and possibly some other sort of deliciously flavored dressing. It was all hearty portion to boot. Everything combined, led to a delicious and filing meal. Despite my usual greed, I couldn't finish it all (even though I seriously wanted to).

I definitely recommend Tacos...

I love coming here for their food. Fish tacos are one of my favorites and usually their customer service is great. Not today for some reason. I tried calling ahead to order and the phone was not working. I arrived to the restaurant and there was no one at the register but a cook peeping an order. He didn’t acknowledge me but called for someone to come to the front. No one came or acknowledged me again. I pressed the service bell and still waited almost 5 mins. A service lady came and again didn’t acknowledge me but rather proceeded to to ask the cook for an order of fish she had ordered. Another 2-3 mins until she bagged the order and called for the customer THEN she asked what I was ordering; not “good afternoon how can I help you”! Just what would you like 😟 almost walked out but preferred to take my chances and place my order due to pressed for time. Never have I been treated this way at this location. I asked for no salsa on one order so when the order was bagged I asked if she had marked the special order and yup I received a snark remark “NO, I didn’t you can see which one doesn’t have salsa”!! I was like okay ✅ I took my order and walked out. She wasn’t being discourteous to other...