Los Molcajetes Taqueria — Restaurant in Fairfield

This place is now called Los Molcajetes Restaurant and Taqueria.

It is one of the few places in town open until 1 a.m., and I think it's the only sit-down restaurant that's open that late.

The restaurant itself is inside of an old style Taco Bell. So the nostalgia Factor is pretty cool.

I purchased a steak burrito, it was a super burrito version, and I asked for it "wet". When it came out it was huge, I'm a big guy, and I was only able to eat half of it, taking the other half home for later.

The contents of the burrito were really good, I had steak in mine. My only complaint was the red sauce they poured over it on the outside tasted more like pizza sauce than it did enchilada sauce or something like that. It was more sweet. That's not my preference but it was still good.

Like most Mexican restaurants, if you eat in, you're served with complimentary chips and salsa. Their green salsa was really good, and had a good spicy kick to it.

Contrary to other reviews I've seen, the staff was very friendly, and accommodating.

They also have a food truck right outside with the same name on it. I'm not sure what the reasoning behind that is, but both of them are open until 1:00 a.m. each day.

The only complaint I have about the restaurant which I've also seen in a couple other reviews, is their ventilation system sucks. I was in there for probably about 45 minutes total. And three different times the entire restaurant filled up with smoke. The first two times it was very minor, and you can tell it was like when they put the meat onto the flat grill.

The third time though, which happened just as I was getting ready to leave already, filled the entire restaurant with smoke, that was so thick, that you could see it being held in by the ceiling and starting to roll and drop down and it had a very weird cleaner or sanitizer scent to it.

I'm not sure what that was, but I cannot imagine it being healthy. It just smelled like chemicals. It was bad enough that you could not hold a conversation without coughing.

All three incidents took place and originated from the grill area. They really need to fix the hood fans above the grill area, so it will ventilate, there's really no excuse for that. It was really ridiculous.

Everything else about my visit was great. They have a really nice patio outdoor seating area, so from now on, that's where I...

Went here for the first time after hearing positive reviews about it, and on weekends, this place seems to always be packed. Well, let's just say my wife and I were underwhelmed. We went in and were seated right away. Our orders were taken from the waitress, she brought our drinks out to us, and that was the last time we saw her. She didnt leave. We saw her helping other people, she just never came back to check on us 🤷🏽‍♂️. The cook (I assume) brought our food out to us. They weren't very busy, but the area was so loud. Between the noise of the kitchen and the radio station that was playing, we had to speak loudly just to hear one another talking. On to the food. My wife had the quesabirria tacos, and I had the burrito mojado (wet burrito). My wife said her tacos were just ok. She did, however, love the consomé that came with it. My burrito was...meh. The molé sauce that was poured on it was very thin. The taste was just ok. The burrito itself (Carne asada) was lacking in flavor. The first 1/3 didn't taste too bad, but then the flavor just disappeared. Well, we tried the place, but probably wouldn't go back. Maybe because it was a weekday in the middle of the day? Maybe the cook/s had an off day?...

Great food! We ordered a couple of tacos (carne asado), a burrito (carnitas), and two chile rellenos combo. My son's tacos were better than he expected and he's eaten a lot of tacos. My rellenos were very satisfying after not having my favorite dish for over a year. For me, the real test was the beans and rice and this restaurant passed with flying colors. When I skip the salt on beans and rice and finish them before I even try tasting my beloved chile rellenos that is a very good sign of lots of flavor. This is our new regular taqueria!

Oh, yeah... The service was above average too. The dining room was clean with enough room to walk around without bumping into tables and chairs, well lit with a television for sports, and well decorated in a slightly busy but not over the top way. The building is an interior remodel of a very old Taco Bell design from the early 80's. They have done a great job of giving an old restaurant a new face...