Christina’s Cartel — Restaurant in Happy Valley

Okay, I gotta admit, fried chicken on a taco is a pretty stellar idea. Makes me wish I'd thought of it first!

Our family had exhausted ourselves shopping for kids' clothes, and as anyone who has done that can attest, you work up quite an appetite doing so. I wasn't quite prepared to tackle any of the massive monster "burgers" like the DeNiro or the Scarface, so I stuck with the (assumedly) much lighter Saigon St. Tacos. While waiting, I made the rounds with the wife and kids, each of them ordering something from a different cart here at Happy Valley Station, then we grabbed a table and waited for our orders.

Despite ordering first, mine came last, likely due to a logistical issue (there were no pickled carrots for my order, so I had to ask them to sub pickled onions instead. Tragic, but it happens. Gives me reason to come back and try again later, I guess.

Fortunately, they were worth the wait. Thick breaded knuckles of white meat chicken, garnished with cilantro, sweet, spicy (and sticky) sauce, pickled carro...err, onions, in a chewy, deep-fried shell. Delicious!

Did I mention that I ordered some of the Spicy Fried Brussels as well? Not yet? That's because I forgot, just like I forgot I'd ordered them when I finally picked up my meal. And while the Saigon St. Tacos were undeniably awesome, these crispy, savory little temptresses almost eclipsed my entree in how awesome they were! Whatever that sauce is, paired with the crushed chiles, is good enough to make Al Capone repent, and do his taxes.

Minor hiccups aside, Christina's Cartel is a true heavy hitter. Everything was fresh, tasty, hearty, and worth every penny. The other carts at Happy Valley Station are going to need protection money if they're going to stay in business with such connected competition. When the food is this good, d'ya think I'm gonna eat at another cart?...

Tried this today and I'm very disappointed not sure if it is a reflection of the place or just the servers working there today but they were incredibly rude throughout, the brussel sprouts are delicious, decent enough chicken, but the macaroni and cheese tasted like it was dunked in sea water the saltiest thing I have ever tasted to the point where I couldn't get past a couple of bites, tried to get some extra sauce the server whose name I didn't catch, (the one whose face is riddled with acne) was incredibly rude again when I asked for more saying that my meal only came with 2 and when I brought up the fact that I ordered 4 meals she scoffed loudly with a terrible attitude as she finally gave me a few more. Sadly it was too little too late I really wanted to like it but the whole family agreed it was inedible with or...

This cart must not be hurting for business because when a customer asks how long the wait is and the response is, "as long as it takes" with no regard for providing ANY customer service they must not actually need or want more sales. I have really enjoyed the chicken strips from this cart, but I refuse to support a business that is not interested in sales and who comes off rude. The guy working the cart was busy chatting with seemed like a friend and while he mentioned he is the only one working he had no regard for a customer waiting to place an order nor any concern for the length of time to process all the orders he told us about. Unfortunately this wasn’t our first experience with this gentleman and our experience with him has not been good. We ended up not placing an order—our business...