Taco Mel — Restaurant in Lake Charles

Staff are all friendly, responsive and expedient. Taco Mel is by far the best taco place in Lake Charles. They have several choices of proteins: fish, chorizo, steak, carne asada, barbacoa, chicken and vegetable (beans, onions and peppers). Of all, the steak is my favorite. Their steak is seasoned very well. After you choose between flour and corn tortillas, you choose protein. Then, they make your order and you go to their toppings bar which has pico de gallo, onions, cilantro, avacado salsa, normal salsa, spicy salsa, cilantro sauce, lettuce, chipotle sauce, roasted salsa, sour cream and limes. Don't forget the limes!

PRO TIP: You are losing out on 30% to 40% of the flavor if you don't use a lime.

My criticism would be that the air conditioner doesn't cool the building fully in the Louisiana summer heat, but I will NOT be deducting a...

This was my 2nd visit. The first time was July 6,2021. Second time July 9,2021. First time was ok, my order was to go. I got the shrimp quesadillas($9) and they come with grilled bellpeppers and onions on them, I also got chips and salsa. Got a huge bag of chips and a small cup of salsa($3). It was $14 which is expensive but it tasted decent. 2nd visit I got the exact same thing, but dined in. I got a small boat of chips and way more salsa than I needed, as you get less chips if you dine in. What is that. The shrimp quesadillas had ONLY THREE SHRIMP SPREAD OUT ON EACH AND A TON OF CHEESE. No grilled onions or bellpeppers like the day before yesterday. I'm not going back to spend $14 on a small portion of food. Don't know if it depends on what time you go there or on who the cook is but it's not...

Taco Mel is by far our favorite place to get actual Mexican food in Lake Charles. It’s a no-nonsense taco joint with better prices than Taco Bell. You walk in, tell them you want sautéed onions and veggies on your taco, then make it yourself. If it doesn’t taste good, it’s probably your own fault. We love love the barbacoa tacos and quesadilla, but it’s hard to go wrong here.

It’s honestly probably the best thing Chuck has since we don’t have a Chipotle or Izzo’s but we’ll still be coming back here even when those pop up (probably...