Adobo Taco Grill — Restaurant in Lakewood

Hi! I'll have some adobong pusit, please. Oh, wrong kind of adobo. My bad! ;p

Not to be confused with Filipino adobo, Adobo Taco Grill in Lakewood offers up muy autentico Mexican food that's very delicious, yet not costing a lot.

What's the first thing my eyes affixed to as I walked in? Free beans! Self serve beans to go with your order. Can't go wrong with getting as many portions of beans as your heart desires.

What's the second thing my eyes affixed to as I walked in? The robust salsa bar! Pile your taco high with diced onion, cilantro, spicy red onions, etc. A green sauce for a mild kick, a red sauce for a spicy kick & a habanero sauce for an uber kick. I chose to go with green so I wouldn't burn my palate, enabling me to taste all the flavors inherent in Adobo Taco Grill's ingredients. Knowing me, I created mini-Mt. Everests with my tacos.

Speaking of tacos, I went with taco de lengua ($1.50) A little bit of this, a dabble of that & it turned into a healthy looking monstrosity. The lengua was tender, juicy & alright with me. I enjoyed being given the opportunity to customize my taco my way. For $1.50, definitely worth the price.

With a name like vampiro, I knew I had to try it ($2.75) Grilled corn tortilla, cheese & avocado sauce with my choice of meat, cabeza. A trip to the salsa bar led to a giant pile of awesomeness. Sabroso! Meaning "delicious" to the layperson. Like a mini tostada, the grilled corn tortilla provided a delectable textured crunch. The cheese & avocado provided that unctuous fat & the cabeza meat was very juicy. The vampiro is a must get! BTW, wasn't there a WCW wrestler named Vampyro?

A soda fountain provides the usual suspects of carbonated beverages. In addition, Mexican sodas & aguas frescas are also available to choose from. I had the chance to sample the horchata and it was quite nice. Not too sweet, the horchata was refreshing as good horchata should be. I was told their pineapple agua fresca wasn't available due to the end of pineapple season, but orange agua fresca is an ample substitute.

Seating is via a few tables & a bench. The seats are hard but not particularly uncomfortable. Parking is in a private lot in the Fresh N' Easy shopping center.

Service was great! My food was brought to me & my trash was taken before I had the chance to dump it myself. The women working were friendly & helpful during my initial visit.

Cheap, fast & good, Adobo Taco Grill has become a favorite local place to eat for me. I immensely enjoyed my vampiro de cabeza & taco de lengua. Having a well stocked salsa bar allows me to create my very own Mexican food masterpiece, just the way I want it. Other than the tortillas, everything is made from scratch. I'm definitely coming back!

Highly...

Hidden semi hole in the wall taco spot. Located in a large plaza with plenty of free self parking. The restaurant is clean and the staff is friendly. You can see them preparing all the ingredients as well as tacos cuesadillas, and burritos. There are a few indoor tables and seating. There's also a small salsa bar. The menu is limited and straight forward. Basically choose the type of meat you prefer. This is not fast food. It takes time to prepare fresh food made to order. Tried the shrimp vampiros. It's kind of like a tostada so best to eat that first since the shell will fall apart if you eat your tacos or burritos first. It's very yummy! Also tried the chicken taco. It was ok...nothing special about it.

Definitely get the free onion and jalapeno.

The salsa bar has your typical tomatoes, onions, limes, etc. but it would've been nice if they had cilantro There's also two containers with free beans so make sure to grab some.

Prices are a bit high for the tacos at $3.25. The vampiro is priced right at $4.15 Portions are a bit small but they make up for it with the free beans and salsa bar.

If you're in the area, it's worth a try. There are better Taco spots...

If you're in the area, I think this is the best Mexican fast-food like restaurant you can go to. I say fast-food like because if you want proper Mexican food, then Amor y Tacos on 91/Carmenita is the way to go. You want tacos/burritos, Adobo is your best bet.

We came here on a Tuesday at 7PM and it was PACKED. Not to mention there's seating for 20, but there were another 20 in the line. That's always a good sign. The carne asada, el pastor and carnitas are amazing, and by amazing I mean amazeballs. The burritos and tacos are on point, and the tortilla, ooooh the tortilla, is not your typical ones from Albertos/Alertos/Albertacos/Albertsomething or other. The taco tortilla at least is made in front of you and it's so good.

They have a salsa bar with 3 different kinds of hot sauce, pickled red onions (!!!!), picked jalapenos/carrot/onion mix, onion/cilantro mix, and beans. All their sides are made really well and tastes fresh.

If you're planning on coming here, be prepared to either to-go or eat in your car because seating might be tough. It's well worth the wait and somewhat...