9Th St Mexican Tacos — Restaurant in Lawrence

Tried 9th street tacos for lunch and (almost) everthing was really good! The portion sizes are amazing. I got four tacos thinking they'd be tiny and they were just giant! They filled each one to the brim with meat. And then I got to top them off with what I wanted from the salsa bar (limes, onion, cilantro, salsa, cabbage, etc).

Flavors were great. My fav were the carnitas and grilled chicken but the al pastor with pineapple was pretty awesome too! Carne asada was fine. The place was clean and employees were actively cleaning while I was there which is cool.

The prices are really fair.

Ok so what I didn't like:

I walked in and there's a giant chalkboard that says menu so I thought everything on it was the full menu. After ordering, I found out they have paper menus lying around and that they sell other stuff like tamales quesadillas, and other stuff. I wish I had known.

Not everything at the salsa bar was labeled. I didn't know one green salsa from the next so I had to ask for help and most the employees dont speak English so they had to go grab someone who did (she was very nice though!). Also it would have been nice to be told as a first timer that the salsa bar is free. I already knew it but still, they just dropped off my food and didn't mention the free salsa bar.

The bathroom has the toilet paper and the paper towels just stacked on the sink and not in their compartments. It's possible they were working on placing them correctly before I went in but it should be done before customers go in.

All in all I'd give 4 out of 5 stars which is a heck lot more than I ever gave burrito king or the 9th st Cafe that was previously here.

I would stop in again and give 5 stars if the things I didn't...

I have never had anything close to authentic Mexican food in Lawrence so I didnt have high hopes when I tried Mamas. The first thing when i walked in was the smell of Mexican food then I saw the variety of Empanadas in the display case (Warmer). The lady behind the counter was very nice and she explained what meats and fillings they had for Empanadas and tamales. I decided to have a Chorizo Empanada and a green and red pork tamale. My food was quickly delivered by the time i filled my containers of salsa and i was ready to eat. The Chorizo empanada was excellent and the filling was filled with Chorizo and small potatoes and I quickly devoured it. I had the green Tamale first and after taking the wrapper off I was surprised to find banana leafs around the tamale instead of corn husks which are more common to this region. I peeled the banana leaf away and inside was a wonderful nice and moist tamale with a little steam coming from it. I cut into it and the tamale was filled with meat with only a light amount of masa around it. Many tamales are all masa and no meat but not these tamales. The red was as good as the green and i have definite plans to try more items on the menu when I am in...

Fantastic service from Marilyn and Becky! It was a hot day and they came out to the car to see if we needed help with our order. They were extremely helpful. They brought out our drinks while we waited for our food which came out not long after. Looking forward to times when we'll be able to sit inside, because their indoor/outdoor seating looked fun. The playlist coming over their speakers was playing terrific music. My favourite item if my order was the Veggie Southwest tamale (corn, black beans, serrano peppers, a lil spinach). So good! The Veggie Chorizo was spicy and delicious. My sweetie tried the chicken pot pie empanada, the steak and potato empanada, and the picadillo empanada. They were all good, with the chicken pot pie just edging out the others. We had pineapple empanadas for desert. All of the empanadas came with different sauces on the side; mild, verde, roasted, and a nice avocado/jalapeno puree. Definitely worth the trip from Topeka to Lawrence. They are a new business and they knocking it out of the park! Give these ladies your business. You won't be...