El Abajeno — Restaurant in Los Angeles

My friend and I were trying to find a cheap place to eat in the area and decided on El Abajeño (after seeing its good reviews and convenient location). Admittedly, when we first arrived, we were a little apprehensive; El Abajeño is on the corner of a rather dreary-looking Culver City intersection and shares one of its walls with a 7-11-esque convenience store. However, once we were inside, our apprehensions were happily mistaken.

Aesthetically, the restaurant is very pretty and authentic to traditional Mexican restaurants; the tables are decorated with mosaics, there's artworks across the walls, and the restaurant is painted in an orangey-yellow that allows a lot of light. There's plenty of space in the restaurant, and despite the nearby intersection and outdoor busy street, it is very quiet on the inside. At El Abajeño, you order at the front in an assembly-line fashion and (with most of the dishes) by the time you get to the front of the line, your food is ready. Then you sit down! (There's also a cart filled with homemade spicy and mild sauces to add to your meal). My friend (who is vegetarian) ordered a veggie burrito and I (who am not vegetarian) ordered two tacos asadas. Firstly, the price can not be beat: for my two well-stuffed tacos + complimentary side of tortilla chips, my order was less than $6 (possibly less than $5?).

Secondly, the food is INCREDIBLE. I've previously lived in México (and visited all sorts of authentic villages/cities across the country) and El Abajeño's food is completely on-par with authentic Mexican food. The meat was so tasty and cured wonderfully and all the ingredients felt very fresh and cooked-well. After my two tacos, I was more than stuffed. Additionally (which can sometimes be a stereotypical concern with exotic food establishments), neither my friend nor I got sick afterwards (and we both have sensitive stomachs). You can't go wrong with El Abajeño: the prices and food are incredible, the portions are huge, and the restaurant is pretty and quaint. Leave your apprehensions at the door and you will have a fantastic (and budget-friendly!)...

My experience was mediocre at best, with nothing particularly memorable. Despite the fact that the lady at the counter was polite and attentive, my meal did not live up to my standards. When I walk into a restaurant, I expect restaurant-quality food, or at the very least an attempt, but what I got was fast food. I ordered a burrito with just beef, but it didn't say anything about the meat being covered in sauce. I thought I ordered a regular burrito, not a wet one, because I couldn't keep my burrito from turning into a soup due to the amount of liquid that leaked out of it. Worse, it wasn't even properly wrapped, causing it to break almost instantly. It appears that the person who created it lacked care or effort and simply wanted to get it done as soon as possible. I'm disappointed because I wanted something I could eat with my hands rather than with a fork. Overall, I enjoyed the meal, but it appeared to be more of a fast food option than high-quality restaurant fare. It's good, but it doesn't entice...

This review is meant for the individual that is looking for a great Mexican cuisine and uses the ‘top rated’ filter like I did, this place isn’t it, sorry… I could only guess why this place is so high rated because my family of 6 with individual taste felt the food was only decent in quality and flavor. I had the beef enchiladas plate: beans were yummy though. My Tía’s had the chile relleno and thought it was watery. My mom had carnitas tacos and it lacked flavor. My sister had the flautas/taquitos and it had no flavor and had to douse it with their salsa. I believe people who rated this higher than 3 stars is probably because it’s their idea of comfort food and familiar to the style + taste. Good thing was they have mexican coke in glass bottles. If you like a full plate of food and a hefty amount of meat in your dish, you might like it here but just bring your own salsa and flavoring. There are definitely better Mexican...