Tire Shop Taqueria — Restaurant in Los Angeles

"Tire Shop Taqueria" got its name from being a taco stand located in the parking lot of La Jarocha Tire Shop in South Central Los Angeles. For many years, this stand had no official name. It's not difficult to find this spot once you're in the neighborhood: just follow the fetching aroma of sizzling meats to an area filled with smoke billowing around and taco enthusiasts of all ages, shapes, sizes, and ethnicities getting their taco fix. The specialty of this operation is Tijuana-style tacos, meaning tacos filled with lots of guacamole and wrapped in wax paper, the end-result physically resembling little gyros.

The "Al Pastor Taco" consists of thin strips of pork marinated in a sticky, sweet, and spicy red adobo marinade. The pork is scooped from a stew pot into the taco before being sprinkled with onions and cilantro and getting hit with a dollop of light guacamole. The significant amount of guacamole on Tire Shop Taqueria's tacos would normally be overwhelming for me, but not here: it is airy and delicate, not the green sludge that often gets passed off as guacamole at lesser taco stands. I looked for an on-premises al pastor trompo but found none, so I suspect the meat is chopped or carved off-site. The corn tortillas are made to-order, which also helps the overall taco despite the meat being prepared in-advance.

If you were to get one taco here, it should definitely be the "Carne Asada Taco." The marinated carne asada is well-seasoned, then rendered smoky, crispy, and seared with flavor from the stand's expert grill masters. The beef is so smoky that it is 25 minutes since my last bite and I'm in an Uber to my hotel as I am writing the notes for this review, and my hands and clothes still smell so strongly of mesquite that my Uber driver just commented on it. This is my new "standard" for SoCal carne asada tacos, and the best carne asada I've had this year.

For both tacos, when you order "con todo," the taqueros apply just the right amount of a zippy salsa roja to them so you do not need to dress your own tacos. I do recommend picking up a complimentary chile toreado or two. They're mild, but they're nicely flavored. There are communal long banquet tables for seating, but these tacos are made to be eaten while walking somewhere.

Tip: just as if you were in Tijuana, here you will pay for the tacos after you order them. Get into line at the tortilla end of the operation, order your tacos, get your tacos, then pay at the end of the line. Cash...

Update 4/17/20:

Open for takeout only these days. Nice new truck, same food and same crazy crowds though. No self service frijoles or salsa, but otherwise same great quality asada tacos. I also noticed they have burritos now, which is something I had to try and it was bomb. I’ll be back.

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Five star tacos for sure. I can see why a few people may have had a bad experience, but the best Tijuana style carne asada al carbon tacos by far. I’ve had the best in TJ, I’ve had Tacos 1986, I’ve had Carlo’s and so many more than I can count but these were great. Asada had the grilled taste, tortillas were hand made and fresh, salsa was bomb and service was way above par. I tried it as a taco, queso taco, quesadilla and a vampiro. Every one hit the spot. Queso was the soft white cheese and tasty. Vampiro was crispy, not stale tasting like some other places. Also having frijoles de la holla for free made it even better. I even liked the horchata, which was not too sweet and not too watery. Just right.

The one thing that I didn’t love was the al pastor. No spit spinning should have been the clue. It was ok, but not my fave.

I was also here on a Thursday around 8:30, so it was busy, but not crazy so asada was always fresh and the wait was short. I can see some of the issues people might have when the lines are longer and I’m sure they have to pre-cook more which could dry out the meat.

Finally, I have to say the service was pretty awesome. I speak a little Spanish, so it always makes things easier and they appreciated that here and maybe even catered to me, but it was appreciated. I will definitely be back...

I came here on my second time in LA and quite naïvely I was not expecting to find a taco place like this in the US. These are the typical tacos you can in the streets of Mexico. They are located in a parking lot and immediately you can see a line and smoke from the multiple barbecues. First there’s a lady making large handmade tortillas for mulitas (meat+cheese between 2 corn tortillas). Then you can see where they are grilling the different types of meat and at the back there’s someone else making smaller tortillas for tacos.

I ended up ordering 1 mulita de pastor and I tried a bit of the asada tacos. The meat was good, the asada is nice and smoky. The mulita was definitely a good choice. It’s large and more than enough if you are not very hungry. The handmade tortillas are delicious! I just wished they could add a bit more cheese.

They ask you at the end of your order if you want your tacos/mulitas “con todo” (with everything). In Mexico City that means only cilantro and onions, but here they also add a lot of salsa on your tacos. So be careful if you don’t eat too much spice! It’s better to order the salsa separately (it’s spicy but delicious).

Also note that they only accept cash so be prepared, we ended up paying $41 for 4 mulitas and 4 tacos. They have a couple of large tables in the parking lot where you can sit. Since they were full, we decided to order to go. Finally, don’t get scared by the location. We went around 9 pm and there were many families with children (maybe because it was Halloween). Everyone was...