Mexitacos Restaurant and Grill — Restaurant in Matawan

The days I go to Aberdeen for work, my lunch budget is $10 so I ordered the Hard Tacos, which was within budget. The host/waiter said it comes with 3 tacos and I asked if that was fullfilling cause I usually eat 4 tacos at Taco Bells lol and he said it should fill me up. So I ordered it and the wait was about 7-10 mins I would say. (Nxt time ill just order in advance over the phone). While my wait, the restaurant felt nice, clean and cozy. The host was friendly and attentive. Theres no breakfast/bar area to sit at, just tables, but the place is spacious with lots of tables. Now for the tacos... these were one of the best tacos I ever had! The presentation of the tacos are mouth watering and look like ones you would find in a professional foto in a magazine, (look at my pics below) but they even taste better than they look! Definitly beats the taste of Taco Bell hard tacos. The chef definitly made them with love lol. The ground beef was seasoned and cooked well. It came with a lime which i love lime so that was a plus. The green hot sauce (I forgot the actual name) was amazing as well as I love spicy foods. You can tell its home made. What I also like is that the plastic utenzils come in a sealed plastic bag and it comes with a knife, spoon and fork! Its annoying when places wrap it themselves in their own napkin after they touched my utensils with their hands, or they give the standard bag that comes with only fork and knife because majority of the times, I like to eat with spoon. Now, were the 3 tacos fulfilling? I would say like 85% because the other 15% of my stomach wanted another one. (I'm about 148 lbs and 3 months pregnant, so idk if that was the baby that wanted another one or me.) They accept cash or credit, and the store is located in a small shopping center with enough parking, and theres a bigger shopping center across the street. They also have 2 person tables outside if you want to eat in nice weather. So if these tacos were awesome, I'm assuming their other meals should...

The food is exceptional which is why I used to love this place, plus they are convenient. Why the low rating? They add a 10% service charge to credit card transactions which is the way to pay when you’re ordering online. It’s outrageous and illegal. They should just raise their prices. I’d respect them more if they became a cash only establishment and hid their money under the table. There are many cash-only restaurants in NJ…delicious, reputable, and worth the trip to the ATM. Mexitacos would qualify if they were just make the change. I understand the service industry is under immense pressure to survive nowadays…I have many friends and family members who both work and own restaurants and bars. We eat out and order QUITE often. This percentage charge is not the norm, for a reason. I will be reporting to the BBB and I really do hope someone will put a stop to this practice. Here’s what’s allowed before anyone dining there is unknowingly robbed… Credit card surcharges can’t exceed the cost of accepting the card or FOUR percent(whichever is less). Convenience fees usually range between two and three percent of the purchase price, fees should not exceed the processing fee amount. Both of these fees are meant to help a business make up for any processing fees it may have to pay when you make a payment (which I totally accept and AGREE with!). *EVERY business should be allowed to make themselves whole! If businesses attempt to charge more, they should be reported to your card issuer.

I still recommend their food, but I can’t, in good conscience, patronize the establishment if they blatantly disrespect and take advantage of their customers. There are many, many great Mexican restaurants, just not...

What I read in the reviews was not lived up to tonight.

We were immediately sat upon walking in the door around 730 on a Saturday night. Our server didn’t come over for 15 minutes. At ten minutes I flagged down the host, it took her another 5 minutes to come to us.

I can and will forgive all of this especially given what covid has done to the service industry. But As the whole picture of the evening proved this was par for the course on what would be a very disappointing night.

As soon as the chips came out you could tell they were over cooked and the salsa was bland canned diced tomatoes that had little done to turn them into a “salsa.”

We ordered the white queso. It was béchamel with corn and jalapeños. It was under seasoned and underwhelming.

We both ordered the steak fajita burrito, I subbed the fries for refried beans. The burrito again was underwhelming with flavor. While technically all of the ingredients were in it and it was hot, it was desperately under seasoned.

To continue the theme of the night the refried beans had absolutely no flavor. It was literally puréed beans. Nothing added to it.

All in all, here are the positive things I can say about dinner tonight.

The hot food was hot. The cold items were cold. The Pico de gallo was legitimately well seasoned and delicious. As far as the rest of the items we were served, This establishment delivered on the bare minimum of providing sustenance that was fit for consumption.

And regardless of the service and well below average quality of the meal. I still left 20% because if you’re coming out to dinner that should always be the...