Elena's Taco Shop — Restaurant in Memphis

I would rate a 5 if it tasted exactly like the food I grew up with, but I will say it's very good! I grew up and lived in San Diego for 38 years. I moved to Memphis 3 months ago from San Diego and we would eat Mexican food from all over SoCal and make frequent trips to Tijuana and Ensenada. I am also Mexican, so my life has been Mexican food. If you're from SD, you know what I'm taking about: Sombreros, Alvaro's, Cotijas, Hilbertos, all the O's and A's.

We ordered the carne asada fries, "steak tacos" (referred to as carne asada tacos in SD), the surf and turf burrito, and rolled tacos.

The carne asada fries were the most like home. Fries were crunchy and the meat is tasty. My wife made the comment that the cheese was skimpy, which I agreed with.

The street tacos were good. They tasted authentic. I'd say MORE gauc would seal the deal. The gauc and meat is what really makes an authentic street taco, and the guacamole was there, but not enough of it.

The rolled tacos were tiny and disappointing. When you order 5 rolled tacos at most spots in SD, they take up most of the space in your box. These were almost 1/2 the size and again, needed more cheese and gauc.

The burrito was stuffed with meat. But no gauc at all. There wasn't much shrimp either. If they put gauc in the burrito it would have heightened it way more. Most of the bites were mouth fulls of meat, which makes it a little dry. My wife didn't even want to eat any. The meat was also cut much thinner than I'm used to. It's fine, just a little different.

Next time I'll try a California Burrito!

All in all, it was good. I will eat here again. So far it's the closest thing to home I've had. So...

I LOVE street tacos!....but not these. (US 64 location)

Let me say that as a business they do not answer the phone which is unfortunate considering that the menu posted here on Google clearly says that you can "call ahead". Anywho, when I entered I was greeted by the kid behind the counter and I asked him if they take telephone to-go orders. He sort of chuckled and said "yeah but we've been busy." So just a heads-up...I was there on a Saturday evening (a little after 5pm) there were like 2 people sitting and eating on the inside and maybe 2 or 3 people waiting for to-go orders...and no one answering the phone, I guess that's considered "busy". AND the drive thru was closed. On to the tacos--

my disclaimer: I am not from Memphis, but I have eaten street tacos from other places in Memphis and enjoyed it.

I ordered both chicken and steak street tacos and the de la olla beans because the street taco pics online looked so good. The steak was dry, and had nooo flavor whatsoever. The chicken was not as dry but had a very weird, unpleasant smell to them. The salsas are awesome! I had to wait for the beans because the guy said they had to make a fresh batch....it took a few minutes longer than my tacos. The beans looked like pinto beans from a can...and honestly, I didn't try them. And let's talk about the HORRID corn tortillas. They were not even warmed/cooked. I feel like I ate a clump of masa. The indigestion is unreal! I wouldn't go back to this location but maybe the Summer...

We have been been eating regularly at Elena's for years. The food is good but the customer service has gotten bad in recent months. We love their salsa, so we typically order 4oz cups of our favorites. Over the past few months, there have been several times when the salsa order at the drive-thru has been incorrect or even missing. On multiple occasions, we had to flag down an employee to correct it.

Today, our salsa order was missing yet again. I flagged down an employee. He went back in and returned with the statement, "All 3 people inside said they put the salsa in the bag." I showed him the bag that clearly held only 2 burritos and some napkins. He went back in and came back a few minutes later with a new story, "My manager said he personally put the salsa in your bag." I calmly replied, "Then I would like to speak with your manager." The same employee returned later and said "My manager said he will just refund your card." I asked if they needed my card. The employee said no, they did not need it.

I found this suspect. A manager that was unwilling to come talk to a customer about a mistake does not sound like one I can trust to refund my credit card. Not willing to continue as my food was already getting cold, I left. Sure enough, the manager has failed to do anything.

Meanwhile, the car behind us had discovered a problem with their order and was asking for help resolving it and was getting no assistance.

This may be the last time we...