Aztec Soul — Restaurant in New York

Recently discovered this family owned restaurant about a year and a half ago, and I cannot eat carnitas tacos anywhere else! Every other taqueria offers al pastor, or spicy pork, and rarely carnitas. But this place has carnitas and it’s my go to! I always order takeaway so I cannot speak about the delivery experience from here but I doubt it’s as bad as others make it out to be? Sometimes it’s not the restaurant’s fault but that’s neither here nor there.

The interior is painted a light, bright turquoise, and it’s spacious and clean. They have minimal seating but there are a few tables and chairs if you choose to dine in but takeaway and delivery is the vibe here. There’s a fridge full of drinks like Jarrito’s and agua frescas, and of course regular sodas, and some Mexican snacks on a shelf if you’d like.

This restaurant is cash only! But they also take Zelle, which is great because I sadly rarely carry cash these days so I love the convenience of being able to pay through Zelle. I usually order ahead to pick up and just give my name to the counter person. Sometimes though I interact with the lady at the front and she’s always very sweet to me. Sometimes, her older kids are there helping out too and they’re very chill and friendly. The chef is also super nice and is always smiling, you can tell he is passionate about cooking and food.

Onto the food, I always order 3 carnitas tacos, sometimes only 2 because the chef hooks it up and does not skimp on the pork in each taco. So depending how hungry I am, I alternate between 2 or 3 tacos. The pork is always tender, juicy, and flavorful. I also get a side of salsa verde which always pairs nicely with the tacos and adds a little spicy kick to it. The sauce always tastes fresh and homemade. You can tell it’s homemade because the spice level varies from each time I order it. Their son warns me if the pepper’s they used are on the spicier side that day, so I appreciate that because I can't handle super spicy. I also recently started ordering tinga tostada and have been loving that too. The tostada is crisp and not oily, and the toppings are even and well distributed on top. The tinga is never dry, which can be an issue with chicken dishes, but that’s never happened to me when I order from here.

My husband is also a big fan of this restaurant and he orders nachos literally every single time. The chips from here are so delicious, crunchy, flavorful, not oily, and the guac is also great. My husband also loves to order the shrimp or chicken burrito and highly recommends them to anyone. Sometimes, they offer orders of tamales and I’d never tried tamales before but took a chance and ate tamale rajas for the first time last year and again, I can’t find anywhere else that I like as much as the tamales from here. So if you see that they’re offering tamales, order some!! You won’t regret it.

Overall, I highly recommend this restaurant. It’s one of my favorites when I’m craving good, reliable authentic Mexican food. The authenticity and flavor is more important than anything else for me. Many places cut corners and skimp out on the flavor or do fusion-y things with their cuisine but this place offers no fuss Mexican cuisine. They’re reasonably priced and I am happy to support local businesses like this one. I implore you all to check them out for yourself and give them a chance despite their mixed reviews in the past. The food is absolutely worth it, otherwise I wouldn't...

Online Order Gone Awry

Fijese fulana de tal...I attempted to order through their online service and received a phone call from a young lady at the restaurant regarding my "credit card"...I explain to her in English and in Spanish, that I didn't use my credit card, in fact I used my debit card...something she clearly misunderstood and did not understand. To make a long story short, she we review the information, she tells me she is going to run it through again then hangs up the phone on me. I wait, I call back to verify if she tried it again. She tells me she has another call, she'll run it through then for the second time hangs up the phone. By now, I'm hungry and angry, and irritated at the lack of professionalism that this employee of a restaurant that I have ordered from at least two times before and have used that card as well as a credit card. I have ordered with them before without a problem, not sure what went wrong tonight. Mind you, I called back and explained myself and said some of the aforementioned and asked, is the order on the way? I have cash, I can just pay with cash instead she states, no, it is not on the way. She says no. I say, ok please cancel the order. I guess that was the adult thing to do? I don't play games and I don't waste my time being rude or ignorant...instead, I'm just simply baffled and how can I forgot to add...HUNGRY NO DINNER when it could have arrived by now. I will never spend my cash money there again. Hope you all train your staff to handle these things better, you are in the restaurant business, not everybody in East New York is a CROOK. So much for supporting your local business. Sooo...

Way over priced for only a spoonful of sour cream and placing a large order of $43 worth of food. I mean 5 dollars for ONE taco if you want cheese and sour cream on it. Not worth it. My pregnant ,taco craving wife ordered chicken tacos and was sad to come home to find out she couldn't eat them cause they were spicy, it would trigger her heart burn. The menu never said they would be spicy. We've been to many authentic Mexican restaurants and food trucks and never had chicken tacos that came out spicy. I ordered chicken flautas and they were plain non spicy as they should be which were good btw. The limes were oddly dry, when I squeezed them no juice came out. But I was also disappointed with my Torta sandwich bread being stale and having to pay $2 extra for Oaxaca cheese when it comes included everywhere you go in Corona queens. Only 1 out of the 5 items I ordered were good. Service is a little slow, could be cause they are understaffed. Not worth going especially when you got to fight to...