Carlitos Barbecue Taqueria — Restaurant in Paramus

I’ve been coming to the one in GSP since they opened. This is one of my favorite lunch spots.. lately tho, there’s some women that work there that just suck with service. I’ve been tryna give them a chance cause people have bad days.. but now it’s every time I go, one of them is giving me attitude or slapping my food together & the last two times I went, they gave me cold meat. I was just there to get some Lunch & I asked the girl (Kassandra) if that meat was cold cause she was grabbing the meat from under the serving counter.. not the one that’s surface level & she gave me attitude saying it wasn’t cold speaking to me in a tone as if I’m dumb. I sit down to eat & of course the meat is cold & chewy like it’s been sitting there for a minute. Another time she gave me burned rice & I heard her say “esto está quemado” & I asked her kindly to give me from the fresh rice they were about to put into the little silver bin & the other woman Yaro interrupted & said “ not burned.. she wouldn’t give you burned rice” again, in a tone like “no duh”. I never had an issue with the people here. Idk what’s going on with them. Last week I went & Yaro like always had me there waiting at the register for a hot minute while she was talking & recording a girl with a bag over her like a ghost. I smiled & said it was cute to try to be nice but then she took like 3 minutes to take my order cause she hey we’re making a video. Then she finally took my order & continued to talk while I was just waiting there for her to start making my order. There’s been so many times now when I go that she specifically makes me wait as much as possible to take & make my order. I never tip them.. but why would I? The woman with the black hair & glasses is always so sweet & we always greet each other& have a nice small conversation when I go. She’s even offered to make me fresh tortillas 💖 also the tall light skinned guy is always so kind & ready to take my order. I love this place.. but they’re making the...

Whenever my husband and I come to Garden State mall, our brains are so conditioned to expect a food court meal that it took us some time before we realized this lively taqueria existed. It's on the top floor (or the ground level if you're coming from an outdoor parking lot) and one of several mall eateries that aren't in the food court.

The ordering decision tree proceeds as follows:

1. Decide whether you want tacos, cheesy tacos (called, or a platter,
2. Pick your proteins (vegetarian options available), and
3. Determine which toppings and accoutrements you want on top of your tacos.

The best part of ordering was seeing the fresh masa and tortilla press right behind the counter, a reassurance that these tortillas would be as fresh as one can get.

And they were. Not only that, the meats inside them were incredible. We tried the birria, carne asada, crispy fish, and smoked chicken, all of which were conversation-silencing delicious. I'm also not a bit embarrassed to admit I sipped straight from the small cup of that rich consommé that's meant as a dipping broth for the birria tacos. If I had to pick a least favorite from the bunch, it would be the smoked chicken, but that's not to say they were bad; the other ones just blew me away far more. The chicken tacos were packed with tender meat and redolent of smoked wood, a flavor I wouldn't have expected to encounter in the middle of a shopping mall.

Most of the restaurant space seems to be reserved for the ordering and food prep area, but there's a decently sized seating area right outside the restaurant and even more places to sit a little further away from Carlito's if the...

I hate when people don’t get food orders right. I’m trying really hard not to eat out and make better food choices so when I give myself a cheat meal, I want it made correctly. This rant is because my taco didn’t come with cheese 😂

The music upon ordering is very loud so the girl did not hear me say that I wanted the quesataco and just served me the one without cheese. I feel like the cheese makes such a difference. Overall I enjoy the food from Carlitos, the freshness of the tomato and pickled onions is a nice break from the taco itself.

Unfortunately the service is very inconsistent. Sometimes I get limes, and jalapeños, sometimes I do not. The pictures posted shows additional vegetables that I did not receive today and I feel like this happens often. Today I did not receive limes, jalapeños, or the cheese that I had ordered so I’m a bit dissatisfied with my taco fix.

I’m on a fairly strict diet so when I do decide to have a cheat meal, I would hope it to not disappoint but...