Primecut Taqueria — Restaurant in Placentia

1 person working the front and 4 working back of house and this place still manages to be a filthy dump…

Ordered the loaded fries and a bean and cheese burrito. My expectations were not too high but I also have had my fair share of taqueria style Mexican food so I know what I am talking about.

Anyone who has worked in restaurants or has patronized restaurants knows how important cleanliness is. It is arguably THE most important thing when it comes to food service. This place has been open for about a month but the furniture is already dusty and sticky because nobody has the audacity to regularly sweep and mop the floors. Mind you, there are 4 people working back of house with one person working the front, this is 100% a management issue.

The salsa bar was filthy because of how crammed everything is. There are some salsas and condiments in the middle of the salsa bar which is just a nightmare when it comes to splatter/food contamination. Nasty, but the salsa bar is mandatory for Mexican food.

How was the salsa? There are about 5+ options that range from mild to extra extra spicy and they all taste the same. Watery and flavorless. They have a dupe el pollo loco avocado salsa which was probably the best thing here.

On to the main course, I ordered carne asada “LOADED” fries and a bean and cheese burrito. When I see the words “LOADED” fried I expect a couple of toppings to come along with it… it was just fries, meat, and a couple squirts of sour cream. Is this a sick word play on the word LOAD-ed fries where the load is just the sour cream? The carne asada had a good charred taste but it was all minced up like some cheap dry meat, it was mid and I refuse to pay $5+ for a meat upgrade. $15 for LOADED fries with 0 toppings. The fries were also flavorless. Pass on this dish entirely.

The bean and cheese burrito was pretty tasty as I could tell the beans were homemade. The portion was tiny however. $8 for a del taco sized bean burrito is pretty crazy, they could have made this in a regular jumbo burrito tortilla but it was smaller than a chipotle burrito. Disappointing, this is where you are supposed to beat the big guys but you fall short. You know there is a chipotle literally a block away from you guys right?

I have to comment more on the filthiness of this place. Before I came here I was using the atm and I saw someone wearing a uniform from here trying to induce their own vomiting in the parking lot... That should have been the reason to skip this spot but it was late and I was already here so why not, I like trying new places out at least once. The floors are sticky and there are food particles under the tables. Oh and I saw one of the ladies who may have been the one inducing their own vomit grab a wet towel from who knows where and used that to wipe the soda machine, salsa bar, and trash can. That was pretty much it for me when it came to this spot and I was pretty nervous about my food when I saw that. The food was mid, very mid. Primecut taqueria should change their name to usda select taqueria.

My order also took forever. I was in line for 5 minutes when there were only two parties ahead of me and I waited 15 minutes for my simple order. I’ve been a cook since a teenager so i glanced over at the kitchen to see the energy… Funny thing I saw was that the cook was putting down ribs and octopus when I’m pretty sure nobody ordered that ahead of me. This is at closing. The 4 back of the house is too busy plotting on their employer instead of serving the customer.

Cherry on top: the cashier chick was super white while the rest of the staff was mainly Spanish speaking, I could tell the politics are weird here already. The name of the cashier had “cute chick” in front of it. Didn’t know this place was a bikini barista type place either.

If you want to take a coin toss on food poisoning, come here.

0/5, Rubios might be better than this place :/

I want to give this place a call to maybe get a comp for my “LOADED” fries but I do not trust places with this horrid level of...

I love this place! But I had to write this to share my experience. I come here and the HB location A LOT! I’m cool with most the staff, everything. I came and ordered and I also ASKED to pay for a big container of salsa. The cashier was cool and just said to take some, so I did. I waited for my food had the salsa out on the table. As the other cashier/food expo brings my order, she ask me if I paid for the salsa, I said yes (I didn’t want to snitch on the worker for them to get in trouble) she then goes and ask the employee if I paid. The employee says he just hooked me up. She then comes back to me in front of the whole restaurant and says “just so you know we charge for the salsa, it’s not free”. The employee who hooked me up said it was his bad. But you could tell she wanted to say something to me as I was the only BLACK person in the restaurant. I then had to put her on blast that I offered to pay and that I didn’t need or want anything for free from her in front of the whole restaurant. She NEVER apologized that she was WRONG and continued to try to tell me for next time what it would be. I didn’t need to know this time or next time. Just goes to show people are racist and ugly inside and out in this world and I want it to be known. Be better older lady who...

I live just down the street and was genuinely excited when this location opened. In the beginning, everything was excellent—the quality, freshness, and flavor really stood out. We loved it so much, we brought our friends and family to enjoy it too.

But lately, we’ve had a few off days. Cold arrachera tacos, missing chile peppers, and tortillas that weren’t warm. We figured it could just be a few off days and gave it another chance.

Then came the Carne Asada fries. After a long wait, I checked in on the order and was told they had been forgotten in the microwave. They added the toppings and handed them over—still cold. 🤯

Still hoping it was just a timing issue, we came back for dinner this Tuesday, but unfortunately, the same problems happened again. What’s the question when and see what’s this?

It’s honestly disappointing. This place has so much potential, but lately it feels like the quality and care just aren’t there. I truly hope things turn around and the team brings back the pride and consistency that made this spot so special...