Araujo's Mexican Grill - El Paisa Taqueria — Restaurant in San Jose

Today I went to get some tacos at Arujos Mexican Grill, I came here, because it was close and it used to be a good place to get some tacos or a burrito: tortillas were fresh and the food was good in the past, but for the las 2 or 3 years, the food quality is not that good as before. The meat is just chunks of fat and very little meat, the tortillas are not freshly made, they just have it in a container and some times are not even warm. The pastor sometimes is very oily, dry, cold and chewy, the asada sometimes is not fully cook or the meat is very chewy, the chorizo sometime is dry and burn, and huge chunks. The other meats are the same: dry, oily or old. The cooks are always new people and very often they put very little meat on the tacos or burritos. It seems that the owner tells them to put little meat on the tacos or burritos. There was a time when custumers were only getting two sauces, if you would ask for more; the cashier would tell you that there were only 2 sauces per order. I could see that when they got good cooks the food was better, but they often change cooks, which makes me think why? There are other places that have better food for the same price, I will drive a few...

It was my first time here as my friend moved into the neighborhood nearby. He spoke highly of when this place was just a taco stand. You know if your taco stand or taco truck game is strong in the bay, you know it's good!

I ordered the nachos with chicken and my friend ordered an assortment of different items, like the tacos and something else that started with an M. We also shared a horchata.

The nachos were absolutely delicious although I would have liked maybe one or two more chips. The chicken had a lot of flavor, the pico de gallo was fresh, the sour cream was in a good portion, cheese not from a tin, and the bell peppers had a great crunch and flavor as well! Topped with freshly sliced avocado and it had me eating in silence it was so good!

My friend shared a couple bites of what he ordered with me and you could taste the fresh handmade tortillas as well as flavorful meat. He asked for no beans on his tacos but was able to scrape them off easily.

The horchata was probably the best horchata I have had. I normally don't like horchata but this had me questioning if I needed to get my own.

Overall very delicious. So delicious, I had to...

What! only 5 reviews!? This place is AMAZING!! I mean I once got into an argument with someone who I dated over which taco place in SJ is the best. It ended up that we both were talking about the same store! There is no competition.

They started from a taco truck in their current parking lot, where they served two types of tacos. Although there were many mexican restaurants in the area, their taco truck always had a line. You could smell the carne asada a few blocks away. Then, they built the restuarant on Senter a couple of years ago. Just recently they opened another location on Story and King. Despite this, they still have the original truck in the parking lot.

If you want their origianlly get the street tacos. If you want something fancier, get a super taco. Top it with avacodo sauce and grilled peppers (by request only).

The workers are always great. They still have many of the original staff from the truck days. To go with it, I recommend the freshly made...