Restaurante El Sol Express — Restaurant in South Bend

The place is medium-sized. They don't have a distinctive decor or ambiance; a restaurant with those characteristics is a plus but not a requirement, since what you go for most of the times is just to taste something delicious. Their menu isn't very big, but you can find the basic Mexican dishes dishes that most Mexican restaurants offer. Something that caught my attention and, in my opinion, sets them apart is they offer Oaxacan Tlayudas, beef or lamb birria, and tortillas made fresh every day. I was going for a tlayuda, but they didn't have any available, so I opted for a lamb birria. The waitress told me it was freshly made, as well the tortillas. The birria tasted decent but I could tell it was reheated. Likewise, the tortillas didn't taste freshly made, and they were even a little hard. The flavor of the meat was average. Something that disappointed me was they didn't have a special warm sauce to accompany the birria as is normally use for lamb birria and they opted to give me a cold tomato salsa, which in my opinion it doesn’t go well with it. The dish came with a portion of rice and beans, which they lacked of flavor. I could even confirm it didn’t had salt. Their ships were average taste, a little hard but crispy. The sauce for the ships had a good flavor though. The waitress was the best part of my experience, she was on point and always kind...

This is the most amazing place. The corn tortillas float upon your dreams, I swear. The flour tortillas are like grandma made. The salsas are the best, menudo to die for, barbacoa y consume, tamales mixtas, liquados... Oh God stop here. It is hot, noisy, and so la familia. My sons always get away, it's true! They run to the masa press, and the staff snatch then up so they cannot be hurt, the machine is so cool, and the familia so sweet, I love them all like my own. Best barbacoa, best carnitas, best salsas- cook some lomo in their salsa! Oh! The chicharrones are to die for. I'm telling you. It's small and hot and the best stuff in South Bend. Best. Tortillas. Ever. The damned corn fresh ones are like sweet pillows, I'm not joking. And just because you're a gringo means nothing. I really hope the race thing is bullshit. No one cares. The goats milk pops are great for the kids (and you), the peanut candy is killer, buy what you need and support our local talent. El Milagro from Chicago makes lovely tortillas. El Sol makes my family's tortillas fresh, hot, and right in front of me. They live here. They are familia. I go in the morning at nine o'clock and get hot off the griddle tortillas, with Rosales meat and El Sol salsa because they have the best salsa ever. Go here....

I went on West Side Wednesday and the place was packed, still very fast service, very friendly staff and super delicious Carnitas! They also gave you 2 stacks of fresh tortillas to go along with it so no worries about running out!

They were running the tortilla machine though which are very loud and hard on people with sensitive ears. So if you or your kids have sensitive hearing I'd skip...