Taqueria el buen pastor — Restaurant in South Park Township

We were very excited to hear that a family owned Mexican restaurant moved into the neighborhood! We found out yesterday so of course we had to try it today. We weren’t disappointed at all. Taqueria is definitely the real deal.

My husband had the steak quesadilla fajita & said it was really good. The perfect amount of meat & veggies. It was seasoned well & a great portion size for the price.

I had the Wet Burrito, unintentionally lol. I ordered the Burrito Grande but there was a mix up between what was listed on the menu & what the staff knew to be true. Normally, I’d never order a wet burrito but in this case grace was given as it was earned because the burrito was awesome. The steak & chicken were seasoned to perfection. The veggies were grilled wonderfully & still had a bit of crunch which I love. The cheese sauce was flavorful & didn’t overpower the dish. I really enjoyed it & would definitely order it again (😨).

We could tell that all the ingredients used were very fresh. The Guac was fabulous & the beans were surprisingly good too! I next to never eat refried beans at Mexican restaurants because they’re always so gloopy & dry but these were great. Very very fresh.

My only issue (not really an issue) was that they ran out of Tres Leches cake 😭!!! I really wanted to try it. And now after I’ve had a meal I REALLY want to try this cake because I know it’s going to be authentic & delicious so I’m coming back again soon just to try it. Well, if I can catch it before it sells out! Haha!

Critique(s): I only have one small critique but it’s nothing major. This restaurant has barely been open a week so there’s going to be things that need to be worked out. That’s just how life works. In the future, I’d like to see the staff be more versed in their menu offerings & details. You gotta know what you’re providing people & your menu should match what you provide customers, to the best of your ability.

Advice: You may have some tough critics just based on location but please don’t let that discourage you. Continue cooking great meals & that alone will speak for its self & shut the naysayers up.

Overall: We enjoyed our meals very much. I can absolutely see this becoming our go to Mexican restaurant (the former Old Mexico on 51 use to be ours 🥲). We are excited to see what will come of Taqueria el buen pastor in the future... what specials they will have & how their menu evolves as the business grows with our community. We will...

We were running around doing errands when we realized it was lunch time. We were passing by and saw this place and decided to stop in. Turned out to be a good move!

You can tell by the name it features Mexican cuisine. The people inside were very accommodating. The music playing was loud, and we asked that it be lowered, which they immediately did. When we mentioned that it was our first visit, one of the staff came over to explain what they do and answer our questions. There are lunch menu options, dinner menu options, items you can get at either time, and a board listing specials. Most of the items sound like the same kinds of things you find all over town, but it's nice to see such a variety.

The decor is not special. It looks like this was a fast food restaurant in one of its earlier iterations. The seating had both booths and tables though and the servers were very quick and efficient. They have the Mexican sodas available as well as Horchata, Hibiscus, and Pineapple juices. We tried the Horchata which was nice, albeit a bit sweet for our taste.

We ordered a wet burrito and a chicken fajita. Our food was delivered very quickly and was very hot. In addition, two squeeze bottles with house made hot sauces were presented: A green one that was milder even though it featured Jalapenos, and a pink one which we were told was based on Chile de Arbol which was hotter. I would categorize the hotter one as medium in heat level.

All the food we got was very well seasoned and flavorful. The shredded chicken in the burrito had been cooked for a while with some seasoning before being shredded, for instance. Our two - minor - complaints were that the spanish rice was tad too salty for our taste, and the refried beans were blended way too much - to the point that they were saucy, with no structure.

We will definitely want to come back to try their other food as we saw some specials that...

My husband I and ordered dinner from here through their website for take out. We ordered the Burrito Grande and the Plato de carnitas. They were both amazing! The prices are higher than what we have typically paid at a Mexican restaurant, but when I want really good Mexican food, this is where I am going to go from now on. I also want to mention that we didn't get to eat our meals until an hour after we brought it home and decided not to reheat them and they were still AMAZING cold. I had the remainder of my burrito for leftovers for lunch, which I did heat up, and it was still AMAZING.

The restaurant does not include chips and salsa with the orders so I wanted to note that. I also want to note that the online ordering site needs some work. I was not able to select whether I wanted steak or chicken in my burrito. It automatically defaulted to steak. There was no option to make substitutions or leave items off, which did not matter to me since I wanted everything that came with our meals, but I understand that is important to people. Additionally, I was not able to adjust the pick up time when checking out. With all that said, the order went through and the food was ready when the site said it would be.

I have already told my friends about this restaurant and my husband and I are looking forward to getting take out from there again. Definitely give...