Tacos El-Rinconcito — Restaurant in Tulsa

Torta Ahogada. I’m glad I didn’t get what I wanted! Well, what I thought I wanted. When you pull up to the restaurant, you wonder about your safety. The restaurant is on a back street, surrounded by apartment complexes. Seems odd for a restaurant location. All of the business in the isolated row of three small suites have collapsible security panels for the windows and doors. You take a good look around before you get out of the car. No one loitering in the parking lot or nearby. Ok we are here …let’s try it. And it is safe… Not a bad little restaurant. The inside is noticeably well worn, crowded with small tables and a few booths. All appear to have retired from another Mexican restaurant, and are now on their second or third career. The walls are covered with pictures of the menu items. A hand written menu covers the south wall. Daily specials and menu alerts are posted on the front door and on smaller white boards in the restaurant. Order at the counter. Indisputably authentic Mexican food. For my wife the chicken enchiladas. A very authentic meal. Three flavorful chicken enchiladas. The corn tortillas had been dipped in red sauce, then sprinkled with cheese, beans and rice along for the ride. No chips and salsa on the table. You can get a small cup of salsa if you ask for it. I was surprised again. My wife liked the meal! I sometimes ask myself “who the hell would go to a Mexican restaurant to eat a sandwich?” I have only tried a couple of tortas, just so I could say that I did. Nothing special. But, that red one, had my attention. I got an education today on the red one, the torta ahogada. That, a torta ahogada, is what I thought I wanted after seeing pictures. And those are exactly the two words I used when ordering. However, and I do mean a big however, I said with steak. That voided the torta ahogada order, and the meal became a beef steak torta. Not that big juicy, red, drowned sandwich I was hoping for. The torta was delivered to the table, not looking anything like what I was expecting. I was too hungry to sort this all out right then. The sandwich I had today at Tacos El Rinconcito set the bar high for the comparison for all future tortas. Chopped steak, beans, avocado, tomato, onion, lettuce and I believe a little of the spicy red gravy broth that goes with the real torta ahogada, because the lady thought that was what I was trying to order. That delicious sandwich was surrounded by a fresh toasted bolillo. It was like a very good gourmet steak burger. Excellent. After scarfing down that steak torta, I wanted understand where I went wrong. I went back to the counter and emphasized that was the best torta I have ever had; however, I was trying to get one of those red sandwiches flooded with the spicy red sauce. She explained. “Those are pork only. They are simple sandwich with the spicy stewed pork a few fresh onion rings and downed in the spicy red broth.” That’s it, nothing more. She pointed to the picture on the wall. Thank you. That doesn’t seem all that exciting… After learning that, nah. I don’t even want one now. What I had was way better than the torta ahogada. For other reviews laced with superfluous, time-wasting inessential information, sarcastic diatribe and subjective opinion, follow Spike S. on Yelp and Spike...

A befriended couple wanted to visit us and asked if we could eat at the place that serves Birria, well known in California, so they told me. This is that place and lucky us they prepare this dish on Sunday. I checked some reviews and I got exited about exploring this 'authentic' eatery.

Authentic was my customer experience, oh yeah. My spouse and I ordered a torta Cubana and a wet burrito with water as drinks. I was surprised that we got bottled water, but didn't think of it as a big deal. Then the clerk presented me a bill for $25+. Usually I don't pay much attention to the amount when I sign, but this stood out and I asked the clerk to verify our order. She did not show me what she got down as my order and I could not get across to her that something was wrong.

Lucky me, the couple with us speak Spanish and I asked her to help me out. She asked for the manager and suddenly I observe three people calculating my order on their smart phones, and yes they acknowledged that ~$18 was closer to reality. To avoid more hassle she asked if cash back was okay as opposed to canceling the credit card transactions.

When our guests sat down with us, I noticed their drinking cups and I asked what they ordered (thinking one of the speciality drinks), turns out they knew how to ask for free tap water.

The food? Our guests were actually disappointed with the Birria, to me it looked like a plate with meat and nothing else.

Interesting 'authentic' experience and I'm grateful for the help from our Spanish speaking guest, I don't think I could solve this mystery...

After a long day at the hospital and had not eaten all day, I didn't know what to eat but I Had to find something and it had to be soon. I hesitated at first but then I remembered that these are the kind of places where I either find something great and amazing or bad and hard to swallow. I went with my gut feeling and boy I am so glad I did. The Pastor meat is amazing!!! It is as good as we make back in my home town. I had it with the Sopes and the order of three was just enough to fill me up well. I did get two tamales thinking that I wasn't gonna have enough with the sopes, but I was wrong. The tamales were alright not the best but not bad. The only observation I have is the bathrooms are in an odd area. There is no label anywhere to tell you where they are. No big deal....