El Taco Yama — Restaurant in Visalia

We stopped at this Mexican restaurant in a small town while passing through, as it had high ratings in the area, and it didn’t disappoint! The Mexican food here is truly authentic. Having traveled to Mexico, we can tell the tortillas, especially the corn ones, were homemade—fresh, tasty, and with a perfect chewy texture. The corn tortillas were sweeter and more flavorful, and I highly recommend them.

We tried the torta, burrito, taco, and several other local dishes, including a sizzling plate of beef with green peppers, which was outstanding. The server was very friendly, and the restaurant had a spacious interior. Since we visited at lunchtime, it wasn’t crowded, making it a relaxing experience to enjoy the delicious food.

The prices were also very reasonable, which added to the appeal. A surprising thing happened at the end, though—it was the first time I saw this in California. The server, using a Clover pos machine, automatically removed the tipping option and said we were all set. I’m not sure if that’s common practice, but we still left a good tip because the service and food were excellent.

Our family had a great time, and I highly recommend this place if you’re looking for non-industrial, authentic Mexican food. Fresh ingredients, delicious flavors, reasonable prices, and...

Decided to stop by for lunch at this place, I was the only customer and I was seated promptly. I decided to have some chicken taquitos. I also ordered an agua fresca. It took about 20 minutes to get my drink. About 10 minutes after my food was brought out.

The taquitos were a decent size but I was disappointed that they melted mozzarella cheese on the taquitos. Too much cheese. The chicken in the taquitos was grilled and it didn’t taste fresh. The pieces of chicken that fell out of the taco were too hard and dark. The food lacked flavor. Even if they had added a different type of cheese these taquitos were not good.

The agua fresca had a weird taste to it. It was not fresh, I felt like they added sugar to cover up the taste of the agua going bad. It was extremely sweet with a weird aftertaste.

The service wasn’t be best. No one came back to check after the food was brought out. I had high hopes given that this place had a decent rating. The food is not good, it...

It is just not very good Mexican food. You can easily do much better in Visalia. I ordered a sope and a taco combo. A big pile of food arrived shortly. Looked good, but seriously disappointed. The plate was barely warm and the rice/beans soon became a bland puree. Trying to add flavor, I dumped large spoonfuls of the chip dip to the cooling pile.

In desperation, I requested the Pico de Gallo that I had been offered. It swiftly appeared but did nothing to rescue the food. I ate about half of my plate and then surrendered.

The Pico de Gallo did not save the food, but it sure beefed up the bill. $3.99 for Pico de Gallo that I previously been offered apparently for free. Hey, it is 2025 and times are tough for restaurants. $1.99 would be fine, $2.99 edgy, but $3.99 is too much.

You eat in a large empty cavern (at least on a weekday afternoon).

Seemed like nice people, but...