Taqueria Jalisco Mexican Restaurant

We had dinner at Taqueria Jalisco Mexican Restaurant to celebrate a birthday. The birthday girl’s husband choose the restaurant based on the desire for tacos and Jalisco came up in the search with a 5 star rating.

We had reservations for 7:30pm, but with parking a challenge, we were tardy and thus left waiting for our table. There was a quick discussion on whether we wanted to stay or go else were, but seeing the tacos being made through the window was enough to temp us back in and to continuing waiting.

Based on everyone’s expression I gathered this was not what was expected, a casual second floor cantina by English Bay. If we weren’t looking for it we would not know it was here.

The open kitchen was on one side, the general seating area on the other. One wall was painted a colourful mural of cactus in-front or a pinky-maroon sky, another was adorned with colourful sombreros.

The menu is televised above the cash register. We ordered a few items to share, starting with drinks.

Three of us ordered the Mangonada Bellini in all its options. Tamarind with peach slush available virgin or with Smirnoff tamarind vodka or tequila. Ribbons of deep red against orange, tamarind on the rim and more on the candy they used as a shallow straw. This was sweet, tangy, and tropical; and it helped to add to the authenticity of the rest of the meal.

The Golden Taco is a 5″ corn tortilla topped with onion and cilantro. As is this was plain, the meat needed seasoning, and the whole taco left us searching for a sauce. Unfortunately we didn’t realize each table had two squeeze bottles of a red and green salsa (except ours), to use as we saw fit, until all the tacos were eaten.

The Torta Ahogada is Bolillo bread stuffed with carnitas, beans, red onion, and avocado. A loaded bun packed with plenty of tender meat, given freshness with the onion, and majority of its flavour from the tomatoey ketchup-like dip on the side. However, despite how it stung, we all preferred the zest of their special XXTRA hot sauce with this.

The Pozole is a rich soup made of guajillo, hominy, and carnitas. Topped with onions, cilantro, lettuce, orégano, and dried chile de árbol. It comes with a side of crispy tortilla chips for dipping into, although too runny for the chip to carry. The soup itself was bean forward and not to my tastes, there was not enough depth to enjoy as is. Best with a hearty scoop off all the ingredients that sank to then bottom of the bowl. I would have paired this with the sandwich or offer some bread and/or croutons with it instead.

I preferred the Ceviche as a dip, but found it too watery. Chunks of raw fish marinated in fresh lime with red onion, pico de gallo, cucumber, and house spices. Served with a side of crispy tortilla chips for dipping. I enjoyed the chips the most out of everything we had, they were tasty on their own with an amazing hard crunch; they carried the overly salted ceviche.

In truth, I came in a a full stomach, with little appetite, but despite the high review and the revolving door of people coming in to dine this Saturday night, I found the food unremarkable. Nothing outside the drinks and chips stood out as items I cannot get else where and tastier. A convenient stop if looking for authentic Mexican and/or Mexican bottled coke cola in the West End, but not my first go to to satisfy that crave.

Taqueria Jalisco Mexican Restaurant
1184 Denman St #201, Vancouver, BC V6G 2M9
(604) 428-5577