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Over on Bandini’s wonderful site, The Great Taco Hunt, he lists reviews of multiple taco places, from trucks, stands, and actual restaurants. One of his reviews was of Tacos Por Favor, which is very close to where I live. Having lived in Santa Monica my whole life, I surprised that I remember ever seeing it. Perhaps this is for the best since after eating there, I’d like to keep this place all to myself.

The atmosphere is very simple with unadorned tables, doors opened wide for ventilation, and a fan acting as air-conditioning. You order at the counter and pick up your food when they call your number. When I went around noon, people were already streaming out the door waiting to order. I can only imagine when 1pm comes around when most people take their lunch break.

While TPF offers everything from tortas to burritos, my girlfriend and I stuck with the tacos (heck, it’s in the name). She ordered a carnitas hard taco and a carne asada hard taco. The hard taco’s are 75 cents more than the soft, but that’s because they’re bigger and come with so much lettuce, tomato, sour cream, and guacamole that you have a salad after you’ve finished the tacos.

I stuck with the soft tacos and got al pastor (top pic right), Bandini’s recommendation - chorizo and cheese (top pic left), and carnitas (bottom pic right), and carne asada (bottom pic left). As far as the meat went, I found that the carnitas was dryer and less flavorful than I prefer. I like a salty taste with juice oozing out. The al pastor was a great roast taste but was too dry for me. I was very pleased with the carne asada. It had a great flavor and was still quite juicy though no where near Paco’s carne asada. The chorizo and cheese were simply amazing. The chorizo wasn’t too spiced up and moist and complemented the cheese very well.

Perhaps the real key ingredient for my tacos was the salsa roja TPF offers. I expected it to be blisteringly hot, but instead it had a smoky and somehow sweet and hot flavor. It was so good, I ignored my usual rule of not using red salsa and put lots on each taco. It was only after continuous consumption of the salsa that I slightly regretted my action.

As far as the size of the tacos, four were more than enough for me. They’re probably 6-7 inches long and come with a copious amount of meat, raw onion, and cilantro on a layer of two soft tortillas. It was only because I had skipped breakfast that I was able to finish my food. For $1.85 a taco, it’s a deal hard to beat. This is definitely going to be a new stopping ground for my lunch.

Tacos Por Favor
1406 Olympic Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90404

By Jeff (see more of his posts).