Old El Paso Red Enchilada Sauce

Huh! I was sad that this was the only option at my store, because I'm a La Victoria user for most mexi-sauces, and this also has sugar in it (and "spices", always mysterious and possibly allergenic). But it tasted, honestly, surprisingly good. Used it for a slow-cooker chicken enchilada deal and I was pleased and impressed. A little spicy but nothing crazy; smells like taco sauce (which I never use) but tastes much better. Like, dare I say, enchilada sauce. How 'bout that. Sorry for Old El Doubting.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Taco Bell Chipotle Chicken Quesadilla Kit

This has horrible reviews online, but I was really hoping that's because it's 7 dollars for 4 tortillas and 2 small sauce packets, and not because it tastes horrible. I like a TB quesadilla, so I went for it!

I baked two chicken breasts and assembled per the instructions on the box. The cheese sauce kinda weirded me out because I never assumed they use a cheese sauce at TB, but heck, maybe they do. I was very exact about the instructions, and it came out.... pretty good. The appearance and amount of ingredients and everything was solid, but in the parts where there was Just Cheese Sauce or Just Chipotle Sauce, I didn't like those parts. If it was a good mix of all, it tasted pretty close to the real thing, but not exactly. But pretty close if you're willing to believe. At the same time, I could just make a quesadilla on my own and it would probably be also tasty and not have 2 weird sauces in it. So, fun to try but would not buy again!

Overall
Cost: 4/10
Taste: 7/10

Rey Azteca

OK, I can't really give this place a fair rating because it is not peanut free!!!! I went here with my parents, who were super excited to try a new Mexican place close to home. This is a nice looking resto, too, big and bright and cozy all at once. I ordered a fajita quesadilla with chicken, and it was good and the chips and salsa were good. But! I started to feel allergy anxiety midway through and asked about nuts. They said there were no nuts in the food. And indeed I did not die. But then a few hours later I got home and saw the response to the FB message I sent earlier asking about nuts, which was basically "yes we use peanuts for our mole sauce". Eek! I could have died!!! So I will never go back, but I bet my parents will, and if I had no allergies I would too. But you, dear reader, should not.

Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 5/10 (hard to be objective)

Taco Cabana

There's one of these in the student center at UT Austin, so I went there for lunch while I was in town for a conference. Better this than Chick-Fil-A right? They had tacos, burritos, quesadillas, fajitas, the standard fare. No nuts, but plenty of beans. I wanted to order the Chicken Fajita Quesadilla but I think they just gave me a plain chicken Quesadilla. It was still fine though. Not amazing, basically just cheese and chicken in a tortilla with some sour cream and weird guac on top, but they have a fun salsa bar and it was quite filling, plus no beans in the 'Dilla. Also pretty cheap for Austin.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

La Tortilla Factory Low Carb Flour Tortillas - Soft Taco Size

Soft taco size is a pretty freakin' big size - which is great, I like the space. And I did use them for tacos, which I always like. The tortillas themselves are kind of irrelevant, but these were honestly not that great tasting - a little wet and not...tortilla flavored? But they were big and didn't rip, and had a shocking amount of fiber (and are low carb I guess) so they're good enough for me. I ate 'em all, don't worry.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Taco Bell

Wait, I've never yet reviewed Taco Bell!? I guess I just suck at thinking outside the bun. But I love Taco Bell. It's like Arby's and Burger King AKA my top fast food tier. Everything basically tastes the same, which is delicious, and it's all very cheap. It's also terrible for you, but I feel better after Taco Bell than I do after Firehouse Subs for instance. Plus they have a fun druggie reputation, and are inexplicably always crowded. :D?

Fiery Doritos Locos Taco: I love these! I hate doritos but these are nothing like Doritos. 3 is the perfect meal, and 2 is passable. These are beef/cheese/lettuce inside a salty red shell. So salty but slightly fiery, not crispy taco but actually a soggy taco shell. So good. 8/10

 Potato Burrito (breakfast): This was great, a good 1 item to get, to be honest. Just cheese sauce and potato mainly. So good, so cheap, so bad for your health. 8/10

Mini Scramble Bowl: Fine and cheesy, with a little salsa randomly in there with egg and potato, not as good as the burrito though. 7/10

Cinnabon Bites: Honestly the greatest thing ever, so soft and sweet and good. 9/10

Orange Juice Mountain Dew: A bit weird in concept but to be honest, not bad for a soda. Tastes like orange soda and sunny D combined. 7/10

Cheese Quesadilla: Sadly not as tasty as the chicken quesadilla, it was overall just kind of 'eh'. 6/10

Double Chalupa Box: Yooo this was good. It randomly came with chips and queso instead of cinnamon twists, and the chips tasted really bad and fishy (I didn't eat them) but the queso was great for me, just like movie theater cheese product (note: probably not great to most people). The crunchy taco was your typical crunchy taco and the chalupa (beef) was great -- maybe too much sour cream on it but otherwise quite good. Like a taco inside in a soft fried(?) shell. Hello gluttony! It's your girl! 8/10

Steak Quesarito Combo: Haha. This is so bad for you, but it tasted very good. The combo is a hard taco (good, solid) and a drink (who cares) with the tasty tasty steak quesarito - a quesdilla rolled up like a burrito. Inside is rice, cheese goo, spicy creamy sauce, maybe sour cream, and odd flay/jerkyish steak bits. The taste is very good. But the afterbuzz is...less so. 7/10

Cheesy Roll Up: This looked pretty tragic, but it was better than I thought (for 1$)! The cheese is a mix of white and yellow, like in their quesadillas. It is easy eatin' and pleasant, but nothing special. 6/10

Beefy Fritos Burrito: I don't like fritos, so I should have known that this wouldn't be my favorite. The meat and cheese is good, as usual, but the fritos were weird and soggy. And rice didn't really "go" in my opinion, even though I normally like rice. This is far from my top taco bell item, but if you take the fritos out it is still a good bang for your buck. 5/10

Chips and Pico de Gallo: This was way better than the last time I got chips! They only give you a small portion, which is actually perfect for me. I enjoyed every chip (~10 chips?) and the whole little cup of pico, which is nice and fresh and cilantro-y. Good side dish. 7/10

Shredded Chicken Quesadilla Melt: It's no chicken quesadilla. Somehow this tastes less like the tasty goo in the regular dilla, and more like unspecified fast food glorp. It was only a dollar and it was filling, but not my fav item either. 6/10

Chips and Guacamole: Uh oh, this is no Chipotle level guac, that's for sure. It was super smooth, somehow sweet, and way too tart. Not what you want in a guac. If it weren't a veg, I'd throw it out. The chips were good but the guac was bad. 5/10

Chips and Nacho Cheese Sauce: Wow OK, this was actually really good! Definitely the best of the "chips and" crew. The chips were in fine form, and the cheese was just enough and like perfect movie theater nacho cheese. Warm and a tiny bit spicy. Love this stuff. 8/10

Chicken Quesadilla Combo: This is good, my favorite quesadilla along with a solid crispy beef taco (no beans or sour cream!). Also comes with drink with I split with my boyf. A tasty journey, but you feel a bit bloated afterwards, you know? 7/10

Loaded Taco Grande Burrito: I picked this out myself to go with chips and cheese. It was only 1 dollar, and had red tortilla strips in it that I hoped would be like fiery doritos shell, but they weren't. Just tasted like regular soggy shell bits. The rest is sour cream (but just a little), tomato, lettuce, and beef, but it didn't real super loaded. Just a little, which was nice. Unfortunately I was in quarantine at the time and can't really enjoy it because of that. 7/10 

Soft Taco Supreme: I didn't get the combo because I wasn't hungry enough, but I got two of these without sour cream (for my sensitive boyf). They were good! Soft shell, taco beef, lots of lettuce, nice tomato. I don't love the cheddar cheese but it's OK. 8/10

Note: with sour cream added, they are even better! Tacos are good. 9/10

Crunchy Taco: My boyf ordered too many tacos so I ate this for him. It's no soft taco. The shell is so tasteless, no spice or even salt. Blech. The inside is great though, beef and lettuce (and tepid cheese). It's OK but I would never pick it out on my own. 6/10

Pineapple Whip Freeze: I got this with a combo for an upcharge of 80 cents, and they gave me a Large which is too big! But I was glad to finally try this. IDK if I definitely got the "whip", but there were vague white spotches at the bottom of the cup (but only just). Anyway, even if it's just a pineapple icee that melts really fast, I liked it. It tastes just like the brown/yellow swirled slushies I (aka my dad) would get from Sheetz when I was a kid. Definitely bad for you, not super cold, a lot of syrup, kind of Tangy?? like a coke slushy but more pineappley. I wish it had more whip, I think. But it was good and made me smile even though a smaller size is better. 8/10

Grilled Cheese Burrito: Good God, it's another item I ate (half of) that my boyf foolishly ordered! Even though I didn't eat the whole thing, I regreted it deeply. It was so filling/dense, but I don't like the spicy chipotle sauce that they use. Not because it is too spicy, but because it is too mayo/ranch-y. Like the one at Jersey Mike's. I will say that the shell with the cheese on it is good. Without the chipotle sauce it would be decadent for sure. 5/10

Cinnamon Twists: These were honestly better than I remember, even though most other dessert items are still superior. These are just a light, crunchy bag of cinnamon-sugar coated dough. A fun little treat and less likely to give you regrets than the cinnabon balls -- but also way less tasty. 6/10

 

Baja Blast Mountain Dew: People love this stuff, but I don't quite get the hype, though I was never a soda lover in general. It mostly tastes like blue raspberry liquid suspended in a small amount of Mountain Dew regular. It's OK. 6/10

 

Crunchy Taco Supreme: My well-intentioned boyf ordered me this on a solo TB run. It is not my favorite taco, as you may know, dear readers -- I am a soft taco girl. Honestly, Taco Bell's crunchy tacos are just much worse than anything you can get in a tortilla or a bowl and that's all I can notice. The shell has bad texture, bad flavor, and is hard to eat!! But at least these had sour cream, which makes them a tiny bit better than the plain crunchy taco... I guess. 6/10

Quesalupa: Yeaaah buddy. This is a chalupa (fried dough shell) with cheese on it. The cheese was sadly not at all melty, but the shell is still so good and fatty. I got this with chicken which I didn't know was an option, and I think that was very good. Some heartburn upon eating (no surprise) but very tasty. 7/10

Overall
Cost: 9/10
Taste: 8/10

Q says: It's fine. 6/10

Goya Medium Salsa Verde

"Medium-hot", huh???? If this is medium, then the medium Tostitos salsa from before is like "EXTRA SUPER MILD". What I'm saying is that this is very hot to me. I like it! It's not painful, even to my sensitive midwestern mouth, but it is spicy for sure. Way spicier than Chipotle's `hot' salsa (which I also think has a decent kick, to be honest).

The texture is almost that of applesauce (OK, sounds gross, but....) -- it's smooth, no big chunks of anything. Also tastes less acidic, less oniony, so I like it a lot. I haven't really had many green salsas because I'm scared of mole which has peanuts and is often green. And pesto! That famous Mexican pesto. Anyway I don't have a lot of salsa verdes to compare this to, but among the jarred salsas (and salsas in general) that I've had, this is one my favorites. It's really nice.

Overall
Cost: 6/10 (about 3.30$)
Taste: 7/10

Tostito's Chunky Salsa - Medium

I've been dealing with some tooth pain, so now is the perfect time to embrace mushy foods like salsa. I was lucky that someone left this (blissfully unopened) jar of salsa behind at a party, and now that I have 0200420 tortillas to go through, this salsa has been a real blessing. I'm sure it'd be good with tortilla chips as well, but I've been using it for tacos and breakfast quesadillas, and it really helps to cool down the hot food, which is great. The taste is good, just like you'd expect, and the "medium" is hardly spicy at all, which is good I think. It's like restaurant salsa but a little chunkier, brighter red, and less cilantro/garlic. Just tomato, pepper and onion in a tomato sauce. On its own it's unremarkable, but it's a nice moist addition to many Mex-adjacent foods.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

Goya White Corn Tortillas

What a deal. The thing about Goya is, it never tastes THAT good, but it's reliable and sooo cheap. Same deal with these tortillas. 30 for like, 3$ max, and they last for 1-2 weeks in the fridge. You just have to commit to a tortilla-only diet and you'll be saving mad dough.

Anyway, I don't love corn tortillas, but they've definitely grown on me lately thanks to the cheap and varied street tacos at California Tortilla. These particular tortillas are thicker than flour ones, more dense/lardy, with more flavor and firmness. I won't fool myself into thinking they're healthy, but at 60cals each, they're probably better for you than bread(???). I used these for some (bad) tacos, but they crack in the crease really easily, which is unfortunate. But would they really work for a quesadilla? I'm not sure what the solution is, and I've also started to get a little tired of these after eating 1/3 of them, but they are versatile, a great deal, and decent. So there.

Overall
Cost: 9/10
Taste: 6/10

La Tortilla Factory Barbacoa Slow Cooker Sauce Starter

Yo, I have serious "beef" with this sauce. Actually I'm not sure if it's the sauce or the instructions or the meat I used that really boned me. What happened though is that in the end, my barbacoa turned out super dry. So the problem is that slow cooked stuff, you shouldn't look inside the pot too many times, you know, or it won't cook (that's burned me before!). The instructions say to use 2-3 pounds of chuck meat, but my pot is smaller, so I just used ~1.5lbs. I used the full amount of water/sauce mix, and exactly the time specified by the package (8hrs -- yes, it does sound long, DOESN'T IT?). Final result: mad dry meat. Thus I didn't get much flavor on it either. So now I have a ton of meat. It did shred, and it is cooked through, so I guess it's technically edible, but I am not enjoying the process. It makes a lot. The sauce tastes only of burnt meat. I cannot in good conscience recommend this, but that's OK because I've never seen it in a store anyway.

Overall
Cost: 4/10
Taste: 4/10

Wholly Guacamole - Roasted Corn over Guacamole Layered Dip

This is pretty good! Sometimes you just don't want to deal with the stress (and expense) of buying the right avocado for urgent guac needs. And a lot of premade guac (even from this very company) is old looking, mushy, or gross. Luckily, I love corn and this bad boy is at least half corn (the top half), and so you can't even see how dark and watery the underguac is! Mostly. Anyway, it has a nice fresh corn taste, a little spicy but certainly not "medium" (less than this). I only really enjoy this with chips, though - otherwise the flavor is too strong and it's also too watery and maybe a bit sweet. But it's a solid dip, healthy enough, and lasts a few days longer than homemade guac.

Overall
Cost: 5/10 (about 4$)
Taste: 7/10

Mrs. Renfro's Craft Beer Salsa

This salsa is one of those things where I'm not sure if I like or hate it immediately. I need to sit with the flavor for a while and think. It's pretty unique salsa, though I can't pin down why -- it doesn't really taste like beer to me, but it is a little too sweet and/or smoky for my liking. It kind of tastes like spicy tomato soup (which I don't like). The spice amount is good, it's accurately labelled as "medium spicy" (for me, that's just 'spicy'!). Yeah, I'm getting those tomato soup notes and I'm not about it. If you like new things or tomato soup, you'll like this! For me, I just want some regular salsa, please.

I did only try this with chips so far though; next I'm going to try cooking some chicken in it over rice (your poor girl's chipotle) and I wonder if that might be better. We'll see!

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 4/10

La Tortilla Factory Hand Made Style Tortillas, White Corn & Wheat

Is this "La Tortilla" or LA Tortilla? A classic question. These are very opaque tortillas. I guess that's what I associate with corn tortillas, like at CalTort -- they feel thicker/stronger than flour ones. But these are 50/50 corn and flour, which is cool in concept, even though in practice they feel more like corn ones to me - shiny and thick. The concept of corn tortillas has really grown on me over the past few years, though, so I'm not opposed to it. These are a nice size, not too big or too small, and you get 8 of them in a nice resealable bag. I used them for tacos, and it was fine. They didn't break or do anything wacky. Good job, tortillas.




Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Fiesta Mexico

I can't believe I haven't reviewed this yet! My favorite Mexican place. This is such a big restaurant, two floors and lots of different tables, and we never have to wait for a seat even though sometimes it is very crowded. The food, I think, is great, but even though the menu is expansive I've only ever ordered one thing since I like it so much. That's the fajita quesadilla with chicken (and rice). It is basically a chicken quesadilla with chunky fajita veggies in it. It is big and delicious. This is all you could want in a Mexican food. The rice is also very tasty, but it has peas in it which I pick out and eat recklessly. They also bring you chips and salsa, of course, and these are great as well. Watery salsa but in a good way. Unique flavor, not like a jar you'd get at the grocery.

I do change up my drink, and today I got the Strawberry Sangria, which was huge and super strong. And tasted like the berry parts of Berry Berry Kix cereal. So, it was good. A+.

Overall
Cost: 6/10 (maybe 10-15$)
Taste: 9/10

Goya Mild Salsa - Pico De Gallo

I don't usually love jarred salsas, but this one is fairly unique as jarred salsas go. It's quite watery and also pretty spicy for something with the 'mild' moniker. Otherwise, this is a standard tomato/pepper/onion mix. It's more salsa than pico, in that there's plenty of salty dark tomato paste, but I think that's probably what most people are looking for. Plus the jar looks pretty stylish! It also stays good for weeks in the fridge, so this is a very convenient snack to have around for chips/tacos/etc.

Overall
Cost: 6/10 (about 2.30)
Taste: 5/10

Qdoba

I guess I've been on a Mexican kick lately! Anyway, my roomie texted me a picture of their brisket ad (which had a dumb pun in it), so I decided to give their new brisket a try! Alas, the brisket was bad! It was a little sweet, a little dry, and super weird. The flavor just did not match any burrito type ingredients at all. However, they did give me a good amount! For 8.40 I got meat, rice, veg, guac, queso on the side, and 2 salsas. It was super filling, and apart from the weird brisket, pretty tasty too. Definitely better than Moe's (although the queso is yellow and not sweet sweet white), and if you're sick of that distinct Chipotle flavor, this is a nice alternative. I will definitely try another protein option here soon!

Drunken Yardbird Taco: Dunno what this name is a reference to, but I like that you can just get one single taco. This one had no lettuce (don't want e.coli) but it had guac and chicken and green salsa and weird parm-looking cheese and possible onions. It was OK, a little spicy, and I like trying new things. 6/10

Taco Salad: The shell for this is super buttery! It's basically a bowl but with extra shell. For the same price, you can't really say no. Taco salad all the way, baby. 8/10

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

Del Pez Mexican Gastropub

I went here with my dad, kind of assuming I wouldn't like it since nothing on the dinner menu struck me as looking great (even though the lunch menu has an intriguing breakfast burrito on it, note to future self). But it really exceeded my expectations! First and most importantly, they have a nut logo on their menu for nut things, which there was only one of, and the nut was pepitas (i.e. pumpkin seeds i.e. not even a nut)! I asked the server and she said they don't use any nut ingredients in the whole restaurant. Um, amazing. Anyway, we ordered the salsa sampler as an app, and the chips were very tasty (and they brought out refills) and the three salsas (red, corny pico, and green) were all really unique and all good. I got a white sangria which was great, and a chicken chimichanga which came with tasty rice and was super filling and delicious (although not healthy, oops). Pops got beef enchiladas which looked like cute sushi rolls, and I think he liked it. Plus we sat outside which is always fun and pleasant. I will definitely go back if I can convince someone to come! They have good 3-6pm MF happy hour deals too (both food and drink).

Overall
Cost: 6/10 (not super cheap entrees, but some good deals if you get them)
Taste: 8/10

Moe's Southwest Grill

At first I hated it because of the dumb names they give all their food options (named after mostly bro-y TV and movie lines), but I will say that they have more options than your Chipotle or even your Qdoba, and they give you free chips + a salsa bar raid with every order. Now, are the chips + salsa good? No, they're terrible, soft, and tasteless, but they are free, which I appreciate. Also they give you just a little guac, which might sound bad but I think calorie-wise it's a plus.

The contents are your standard non-cilantro'd rice, meats (a little flavorless, especially the chicken, but they have decent steak and they offer ground beef), beans, fajita veg (plus mushroom, a nice touch!) and tasty queso that costs extra and also is terrible for you. Plus corn/salsa/lettuce etc. The flavor isn't as good as chipotle, especially the rice, corn, salsa, and meat, but when it's all mixed together it's still decent and very filling. So I don't hate it any more. I wish they all offered breakfast, though. A breakfast option would shoot any Tex-Mex chain up to a 10/10 instantly :9

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

Santa Fe Mexican Grill

This is one of those bars on Main Street that I (and undergrads) tend to overlook -- even though it's really good. I guess the drinks aren't especially cheap, but it's conveniently located to campus, the food is good, the service is good.

Also, they have 3$ breakfast burritos that are really good. Especially the ham one. And 1$ cups of coffee! And free chips and salsa! C'mon, man, this place is great.

Edits: OK, the burritos vary in quality. The good chipotle rosa sauce is crucial, and sometimes they do not include it! It seems the earlier in the day you are, the more likely you are to get this key sauce.

Other foods: Tierra: Idk wtf this is (basically bits of meat, cheese, and veggie?) with rice, but it was very good and reminded me of Fiesta Mexico. Olé!
Spinach Enchilada: "Meh." Came with Meh-y corn mush.
(red) Sangria: &yum;

Overall
Cost: 7/10 [wildly variable!]
Taste: 7/10

On The Border

This is apparently a big chain, which explains why they have (a) a (confusing) allergen menu online and (b) a huge regular menu. We went to one in Elkridge MD with a big party, so service was really slow. However, they do ply you with infinite chips + salsa, which is nice. Salsa is a bit spicy, which is good. Chips are big wedges, which is funny. Anyway, that part was good. I also got a sangria, which was in a weird test-tubey glass, and was good (but not great). For food I ordered chicken fajita quesadilla, because it's so good at Fiesta Mexico, but here it was really not great. Just a generic quesadilla with a few cold peppers in it. Boo. I also tried their mexican rice, and although it did have corn in it and no peas (:D) I still didn't like it. Shrug!! For dessert, though, there was a Kalua Ice Cream Pie with no nut allergens, so I did enjoy that a lot. It was like an Oreo pie from Burger King, but fresher and with hot fudge on top. :9

Price was decent, too.

Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 6/10