El Taquito ~

The Round Rock location is closed, the other 2 are open.

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As mentioned a few weeks back, we have a fresh round of reviews from Mr. Music and family on a recent excursion down to Round Rock. Let's see how they fared! 

Mr. Music is a huge fan of good Al Pastor! Trouble is, I don’t really know where to find great Al Pastor anymore. While down in Round Rock over the weekend with the Music family, I saw that Austin and Round Rock are heavily populated with taco stands! I decided to do a little reading to see if I could find a place. Of course most of the places that were touted as great Al Pastor joints (and there were several!), were all near downtown Austin, East or South. By the time I took up this adventure, we didn’t really have that much more time so I decided to save them for another time and see what I could find on the north end. In comes El Taquito! I read some really mixed reviews about the place, but when I saw that they make Al Pastor using El Trompo, one of those big spits like they use for gyro meat and they make homemade tortillas, I figured it was worth a try. My only chance was to run down Sunday morning as Mrs. Music took the kids to the restaurant’s free breakfast buffet. When I got the place, I was a little disheartened; it looked like an upscale Taco Cabana! I was afraid it would be Americanized and fast food like. The counter looked like a fast food place as did the menu.. except for a few things. For one, they have a section on the menu showing the meats they sell by the pound! Deshebrada, carnitas, Barbacoa, Al Pastor and more! Alright, al pastor here I come! I ordered a pound! After I paid, I saw on the other side of the cash register was a big salsa bar! This is getting better all the time! There were two green and two reds and the sauces were labeled hot and very hot, except for one mild red! They also had cilantro, onion, marinated cucumber and grilled jalapeno strips on the bar! As I waited they brought me a basket of hot fresh chips; so I tried all the salsas, which were all very tasty and definitely had a decent amount of heat. I got the meat back to the hotel; it came with about a dozen thin, hot and fresh tortillas heche amano! Lots of cilantro and onion along with my buckets of salsa! The meat was great; it was hot and moist; it was seasoned pretty well and just a little greasy. The tortillas were nice as well. So here is the honest truth. I like this place; the food we tried was really good, not great. The service was awesome and the prices are good. It is pretty commercial compared to the little hole in the walls I usually haunt and is a bit like a chain, but a very good chain! I’d love for one to open in my neighborhood. 

El Taquito is an Austin area chain with 3 locations including the Riverside neighborhood of Austin, and Pflugerville.

- Mr. Music review