Comments on: El Tonayense: Reviews

By: Will

Will — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 21:40:38 +0000

p.s. if you go to the actual Tonayense restaurant on 24th St and order the tripe you can request that they "pasar por la plancha" and they will toss it on the flat top and crisp up the fatty edges of the tripe, true Heaven.

By: Will

Will — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 21:38:21 +0000

I had sent the El Tonayense trucks for years and had always just dismissed them as roach coaches (of which I have no fear) but after seeing a similar review where the cleanliness was mentioned I decided to give it a try.
My partner and I are both devotees of offal, chitlins, ears, feet, tripe, whatever it may be, we continually seek out places to get a gut fix, always wary that you want to procure these items from a place that does a high turnover of such perishable products.
The cabeza at Tonayense is off the hook, the tripitas are divine but it is here that I have discovered buche and I am smitten. It has the consistency and taste of hog maws yet I am told is a part of the hog's neck. I have yet to go to a good latin butcher to see what the cut looks like in the raw so to speak and have yet top try my hand at cooking it myself but this stuff is divine.
I have honestly never tried their carne asada or any of the other pedestrian items that I could get at any Taqueria but I have been to the Truck near Best Buy countless times and also made several visits to the actual restaurant on 24th St and would never hesitate to order anything. The food is fresh and the the quality is great.
No, they are not the biggest burritos in town but at the same time I am not always seeking large portions of mediocrity.

By: Scott

Scott — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 02:20:38 +0000

As a neighbor to El Tonayense, I've eaten here 2-3x / week for a couple years now. The quesadilla is a hands down winner. I refuse to order one anywhere else. As suggested above inconsistency is common, I'm sitting next to a 'dilla that is definitely NOT chicken. And I dont eat red meat! I dont like not being able to see what ingredients go in your order. I keep meaning to swear off Tonayense but 90% of the time–they get it right. So I'll swear them off for a few weeks and then the urge will strike–and then we'll be friends again, repeat as necessary.

By: Doug

Doug — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 19:12:26 +0000

@Ely: Sorry that your El Tonayense experience was so bad. As a person who has eaten at pretty much every taqueria in town, I'm the first to admit that no taqueria cranks out universally awesome cuisine. Inconsistency is part of the territory. Chuck mentioned on the set that El Tonayense gets better cleanliness ratings than Bacco — 98 to 94. Check out http://www.cleanscores.com for more info.

Also, I would guess that the taqueria that you're describing at 18th and Castro is either Zapata or La Tortilla. As far as I know, the only Pancho Villas are at the Embarcadero and at 16th between Mission and Valencia. And, dude, if you really are talking about those Zapata or La Tortilla, I will recommend that you recalibrate your meter by getting back to Mission ASAP and checking out some of the more consistent fare — La Taqueria may be more to your liking, or El Metate.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:01:46 +0000

The tacos I had there are not that bad!

By: ely

ely — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 07:57:53 +0000

Dont eat from El Tonayense, I had a beef burrito that made me sick! The meat was too oily and mix in with fatty fat peices. The burrito was tiny and the ingridients had little favor. My wife, and 11 year son agreed that El Tonayense's burritos had notting to rave about. Go to Pancho Villa by 18th and Catro, now there they have have the best burritos in town. These reviers are really bad, I went to El Tonayense because they recomend it, I regreat it totally.

By: heidi

heidi — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 19:12:09 +0000

During the episode Leslie gave highlights of Alfred's mentioning they had grass-fed beef but during the restaurant's own highlight, they said corn-fed. My internet search shows the home site says exclusively corn-fed. Is the grass-fed beef a new option or was this a mistake?

By: jamie

jamie — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 16:33:35 +0000

these are the greatest taco's i've ever had! there is one next to a climbing gym so i can have lunch and then work off the calories that i've just consumed. i would recommend the lingua tacos, it sounds weird but at least try one. they taste like beef but the texture feels like it would melt on your tongue.