Lolita's Tacos

I gave them one star because Yelp forced me to.

I just ate the worst carne asada taco in the world. I trusted the Yelp community on this one, traveling from my hotel to check out the supposed 'California-style' tacos - thanks guys...no bueno! Let's talk about the fact that the taco meat is MICROWAVED. It was absolutely not fresh, like advertised.  I heard other orders that were placed after me being nuked as well, in particular the enchiladas. The meat is coated in black pepper and the taco meat includes large chunks of onion and green pepper (what?!) - so not what a real Mexican taco looks like.  There was no white queso, no cilantro, no avocado on the side... I feel I may need to school these folks on proper authentic carne asada construction.

Their salsa was a ketchup-like consistency mixed with chingos of chili powder. Ugh.  

When I left this dump I called my (Mexican!) husband and told him I was seriously thinking about throwing up and starting over elsewhere. Take the overpriced $2.50 you'll pay per taco and go to Taco Bell. You'll get better, more authentic tacos from their drive up.

The shop bills itself as "L.A. Style" and I think that's fairly accurate: Los Angeles is a great place to get Mexican food but at the end of the day, it's in the States. The menu here isn't what I normally look for in a taco shop. They serve ground beef, which generally conjures images of Taco Bell in my mind, and there are no aguas frescas to wash down your tacos. No, this isn't the most authentic place in town but it's good Mexican fast food, and we could use more places like it.

I'm hovering between three and four stars here but I'm giving them four because my order wasn't my usual so I'll take the blame for any disappointment. The boyfriend bought the Groupon good for two combination plates. The taco choices for combo plates were limited and, while the burritos were tempting, I knew I would not be able to finish a burrito AND rice and beans. So I went for taquitos, which I generally reserve for moments of intoxication. They came smothered in a lovely avocado sauce. Matt's ground beef enchiladas arrived somewhere beneath a pile of cheese (and really, who can complain about that?). The ground beef was heavily seasoned with black pepper, which I like. The portions of rice and beans were so great that we *both* brought some home. And the flavor of those rice and beans? Solid. The beans, like the ground beef, were peppery. The rice was veggie free.

As for beverages, they serve Pepsi products and cheap bottles of macro brew ($1.85 for domestic or $2.75 for import, the options for the latter consisting solely of Corona).

There are no table salsas, no bottles of Cholula or Tapatio stationed at each booth. But if you ask they'll give you a decent house red sauce that's just spicy enough for my taste. And the southern Californian in me appreciates that their burritos are lettuce free.

I bought a Groupon to Lolita's and tried it for the first time. It was really good! I got the avocado burrito, enchilada style. Great choice. It is HUGE and probably has at least 2 or 3 avocados, pico de gallo and cilantro. It was enough to have leftovers for lunch with the rice and beans.

My boyfriend got the carne asada burrito, which he compared to a mexican philly cheese steak. It was all meat, with green peppers and onions. He said he would have preferred a little bit of something else in there, like pico or lettuce to offset the meatiness, but was otherwise pleased with it.

The seating area is a little bit small, but the tables are fun to read with old advertisements from the 1800's printed on. I think next time I will get to-go.