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Janitzio Mexican Restaurant
Rating Details »
- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Good for:
- Breakfast, Lunch
- Alcohol:
- None
12 reviews for Janitzio Mexican Restaurant
Wonderful and tasty! Some of the best breakfast tacos in Austin. They remind me of the ones you can get in the Valley. The place feels "homey" and comfortable. It was PACKED at lunch time.
Good chips and salsa. Great prices (3 tacos for 2 bucks before 11am, and tacos for 1.50 at lunch. Wow). I like the potato and bean tacos and the Migas tacos. Perfect location for the UT student who needs a snack or quick breakfast.
When I moved from Corpus Christi to Austin, I missed my 4-5 dollar mexican plates at the Taquieras on every corner. Finally I stumbled upon this place located blocks away from my work. Very good salsa, excellent Tex mex enchiladas, and plenty of food for CHEAP. Where else can you buy 3 breakfast tacos for 1.99???? Seriously folks, paying 2-3 dollars for a breakfast taco is sacrilegious.
Enjoy this place for no frills, and tasty border goodness.
Meh. I've gone a couple times, food quality is O.K. but not great. The place is cheap, which is a plus. The place is stylized to look like a 50s diner. But the tables and seats are pretty dirty. Service is poor. It's your grade-C hole in the wall.
Janitzio, good and reasonably prized. Not Tex-Mex, but more like their wall murals suggest--more gulf-costal Mexico-Mex.
David L. ...What a gringo!! (scoffing. yes scoffing, y'all with me & you know it. Scoffing) preferring the cuisine not even central Texans will have over truer Mexican over Janitzio. What part of colonial England are you from bud?
Went here yesterday for dinner. The place was dead, and if the food was any indication, I know exactly why. I got the carne guisada plate, while my best friend got the TexMex enchiladas. Being Mexican myself and knowing what good, authentic Mexican food should taste like, I was taken aback at the quality of the food at this restaurant.
Let's begin with the chips and salsa. The chips were basically store bought and tasted like they had just opened the bag and filled the basket with them. The salsa, if you can call it that, was watery and bland. I've had some good salsas in my life; this was probably the worst excuse for a salsa I had ever tasted.
I ordered my carne guisada, and the waitress proceeded to ask me if I wanted corn or flour tortillas. I asked her if the flour tortillas were handmade at the restaurant, and she said no. Bummer. Major bummer, in fact. So I asked her about the corn tortillas, and she said the same. Both are store bought. LAME, for a Mexican restaurant. But whatevs. It was a new place for me to go to, and I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, despite such a weak start.
Enter our dinner plates. What the waitress put before me looked honestly like someone had opened a can of chunky Alpo and placed it on a plate next to some attractive looking beans and pretty rice. Something was just not right about the color of the carne guisada. It was like iridescent gray, something I had never seen before. It was just wrong. Carne guisada isn't supposed to be like that.
So I started by eating the rice, which looked beautiful. But I was sadly disappointed, yet again. It was not sticky (I hate rice that doesn't stick, because it falls off your fork too easily otherwise), and it didn't have much flavor. Has anyone ever heard of chicken boullion? Jesus. And the beans...
Oh those beans. They were so disgusting. Beans are NOT supposed to taste like that. There was no depth of flavor (hello, cumin?), and not only that, but the flavor they DID have was really just absolutely gross. It was...OFF, for lack of a better adjective. Guys - have you ever heard of spices and herbs? Use them, for Christ's sake!! And use the right ones...not just whatever.
My Alpo guisada, I mean carne guisada, was so gross. I honestly was wondering if that was even beef. Something told me I may have been eating a street animal, honestly. Not to be mean, but it just wasn't right. Again, there was something way OFF about it. Things that make you go, "Hmmm..." *scratches chin*
My bff said his enchiladas were very bland, lacked flavor, were dry, and that the beef just "wasn't very good". And that's that he's white :-)
Their only saving grace was the Queso Compuesto appetizer, which was delicious. But "queso" was misspelled on the menu, so look for "Quseo" instead LOL
My question to the "chef" at this restaurant is...where the HELL do you get off thinking you know how to cook Mexican food? Because, quite honestly, you have NO BUSINESS being in a Mexican kitchen. Or any kitchen, for that matter. You don't know the slightest about Mexican cuisine, or even TexMex. Your "food" is made with no love, and it is glaringly obvious to anyone with a sensible palate. Get OUT of that kitchen, and let someone else take over who knows wtf they're doing. Please.
I work at UT so I come here every now and then with my coworkers to get some good mexican food. I usually go with the enchiladas plate that comes with rice and beans. Most other Tex-Mex and mexican places the rice is pretty dry but here the rice is moist and flavorful. They have free chips and salsa as an appetizer which is always a win in my book. Mexican Coke can also be had if they don't run out like they did last time I went. Prices are reasonable, especially if you stick to the lunch specials.
Yum yum yum, la la la!!
Janitzio makes me soooo happy. The breakfast specials are great-- I love the bean and potato corn tacos and their fantastic salsa.
For lunch and dinner, it's a little more expensive than cheap Mexican, but about the same (or a little less) as the tex-mex places like Trudy's and Chuy's. But #1--their food that can be vegetarian actually is! Like beans. And #2--you don't feel like a sponge dipped in salt/fat when you leave.
Try the stuffed avocado with tomatillo cream sauce and the veggie enchiladas--miss the avocado enchiladas they sometimes have on special as they're a little bland.
I would give them 5 stars if they had fresh tortillas. It's that close. :)
Oh and I love one of the waitresses because she's nice!
Was this place good? No, but it really wasn't bad either. The salsa was the best part, as there was a lot of black pepper. They also have huge water glasses. Normally I don't care, but having just run, I was pleased to drink a lot water.
I had the breakfast tacos (one migas, one egg and napolito). The migas was decent, the napolito ehh... my dinner partner had the pastor tacos, which looked about right. He said it tasted like the tortilla was missing something.
Anyway, I won't make a special trip back here, except for the 3 for 1.99$ breakfast special. I don't care how meh the tacos are if I can get 3 for 2 bucks... as long as they maintain the meh status, I'm fine.
I was pleasantly surprised by this restaurant as the quality of food went beyond my expectations, especially with the dinner price being very reasonable. The chips and salsa were delicious and my sizzling beef fajitas platter came with all the fixings (warm tortillas, lettuce, sour cream, guac, beans, etc). I was stuffed. If I remember correctly, it only cost me around 7 bucks before tax. Sure it wasn't as tasty as Hula Hut or Chuy's, but it wasn't bad either. I would definitely go again to try out more menu items.
Janitzio is a cool little spot for trust fund babies around UT who crave border Tex-Mex and are willing to pay 8 bucks for a bean and cheese nachos appetizer. Okay, so you get free chips and salsa, and their side of extra guacamole priced at $2.19 is by far the most generous serving of pretty authentic guacamole I've seen so far. (By authentic I mean it has flavor and it turns brown after a while - unlike the neon radioactive-looking shyte some places serve).
But how do you explain a hole in the wall Tex-Mex place at UT charging Hula Hut-esque prices? I mean there is no bar to justify drunk dining, no decor, no skimpily dressed guys and girls getting in and out of boats, nor is there a scenic view of say a lake, beach or anything - apart from being able to stare up and down MLK while eating, you might as well be in Tijuana. And I'm pretty sure I saw a dollar sign by the prices because if they were charging in pesos, it would all make sense. Guess rent anywhere around the drag costs an arm and a leg but this place, takes the cake.
Oh and for you girls who prefer not to be undressed by other's wandering eyes, this place is not for you during lunch time. The minute I walked in I felt like I was in that VISA commercial where everything stops when some guy pulls out cash to pay. And while eating, you can feel eyeball lasers bouncing around the room. If you have a burqa, it won't stop the staring but at least you will be the one to walk out amused.
I may go back but it all depends on how desperate I am - move this place to Chicago and I would go back. But no thanks, here in Austin, we've got plenty of choices when it comes to decently priced Tex-Mex.
*The first star is because of location and the availability of free WiFi and the second and third, because a dear Mexican friend defends this place to his death - so that has to count for something.
This place is more interior mexican than it is northern mexican/tex mex. If you're looking for tex mex or border food, there are better places, but there aren't too many places in town you can get enchiladas like they make down in Michoacan. The name gives it away, Janitzio's an island on Lake Patzcuaro in the state of Michoacan, west of Mexico City. If you go in looking for that kind of food you'll be pleasantly surprised. If you're looking for a cheap burrito, not so much.
Their prices are a little high for the area they're in, but I'd rather they were there so I know I can get my enchilada fix than it be super-cheap and go out of business.
Update: Just got back from eating lunch here. The front door has no door knob, but you know, whatever. It adds to the ambiance. The Aztecas Enchiladas are still good. $8 is a bit pricey for three enchiladas, but they are a special offering. If you're looking for Michoacan style, you can't go wrong. If you're looking for cheap tex-mex, Taco Cabana's across the street. There were two guys sitting next to us who were hispanic, drinking glass bottled cokes from mexico. If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me.
Awesome place! I grew up on Tex-Mex in San Antonio, but I'm not really good at telling the difference between different types of Mexican food like some of these other reviewers. But this place makes me very happy. The only good Mexican food near UT that I can see so far. They have delicious enchiladas verdes and carne quisada that reminds me of my mother's. The prices are a little steep for lunchtime meals, but you'll still be able to stuff yourself for under $10. And there's free wifi!
I particularly like this place for breakfast, which they serve all day ($1 extra charge after 11). For $3.99, there's a to-die-for chorizo plate, very very unhealthy and, in my opinion, a wonderful dinner. Or for a $1.99 you can get the three breakfast taco special. So the breakfast prices, anyway, are decent.
So far the service has been pretty good, though one of the waitresses is hilariously ditzy. That's not necessarily a bad thing as she still gets the orders right. I don't know anything about the evil staring Mexican men that the other reviewer was talking about, but, alas, I'm just a short skinny Mexican girl and my beauty must not be worth such treatment. I generally only see businessmen and students.
Anyway, this is a good place when you don't have a car and just need your delicious Mexican fix. Mmmm...
BYOB!
