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Mon-Thu. 8:30 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Fri-Sat. 8:30 a.m. - 1:00 a.m.
Sun. 8:30 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
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Ahhhhh.... If there ever was a staple of LA cuisine, King Taco would be on the top of many people's list. It has gained an iconic status as other Los Angeles joints like Pink's Hot Dogs or Philippe's French Dip.
The one on Pico is the one I go the most. It's in a pretty shanty neighborhood but there's a reason I go there. Mostly due to proximity, but I know exactly what I'm getting when I order. The quality is great every time.
The tacos and burritos are to die for. Meat is deliciously seasoned and it compliments the onions, cilantro, or whatever has the honor of touching it. King Taco is also known for it's fiery red sauce. It is crazy hot, but it burns so good.... There is so much flavor that it really goes well with what you eat. It comes default on the tacos and burritos so be aware if you're not a fan of the spice.
Mmmm I'm craving it as I'm writing this....
This is my go to spot when I'm craving a variety of meats in my tacos. They don't do anything poorly here.
I think the carne asada and lengua is done best, however the al pastor and pollo is very good as well. The salsa roja is fiery hot although it doesn't quite make you pound the horchata like El Taurino.
I have a vegetarian friend who's addicted to the bean and cheese burritos here, so it seems as if there is something for everyone.
The place is pretty quick getting your food ready but remember it's cash only.
i think the tacos are good...i think? the red salsa was the culprit!!! The intense, very feiry, burn your tongue hot ruined the experience for me. Why oh why didn't they ask me how hot I want it? Next time i go I will ask for the green salsa.
oh and Im not that wimpy either...I actually like spicy foods...but NOT that intense. I woke up the next day and my tummy hurt...it must be the red salsa.
I will try again next time with just the green salsa so I can taste what Im eating.
Meh...I've had better. Tambien, que pasa de limon en polvo? Cualquier es ellos lo utilizan prueba como esos cinco dulces del centavo del hombre de helado.
Si, yo hablo espanol porque soy de Salinas; la casa de comida Mexicana reales. Pues entonces manejar al norte pasado Salinas por el camino a San Francisco, pare en Mi Tierra, o El Charito para algún alimento mexicano verdadero.
I dont know what the whole fuss is about. Why are people waiting in line for 25 minutes for a taco?
The place smells like bathroom air freshner, which is Ok to smell if you are in the bathroom. Tacos are so greasy they will stay with you for a day or two.If you have heart problems you might consider a double hamburger with extra cheese, instead. everything taste like pork lard. So if you don't eat pork, you shouldn't eat the beef tacos here, because they warm the tortillas in hog lard before stuffing them with meat.
The hot sauce is so hot you will not taste anything after that.
If i want authentic tacos i go to the lunch truck on labrea and Olympic. They are cheep worth the waiting time and they actually taste good.
Oh my gosh, their tacos give me diahrrea ALL THE TIME. My butthole cries whenever I come.
That said... If you can't handle the heat, ask "No red sauce please!" Then ask for some green sauce. Other than that... the tacos are great. Cute, petite... Get one of every flavor! The carnitas are my favorite. I haven't tried the rotisserie chicken at this particular location, but I've been to a King Taco in another location for that and it is bomb. It's like El Pollo Loco but more local (ha! sounds like loco) and delicious. You eat it with some hot sauce and some tortillas and you're good to go.
I like this place. No frills, but good food.
But the set up is strange. When I come here, I feel like I'm in some government office like the DMV.
King taco is bombizzle.. U guys can't hate on this.. I love da burritos.! Der so good.! Da tacos r to die 4.. Parkin is da only down side to dis place..!
Time and time again, my all time favorite Mexican restaurant. I came here last night with like 50 other people, and I was pretty impressed that although the line was long, it moved quickly and the food came out at quick speed.
Coming from the East coast, I'd never had authentic Mexican food beyond Chipotle/Taco Bell and the first time I tasted my all-meat carne asada burrito with green sauce on the side, I was in love.
Everything at King Taco's delicious - whenever you're craving something, get the carne asada nachos (loaded with onions and cilantro!), the burritos, the sopes or the tacos. I'm a huge fan of the horchata drinks too. And price-wise, you can't compete- get all the food you want and it's still less than $10.
I've been to various other taco places, but I think my first and true love is King Taco - green sauce, I love you.
OHHH KING TACO!!! HOW I MISS YOU SOOOOOO MUCH!
Ever since I've moved up here in Norcal I haven't found one effing decent place for some good authentic tacos. I've been spoiled by all the Socal taquerias.
Anyways, I've been going to King Taco for a very very long time. Every sunday's after church I would go and get some delicious grub here!
Honestly, the reviews are right. The carne asada tacos are BOMBBB! I'm craving for some right now. :( I really wish I had some.
LOVE KING TACO! Been here frequently after church events and their burritos are delish! We don't get beans cuz it takes up too much space in the combination burritos. Too bad it's kind of pricey but it's well worth the taste. The red sauce is crazy spicey! I looove the green sauce. Very delicious. I get the burrito without the sauce and get the green sauce and extra onions on the side.
How do you put a price to heaven? Personify heaven into the form of a green sauce, and then that price can be pretty affordable. This is hands down, one of my favorite mexican joints. It's surge in popularity sky-rocketed the traffic as well as its prices a bit, but its still considered a hole-in-the-wall though bordering on the higher end of prices.
I can go on and on about everything but I will restrain myself to three of my top mouth watering stimuli to aid you in your decision to eat here:
1. The carne meat they use is laced with crack. Ok maybe not...but it has this hint of lime-y kick that makes it so astronomically good. Have it in a taco, all-meat burrito, or on nachos, you really can't go wrong.
2. Horchata is pretty excellent. I'll admit though that its not always consistently smooth. Sometimes it gets a little too grainy, especially if you don't stir it up when you get to the latter half of the drink, but if made and mixed right, provides the PERFECT supplement to the salsa kick.
3. The SOPE's ARE GOOD. Especially when they pile on the goat cheese. I am a green sauce fanatic, so I usually use about 3/4 a cup of sauce per sope to make heaven experience complete. Really...try the sopes if anything. Its great.
4. I CANT FORGET ABOUT THE GREEN SAUCE! For those with irritable bowel syndrome, or variations of such, proceed with caution as my iron clad stomach still occasionally can't neutralize the spice on its way out. But this sauce is seriously not to be missed. It's the A-kicker in your poker hand. BUT REMEMBER: Fire in, fire out!
I know I said 3 points, but that 4th one was a sleeper. I would say my only qualm about King taco in general is that they can get sheisty with there allocation of green sauce. You have to strategically scope out a nice lady serving the food to ask, otherwise they'll reject you're request without reservation. It can be a battle at times, but persistence will prove to be golden. And don't feel trepid about the stares you get from tatted up ese's, because trust me, the only taco they want to eat at that moment is from the king. =X ...but once they're finished, run for your lives...j/k...sorta.
The food is great - I'll admit that. BUT! Its takes WWAAYYY TOO LONG to get your food! Don't go during peak times unless you don't mind waiting for your food.
Some recommendations: cabeza! Its really good here. Their tamales are also super delicious.
Prepare yourself for an extreme review:
1st I want to address any and all whom have given this place a poor rating/review.
I can tell you with complete confidence that anybody who doesn't like the food here DOES NOT LIKE MEXICAN FOOD. I feel their reviews were dishonest and they should have plainly stated while complaining about the carne asada tacos at King Taco, that they just plain hate carne asada and everything about it.
THIS PLACE....sigh....this place....just go there. There green salsa is some kind of voodoo, the sopes are bomb and the lengua perfect.
I know its surrounded by hype but King Taco deserves every bit. It may be my most missed food source since moving out of CA.
A friend took me to King Taco with the promise of amazing Carne Asada and a low, low price. I had no idea this place was a chain, but I can see the draw. Pretty decent street-like food, with good prices and the comfort of knowing that the place has health inspections every year.
My friend and I got the Carne Asada tacos, becuase well that was the whole reason why I drove from the westside to downtown. I was more than a litte underwhelmed by the tacos. My friend made sure to have me take a bite of the taco without salsa first - I guess it's just something you do. It was OK. I was really underwhelmed by the whole experience. Note - the tacos are better with the salsa they provide you.
I will say that the Horchata was yum yum yummy! But overall review of King Taco - if I wasn't downtown, I wouldn't go out of my way for their Carne Asada.
Nobody does it better
Though sometimes I wish someone could
Nobody does it quite the way you do
Why'd you have to be so good?
Puro carne asada burrito - salsa = good eatin'. I'm a minimalist. What of it?
Parking can be a pain sometimes, but it's worth it. Their shitter has a bad ass KT hat rack. If the security guard wasn't packing heat, I would have taken it. I love how KT security guards load individual bullets on their belts as if their patrolling some old western lawless town.
King Taco Summer 2009 Tour - Stop #1
I can't believe I haven't reviewed King Taco yet. Can we say the BEST tacos in LA. Well that all depends on your taco style but if you're the no fuss taco eater then this place is for you. By no fuss I mean none of that sour cream, guacamole, cheese crap. I'm a no fuss taco/ burrito person and King Taco hits that craving every time.
The tacos run a little over $2 each, I can usually eat about 3 before getting full. All it comes with is meat, onions, cilantro, and sauce....LOVE IT! The meat is marinated in lime and it gives an awesome tang. There's something about their crazy red sauce, it's spicy but delicious at the same time. I have non-LA friends who ask me to FedEx them this sauce. Their sopes are equally delicious, try a deep fried thick tortilla, refried beans, meat, cabbage, and fresco cheese. And then if you drizzle that crazy sauce on it...dang, I can't even tell you how good it is. They've got other goods like burritos, nachos, quesadillas, and whole chickens I believe.
They're open late but not late enough sometimes, thankfully up the street their sister El Taurino is open. Same shiz, different name.
Needing a quick fix, and being a NorCal person unfamiliar with food in LA, I got a suggestion to try King Taco. Got some carne asada burritos as instructed. Wow were they small. But holy crap were they epicly delicious! They're like the White Castle of tacos! Plus, their sauces are awesome. If you want hot sauces, they got 'em; even the mild sauce was enough to bring tears to my eyes.
All I can say is that I pray to G. O. D. that King Taco expands to the Bay Area; I NEED A TACO FIX REAL BAD...
It's Friday!
I'm Hungry, didn't have breakfast! What can I get to curb my appetite?
Duh! King Taco...
Two Sopes de el pastor sin chile to go please!
Happy Stomach, Makes Happy Jessica.
Very very good.
Their salsa roja and verde are top of the line, and their cuts of meats are top notch as well.
Real authentic Mexican food, and I love it.
The hot sauce is what God would use if he ate a taco.
according to my co-workers, the fact that I never want to eat here disqualifies me from being Mexican.
I think the fact that I don't have any Mexican heritage disqualifies me more than the fact that their burritos bore the shit out of me.
orale!
Okay so its 1:30 am and the spot you were at has just kicked you out, your tipsy and for some just flat out drunk. Obviously your starving, hmmmmm? Lets go to King Taco. King Taco never seems to dissapoint, food is great and I have been to several of them. So this really wouldnt be fair if I rated this solely on being the spot when your drunk, so as a side note I have been several times in the day as well.
So King Taco please keep holdin it down for people like me and I will keep comin and spending my money here.
Plus the red salsa is serious business
All Hail The King!!!! Growing up in LA ive been to a lot of Taco joints And as much as i try and find the next King Taco i never do....This is the place all are compared to and i havent found a worthy successor yet...Sergio's on Atlantic is a close second and i may like his salsa roja just a bit better but the carne asada is not...Ive never had a grizzle or fat problem on the carne asada at King Taco through the years....The Sopes are really good here as well...In fact ive started getting them more then my carne asada tacos...The combination burrito was well balanced with different flavors..
The salsa's are hot!!! and i love hot salsas...The jalapeno peppers and carrot mix are quite good also...The horchata is tasty as well...
I was at convention this past weekend and used my iphone yelp application to help me find this little gem of a taco place. King Taco is right, because this place is hella good and it even got a grade "A" clean restaurant rating which pleasantly surprised me as I saw while walking out the door.
Their tortillas looks and tastes like they are made from scratch and not store bought like most places. The al pastor is the most tastiest pork that I have ever tasted in a taqueria The funny thing is that there was totally packed but had more Asians eating than any other race in the joint and I have never seen that before anywhere. The carne asada is quite tasty too like it was marinated in some good stuff.
My only gripe is that the sauce needs to be hotter!
Van The Man Must Try : The Al Pastor burrito w/ tons of house red and green salsa
Part of my College Fare
very spacious, clean, & hands down best carne asada tacos and burritos. carne asada nacho cheese is to die for. plus the service is quick. did i mention that they are very generous on the meat, perfectly marinated (with a hint of lime), red hotsauce is very spicy (the weak, beware) and green sauce makes your meal taste fresh. i order pineapple juice (pina) which compliments the meal quite well. feel free to ask for extra (& i mean extra) onions/cilantro or hotsauce.
i literally lived off this while attending USC undergrad
Pros: food (portions), spacious & clean
Cons: small parking lot
the Food
- Taco - Carne Asada: mMm~ perfectly marinated
- Nacho - Carne Asada: drenched in artificial nacho cheese (the stuff you get at ball games) and sprinkled with a large helping of carne asada.. * droooool *
- Pina: favorite mexican drink.. pineapple juice. actually, a tie with orange Bang but King taco doesn't offer Orange Bang. Hands down.. beats Horchata.
I usually get the chicken taco and they are consistently yummy. The meat and the sauce just melt in your mouth. Not sure about the other selections. I think the nachos were also pretty good. The chicken tacos were definitely memorable.
Some tips:
If you are going for lunch, park in the street. The parking lot is kinda crazy.
Cash only.
On Friday and Saturday, they also offer rotisserie chicken and it's also tasty.
If food were the currency of the world, their carne asada tacos would be equivalent to passing around shiny, princess cut mothereffin diamonds.
THE END.
"Go west, young man" may be good advice, but if you are looking for good tacos in Los Angeles, it rings utterly false. The only good Mexican food in my part of town is Oaxacan, so I must venture east for my tacos.
And what tacos. Simplicity is bliss, and the red salsa is the fire of the gods.
(Expect to get sneered at if you don't speak Spanish - discrimination works both ways, my friend. Maybe the experience will make you nicer and more tolerant in the future.)
We came here because until I tried this place, I was totally in love with authentic Mexican tacos. Why 1 star? I got food poisoning. I was sick for whole week and afterwards, I couldn't stand tacos anymore. I'm really bummed because even though it's been a while since our last visit, I still can't stand it. Sigh....
*Food = got sick
*Price = really cheap
*Service = gotta pay attention or you will miss your number...sometimes, no English spoken.
The food is really good. The price isn't amazing. I feel like I pay a good amount of money for not very much food. The carne asada is really good though. I'd order at least 4 tacos to get full. If you want to be really full, order two burritos. Also, expect them to call your order out in Spanish :)... good thing I speak it.
Small plates, recession deals, guest chefs, celeb chefs, pre fixe, two for one, et al, all buzz words to entice people into restaurants these days. But there's nothing cheaper than a good old fashion LA taco. No celeb chefs, no 3 or 5 course meals here. Just good, honest asada, pastor, and pollo. They've been doing it since 1974 at King Taco.
The self disputed king of LA tacos started as a taco truck in East LA way back when polyester and bell bottoms were all the rage. Now there are twenty plus locations, and despite its ill fated stint in Dodger Stadium (the food at that stand was mediocre at best), it's still serving up great tacos all these years later. Conveniently located east of K-Town and west of downtown, King Taco #10 is situated on Pico Blvd near Alvarado. Chances are there is one a few miles from you too.
They are not only famous for their perfectly marinated asada, but for their amazing (and super spicy) red and green salsas. Their closely guarded family recipe carne asada has a definite citrus flavor. It's lean and cooked to perfection, placed in a perfectly grilled corn tortilla. At $1.25 per, you can't get a better recession deal.
By far my favorite meat on the menu here is Pastor. Similar to Shawarma, this heavenly hog is cooked on a rotating, vertical rotisserie (or Trompo) then topped with a juicy pineapple. The juice breaks down protein and makes the meat very tender .The red colored pork gets its color from the red vinegar and achiote it's marinated in. Once cooked, it's sliced into little chunks, and grilled with some onions to give the meat a crispness and delicate onion flavor. It's by far the best pastor I've ever had.
They also have great Sopas for just $2.59 each. Sopas are slightly concave crispy thick cornmeal shell topped with refried beans, meat, lettuce and Mexican cheese. These taco alternatives are similar to tostadas but have a much richer corn meal taste. The Sopas at King Taco are exceptional and I highly suggest you go and get one. Now!
Other items on the menu, burritos for $4.99, a whole rotisserie chicken for $11.99, nachos for $4.75, and fresh tamales for $1.59 each. My 2009 food trend prediction, people looking for cheaper food options turn to taco stands for fresh cooked asada, pork, and chicken.
Good, solid, fresh food.
I love the sopes. Hot off the griddle, delicious, and filling without being heavy. Their tacos are almost too cute to eat...almost!
I usually walk out of here putting away 3 carne asada tacos and a chicken sope. By the time I'm ready to lick the last crumble of cheese off the styrofoam plates, I'm often holding a very intense debate with myself whether or not to get another sope. I usually don't. And my waistline thanks me mightily for it.
Perfect size burrito!
I like the carne asada combination burrito. All meat is really just ALL MEAT, and I don't really like that. I think it's just for guys..
Red salsa vs green salsa?
Green salsa taste better but red one is spicier. I LOVE BOTH. It's like asking who do you like better mom or dad?
My next target is the sopes and pastor tacos...
King taco beats El Taurino hands down.
This place gets ridiculously packed, don't expect a grab&go esp@night. Parkings a pain in the ass, but food is well bomb diggggity. Their carne asada burrito great, chicken quesdilla great. It's darrrrn goood y'all.
In a word, "no".
I like to think I am a chicken burrito enthusiast. IMHO only people who simply don't know any better would endorse the unimpressive food at King Taco. King Taco is simply overpriced, bland and undersized. The curiously creamy horchata was gritty and made me wonder if it was made with condensed milk rather than the more authentic rice milk -- boo.
Although this is maybe not LA's worse burrito, in a city where better than 40% of the people speak Spanish, there is no good reason I'll ever go to King Taco again. LA can do a whole lot better.
King taco is overated! I ordered the nachos and I asked them to put onion and cilantro on them and the guy had to ask his boss. You order a drink and they fill up the cup up to 80% of ice and a splash of your drink. I can honestly say I hate king taco. I give it one star under protest.
3.5 stars.
I heart King Taco's bean and cheese burrito. It has little diced onions, and salsa, and cilantro, oh my! (As for the meat, I hear the carnitas and the carne asada is good, but the chicken isn't anything to write home about). Their jamaica is also pretty yum. And their horchata tastes good, but is a tad chalky. Warning though, the bean and cheese burrito is terribly messy, because the beans are bit thin. I wouldn't come here for a lunch break in your nice crisp suit, unless you like to risk being going back to the office speckled in beans and salsa.
Also, a tip that my friend gave me beforehand, which was super useful in terms of combating burning tongue. The red salsa is super hot, but so yum! So get the green salsa in your burrito, and the red salsa on the side to add slowly if you need a little bit of kick. Perfecto.
Ahaha... I feel like my expectations were too high!!! After work last week I dropped by and ordered 3 carne asada tacos. The meat was thoroughly drenched in lime juice. Guacamole was extra. I was sad. Maybe I'd enjoy it better in the early am.
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