tito's tacos mexican restaurant

grease and goodness, great for the penny pinchers. my boss suggested we try this place when we were up in the area as she heard good things.

kind of a dive-type atmosphere, people eat on picnic tables and you wait in unmanaged lines to get your order in. i felt out of place (somewhat) eating at this giant taco stand in a business suit, but the food distracted me to the point where i didn't even care.

i can do greasy taco shells every once in a while, and that day was one of those 'whiles.' everything was prepped fresh and made-to-order (hence the lines). i dont venture too much on the seafood side when it comes to mymexicanfood, so i just tried their tacos. crunchy (greasy, get extra napkins) shells, piping hot shredded beef, fresh lettuce, ice cold sour cream and freshly grated cheddar cheese.

would i go back? if iwas in culver city for some random reason again and had a craving for some fresh greasy shelled tacos, absolutely.

(service was stellar and their staff, for being as busy as they were during the lunch rush, was incredibly friendly and accomodating)

too busy and too popular for our own good. go to this place if you want to compete for parking, compete for your place in line to order, compete for a place to eat your food. enjoy some fairly goodmexicantake out food. go to 50, 000 other localmexicancuisine places for food that is equally as good.

good but not great. i don't think tito's lives up to its reputation. the food is not bad, but its not traditional mexican. it seems authentic to a 1960's american image ofmexicanfood which can be fun in its own right. worth a few visits, but i still wonder how it became so popular? the taco stand certainly has proven to have staying power.

be sure to read the update that follows this review below:
think of this review in the spirit of new york times' restaurant critic pete wells' critique of señor frog's in manhattan. yes, i enjoy my gourmet food, but like mr. wells, i also love great fast food and fast food equivalents... underscore great.

tito's tacos in culver city, california is nothing short of such a marker. the store prides itself on fresh ingredients and consistency. the tacos for example, taste exactly as they did in the 1970's, maybe better.

what sets the food apart from othermexicanrestaurants is the traditionalist approach. the tacos are similar to those one would find in a smallmexicanvillage, although the flavor at tito's really pops.

then there's the salsa. there's nothing like it anywhere else. it's so good, i could drink a liter of the stuff. but of course it's much better with the freshly made chips or on the aforementioned tacos.

i've tried the burritos, but fail to understand how others love them. they just seem to lack pizazz and the same originality of the other items on the menu.

stick with the old standby tacos, and yes, wait in the long lines for them, and even endure the less than customer-friendly staff. but it's all well worth it.

update -- august 2016:
a return visit to tito's found that there have been many changes to the way the food is prepared. unfortunately, the salsa is now less than average in taste and consistency. the taco shells are over-cooked, and the meat and cheese lack flavor. i've reduced my rating from a 3.5 to a 2. as far as i'm concerned, tito's has knocked itself from the fast food pantheon. no longer is this restaurant a must-go.

i can't believe i never wrote a review for these guys. a institution in los angeles and they finally got off the "cash only" thing. light and interestingmexicanfair at a super reasonable price and always a line. and well worth the wait to eat it.

the main thing an out of towner needs to know about tito's, is that it is an la institution. this means that deep affection for its longevity & consistent mediocrity outweighs its actual food quality. and i like the place! it's really for locals. tradition dictates that you go, cash in hand, there will inevitably be a long line, be ready to tell one of the grim faced, hair-netted servers your choices-- which are almost always the beef tacos, with or without cheese, in a large hard shell corn tortilla. get two. be prepared for something approximating ground beef...guacamole is downright tasteless-- but it's green.
with an embarrassment of truly gloriousmexicanfood throughout the city, whether in trucks or in shops, low-rent and upscale, tito's should not be your go-to. but if you're new to la & are going to live here, you gotta try tito's. otherwise you'll never be a true native.

i honestly have no idea why this place is rated so highly on here. are they paying for good reviews? well here's a candid and genuine one: the food here is tripe!! not literally. tripe would probably go down better.

i don't often leave negative reviews of places, for the most part because i rely on apps like this to ensure that i avoid wasting my time and money on a place that isn't worth it, so wasn't i surprised to get to this place (that is currently tracking at an impressive 4.4/5 rating!) to find a place with little to no choice over dishes, and just the cheapest, nastiestmexicanfood i ever have eaten.

the beans; they didn't taste like beans. they tasted like a 50/50 mix of clag and cardboard. the guacamole; this was never an avocado. or if it was, it has long since been stripped of any semblance of avocado-like taste. the meat? again, it could've been wood-pulp for all the flavour it had! i'm honestly baffled as to why anyone would ever return here after eating this garbage!

maybe this place lives up to the expectations of the local palette, but i warn all foreigners to disregard the rating and recommendation this place sports on here, and eat someplace more deserving of your $$.

the bestmexicanfast food place .......thank god for tacos................

most amazingmexicanfood!! get the basics.... burritos and tacos! salsa is amazing too! i grew up eating at this place and make sure i eat here everytime i come home for a visit!!

are you crazy?. you know the story " the emperors new clothes"? well, that's what i think of when i see all the fools standing in line at tito's tacos. just because someone says this is the best tacos ormexicanfood in l.a. it seems many have bought into this joke and are just going along and not questioning what they are eating. i know la can do better then this. i was raised in so cal but now live in az and i heard about this great place to eat from family about tito's so i was really looking forward to eating there as was 6 other family members of mine, all of which lovemexicanfood. i didn't mind the lines or what i thought where high prices for fast food as this just added to the excitement of trying this incredible food at this well known hot spot, we where about to have this great la experience. but as we all started to eat this crap i was dumfounded by what i was eating and all the hype about this place and the hysteria round me. the food was not at all special or unique. the tacos where so so and at $1.75 plus .60 for cheese i sure expected better. some kind of meat and lettuce was all there was to this taco unless you order the cheese for extra. the crisp shell was fine but the taste bland. the meat burrito was terrible. i know i have had better in la. all there was is a runny meat in a red sauce that had an odd taste to it, nothing else. boring! and i love a good burrito so another let down. the only thing about the guacamole that resembled guacamole was the color green, that's it. not the tastes and not the water down stuff they are passing off as guacamole. the beans where ok but again i have had better. serving the chips with your food was a plus but that's it. no refills on drinks, again what a joke! i will never eat here again and i just shake my head in wonderment to all the dopes standing in those long lines thinking that they are eating the best that la has to offer. wake up la, the emperors has no clothes and tito's tacos are nothing special! i know la can do better.

my favoritemexicanrestuarant in la. i've been eating at tito's with their famous lines to the sidewalk since i can remember. i love the crispy tacos and the special flavor in their meat sauce. it can't be beat. my only request is that they need to expand to the las vegas area....please!

i’m still on what is turning into a never-ending quest to find a goodmexicanplace in la near me. my latest attempt landed me at tito’s tacos. some people, including la natives, swear tito’s is the place to go. and they have this wonderful commercial:

greatestmexicanfood on the planet. by far the pinnacle ofmexicanfood on the planet.
regular burrito with cheese.
taco with cheese.
lots of salsa!

driving by i thought it was a line of extras for night of the living dead waiting outside of titos. the gloomy, bored, tired looking crowd wait for the worst food you can find in la. yes, it's an institution but it doesn't make it good. it just means that some people on the west side grew up eating there & it has nostalgia value. this is embarassingly bad, dumbed downmexicanfood that gives the false impression thatmexicanis equivilent yo prison food.mexicanfood at it's best is comforting, fresh, and accessable with rich flavors of roasted chilis, slow cooked beans and meats. some of the most memorable i've had is delisciousmexicanstreet food and small, family-ownedmexicanrestaurants around the west. tito's might be cheap as hell but it's not worth turning into a sad zombie to eat.

wack!!!!. i don't see why this place is so popular, one of the wackestmexicanrestuarants i've ever been to, period. i had better tacos served to me from my elementary school cafeteria.