El Metate Mercado

I ordered rice for my birthday party, it was ready on time and it was delicious. portion size is generous, will be using this service in the future

Can’t beat the $ 11.99 family meal at the prepared foods section, it’s enough to feed a family of 4 and still have a lunch left over. The meal includes 1 generous pound of cooked meat (enough to fill up a white Styrofoam to-​go container), 1 huge side of beans (their beans are a little spicy BTW), 1 huge container of rice, a big stack of tortillas, and an 8 oz. container of salsa. Their chicharrón is amazing too, it’s deep fried bacon basically and don’t miss out on the hard tacos, 1 is enough for a meal. There’s a few crappy tables out front if you must eat there, but I’d recommend you take it home unless you want to content with the local wild roosters, no joke, there’s a fierce chicken gang in the area, you’ve been warned.

Great Carne Asada! Way better than North Gate! Where we go for sauces, dips, tortillas and meat!

Order the quesadilla de chicharon. u will not regret it. they are amazing. The bread selection is not big but it’s freshly made, so soft. The prices are decent. It’s hit and miss with how many people are at the store, sometimes I’m in and out quick. It’s worth the wait.

This place is HORRIBLE. To start to tell you how bad this place was, let’s tell you what happened. So I came in here looking for some enchiladas because those are my favorite. BUT NOT FROM THIS PLACE. I ordered 2 enchiladas w/​rice and beans and he starts preparing them. And I ask what are you doing because he legit just took out two tortillas and put cheese in them, rolled them up, put rice and beans in the styrofoam box, put the sauce on the enchiladas and threw it in the microwave. THE MICROWAVE. They also didn’t even have red sauce for enchiladas, only green which made me super pissed. And if you guys don’t know it’s highly dangerous to cook anything is styrofoam. DO NOT GO HERE

Now I’ve never bought anything other than beer or food here. So I’ll start off saying this is a nice lil gem for authentic Mexican food. Its tucked in right behind Valentinos in Chapman and Rancho Santiago. For the most part I’ve really only had tacos and burritos from here. But the last time I ordered the Chile Verde combination. Now this ain’t no ordinary verde salsa this stuff has some bite to it. The chef put the fattest hunk of carnitas on my plate and it was super tender and flavorful. But there is a ton to order on the menu. As a matter of fact im going to order the Cubano torta on my next run. I’ve also seen various meats in the case as well as a whole cabeza de chivo. You can also order meat by the pound which we often do. Its pretty inexpensive and can feed quite a few people. I highly recommend the carnitas tho as of now its my go to for carnitas!

Ordered enough food to feed 30 people. It’s was awesome. The beans at this location are to die for! I ordered carnitas, chicken fajitas, cut chicken, rice/​beans chips and salsa and tortillas! Omg!!! Excellent. Tons of compliments. Anyone looking to feed a group of people or just yourself and family this is the place!!! Real mexican food!!!

Who loves this place? This gringo girl! Chile verde, carnitas, tortillas… and many, many other things that I will be sampling in the future. This place is so close to my house. Staff so friendly and food over the top good!

Truly authentic Mexican food and market. Great tacos (soft and crispy) with all the meats, quesadillas with tons of cheese (almost too much) smothered in crema y guacamole. Chilaquiles piled high with barbacoa — but asoggy. Loaded tortas. Very reasonable prices. Food is made to order so be prepared to wait a few minutes. Solid selection of ice cold cervesas.
Market has a beautiful meat counter with friendly service. You can get ceviche by the pound, and they sell their homemade salsas in bulk, too. Good looking produce that isn’t picked early and polished to seem ripe.
A word about parking — small, beat-​up lot with a super steep driveway off the street that will eat your car’s front-​end alive. Instead of coming in off Rancho, sneak in or out from the back out by the tire shop off Chapman.
The only thing I didn’t like was the rice pudding.

Holy cow this place is amazing. Their made-​to-​order food is awesome. Good food and tons of it. Super authentic meats, everything from carne asada to barbacoa. The guys behind the counter are friendly and were even very supportive of my very poor Spanish. The meat case holds all kinds of delights, from chicken feet to crispy pork skin. This place is truly a diamond in the rough, but the food if fantastic and the staff is very friendly.

This place is a market with a food counter that sells hit Mexican food items. From week to week they will have family meal specials that will be with chicken or carnitas, which is the best to feed a family of four or a hungry drunk or two for $ 13.
Try the carnitas, chicharones, burritos and tacos. Remember to ask for some fried whole jalapeños, great salty spice to enhance your meal.

Nice small store with assorted fresh meat as well as taquiria. Store has most of the basics including fruits, veggies, salsas and of course beer. Easy access and Easy parking.

Great marinaded meats from carne asada to pollo. They have good specials almost all the time on one kind or another.
Haven’t tried their prepared burritos or ribs yet, but they look very good.
Big ass chicharones the size of your dome can be purchased. Their salsas are some of the best you can find for white persons like me who are not adept at making their own. Whoever makes their corn tortillas needs a medal or plaque somewhere as they’re awesome! I’m usually more of a flour tortilla person, but these corn ones are soft, flavorful and not dry at all.

Our local market, and its so delicious! Got about albs of Asada and Carnitas tonight for a house party, everyone loved it. Great salsa and chips, veggies, beer, Awesome. I’d give it 5 stars, but sometimes they run out of salsa and the fresh cooked meats! haha friendly staff too.

Some of the best corn tortillas you will find at an OC mercado.
Above average taqueria.
Everything else is standard/​above average.

Fresh corn tortillas.

Small but potent.
Great little shop with all the basics for Mexican food. They’ve got you set for hot, prepped food for take out or all the fixings for a home-​cooked meal or anywhere between that spectrum. Great prices! Very good value.
Pros: Fresh everything, prepared foods, warm tortillas, generous portions, cheap produce, value.
Cons: Small-​ish with a small parking lot, kinda out of the way if you don’t live nearby or travel this part of Chapman Ave very often.

Been coming here for at least two years now… just across the street from us.
Hot tacos and tortas are always jammed with best marinated meats and veggie and sauces. Not skimpy like other places. I like to take the tacos apart and make them into two. I’ve tried asada, chicken, carnitas, pastor and cabeza… all good. Favorite might have to be asada.
We mainly go here for the chicken but unfortunately end up with only tortas and tacos sometimes. Which are good but not as great as the chicken. Chickens go out fast after 3pm. They don’t make more. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.
Forgot El Pollo Loco… this is the authentic version. We get the chicken family meal that can easily feed four. Besides a whole juicy Mexican seasoned chicken you also get tons of fresh made in house and grill warmed tortilla, a huge large togo foam cup of: refried beans, Mexican rice, salsa. condiments: grilled chile and onions and fresh cilantro and lime wedges… tons and tons of everything.
There aqua fresca are pretty solid. We also like to pick up some apple soda from time to time.
I would like to give 5 star but sometimes the beans are burnt or the rice is too salty or the salsa (ones in fridge: pico de gallo) were alittle old. We don’t buy the salsa anymore.
Sometimes we have to pull out our high school Spanish. But everyone is nice there. The market is really small… just necessities. Sometimes good prices on produce too. We want to try buying marinated meats and grilling them up outside during summer.
Can’t wait to try out rest of menu.

I live really close to this place and have been here a couple times. It’s convenient to have a little market right down the street from where I live and sell great Mexican goodies like coloured geletina. As for their food it’s either hit or miss. There have been times when I come here and the food is awesomeee! but others where it was a complete fail. On their good days they have delicious beans with chilis in them yumm. The only thing that kinda sucks about this place is it can be hard to communicate if you don’t know Spanish. I mean everyone pretty much speaks enough English, but a lot of the guys at the food stand part don’t really seem to understand exactly what your saying otherwise.

El Metate is my go to local spot for real Mexican food, especially ‘street’ tacos. The counter has a ton of choices, and I will usually either get the flavorful and juicy rotissary chicken, or the steak. They make the tortillas right there in the back, so you know they are fresh, and the guys always stuff the tacos with lots of meat, onions, cilantro and green slasa. They also have plates (the ½ chicken is a good deal) with good rice and beans.
An easy grab for a pot luck is a ½ dozen or more tacos. The guacamole in the side case is a little watery, but still decent, and the meat case has a good selection of cuts if you want to grill at home. They also have a small selection of fruits and veggies catering to the hispanic customers, so if you want things like cactus, here is a great place to shop.
There are 2 tables outside if you can’t wait to dig in, but they are right on the edge of the parkign lot, so I would take the bag of goodies home or to a park and enjoy some authentic Mexican food.