Taqueria Santa Cruz Express

Had a shrimp taco and a fish taco. Served with shredded lettuce, diced tomato and lightly sauced — no raw onions to ruin the delicate seafood! Take out order comes with small paper bag to fill with chips. Salsa bar with several options plus lime wedges. Fish was seasoned and diced before searing on the flattop. Shrimp was in a red sauce before cooking on same. Delicious and elegant in its simplicity. Loved every bite!
(Amex not accepted.)

Really busy place. The service was pretty fast and the employees were nice. Parking can get interesting but that tight spaces San Luis for you! The food was of good portions better then average I would say. Food was kinda bland but yet good. If your in a hurry avoid coming here at lunch time; it’s poppin

I really like getting tortas at this place and they also provide complimentary chips and salsa. During my last visit, I went to grab dinner with a friend. It was a packed, so we decided it to take our food togo. The torta was so good, and I ate it first. Then I decided to start eating my chips with salsa, also good. However, I ended up finding a piece of hard plastic in my mild green salsa that I tried to eat. This was probably some kind of accident that occurred in the BOH, but it ruined it for me. Food safety is really important to me, and I’m only giving this place A-​OK because my torta and horchata were delicious.

Very good Mexican food! If you’re looking for a place that serves good quality food with a friendly staff, this is the place to go. Don’t know why it’s so hard to find quality, but I’m glad I did here!

When I moved here from Orange County 15 years ago, I was super disappointed with the lack of good Mexican food in SLO. I can’t believe it took me this long to find this place! Taqueria Santa Cruz is legit, and has a fantastic salsa bar. My only complaint is that it’s pretty small, and perpetually has a line out the door. Super worth it though, since it’s the best Mexican food in town.

Update — Visited on a weekend and orders the menudo … like heaven in my mouth! Tastes just like my mom’s :) Continually impressed every time I do here — its the real deal!

I am so glad that my roommate has introduced me to this place. I have lived in Los Angeles and San Diego and am extremely picky about Mexican food. I did not expect SLO to have something this good. Their burritos are awesome! I do wish that they were open later on weekends.

Meats were great, pastor, asada and pollo. Beef soup special was the bomb, I’d get that again for sure if they have it.
Fish tacos were not good. Very fishy, did not improve with salsa. Could not eat it. Had to deduct a star.

Amazing find while we were traveling through town! We will make this a tradition whenever we come through town! The burritos were huge! And the shrimp tacos were amazing! So much flavor!

We came here cause of the reviews and obviously you cant go wrong with mexican food but this place is just slightly off for my taste. Portions were huge but the taste is bland. The local seems to like it. Plenty of college kids trying ethnic food.

As far as Mexican food goes, I think this place is so-​so. I’ve eaten here a few times and each time the food was pretty bland. I’m a huge fan of lengua/​cabeza/​etc. and this place doesn’t make any of it well. If you’re eating here, stick to the standard meats and dishes. That being said, this might be the best Mexican place around.

I came here around 1:10 pm with my friend and it was packed with people; so much so that the line was out the door. However the wait was short as the workers moved really fast! We found a table that was empty and sat down and got our chips, salsa, and water that was complimentary with our meal. It was self serve so you can get as much as you want. The only bad thing about the place is that the doors were open so that flies were flying all around while we were trying to eat. I got the carne asada fries and it was ready in like 15 minutes. It was really good and the meat was fresh compared to other places that sell it. Also the quantity was amazing, I could probably eat this for 3 meals. Overall, a great experience!

It’s hard to live so close to this place because I crave it so often but I’m on that college budget! In the numerous times I’ve been here, they’ve never messed up my order and always give me what I want exactly! The carnitas here are downright mouthwatering! Salty, meaty, juicy, and that fried crispiness makes them the best I’ve ever had. The carne asada is solid, too! The salsa choice is nice, and I love the lime slices they give you at the chip bar! My go-​to SLO meal place!
Even when it’s crowded, the food comes out pretty fast, and the staff are so friendly!

For the burritos, I honestly prefer Chipotle.
THE MOST AUTHENTIC MEXICAN FOOD IN SLO
Some of their meats are outstandingly tasty (pastor, Barbacoa, chicken). Some are downright awful (carnitas, carne asada)
Al Pastor tacos are out of this world! Perfect mix of spicy and sweet, with a nice texture and taste. Try it with some tapatio to bring it over the top. Also, their salsa bar has a wide variety of salsas, all ranging in level of spice and ingredients. Friendly, QUICK service, no matter how slammed it is.
Also, they don’t take Discover. Just FYI

Cool little taco shop towards the downtown of San Luis Obispo. We came down to the city with the thought of fish tacos, and had regular tacos instead. Tacos are tacos, right? Who doesn’t like them?!
Anyway, it has an open wall from the street so it’s not completely an indoor place which gave it sort of an LA feel. We enjoyed it. And I enjoyed my cow tongue tacos that he wouldn’t even try. :)

This place kind of fell off, the first time I went here I really enjoyed the food and atmosphere. The last few times I’ve been here, the food is average. There’s sometimes flies roaming around inside, and the chips and salsa lost that extra touch compared to the first time I went here (I’m looking at you mango salsa). It’s okay if you’re looking for a quick bite to eat, however, it’s mostly street parking. One positive thing is that portions are super large.

The disappointing-​I wanted to rate this place higher but we ordered a carne asada burrito and carne asada tacos and the quality and flavor of the meat was not good. The meat was chewy and lacked flavor.
The good-​On the other hand we ordered a vegetarian burrito and it was excellent! Filled with beans, rice, avocado, and grilled veggies, the burrito was fresh, tasty and big enough for two people to share. The complimentary chips and salsa bar was a real winner! We also enjoyed the aguas frescas.

You definetly can get a super burrito that’s actually super sized here. I pretty much had to eat half my burrito in order for it to fit into the to-​go box that I had for my extra side of rice. You can count on getting a huge meal (or 2… or 3) for a fairly decent price here. Serivce wise, the people were really friendly and my order came out fairly quickly.
I had asada (grilled steak) in my burrito and it was delicious, a little tough but it is a thin cut. The extra side of rice was a little too much for me but I always like extra rice in my burrito… so i’ll just have more for my other meals.
As my first time here, I was a little confused when I was handed 2 little cookie size sleeves and was surprised when it opened up to a square brown bag (I thought that was adorable and pretty cool… derp moment for me). They had tons of tortilla chips in plastic bins stacked around with one opened at a time. Their salsa bar had a varity of things from the typical pico de gallo to cucumber salsa, which was spicy (to my surprised… again). This litte places sure packs a punch and I’ll defiently want to be back the next time around.
Final Thoughts: 2 super burritos and 1 extra side of rice for just under $ 20, it’s a lot of yummy goodness right there.

I have always loved going here. You can get all you can eat chips that you serve yourself with the purchase of a drink. They also have a great selection of salsa. My fav is the cal poly burrito sooo good.

Muu buenos tacos al pastor

Hands down my favorite Mexican joint in SLO. I always stop by whenever I’m in the area at least once or twice.
The food is great, the staff are friendly, service is always on point and it happens to be just down the street to where my friend lives.
Another plus is the salsa bar. I love how generous they are with their servings.