El Rey Taqueria

I am so lucky to live within minutes! El Rey is my favorite go to when I need food fast or late night. Add in the friendly service and menu full of a variety of delicious food plus made to order and refreshing drinks and you got 5 stars and a run on sentence from me!
El Rey’s menu is full of must orders like the famous chicken tortilla soup. My absolute favorite thing to order from El Rey is actually their salad. That’s right, this late night restaurant makes a legit salad (I did mention the diverse menu right?). If you’re in the mood for a healthy alternative or in my case very aware of the upcoming Hawaii vacay in less than 2 weeks, then order the kale chicken salad. Ten minutes later, you’ll get freshly chopped kale mixed with dried cranberries and pistachios for texture and antioxidant boost and grilled chicken for protein. Best. Kale. Salad. Ever.

It’s my second time that I placed on order to pick up, and both times I asked them 10 times NO PLANTAIN. Wow I still have plantain in my burrito and as I’m allergic to it, I’m going to trash the whole food! Have no idea why people put 5 starts for this place.

El Rey reviews are all over the place! You love it or you hate it, I guess. I dig it! There is a drive thru but it is usually out in the road so I usually go inside and order to go. Shrimp tacos are meh, wouldn’t recommend. Vieja tacos are delicious, lots of meat! Fajita plate and enchilada plate are good too. It’s reasonably priced and it’s always on the list when we need a quick meal.

Really hard to critique El Rey because nothing blew my mind. Everything I tried (tortilla soup, Cuban sandwich) were all very middle of the road. I heard the taco’s were good, so I’ll try those next time I visit. I recommend going inside instead of sitting in the drive through line because there can be a long line/​wait.

The food is very good but the service knocks them back to three stars, What a shame.
Little things too. But sometimes the staff seems a little distracted or apathetic. Also sometimes a bit slow, but not usually. One major complaint is that if you order with someone they simply pile all of the items together with no way to tell the difference. For instance if you order a fish taco and so does your freind, but the freind orders extra sauce, they don’t distinguish, cannot tell you, and never remember which is which. This means you have to dig through the taco. Hope the friend is a close friend.
Also they annoyingly give little numbered flags for you table but I have never actually had someone then bring the food to my table. Especially on their sidewalk seating.
Good food, but a management staff that was more careful could raise the quality of service a bit.

Some friends told me to check this place out since I’m still looking for new places in town. Love it! It leans more toward Cuban than Mexican but there is a blend. The food is fresh and authentic.

I just love El Rey. I think because it reminds me of places in Miami. I love coming here for breakfast and getting a breakfast taco, freshly squeezed orange juice and a latte. Honestly, their coffee is some of the best in Houston. Their red and green salsas are super good too. My only complaint is that their queso is not good, and as someone that loves queso I wish it was better.

Slow slow slow
Your Order will take forever and ever
Do not even dream of making a to go order
Slow service

On my nonstop quest for tacos, I stopped in to El Rey based on a good number of Unilocal reviews. I was somewhat curious as to how well this would be compared to it’s neighbor, Velvet, and I was pleasantly surprised at how good a place with a drive through window could be. I wasn’t super hungry, so I just tried one of the ropa vieja tacos on a wheat tortilla, something you don’t see at my other taquerias. It literally exploded all over me as I took a bite and the tomato sauce just went everywhere. The beef was tender and flavorful, and it was complemented nicely with shredded cabbage and a cilantro sauce. Pretty impressive for a fast food joint.

El Rey has some of the best food, but the service is terrible.
On multiple occasions, they have gotten the order significantly wrong. I’ve asked for bacon and got beef. I’ve asked for onions and cilantro and got lettuce and tomato.
I tried to order breakfast at 11:55 on a Sunday. The woman said that they stopped serving breakfast because it was after noon. I understand that we were there close to noon, but I do not appreciate being lied to because they switched the kitchen over before the time listed on their menu.
I’ve sat in the drive through line for upwards of 20 minutes because their service is so slow.
All of these little things would not be a big deal it it happened every once in a while, but after patronizing this place for almost 3 years, I’ve learned to expect it. I’m done.

Fish tacos was pretty good but the tortas did not do it for me, first off the tortas was not toasted well enough and thus when you pick up he sandwich all the toppings fall off, cheese also wasn’t completely melted, I remember having my first tortas in Mexico and was hoping to recreate that taste at this place but it wasn’t the same

Who: me
Where/​when: Heights, weekend brunch
What: Cordatito (Cuban Expresso), assorted breakfast tacos
Why: Solid choice for weekend breakfast/​brunch. All of the breakfast tacos are great, especially with corn tortillas (perfectly stuffed and double wrapped in corn). If you like expresso, the Cordatito is delicious, with just a shot of milk (so go for whole and not 2% because it’s worth it).

I just ordered one of the new «Kale Salads» and when I say it was AMAZING, it was AMAZING! Btw of course it comes with «kale», cranberries, cabbage, chicken, pistachios, vinaigrette dressing, and a little cheese. Along with fresh my fresh orange juice, It was worth every penny!

So this joint is normally really good. My friend and I come here for some grub after hours. It’s like «our go spot». We always get the friend tempura shrimp tacos and they’re normally bomb but it wasn’t right this time around. I think the they used smaller shrimps and their batter was too much. Their al pastor taco was on point and like for under $ 2, pretty much a deal. Three stars this time around, normally 3.5. I mean when it’s after hours I guess you can’t judge much. Joint is always like a Taqueria type feel. Small and can probably seat like 30 – 35.

great fresh cantaloupe juice… shrimp tacos or chicken fajita tacos loaded. and I do mean loaded (cheese, guac, pico, sour cream). I wish they didn’t charge extra for BASIC taco toppings. I still pay it so not much room to complain huh. The best charro beans I’ve probably had in the city. Very hearty and tender. I squeeze a bit of lime juice in to top it off.

Cuban coffee wasn’t made the Cuban way — sweetened (in honor of the historically large Cuban sugar industry). You’ll have to ask for them to add the sugar. But at least, the coffee was good.
Had the Cuban-​influenced tacos: the Cuban (fajita, plantains, black beans and sour cream) and the ropa vieja taco (tomato-​stewed shredded beef, cabbage, pico de gallo and cilantro sauce). They both were good but I think the plantains are from the frozen package. And the black beans are a little on the dry side. If I had to pick one, I would say the ropa vieja taco is better.
They also ran out of the guava and cream cheese empanada so that was a miss. But it was awesome to see that they make fresh-​to-​order orange juice like the Cuban places do in Florida. And it’s for a good price too.
There’s also Cuban sandwiches (looked pretty good — but there’s only the traditional Cuban and the steak sandwich. No such thing as an Elena Ruth here) and a limited Cuban entrée menu (no vaca frita).
Still a pretty decent place, and almost a local institution considering they came up with these tacos many years before creative tacos became a trend (Torchy’s and Velvet Taco).

Hands down, best Horchata I’ve ever had! If nothing else… come here for the Horchata! I’m a sucker for Cuban food and the rice was on point — black beans weren’t for me though. Breakfast tacos were pretty standard. Plantains were super yummy! Boyfriend really liked his Torta. The awesome thing about this place is the menu is so huge you could eat here every day for months and still not try everything.
The restaurant is small on the inside so if you come at peak hours don’t expect to get a seat. However, they drive thru is definitely convenient.
My only request would be that they put to-​go lids out from behind the counter for the customers because it took several minutes for the order-​takers to see me standing at the bar waiting. Either way — I’ll be back soon: D

Andre was such a sweetheart. As soon as we arrived, he greeted us with many smiles. I have not received this type of service from anyone, ANYWHERE before. I really wanted to tell him to never change his ways. Anyways, he took our order, double checked everything with us (he got everything correct) and we were given our drinks.
I had the soup, ropa vieja, fajita, and a shrimp taco. They were all quite tasty. My favorite out of all of my choices was definitely the caldo de pollo. It had tortilla strips, cheese and avocado topped, which was quite tasty! Their salsas are also so tasty — the red one is my absolute favorite.
I noticed that the employees greeted and thanked everyone as they walked in and left. I thought that was awesome. I will definitely come by more often to support El Rey Taqueria on Hwy 6.

Ahh yes, finally discovered the El Rey experience. Located on the corner of Shepherd and Washington, the architects of El Rey Taqueria should give up their career choice. With entrances on both streets, and a highly congested parking lot, with a drive thru, you often have trouble getting in as there is always a line at the drive through. Logistics aside, the mix of Mexican and Cuban food is fantastic.
They have a variety of tacos with some really interesting options. I went with the Cuban taco which comes with chicken or beef fajita meat, black beans, plantains, and sour cream. Yup, fried plantains in your taco which is pretty awesome and you also have an option of corn, flour, or wheat tortillas with all tacos. My second taco was the ropa vieja taco (probably spelled that wrong) which is another Cuban taco consisting of shredded pork marinated in a tomato broth. Quite flavorful, the only problem is the shredded beef stick together which causes you to chomp off a good portion of the meat with your first bite of your taco. Each taco is $ 2 – 3 so it’s really affordable.
Also got some chips with green salsa (recommended over the red salsa) as the queso was a bit too expensive for my taste. With some fresh cantaloupe juice, you have a big meal for around $ 10.

This place flat out destroys Taco Bell /​Taco Cabana!
If you haven’t been here yet you are missing out! Cuban fresh fast food that will tantalize your taste buds and please your pallet!
OPEN LATE NIGHTS for your after hours enjoyment!
Switch it up and check this place out! You won’t be disappointed!!!