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Saturday, October 07, 2006

Pedro's Tacos - Review #1

Date of Visit: October 3, 2006
Pedro's Tacos
31721 Camino Capistrano
San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675
(949) 489-7752

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Pedro's Tacos - Exterior

(UPDATE: Pedro's has closed and has been taken over by a place called Mission Grill.) Starting to make my way down towards the South County restaurants. First stop: Pedro's Tacos in San Juan Capistrano. Pedro's is directly across the street from the famous San Juan Capistrano Mission founded in the 1700's by Father Junipero Serra. Legend has it that he ate at Pedro's Tacos every day after he got off work feeding the swallows. I know all this because when I was in 4th grade everyone had to pick an old Californian mission to report on and mine was the San Juan Capistrano Mission. I even made a model of it out of sugar cubes dyed brown.

Pedro's Tacos - Menu Board

The recommendation to try out Pedro's Tacos was made to me while on my trip to Utah last June by a Huntington Beach resident who happened to be in Utah at the same time as me. Finally, four months later I'm following up on the recommendation.

Pedro's Tacos - Mission San Juan Capistrano
Just to the east of Pedro's


Pedro's Tacos - Souvenir Shop
Just to the south of Pedro's

Pedro's is simply a walk-up window take-out restaurant with a few tables for outside seating. They have a fairly extensive menu with a little gringo section at the end featuring hamburgers and French fries. They also have an extensive selection of Jarritos brand soda, and they had a bottle of each flavor all lined up in one of their windows so you knew just what you could order.

Pedro's Tacos -

Being a sucker for chile rellenos but knowing Pedro's is famous for its tacos I ordered a chile relleno/beef taco combo that's not even on the menu. They accommodated my request with a small but tasty chile relleno covered in salsa verde and a shredded beef taco wrapped in two corn tortillas filled with salsa and guacamole. The standard rice and beans filled the remainder of the styrofoam plate. Everything went down well and it's easy to see why there's a constant stream of customers walking up to that little window to order some real authentic Mexican food.

Pedro's Tacos - Mural

When you leave and you're trying to turn from Camino Capistrano back on to Ortega Highway the left turn signal either doesn't work or is incredibly hard to see. I sat through a cycle of lights and made my turn at what seemed like a logical moment but it could very well be that others saw me running a red. So be aware of the dubious traffic signal.

Pedro's Tacos earns a four Speedy Gonzales rating:

Speedy Gonzales Speedy Gonzales Speedy Gonzales Speedy Gonzales

11 comments:

Chubbypanda said...

Nicely done. I commend you for braving the dangers of malfunctioning turn signals in your quest for food blogging excellence.

*salute* (^_^)

- CP

Anonymous said...

I like your combination beef and chili relleno taco idea. I will have to try ordering it somewhere in SD.

ChristianZ said...

"I commend you for braving the dangers of malfunctioning turn signals in your quest for food blogging excellence."

I just hope it doesn't have to happen too often.

"I like your combination beef taco and chili relleno idea."

Yep, it made a great combo. For some reason the combo on their menu was "two chile rellenos;" which doesn't really sound like a combo to me.

Anonymous said...

Hello, I'm a fellow OC blogger and was just stopping through to say I love your blog. There's so much good Mexican food in the county; from the aguas frescas at Jugos Acapulcos to the chocolate fountain at Taco Rosa. I really like reading your blog and I've linked to you on my site. Keep it up!

elmomonster said...

Really? Pedro's Tacos has been there since the 1700's?!

I actually was out front after visiting the mission not too long ago. Was going to try a taco but I had just come back from lunch. Going to have to check it out now!

ChristianZ said...

Thanks, John. Sounds like you know your stuff.

No, I'm thinking Pedro's has been there since maybe the 1940's or 1950's. Wish I could find out their real history.

Anonymous said...

This place has the absolute WORST carne asada of any place that I've ever been to in my life. The beans are terrible.

Anonymous said...

Yesterday, I ordered a number 3 Taco Combo which was surprisingly priced at only $3.99 on the outside overhead menu. After I ate, I checked the receipt and was charged $4.59 plus tax.

I guess I shouldn't complain. It's just that the owner refused to return my call on my cell to tell me why the difference.

Oh well!

ChristianZ said...

Those are both good prices but, yeah, they need to get that discrepancy worked out.

Anonymous said...

Try the Combo Burrito...YUM!!! ITs my favorite thing on the menu by far

ChristianZ said...

Great. I'll get that the next time I go.