Review: Tacos La Fonda

So this La Fonda isn’t “THE best thing that has ever happened to me.” It is however the best of three Southern California gas station taco places I’ve been to. I’m behind two reviews so expect those to come soon.

I must possess gas station taco radar as I found Tacos La Fonda by accident after taking the wrong exit off the 2 Freeway in LA when out of the corner of my eye I noticed a Mexican restaurant in the storefronts of a SC Fuel Stop.

There are about eight tables inside and a fairly extensive menu, all of it in Spanish. So I simply asked what meats were available and was told beef, chicken, tongue, barbacoa, and pork carnitas. I ordered 3 tacos: a beef fajita, chicken and barbacoa. As part of the order, I asked for only cilantro and onions. The woman behind the counter says in a surprised voice, “Really?” Yep, really.

Since it was a fairly lazy Saturday I decided to dine-in and my tacos arrived with a generous amount of meat on each corn tortilla and plated with sliced carrots and radishes.

What also showed up was a lengua taco instead of the beef fajita I ordered. I decided to go with it and have at the lengua. It was the least favorite of the three as the tongue’s papillae were quite large and almost hairy on several of the pieces. The tongue also wasn’t particularly juicy like a delicious slow cooked pot roast like some lengua I’ve had.

Moving on.

The chicken was okay. Since there was a huge pile of chicken on the taco, I simply pushed aside some of the more gristly pieces and enjoyed a flavorful chicken taco.

Finally the one that saved the day… the best gas station barbacoa taco I’ve ever had. The barbacoa here is excellent. It had a sweet but spicy flavor with a deep, deep reddish brown color.  Every bite was better than the next, leaving my time at Tacos La Fonda a positive memory.

The tortillas are not fresh, they’re packaged while the salsa roja has a good flavor, but isn’t standout like some places I’ve been.

One quick tip: Tacos La Fonda serves their tacos with lettuce and pico de gallo, so be sure to ask only for cilantro and onions like I did; though, expect a bit off-putting surprise tone from the person taking your order.

Gas Station: SC Fuel Stop

Address: 2135 N San Fernando Rd, Los Angeles, CA 90065

Rating (4 out of 5):