Manda C.
Yelp
I had recently seen some great reviews for this place on my local feed and I love finding hole in the wall gems, so I put this on my radar. Taking advantage of the students being out of town, I headed for campus trying to decide which of my bookmarks to try. I took it as a sign when I saw a single parking space available and 3 Aguilas it was! Good timing.
As you may or may not know, there is a tiny lot on the corner of Prairie and North Texas Boulevard that houses an Eagle Stop with a couple of gas pumps, a salon and The Taste. There are very few parking spots and each business seems to claim several so it can be impossible to find a place to park. So be aware of that if you decide to check it out. 3 Aguilas is going to be inside the Eagle Stop, which is easy to miss as the sign isn't that noticeable in my opinion.
I hadn't had lunch that day so I was planning on dining in and then getting something to go for my husband. I entered the convenience store and it was just as freezing inside as it was outside! In the back of the store was an order window for the taqueria.
As I was looking at the menus posted on either side of the window, the woman working there was nice enough to point out some popular items and prices. I was already planning on getting tacos, so I was sold when she told me they do Taco Tuesday. Since they write in the prices on the menu, I can't be sure what the normal prices are. I recall her mentioning the flour tortillas are usually $3, but I got corn for the Taco Tuesday price of $1.39 each. I thought rice and beans being $1 each was a super reasonable price!
I was bummed that they aren't allowed to sell Agua Fresca, but I guess that's typical for a gas station taqueria. The staff didn't seem happy about that. While waiting I went to use the restroom and I know it's a gas station bathroom... but it needs a serious deep cleaning... and that's as diplomatic as I can be about that.
I wasn't feeling the whole onions/cilantro refreshing toppings since it was 18 degrees in there and I wanted them warm, so I ordered them plain and she offered cheese. I think cheese would be an extra cost, but she offered it because I nixed the other toppings. That was nice of her.
The tacos come out and I notice the beans are super watery and unappealing, I wouldn't order those again. The rice was okay and the tacos were pretty good. I wouldn't bother with the cheese again, it was shredded American and not melted, so it was kind of in the way.
The tacos were warm and the tortillas had the perfect crispy edges, kudos on that. I was told the barbacoa was the most popular, and I would say it was pretty good, but it was a touch too greasy and I thought the pastor had a better flavor and texture combination. The pollo was pretty solid.
I only ate half my food because I couldn't feel my fingers. It was so cold in there the cashier at the gas station had a coat and hat on and a space heater. I asked for a to go container and explained the food was fine, I was just too cold to stay there.
She told me the gas station employee controls the A/C so I should talk to him. That seemed like a strange response, but on my way out I did ask him if they just don't have heat or if their heater was out. Seems their heater was broken and I certainly don't think he can control that, so I'm not sure why she thought he was making it cold in there. Weird.
I thought my food was okay enough and bought my husband a grande quesadilla with beef for $7.50. Unfortunately he said it was just awful. All the meat was overcooked so it tasted bad and he had to chew it forever to be able to swallow it. Complete bust on the quesadilla. It's a shame too as it was huge.
I don't dislike this place enough to avoid it, but I didn't like it enough to fight the traffic and parking lot to get there. This place is okay, but there are some outstanding taquerias in town that I would prefer to go to. For me, they just barely made the 3 star rating.
But hey, you don't have to take my word for it, it could have been an off day, I mean it was cooooolllllldddddd in there and that could have thrown them off their game. Check it out for yourself and make your own judgement call.