Lana K.
Yelp
Mediocre is what I would describe my one-time experience as, and I honestly can't recommend this place.
As a Korean person, I was excited to visit a fusion Korean-Mexican place. I checked out all the photos and reviews online and decided I'd get either the California burrito or Big Ricardo.
I arrived at the place a few minutes after they opened at 5pm. There was no line, so I asked the server whether the red enchilada sauce was spicy. He said "no not at all, it's tomato sauce". Really, tomato sauce? I thought it was made with red chilies. He then went on to say yes red chilies but kept saying it was sweet. I also asked him how spicy the "hot salsa roja" was and he said "not very spicy, in the middle".
I played it safe and chose the California burrito ($15 including tax), and asked the server once again whether he recommends the steak "kanye asada" it comes with, or beef bulgogi. He said the steak is better and the bulgogi is sweet. (I mean for a Korean-Mex place, shouldn't you be advocating for the Korean BBQ meats??). I followed his advice (to my demise) and got the order to-go -- it was ready within minutes. The salsa was given to me on the side and thank goodness because it IS SPICY (and this is coming from someone who's used to Korean spice).
To my disappointment, the burrito was very average tasting - the "steak" was really low-grade chuck: tough to chew and chunky. It was practically bland and the flavors overall were very muted and plain. Nothing special about it. My burrito was also missing any cheese. The flour tortilla was also very tough to chew, the toughest I've ever had for a burrito.
Coming from the East Coast, I thought Mex food would be better in California. This place doesn't quick steam their tortillas like the burrito places do in Boston which makes it 100% better. The steak meat I've had in burritos on the East Coast are also more tender than here.
Tacorea also has 1000+ reviews but I noticed after the fact that most of them are from 5-6 years ago so maybe this place has gone downhill in quality since then. Portion wise, it'll fill your stomach but I think it's really lacking in flavor.