Daniel B.
Yelp
Tortas Factory del DF gets a solid four stars from me. This place has very good food, affordable prices, and quick, friendly service. These guys won Atlanta Magazine's Best of ATL award for Best Tortas in 2018, a well-deserved award. You can see the award displayed above the kitchen window.
"Del DF" means "of the Distrito Federal" or "Federal District," which is a reference to Mexico City (what Mexico City used to be called). The food served here is Mexico City style.
Tortas Factory is in a small corner strip on Buford Highway OTP, just up the road from Buford Highway Farmers Market. The restaurant opened right around the new year, 2018. The Mexican bakery Panaderia Del Valle, located in the same plaza, is owned by the same family. I think the family name is Del Valle. The bread for the tortas at Tortas Factory comes from Panaderia Del Valle.
While tortas is in its name, this place serves way more than just tortas. They also serve tacos ($2.00-2.50 each), campesinas (corn tortilla with egg, beans, cheese, and sauce, $4.99), huaraches ($4.99 each), sopes ($4.50 each), gorditas ($4.50 each), quesadillas ($8.50 each), fajitas ($11.50 each), pambazos ($6.50 each), enchiladas ($8.50 each), flautas ($8.50 each), burritos ($8.50 each), nachos ($9.50 each), tostadas ($9.00 each), and entrees like pechuga de pollo asado (grilled chicken breast, $11.50) and chuleta de puerco (pork chop, $9.50). There are blackboard specials too.
Tortas (Mexican sandwiches) are the specialty and they have 17 varieties on the regular menu (I saw two more on the specials board). They're priced at only $6.00 to $6.50 each. Beverage-wise, they offer the standard agua frescas like jamaica (hibiscus), horchata (cinnamon vanilla rice milk), and tamarindo (tamarind).
A small group of us ordered several items and shared. Here's what we got:
* Nachos carne asada ($9.50) - crema, frijoles refritos, queso, crema, tomate y jalapenos
* Enchiladas pollo con mole (chicken with mole sauce, $8.50) - lechuga, queso fresco, crema, arroz
* Torta Cubana ($6.50) - mayonesa, frijoles, salchicha, carne de puerco, huevo, chorizo, aguacate, tomate, jalapenos, queso fresco
* Torta Mexicana (ground beef and ham, $6.00) - mayonesa, carne molida, jamon, frijoles, lechuga, tomate, cebolla, aguacate, queso, jalapenos
* Pambazo papas con chorizo de puerco (potatoes with pork sausage, $6.50) - crema, lechuga, queso fresco
I also got a medium-sized horchata for $2.50. They offered me free samples of the horchata, jamaica, and tamarindo. They all tasted pretty typical to me -- cold, sweet, and refreshing. Like other Mexican restaurants, they serve their agua frescas from those refrigerated drink mixing machines. My horchata had a little bit of a grainy consistency (not bad) and great flavor (some horchatas, the flavor can be off).
Everything was very good. The star of the show was the pambazo papas con chorizo de puerco. The pambazo is pretty much like a torta, but made with a special type of bread (pambazo) that is burnt orange in color because the bread has been dipped and fried in a red pepper sauce (guajillo peppers). This makes the sandwich spicy. Tortas Factory offers two kinds of pambazos, one made with pork sausage and the other with grilled steak (carne asada). The pork sausage version was terrific; spicy, savory, and filling. The crema helps cut through the spiciness. This is the kind of sandwich that makes your mouth water.
The other sandwiches were great too. I preferred the Cubana over the Mexicana, but would be happy with either one. The Cubana was stacked high with all sorts of ingredients, my favorites being the roast pork and sausage. The strips of queso fresco were delicious too. The avocado and tomato were fresh and overall, it was just a well-constructed, satisfying sandwich with quality ingredients. The Mexicana was interesting because it was like the torta version of a hamburger. Carne molida is ground beef and that's what you get here. Combined with melted cheese, beans, ham, and more, this is a hearty and gratifying sandwich.
The nachos were fantastic. Nothing earth-shattering, just fresh ingredients (like the sandwiches). Real comfort food. The chips were nice and crispy and the pieces of steak were tender. There was a decent amount of both steak and avocado so I appreciated that. They don't skimp.
If you like a good mole sauce, I recommend the enchiladas pollo con mole. Tortas Factory's mole sauce is one of the best I've tasted. It's rich, bold, and really appetizing. Generous portion size with lots of crema and queso fresco, which I like. One of my friends got the salsa verde (green sauce) version of the enchiladas and it looked equally as appetizing. Another friend got the flautas pollo (chicken) and really enjoyed them, so all of these seem to be good options if you want chicken.
The small salsa bar has salsa roja and verde (red and green), lime wedges, guac, and a spicy habanero, jalapeno, onion mix.
$3 credit card minimum.