Mariachi (Midtown East)

Rating: 

Quality, Taste, Cleanliness, Environment, Price, & Staff

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Positive: Wide selection of Halal Mexican food.

Negative: Non-tasty food with slow service in a small place.

Overall: I wouldn’t come back to this place even though it is probably one of the only halal mexican restaurants in the northeast. 

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Looking for halal mexican?  well keep looking and in the mean time stick with Taco bell and Chipotle for your needs.

Mariachi is located in a great location, close to the Lexington Ave.  It is a very small restaurant and I would only recommend going there in a group of up to 4 people.  It will not be sustainable for larger groups. Also, it is so small that when you talk to the people you’re eating with, you feel that the whole restaurant can hear you.

In terms of the food, I had the nachos for the appetizers. They were average and I expected them to have some meat on them because after all it is a halal restaurant and we are used to eating nachos with beans every where else. Therefore, if you’re looking for nachos with chilli, do not get these and try another appetizer. The enchiladas were average as well. They were a bit soggy and had way too much parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

As for the service, I was not impressed either because there was only one waiter. He did not attend to us when he had finished eating and had to wait five to ten minutes for him to come to our table so we could ask him for the bill. All in all, I recommend this restaurant if you’re in the area with a couple of friends, are craving some meat, and are not looking for something fancy. I’d also like to add that in addition to Mexican food, they also have a menu for Middle Eastern and Italian dishes.

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Mariachi’s Website on Seamless

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Surf Taco (Southern NJ)

Rating:

Quality, Taste, Cleanliness, Environment, Price , & Staff

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Positive: Variety of seafood/vegetarian tacos and burritos with distinct sauces and tasty fillings that you won’t find anywhere else but California.

Negative: Located by the shore so it may not be as fun in the winter.

Overall: Good Restaurant to try if you like seafood and Mexican food.  (and you are tired of the typical Mexican food chains)

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update:  I went back a few times to the restaurant and had the burrito.  It was not as good as I was hoping.  Nonetheless the remainder of the food was still excellent, just as I remembered it.

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Tired of Taco Bell?

Want to try something similar but with more variety? Try Surf Taco, located in Long Branch, NJ and other beach towns along the Jersey Shore (such as Jackson, Belmar, Point Pleasant, etc).

Upon going there I didn’t know what to order as there were so many options for people that eat seafood and vegetarian dishes. They offer many shrimp and fish tacos, different types of burritos, quesadillas, and much more. I tried the Surf Taco and thought it was decent but not great because of the large amount of fish they put in it.  With that said, the fillings in it were delicious. I also tried one of their specials, a mango coconut shrimp taco which was just too delicious…I would go back just for that.  I have never had a taco like that before and have been tired of eating tacos with beans all the time.

You can also add some flavor to your tacos by adding the 4 different sauces that they have available, similar to Chipotle and Qdoba, but located outside the counter so that you can add as much and as little as you want. A mistake my friend and I made when we went is that we ordered additional nachos. All the tacos come with nachos already but we also ordered the Max dip loaded nachos. Even though they were amazing, our stomachs were way too full after eating 2 tacos each plus the extra order of nachos. I suggest you eat one taco if you want to get an order of loaded nachos.

I love Mexican food and this definitely is one of the top on my list for Mexican food. I will go back soon to try their burritos and update my review then. Another plus about Surf Taco is that it is located on the Jersey shore, so its a good place to go eat in the spring/summer and hang out at the beach afterwords. All in all, make sure you try this wonderful restaurant.

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Surf Taco Website

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