Taco Grill is one of those taco shops you love to see. A little hole in the wall restaurant nicely tucked into a non-descript strip mall on a sleepy street. Southern California has many many taco locations scattered throughout (I’m very lucky to have so many options!) and it can be difficult to stand out amongst all these great taco locations. With great reviews on both Yelp and Google I was looking forward to giving it a try and seeing if it’s worthy of a spot in the taco rotation.

Taco Grill Experience

Located in Westminister, CA, I’d seen Taco Grill several times over the years driving by on my way to other places. I’m always intrigued by these types of hole in the wall places and always wanted to try it, just never did until the other day. I’m glad I did! The restaurant is indeed tiny, a handful of tables inside with a few tables outside in the front with a convenient salsa bar also located in the front as well. There’s pickled onions and jalapenos and a few different types of salsas to choose from.

The menu is quite large. There’s a large variety of tacos: soft tacos (chicken, asada, carnitas, al pastor, chorizo), blackened fish or fried fish, grilled shrimp or fried shrimp, hard shell tacos (chicken, potato, beef), nachos, quesadillas, tortas, burritos, and carne asada fries. There’s a lot to take in for such a small spot. This go around I was focused on the tacos though.

The Food

I ended up getting the asada soft taco ($2.75), blackened fish taco ($2.25) (which seems to be one of the most popular items at Taco Grill), and hard shell beef taco ($3.00).

The food came out quickly, probably within 10 minutes, even though the restaurant was quite busy, so service was great. The first thing I noticed was that the tacos weren’t huge, they’re pretty small in size. BUT they’re packed with meat and toppings. They don’t skimp here.

I tried the hard shell taco first. I liked the fact they provide a dollop of sour cream and guacamole with the hard shell tacos that you can include in the taco. It’s a nice touch. The taco had a good amount of tasty meat and ample amounts of lettuce and cheese.

What stood out most to me was how crisp and thin the taco shell was. It wasn’t oily at all either. It’s definitely one of the better hard shell tacos that I’ve had. it was very good.

The second taco I went with was the blackened fish taco. This had a big chunk of fish in it with lots of cabbage and pico de gallo and sauce. The tortillas are very fresh. Overall a very solid taco. Plenty of fish which is seasoned well, tortillas are great, there was a little bit too much sauce for my taste. It kind of overtook the overall flavor of the taco but that’s nitpicking to be honest.

Last up was the carne aasada soft taco. This is generally a staple as a must try taco for me at every new taco place I venture out to. This came with the basic onions and cilantro and those same delicious tortillas. Again, the asada is well-seasoned here and quite tasty. The meat was good as well. There weren’t any really chewy, fatty pieces to be found in this taco. I was a little surprised since generally there’s always a few pieces like that in the carne asada mix. I wasn’t complaining though, it was good.

Is Taco Grill Worth A Visit?

In my opinion Taco Grill is certainly worth a visit to at least give it a try. All the tacos are pretty small but packed with meat and toppings and the fresh tacos were really delicious. The hard shell taco was the real standout to me at Taco Grill. I loved the crispness of it and how it wasn’t greasy at all. I’ll definitely come back here to try some more food. I definitely want to try their burritos. Either the bean and cheese or the California burrito, I’m thinking, but I’ll definitely make room for that hard shell taco as well.

Taco Grill

Address: 8481 Heil Ave H, Westminster, CA 92683