*** Mexican Fiesta has closed
A little over a month ago I received a really nice email from "GregM". In the email Greg mentioned a little Taco Shop on India Street called Mexican Fiesta. To quote "check out Mexican Fiesta's al Pastor taco. Good enough that I carry it back to NYC for my Dad, and it was the champion in my now aborted attempt to sample every taco stand in SD." How could I resist? If it's good enough for Dad, it's probably more than "good enough" for me!
So during a recent weekday, I made it down to the South end of India Street, and amongst all the towering High Rises, and new development, I found Mexican Fiesta. I must have driven past this place many, many, times and never noticed it.
I just had to cross the street and snap this photo which shows the sharp contrast between the "little taco shop that could", and the towering buildings surrounding it. For some reason, this little scene stirred up memories of one of the first books I ever read, called The Little House, written by Virginia Lee Burton. (and no, I didn't read a first edition version in 1942 ) In the book, a little country house is overcome by the urban sprawl until it is surrounded by giant buildings.
Business at Mexican Fiesta is brisk and busy.
You order at one window, pay, and are handed a number. When your number is called, you pick up your order at the next window. When I ordered, I was number 68, as I moved out of the way number 49 was called! As you can tell, there is no dining room or eating area, all orders are to go. Though, if you need to use the "facilities" those are provided for across the street.
And though these looked a bit out of place, the porta-potties were doing almost as brisk a business(no pun intended) as Mexican Fiesta!
The customers at Mexican Fiesta was a diverse group, a slice of almost every demographic, income level, and social standing. Even though I had to wait for almost 20 customers before me, my order was ready in a relatively short amount of time. And, since I had found primo parking, I had lunch in my car parked on the side of India Street.
For some variety, I thought I'd start with a Carne Asada Taco($1.99):
To be honest, I wasn't very hungry, and only ordered two tacos. I didn't know what to expect, but my little brown paper bag was very heavy. Well, these sure weren't those little street tacos, it was quite large. The Carne Asada was decent, very soft, but dry, with a very mild flavor. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of iceberg lettuce and shredded cheese on my tacos. On a side note, the Salsa Roja was good, a balance of heat and sour, with a just a hint of sweetness.
Just when I thought that perhaps I'd made a mistake, I opened up my Al Pastor Taco($1.99):
Now this was another pretty large taco. Though I consider this to be more Adobada than Al Pastor, meaning that it doesn't look spit roasted and lacks a good amount of carmelization, the pork itself was good, probably the softest Adobada I can remember, and very juicy to boot. The seasoning of the pork had a deceptive amount of heat, and an overall good flavor. I'd have these again. If anything, I'd have wished for more onions and cilantro, and the tortilla didn't hold up too well, I almost had the pork in my lap, but that was because the pork was so moist.
Sure seems like you get your money's worth here. One day soon, I'll probably stop by for that Machaca Burrito. It's good to see this small little stand doing so well. From what I could see Mexican Fiesta opens at 8am, Greg also notes that the hours are very limited during the weekends.
Mexican Fiesta
1460 India St
San Diego, CA 92101
(619) 231-9851
Thanks for the recommendation Greg, that Al Pastor was very good!