El Idolo
“Deliciously prepared chicken, green salsa, radishes, and lettuce wrapped in soft, scrumptious tortillas.”
“Veggie Taco: loaded w/ avocado and refried beans it has me feeling I've OD'd on the mush factor.”
“Why is good:
– Open late night
– Cheap and solid
– Fast
What to get:
– Semita of asada is the best.”
El Idolo
Take-out: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Price range.
$ Price range Under $10
8 reviews
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Simple, delicious, and inexpensive tacos that are as pure as they get – meat, onions, cilantro, lime. A great food cart to grab a quick snack or a full meal if you want. They even serve lengua!!
Tacos are trucks are everywhere, but the Queens based El Idolo taco truck has found a home here on 14th & 8th for the past few years. It's not the only El Idolo around (Midtown and Corona, Queens are the other locations), but one is perfectly situated to address the late night crowds from the Meatpacking and beyond.
Unlike most taco trucks that only feature a handful of tacos, quesadillas, and burritos, El Idolo (aka "The Idol") offers so much more. Their robust menu consists of quesadillas, tortas, huaraches, tamales, sopes, gorditas, flautas, and cemitas. Don't get too excited, some things are *much* better than others.
Taco enthusiasts may have little to rave about. Pueblan style meats with double tortillas for soakage can be fun, but the tortilla to stuffing ratio is going downhill by the day. To make matters worse, the tortilla is already dry prior to grilling, making it tougher to eat. One would almost hope the juice soaks in after awhile. At the new NYC standard of $3 each and with popular meats running out often, it leaves much to be desired.
Cemitas in all of NYC taco truck rarity are passable, though the bread and the frijol spread are a bit clumpy. I'm a sucker for tamales, but I've learned to pass on these ones as they're constantly way too dry and the corn husk almost looks like it's been sitting out for more than a while. Both the tostadas and enchiladas are messy to eat, but nothing like their burrito, which should always be ordered with sauce on the side. The tacos arabe is an interesting choice, but not impressive enough to warrant ordering each time.
The food may have its flaws, but it certainly is better than nothing at all. The guys in the truck are a friendly bunch and are willing to customize each item to one's liking. Speaking Spanish is always a plus, but the staff here does a perfectly suitable job handling the orders in English. Cash only of course and being stupidly drunk will help it all go down much easier.
Walking down 6th Ave, I smelled the familiar scent of taco truck. Instantly, a flood of memories of many a lunch break back in California.
This would have gotten four stars if the pork in the Taco Arabe wasn't salted to death. It was so salty that the lime juice I squeezed from the complimentary wedge couldn't cut through the salt.
I'll be back when I have the chance, perhaps they are covering up the fourth star with all that salt.
I had an enchilada torta for lunch during the week. It came out quick enough but I was a bit disappointed with the taste. It was fairly bland and not spicy in the least bit even though I was specifically asked if I'd like it spicy. The torta was a decent size and the ingredients seemed fresh enough. I'll probably stop by again but I wan't particularly impressed.
Default the one of the better taquerias in Manhattan as so many of the "Mexican" restaurants are really imposters (see Dos Caminos, Rosa Mexicana).
Their salsa rojo is a little bland but this place is good enough to save me from the random taco cravings. The availability of horchata by the bucket (I kid but literally a large plastic bucket-like container) is a massive plus.
Really wish they would park the truck in another location – somewhere not so close to the drainage – so the awesome smell of the grease isn't corrupted by the sewage…
Checked out El Idolo last night before a show in Chelsea. So cheap! We got 4 tacos for two of us for $12. We got the Tacos Asados…and they were SO spicy. I wish they'd been a little less spicy, but if you like lip-numbing chile, this is for you. Good quick food truck option if you're in the neighborhood.
A friend picked out El Idolo as our destination for late night drunchies & it did the trick.
Prices are good & cheap, especially for the tamales. I ordered a chili verde tamale, lengua taco, & carnitas taco. Everything was OK – good if you are drunk & hungry, but overall nothing particularly memorable. The lengua was a bit dry, and it didn't help that the limes were dried out too. The food generally relied on hot sauce for flavor.
Overall, El Idolo is fine if you are in a pinch for late night Mexican food, but I would not go out of my way to eat here again.
For a truck, it was pretty good. I had a grilled steak taco and a chicken tamale. The chicken tamale was supposed to have green sauce and it did not, but it was still good and satisfying for $1.50. The taco was $2.50 and very good, although not the best quality steak. It was a good experience for food from a truck. Just what I wanted!