User Review
Taqueria Pancho Villa (San Mateo, CA)
Score: 8 / 10 Reviewed by: KinggSF
Easily my favorite Taquiera in San Mateo so far. I am surprised it is ranked so low on this website as it is always crowded no matter what time of day that you go. That has got to say something about it. Despite the crowd your food is usually prepared very quickly and in about 5 minutes you will have your food. While it is on the pricy side, the selction (all sorts of meat, beans, and salsas) and flavors are well worth it. The atmosphere is ok, the chairs (more like tiny stools) are sort of uncomfortable and I would prefer a backrest, as it is usually crowded it is not exactly a place you want to sit around for a while. I usually spend about 20 minutes here from the time I order to finishing my food.
Depending on my mood, I will usually order a super or deluxe carne asada burrito with refried beans and spicy salsa. While the food is prepared in an assembly line style the ingredients are always fresh. You can witness them cooking as you order. They are very generous with cilantro in the burrito giving a nice cool tingle to your tastebuds to counter the spicyness. The burrito is served in foil making it very easy to eat and keeping it a consitent tempratue. The biggest flaw is that the size of the burritos is inconsistent, sometimes it is really big and other times you are left dissappointed.
The strongest point is their salsas which have won numerous awards at the state fair. They range from mild to extremly spicy, all of them good, and the spicy pico de gallo is what I usually have in the burrito.
I make it a point to frequent this place as often as I can when in the peninsula as I now live in Hawaii a.k.a. the land with no mexicans and no good mexican food. Go here when in the neighborhood.
