Aztecas Mikasa

Rating: OK
Meal:  Lunch for 2
Price: 4000 yen
Payment: Cash only
Dishes: Carnitas asada tacos, chicken burrito, guacamole
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

I was surprised to see a new(?) Mexican restaurant in Mikasa mall, upstairs above the meat restaurant.  My wife and I checked it out, and the space is really large, and it feels like a proper Mexican restaurant (hard to explain).  We tried out a few dishes, and while the tacos were good, the burrito was less impressive.  The guac was just ok.  Overall everything was very salty.  Do look forward to trying more things there.  Turns out it's the second branch of the same Aztecas that is between Nawlins and Bar 76, which I have reviewed before.

King Chicken and Burrito

Rating: OK
Meal:  Lunch
Price: 740 yen
Payment: Cash only
Dishes: Bulgogi burrito
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: N/A

King Chicken and Burrito is a stand restaurant, so no seating.  It's takeout only.  They have a couple of types of burritos and some fried chicken available.

I got a bulgogi burrito and took it home to eat.  It was pretty good, if a bit sweet.

It's nice to have a grab and go option in town that isn't a fast food restaurant.

Calexico

Rating: OK
Meal:  Dinner
Price: 10.300 BHD
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes: Two tacos, chicken wings
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

Expensive Californian Mexican restaurant in Adliya...not very good considering the price.  The wings were overcooked and tough, the tacos made with highly processed white flour burrito shells, the flavors weren't there.

Chips and salsa

Wings

Jalapeno poppers

Two types of "tacos"

Lamb Quesadilla

Happy Sarah California

Rating: Very good
Meal: Dinner
Price: 2.200 BHD
Dishes:  Carne asada soft taco with side of guacamole
Payment: Forgot to ask
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No (I don't think so)

Tonight I stopped at the Mexican/Filipino restaurant with the odd name of "Happy Sarah California".  It's run by Filipinos, but I was interested in the Mexican food.  It's a bit further down Shebab Avenue than most venture, but I like the places this far down as they are much less pretentious.

I opted for the carne asada soft taco and a side of guac.  The salsa that came with it was not very good, but the taco itself was a hand-made corn tortilla and the asada with pico de gallo was quite tasty and larger than I expected.  I have to say I was surprised.  For the Middle East, not a bad taco at all.

I wouldn't mind coming back to sample the pinoy cuisine another time.

Aztecas

Rating: OK
Meal:  Dinner for 2
Price:  4000 yen
Payment:  Cash at the moment, cards coming later
Dishes: Chicken tacos, carnitas tacos, avocado salad
English Menu:Yes
Smoking: No (but smokers stand right outside the door and smoke comes in sometimes)

Warning:  Does not appear to be open for lunch...maybe that will change in the future.

Machu Picchu has been replaced by Aztecas, a Mexican restaurant, and is being run by new owners.  There is an Aztecas restaurant in Yokohama (larger I'm told) that is owned by the same people.  They've only been open 3 weeks, so my wife and I decided to try them out last night.

It's still the same small space, with the unfortunate tendency of smoke from outside to creep in through the door, but it's an entirely new menu.  For now, it's pretty simple, but that could change in the future.  My wife ordered the chicken tacos, and I opted for the carnitas tacos.  Then I also ordered the avocado salad.  The prices are up there for sure (Mexican food is considered exotic here...).  Also when we were there there was only one guy in the kitchen, so it could take a while to get your food depending on how busy they are.

The avocado salad was unremarkable, though the dressing was a bit sweet.  My wife's chicken tacos were entirely white meat, which she prefers, but I dislike.  They didn't taste very spiced at all, lacking in flavor.  There was very little else other than meat with some raw onions sprinkled on top.  The tacos were flour based, and definitely not hand made.  My carnitas tasted a bit better, but still pretty low volume on the spices...just kind of a bit bland really.  I had to pour on the sauce provided to get things to taste a bit more interesting.

Overall we both give it an Ok, especially given the crazy high prices.  Portions are pretty large though...too large for my taste.  Still, that's the highest rating for a Mexican restaurant I've ever given in Yokosuka.  I am looking forward to returning to try some other items on the menu, and also visiting the Yokohama location at some point.

Martha's Tacos

Rating: Very good
Meal: Lunch for 3
Price:  $20
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes:  Wet burrito lengua, wet burrito chicken, pork quesadilla, horchata
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

Martha's Tacos in Lafayette, OR is one of my favorite little Mexican joints.  Of particular note is their wet burrito sauce, which is darker and perhaps more "mole" flavored than tomato or tomatillo.  Of course, we had to stop by for lunch when the opportunity presented itself, and sure enough, it is still there, and still just as good I remembered.  The lengua in particular was super tender and better than Gonzalez in Newberg I think.

Panaderia y Taqueria Gonzalez

Rating: Very good
Meal: Dinner for 3
Price:  $25.23
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes:  3 tacos lengua, 1 chicken burrito, 1 bean and cheese burrito, 1 horchata
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

We finally reached my hometown in the US (Newberg, OR) and for dinner we stopped by the Panaderia y Taqueria Gonzalez, my favorite Mexican restaurant in town.  There are other places that do certain things better (i.e. the "wet" sauce of Marthas Tacos in Lafayette, if it is still open, is better), but for your basic burrito supreme, this place is hard to beat.  However, since we weren't that hungry and I am trying to watch the carbs, I ordered 3 tacos with lengua, thinking it would be smaller.   Ha!  I could only eat two, and am having the 3rd for breakfast!  My wife ate about 2/3 of her chicken burrito, and even my son gave up after a heroic effort to eat his bean and cheese (Mexican white cheese, natch) burrito.

Putting the "bakery" in "Panaderia"

Of course, because this is a Panaderia in addition to being a Taqueria, I had to take a picture of the baked goods section, of which many a customer partook as we awaited our food.  A pity I don't care too much for Mexican baked goods.

3 enormous tacos lengua

Oh, my son begged for some horchata, which is a favorite, and we capitulated.  It's still delicious, though still stupidly sweet.  There must be a way to make a healthier version...

The burrito, possibly the least photogenic food in existence.

Ditto...

King Tacos

Rating: OK
Meal: Dinner for 2
Price: 1700 yen
Payment: Cash only
Dishes:  Two tacos, one taco rice with lettuce and cheese, bara bara chicken (fried chicken)
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

King Tacos is a chain in Okinawa that specializes in Taco Rice, a sort of Okinawan dish that is basically taco meat on Japanese rice with lettuce, tomato and maybe some cheese or salsa-ish sauce.  It's a very common "comfort food" in Japan that was probably a result of using American rations in a novel way (to Okinawans).  To me it's always reminded me of something I would have made in my poor college student days, along with some hideous ramen packet abominations.  It's not that it's bad...it just doesn't have a lot of flavor usually.

Anyway, here we were in Okinawa, making our way to our destination by bus.  It was getting dark, and we had just missed our connection and had to kill about 50 minutes.  Lo and behold, the sign for King Tacos loomed above us!  An excellent opportunity to try the chain I'd seen from a distance several times before.

It was quite sparse inside, mainly a call in and pickup kind of joint.  But there were some standing tables and we were told we could eat there.  We ordered some tacos, a taco rice with all the fixings and bara bara chicken because...we didn't know what it was.  It was all quite cheap and like I said, we had time to kill.  Which is good because it took about 20 minutes for the chicken to be made and it was like...an entire chickens worth of meat!  By the time we finally got our food several other groups of people had come and gone and we were getting antsy.  We were shocked by the large portions and managed to eat our tacos and half the taco rice before we packed everything up and went to the bus stop.  Later, after we got to our Airbnb, we pulled out the chicken and finished it up, then saved the last of the taco rice to combine with some fried eggs for breakfast.  Our 1700 yen meal served us quite well.

All that said, I wasn't amazed by any of it, but it's really cheap, and the tacos were pretty good.  I think it would be a guilty pleasure if we lived in Okinawa and didn't have so many other places to try out.

Mexway

Rating: OK
Meal: Lunch
Price: 2.8  BHD
Payment: Cash only (I think)
Dishes: Chicken quesadilla
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

My wife and I did a rapid review of several places at the Juffair Mall food court.  Mexway is a taco bellish place that lets you make your own burritos ala Chipotle's.  We got a chicken quesadilla for a rather spendy price.  We wanted to put guac on it, but it was scary expensive.  The food was just ok.