Make a visit to the Hamilton Park area for these Traditional Mexican tacos from Tacos Victoria. This no frills, simple and inexpensive spot, well hits….the spot.
This hole in the wall Mexican Restaurant looks to be more of a delivery and take out spot. As we ordered there were plenty of Grub-hub orders chiming letting the restaurant know an order had been received. Approaching the restaurant you’re not going to find a lit sign out front instead you’ll find a small vinyl banner and a few small steps on the corner to walk down into Tacos Victoria.
Tacos Victoria is a full fledged Mexican restaurant with a full menu, and a traditional taco menu (yes this includes Lengua, or in English tongue, usually made from ox or cow) we ordered an al pastor taco, a Picadillo taco (ground beef, usually served with peas, and potatoes) and a chipotle chicken taco (served Tinga de pollo style, which is shredded chicken). We also ordered three chicken tostadas.
After taking a seat in the not so busy restaurant at around 8 o’clock at night on a Friday, we were served. Three beautiful tacos came to my plate. Each taco was served in a double wrapped fresh yellow corn tortilla. Each taco was topped with traditional Mexican ingredients, chopped cilantro, and diced white onion, served with radish slices and some limes.
To start out I want to say I really enjoyed all these tacos, but I will say the picadillo (pick-a-dill-yo) is my favorite. The ingredients were simple and well executed, fresh produce was used, well cooked and well seasoned meat. The flavors and spices were exactly where they were needed. And if theres not enough heat for you, they bring an orange and green sauce to the table. The orange sauce has a good amount of heat and flavor. The green will be on the milder side. The servings of meat on each taco are also generous. The tortillas were nothing special but they were corn, fresh and soft.
For the Al pastor I can say the meat was prepared differently, which can be said for all the places I’ve had al pastor tacos. I like my al pastor a little oily and slightly salty, and not heavy on the fat, this hit the spot, the seasoning lacked the sweetness of the usual pineapple.
Done well the Tinga de pollo taco leaves a smoky aftertaste in your mouth, and these were done fairly well. The chicken was tender, well seasoned of chipotle and shredded thin.
The Picadillo Taco was very good, seasoned and finely ground beef, mixed in with red pepper and peas. A very filling serving of ground beef and a small amount oil made this my favorite.
I rank Tacos Victoria highly for a few reasons:
- Price – inexpensive
- Quality – fresh ingredients, meat is cooked well, full menu and 2 vegetarian taco options (although I would avoid I’ve heard you’ll be served a frozen Italian blend of vegetables). Larger servings. Mostly traditional tacos can be dry.
- Wait time – while Taqueria Downtown in Jersey City may have an atmosphere, Tacos Victoria is away from the downtown area and quieter, there’s not going to be a wait time here.
- Simplicity – traditional authentic tacos, clean ingredients, full Mexican menu with more options than most, BYOB, no frills just really good tacos, inexpensive.
- Solid Taco Review Score: 8.3/10
- Taco Price: $3 a taco
- Location: Jersey City, NJ
- Strengths: very fresh ingredients, good portions, inexpensive
Solid Taco Review 