I’ll admit that I was a little disappointed about going to Taqueria Los Rayos this week – at first. We were out for our (mostly) weekly BuHi adventure with Ash, Steve and his brother, Jeff, from out of town. The lack of curb appeal of this place made me a little sad for having a visiting diner along with us, but fortunately, my expectations were exceeded.

Patiooooo.

Brothers and decor.

Sangria and horchata.

We were seated at one end of the of this plain and simple interior space, decorated with futbol jerseys, mexican flags, and other pieces of flair. Our waitress was very nice and patient while we deliberated about what to order off of the large yellow menus.

I didn’t have my DSLR, so you can’t see the ridiculous greasiness. But oh boy.

We started out with chips and salsa ($1.50), a single-serving bottle of non-alcoholic sangria ($2 – no booze at all in this joint) and an horchata (~$1.75). The chips were ridiculously greasy, but good and the salsa was thin and different, but also good. The sangria was good, but not necessarily worth the $2 in Ashley’s opinion. I liked the horchata – sweet and smooth without too much aftertaste like some have.

Here’s the run-down on our dinner orders:

Shrimp cocktail – like a latin seafood gazpacho.

Steve: Shrimp coctel special – a shrimp cocktail (kind of like gazpacho), came with a taco ($8)

Torta barbacoa.

Rabanos. Radishes with slices of lime.

Ash: Torta barbacoa – a barbecue goat sandwich ($5) and a side of rabanos – radishes with lime ($1.50)

CABEZA!

Jeff: Torta cabeza – a cow cheek sandwich ($5)

That’s carnitas in the back, chorizo on the left, and barbacoa on the right.

Torta al pastor.

Adam/Emily: Tacos barbacoa, chorizo and carnitas (tacos range in price from $1.50-$2 each) and torta al pastor ($5)

Everyone liked their meal – from pretty good (Jeff on his cheeky torta) to quite a lot (Steve on his cocktail). The tortas were big and filling – my al pastor one was quite good and moist (I sometimes have trouble with al pastor in general – just comes too dry for my liking). It is supposed to be a house specialty, so I guess it makes sense that it was tasty. The menu also proclaims Los Rayos as “The only for authentic tacos”. I wouldn’t know authentic if it hit me in the face, but these were damn good tacos. The chorizo especially was fantastic – always nice to have chorizo without getting orange oil oozing all over you.

We thought the rabanos side order was a bit odd. Just some sliced radishes and a side of lime. Perhaps people order them with the intent of putting them on tacos or some other dish, rather than as a stand-alone side dish? That’s our best guess.

Word.

With our meal we were also provided with some sauces, most notably some house sauces – green and red. The green was fine enough, but we loved the smoky red sauce. We highly recommend slathering it on most everything.

As a group, we unanimously give it 4 stars. Good value for the money, good food, and polite, decent service. We’ll come back again!

There are order and pick-up signs hanging there, but we ordered at our table from menus. Because we were a large group, or because we were clueless gringos? The world may never know. (I’m guessing the latter.)

Taqueria Los Rayos
3473 Clairmont Rd.
Atlanta, GA 30319