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    California Taco Shop

    3.3 (71 reviews)
    InexpensiveMexican
    Closed 11:00 am - 10:00 pm

    Order California Taco Shop Takeout or Delivery

    California Taco Shop Photos

    CALIFORNIA TACO SHOP ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Casual
    Good for groups
    Outdoor seating

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    Recommended Reviews - California Taco Shop

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    If I could give 0 stars I would. Birria consume burned through the container and he told me it was my fault... lmao! Very rude told me he couldn't help me.

    QuesoBirria  1
    Grace P.

    The birria was so good and had NO FAT. This was an ideal situation for me. I ordered the queso-birria plate which had chips+guacamole. The guac tasted like the Wholly Guacamole brand, which is noticeably not homemade/fresh, but still tastes okay. The combo included a soda so I chose Jarrito's + they have ~6 flavors. This was a satiating and flavorful lunch. Consomé was good, and I was given enough limes, too.

    indoor seating
    Maisune E.

    so confused by the average rating because this was really good?? i got 7 carne asada tacos because they small and cute, and i asked for singular tortillas. the salsa verde they have is delicious, you can taste the tomatillo more than the jalapeño. i literally saw them butchering the steaks and that made me happy to see how fresh their kitchen is. my tacos were definitely made to order. the vibe is so socal mexican too. i enjoyed dining in. i wanna try their birria next.

    Birria Taco Combo (3)
    Adrian S.

    Smelled amazing walking by had to make a stop. Ordered the hawaiian torta & pastor torta n was not disappointed. Cute little shop off the corner. would visit again :) they have aguas frescas too

    Chicken Soft Taco Supremes
    Jon B.

    Came to the Taco shop for a quick lunch . The name speaks for itself : a laid back hole in the wall taco shop with no frills . Well, I ordered a 3 chicken taco lunch special and was very very happy ! It was hot , hearty and very tasty !! Service it friendly and you order at the counter . It's quite authentic !!!

    Veggie Torta
    Steve A.

    Basic looking place for some relatively cheap Mexican American food. California Taco Shop has a few locations around Providence. It basically is like fast food but Taco Bell makes it seem authentic when you compare these. Has lots of good specials you can save lots of money on. The prices already are pretty cheap but why pay more than you have to for this average stuff. It doesn't have many items that don't contain meat. Most items either have beef or chicken. The rest mostly have seafood. Among the few vegetarian friendly items are a side of guacamole and chips. The only entree is the Veggie Torta. It's $7.99 for a pretty big one. This is like a Mexican sandwich. It of course isn't authentic. This has cheese, lettuce, onions, peppers, pico de gallo, refried beans, and sour cream. Far away from being authentic. It's still a lot more authentic than Taco Bell. The prices are pretty good for the big portions.

    Bistec encebollado
    Robert S.

    Had two dinners tonight and both were underwhelming. The two taco steak combo was good, but nothing to write home about. The bistec encebollado was not bad but it does not compare to other flank steak dinners that I've had in Providence. The meat was tender, not very tasteful, a bit on the salty side. The rice and beans were just OK. I don't think I would get any of those again, the exception regarding the tacos...... is the 7 hard tacos for $5.99 on Wednesdays which is a great value for cheap tacos.

    Chips & Salsa
    Christine K.

    Ordered California Taco for lunch at the office through Grub Hub and was not disappointed. My usual at a taco shop is hard tacos but wanted to change it up so I tried the birria. If you haven't tried them yet you need to try them the next time you eat here. Soo delicious!! My co workers also enjoyed their lunches! Everything was tasty, warm and there was enough for us all to try each others choices! We will def order from here again!

    Lunch combo

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    3 months ago

    Food was good, authentic tasting. I felt prices were a tad unreasonable. It was $5 for maybe a pint of rice. Won't do that again!

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    1 year ago

    Got the steak and shrimp burrito with fries inside and it was great! Would recommend for a quick bite for a decent price.

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    2 years ago

    Tortilla was nasty tasted dry will never go back it was a small taco no lettuce or tomato no shredded cheese lost my business Sucks

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    11 months ago

    delicious food, great service, nice clean place inside. stopped here on our way out from the hospital, so glad we did.

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    5 years ago

    Small little spot but Great food!! Get the 2 Taco combo Prices are good and Staff was nice

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    4 years ago

    Refused to play monday night football despite me being the only person at the restaurant.

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    Viva Mexico Cantina & Grill - Enchiladas de Mole

    Viva Mexico Cantina & Grill

    3.4(402 reviews)
    0.7 miDownCity
    $$

    Excelente la comida, muy sana y sabrosa y también excelente servicio, rápido y amigable…read more The food was excellent; very healthy and delicious. The service was fast and friendly.

    First off, the good: Ethan our server was very sweet…read moreThe food was DELICIOUS (carnitas quesadilla and bean dip in particular) However we had a pretty bad customer service experience with the owner who was contacted after we noticed a discrepancy with our bill. We ordered the chips and guac for 14.50, which comes with beans and salsa, and says says free refills (menu attached). We asked for one refill of beans and one of guac. When we got the bill, we were supposed to see charges for the beans and guac. Our server explained that the free refills were only for the chips and salsa. We asked to see a menu again and pointed out that it says free refills. Our server contacted the owner/manager who doubled down on the misleading statement and charged us for both refills (total of 10.50 additional cost). It's really a bummer because I had read a bunch of reviews on here and my takeaway is that the food is great but the management leaves something to be desired. Be upfront with your customers! It's a great restaurant with delicious food, I'm glad small businesses exist, and I wish that we had been treated with more grace and honesty. Losing $10 on your end (or even just being upfront and stating the refill policy on the menu) is well worth it for a positive customer experience. I would have loved to give this place 5 stars but took 1 off for the misleading pricing and another for the way that it was handled by the manager.

    Photos
    Viva Mexico Cantina & Grill - Interior looking towards the bar.....

    Interior looking towards the bar.....

    Viva Mexico Cantina & Grill
    Viva Mexico Cantina & Grill - Dona Elia Margarita

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    Chilangos

    Chilangos

    4.3(327 reviews)
    2.3 miMount Pleasant
    $$

    I used to come here all the time when I lived in Providence. In the three times I've been back over…read morethe last few years, I've had a couple stellar experiences and one subpar experience. But I'm someone that believes anyone can have an off day so overall this place is really great. First and foremost, get the margarita. They are the best I've ever had. Also, get the tacos. Even as an app they're so great. I got the shrimp and a veg recently. I've enjoyed all of the entrees I've ever gotten. Honorable mention is the shrimp Diablo. Super spicy and delightful. The interior is warm, cozy, and a perfect combo of lit enough so you can see but dark enough to set a mood for spilling tea or flirting with your date. Equal parts good for girls night and good for date night. The not so great: I got flautas once and they fell flauta (haha). Also, it's sometimes a one man show so service can be slow especially if you need refills so be sure to order multiple drinks at a time, or better yet a pitcher. Street parking can be a real pain but sometimes you get lucky on a side street. Definitely worth a visit if you've never been!

    I found Chilangos by serendipity: we were looking for a Mexican restaurant that was open on Tuesday…read moreand we liked the menu on the website because the food was true Mexican food, not the usual Americanized Mexican. So we took a chance. And we were not at all disappointed! First, we were greeted warmly, in a genuine way, by the owner. They seemed genuinely glad to have us. The older gentleman was friendly and playful towards my son. The food was delicious! I had enchiladas with housemate mole. The mole was fantastic: complex and nuanced. My daughter had enchiladas verde, which was smothered in a poblano salsa that was also complex, with great green heat. My son ordered the arracherra, a peppercorn rubbed steak served with homemade guacamole and a delicious cactus salad. I was tempted by several other dishes, particularly the enchiladas mineras (beef cheeks - yum!). All in all, a warm, welcoming, delicious experience that made me want come back. And I will.

    Photos
    Chilangos
    Chilangos
    Chilangos - Grapefruit soda

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    Grapefruit soda

    Aguardente - Pao de Queijo

    Aguardente

    4.5(231 reviews)
    1.1 mi
    $$$

    After making reservations at another restaurant, we drove there only to discover they were…read moreclosed--even though we had received confirmation for our 7:00 PM reservation. Needless to say, it was a disappointing start to what was supposed to be a special family evening. Thankfully, a quick call to Aguardente in Fox Point changed everything. The person who answered explained that they weren't taking reservations that evening, but they did have one outdoor table left if we could make it there in time. Despite the challenges of navigating Providence during the World Cup festivities and the Cape Verde Festival in the Fox Point area, we managed to get to the restaurant and secure that last table. We are incredibly grateful to the staff at Aguardente for helping turn our evening around. Our daughter and son-in-law were hoping to enjoy one last dinner with both families before leaving on Monday for a special assignment in South Carolina, and the unexpected closure of our original restaurant had left everyone feeling frustrated and disappointed. From the moment we arrived, the team at Aguardente made us feel welcome. The food was excellent, the drinks were wonderful, and the service was outstanding. Most importantly, they helped transform what had begun as a stressful evening into a memorable celebration with family. Thank you to everyone at Aguardente for your kindness, hospitality, and professionalism. You made our families smile and created a special memory during an important moment in our lives. We highly recommend Aguardente and look forward to returning. -- A very grateful family

    Atmosphere: cute outdoor seating area for summer nights. The inside has cool decor (including a…read morebathroom that apparently won an award??), but is very small and cramped. The upper 'porch' like area looks really fun, but the table we were seated at was so close to the other tables I was uncomfortable. I get that we're in a city, but I value my personal space and privacy and felt like the whole restaurant could hear my every word - ick. Service: our server seemed annoyed that I didn't want an alcoholic drink, and was not very helpful. Half of the menu is not in English (very chaotic how some portions are in English and others are not, it doesn't seem consistent), so we had some questions, such as "what does x taste like?" and the only response we got was "not too sweet"....okay, but what DOES it taste like? She spoke very fast and I couldn't understand her listing off the specials, even though she didn't really have an accent. She left partway through while we were there so I guess she was just at the end of her shift and checked out, but it was so offputting how rude and unhelpful she was. When our servers transitioned, we offered to cash out then since we weren't getting anything else and wanted the original server to get her tips, but she started joking around that we didn't have to do that - which I appreciate, but we actually did want to get going and get cashed out, but she refused to give us our check. I asked three times and she still wouldn't 'let us do that'...very weird. Food: there were not a ton of vegetarian options that appealed to me. I went a little overboard on plantains by accident, which is my mistake. I first ordered the Rellenitos with cilantro crema sauce, which were very good and a flavor combination I wasn't expecting. The dough to filling ratio was a little off and they were pretty dry inside, so I needed a lot of the sauce. An order only came with 2 and I wish it was more. I'm glad I ordered something else - Tula Fries, which came with the same exact cilantro creme sauce as the Rellenitos, even though they are described differently on the menu, which felt lazy to repeat a sauce. The sauce didn't go well with them at all in my opinion so I did not enjoy these as much as I would've liked. My friend enjoyed her drink, but thought almost all of the meat on her meat and cheese board was either low quality or close to going bad. It was priced reasonably, which we were shocked by, but she couldn't eat a good portion of it sadly. We did really enjoy the baked flava bean snack that was a part of it. The board weirdly came with just half of one small, half rotten strawberry that looked terrible - it would've been better to leave it off. Towards the end of the night, there was so much water on the floor in the hallway that goes to the bathroom and passes the kitchen - I had to walk through it to go to the bathroom, which felt like a safety hazard. My friend was on crutches and wouldn't even try to get over there since we knew she'd slip on all the water. It just looked terrible and was dangerous, so not sure what we going on that there was such a water issue there. Their specialties and more meat based dishes are probably great, but there just aren't a ton of things for me to eat here. I'd be willing to try it again for drinks and apps if the service wasn't so unwelcoming.

    Photos
    Aguardente - Decor

    Decor

    Aguardente - Fave bean stew

    Fave bean stew

    Aguardente - Espresso martini flight

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    Espresso martini flight

    California Taco Shop - mexican - Updated September 2026

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