The spot for Tacos de Birria y Barbacoa de Chivo Y Rea. We usually stop by 3 times a month. I usually get my 4 to 5 tacos and a consomé I highly recommend. read more

El Cabrito - Tacos de Res Y Tacos de Chivo. Un rico consomé - Mexican Near Me - Santa Ana, California

Birria, a traditional Mexican young goat stew or the shredded meat from the stew, is unquestionably primal here. The meat quality is superb and its preparation is top-notch. Never had birria before and perhaps a bit skirmish about trying it? You are depriving yourself of some of the most robust flavored, tender and juicy meat you can sink your teeth into. Layered on a warm corn tortilla shell, garnished with onions and cilantro, a few squirts of lime, a dash of fiery salsa de aceite and you have a near perfect a taco as you'll ever dream of tasting! The carne asada (grilled beef steak) and carnitas (roasted pig) are almost an afterthought here because of the popularity of their birria. While not as distinct and the vibrant flavor of the staple meat dish, the preparation is nearly as superb. The cubed steak was succulent and well balanced, not overly seasoned but still delicious. The braised pork was slow cooked in its juice, preserving all that flavor and tenderness much like the birria. It was very moist with the edges cooked to a golden crisp and shredded easily with a fork. Personally, I prefer the meats stuffed into a burrito over tacos here because of the pinto beans. I usually order a burrito with just meat, however, this place prepares the pinto beans perfectly: soft, smooth, velvet-like in texture and delicately flavored. The beans blends so well with the juicy meats and adds yet another dimension to its taste and texture. Eating one with some radishes gives it a hint of bitterness and some crunch. Nothing complex, just a simple but successful combination of flavors and textures. The savory, mildly spiced consommé, $1.75, is also a must! Chug it down as a delicious hot beverage or dunk your tacos, tortas and burritos in it as an additional dipping sauce. The quesadilla with carne asada, $5.99 ($2.99 without meat), is gargantuan, a foot-long slab of fried tortilla loaded with mounds of juicy meat and melted cheese! Patrons often order it as a lighter meal or even an appetizer. But the ones here definitely makes for a delicious, hearty meal. The birria plate, along with its barbacoa de res or Mexican BBQ beef (both $13), are priced a bit higher (compared to its other dishes and maybe to competing taquerias) because of the high quality and preparation of the meat. Served with beans, onions, salsa de aceite and roasted Mexican green onions, the quantity on a plate is also quite substantial. The flavor, quality and good portions justify its price. If you do not want to spend more than $10 on a dish, the tacos, $1.75, and burritos, $4.99, are your best bets because all the meat choices (including the birria) are priced the same and very reasonable. El Cabrito use traditional ingredients and creates simple, delicious food. Dishes that won't winning any contests that puts a real emphasis on originality and plating. But this hole-in-the-wall restaurant and Santa Ana treasure makes some of the very best birria in Orange County, in addition to other yummy Mexican dishes that are as good as it gets. This place can become quite addicting. You've been warned! read more

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It was Taco Tuesday, and I was looking for some cheap tacos for lunch. I couldn't find the original place that I had Yelped. Since I am the only person in the world without Smartphone, I found this place the old school way. I drove up and down 1st Street in Santa Ana until I saw a Mexican restaurant with the most people in it. I pulled into the parking lot. There was only one space left with my name on it. I quickly parked and went inside. Luckily for me, there were a couple of people ahead of me, giving me extra time to peruse the menu and look at the food that they were serving to the customers. The Birria plate looked fantastic. But, since it was a Taco Tuesday, I had my mind set on tacos. When it was my turn, the cashier looked at me like he was amazed that I, the Chinito, walked into his restaurant that was full of Hispanics. He then asked me how I found out about his restaurant, and if I discovered the restaurant on Yelp. I couldn't lie to him, so I told him that Yelp brought me there. Not knowing how big their tacos were, I ordered 2 Birria(goat stew) tacos, 1 Barbacoa(Beef stew) taco, and one Carne Asada Taco. I paid the man, and waited for my tacos. The tacos were ready within 5 minutes. I took my order and drove straight back to the office. The tacos came loaded with meat, cilantro, and onions. They even gave me a spicy and a regular salsa on the side. They were not small tacos that you get elsewhere. If I knew the tacos were so big, I would have gotten 2 or 3. But, then again, their prices are more than at other places at $2.25 a taco. The tacos were all pretty good. I liked the flavor of the Birria. The meat was stewed perfectly. The carne asada was well marinated and cooked. I couldn't decide if I liked the Carne Asada or the Birria more. The Barbacoa that the cashier told me to get was stewed just like the Birria. I liked the Birria more than the Barbacoa. The Chinito liked the Cabrito. Their tacos aren't cheap at $2.25 each. When I come here again, I am going to try the Birria plate since it looks so good. No need to come here on a Tuesday since the tacos are the same price everyday. El Cabrito is a winner. read more

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great food and awesome service. first time there and had the best experienc! definitely recommend

My family and I were here today we been having this place for the last past months but todays service was not good it all started with our drinks elderly lady in the register charge us for 4 large drinks when we only ask for 2 large and 2 small drinks for our kids we decided to look at our bill and we noticed we were charged for all 4 large drinks my wife decided to go ask the same lady that took our order and explained what happened with our drinks and she responded by saying that she would refund the difference for the drinks something that never happened wich at the end my wife and i were to embarrassed to confronted the lady again not only that but also had our order short on a taco and when we went to ask for our taco the person who was handing out the food assure that our order was right anyhow we did got the taco but the lady never show up with the refunded money read more

Such a let down. Super Birria down the street smacks way harder than this place. - super long wait time - order was wrong - too tired to go back and say anything - Birria was bland. - maybe it was an off day for them. Not going back. read more

Best goat tacos, burritos, & chile rellenos in OC!! My quest for succulent goat meat has finally come to fruition at this friendly little goat taco outdoor restaurant. The Birria, Asada, & Barbacoa de Res tacos were so satisfying and delicious! Chile rellenos here are perfectly fluffy and perfectly seasoned! Tastes just like homemade. Many restaurants have chewy chiles or oily greasy egg batter but here they have mastered the art of tender chiles and batter that tastes like the succulent sauce it soaks up. The tender cactus on top of the chile rellenos took them to the next level If you are tired of mediocre OC tacos then you must come here -- these tacos reign supreme! Tried the goat burritos this morning. The goat was amazing as always and the rice and beans were tender and flavorful. Love the radishes and limes on the side. Worth the drive!! read more

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Been coming to El Cabrito for years and they never disappoint. The food is outstanding and my favorite are carne asada tacos with spicy chili oil. The staff is always friendly and service is amazing. Can't wait to come back! read more

Ive been goin here for last 15 yrs A++ they have both type of Birria res & chivo Espinzo de chivo here is the best read more

Very good the tacos de chivo with they cosomen and their salsa are also great with the tacos the pata it's also good but expensive for 4 dollars that doesn't have a lot of meat for the tacos I rather have white tortilla than the yellow tortilla read more

El Cabrito - Tacos de chivo with pata - Mexican Near Me - Santa Ana, California

Best birria de chivo in town, the employees are always so welcoming been coming here for years( 10+)If you don't like chivo they have barbacoa de res and delicious carnitas. read more

The food quality is ok but the price is very high and seems overpriced. I got 3 Birria and 5 carne and cheese quesadillas and one sope and it was 68$ idk but that seemed way to pricy read more

Great food, authentic, great salsa. Carmela is absolutely amazing. Great selections of drinks. Outside seating is great. Thank you for a great meal! read more

I ordered 1 plate de Birria no onions and 4 tacos for my son no onions. When I got my order it had onions all over. I show them my receipt and it read "no onions". Lady gave me an unpleasant look like it was my fault.. The cashier lady wasn't to pleasant either. The birria plate was $18 and the portions were small. The rice and beans were good but not enough to satisfy. My sons tacos were dry. The birria was good, but not for the price. Not sure if I'll try this place again but as of right now, it wasn't worth my time or money. read more

El Cabrito - $18 for a small Birria plate? Yikes! - Mexican Near Me - Santa Ana, California

very outstanding service and tasteful high quality food. Very positive surrounding and delightful shade to enjoy your meal. 10/10 overall

Birria was ok, a little dry, but still good tasting. Gets busy on weekends and parking is limited in small lot. Good amount of tables in front. Worth a try. read more

Food is amazing! Service isn't so great but then again, they are rebuilding because of COVID. Anyone want some legit goat food go here.

Very unsatisfied with their service. I placed a phone order and was told it would be ready in 20 minutes. To my surprise when I show up to pick up they had me wait 30 minutes in line. I got my food cold and soggy. The lady there told me that next time tell them over the phone that you want your order to be made fresh ( this defeats the phone ordering). I've been going to this place since they were in an old catering truck by my neighborhood. For me customer service is most important and today was not there. They just lost a customer. Here is a picture of my food. It would be better if they stop taking phone orders. I hope the owners know that their customer service is diminishing. read more

El Cabrito - Taco was very soggy it was falling apart. - Mexican Near Me - Santa Ana, California

I've come from Moreno Valley just to eat here. LOVE LOVE LOVE the birria tacos!! They're the BEST I've had! The service is good. It is a small place but totally worth the drive!! read more

El Cabrito - Birria tacos!! - Mexican Near Me - Santa Ana, California

Disappointed! You guys need to update your hours I just drove 50 min cause it says you close at 9. Got there at 6 and you guys were closing already read more

Delicious tacos de birria! They also have plenty of they meat options! Agua de jamaica is super delicious as well! They offer a variety of other aguas frescas. Parking is always rough, especially when the place is busy. Side note: ask for the tacos to be "enchilados y dorados", (tastes 100% better) as they don't always ask and they'll give you the tacos with a plain tortilla. Food can get pricey, so pay attention to pricing as listed on the menu so you're not surprised when your tacos come out to $20 read more

El Cabrito - tacos de birria, lengua and carne asada - Mexican Near Me - Santa Ana, California

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Prices for a plate of birria $21! So I just got one to taste...glad I only got one. NO FLAVOR, consomé very bland, meat needed seasoning...comes with beans and rice. Beans no flavor either, rice was ok...got tacos and same issue, tortilla not deep fried like in the picture. Will not be wasting my money here ever again ...super birria is better read more

This place is really good but kind of pricey. If you like to eat you better come with some extra money than usual. The place is small but nice and the outside patio is awesome. read more

El Cabrito - Torta de birria with cheese. - Mexican Near Me - Santa Ana, California

I've been coming here since they were on 5th street when they were just in their food truck. Their tacos de birria used to be so good and the price was amazing! Now it's 4.25 a taco and the quality of the food has gone down drastically. I got 9 tacos de birria for my family with 2 consomés and it came out to 51 bucks... that's ridiculous. I don't know what happened considering its still the same owners from when they were on 5th. read more

The jam packed parking lot is a testament to the popularity of El Cabrito. The specialty here is birria, goat meat. I tried one of their birria tacos and found it tender and not gamy. It was topped with onions and cilantro. I think it would have been nice if there was more flavor to the meat, but I still enjoyed the taco. They have a variety of drinks and when I asked about the jamaica, they gave me a sample. This led to me buying this sweet drink which has a small touch of sourness. The seating here is outdoors. I would like to try their other tacos the next time I go. read more

This was the first place I've been to for birria (I've only had homemade) and I don't have one single regret!!! The tacos were pretty big, but it was so good I finished all 4. The carne asada was also really good, but I'm looking forward going back to try their consome. I'm a huge fan of salsa and I really loved their salsa, it was smokey with a good amount of spice. This place was recommended to me by my Mexican friend who has been having their birria since she was a child. read more

El Cabrito - birria (left) carne asada (right) - Mexican Near Me - Santa Ana, California

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I've had this place bookmarked for a while because I saw such good reviews! I've been driving by it so many nights on my way to DTSA and dreamed of the day I can taste some of this awesome birria! My dreams were crushed. :( I had such high hopes for great flavors and found the birria to be quite bland. Was I not eating it right? My sister saw people dump packets of salt into the consomme...but that shouldn't be how the food should be seasoned! For $13.99 a plate, I expected more. My sister had a burrito with birria meat, and wasn't impressed either. Her burrito was small (we're spoiled by having giant burritos served to us from all other Mexican joints for dirt cheap) for $4.99. Their pina is waaaay too sweet for my taste. Service was friendly. Seating is outdoors. Park at the Post Office west of this place since parking is a nightmare. Anyway, despite this mediocre food adventure, I'd give it another try before I cross it off my list forever. It was pretty busy the entire time I was there (even though it was 3pm on a Sunday)...so I must be missing something! read more

El Cabrito - Birria with everything on the side. - Mexican Near Me - Santa Ana, California

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Went on a food adventure with some friends because of all the hype on yelp. However, I would have to say, it was a little bit of a disappointment. There is very few parking in the area, like maybe 5 cars. Also, people parked everywhere so there was no distinct in or out. We ended up parking at the post office and walked over. The place was clean but small. The good thing was that there was a lot of outdoor seating. And, it was considerate of the place to put a big screen tv for their outside viewers. I had the Birira plate with my friend. It was $16, a little expensive for what you actually get. The meat was tender but bland. There also was not that much meat on the place. Mostly just small pieces of pork. The dish comes with a broth. People were drinking it. The broth alone was flavorful but could use a little salt. We dipped the taco into the broth but it didn't make a big difference. There was a chili oil sauce that you can dip the Taco in. It did add a kick to the meal. Overall, not bad, but it did not live up to the hype! read more

El Cabrito - Birira plate. - Mexican Near Me - Santa Ana, California

The little short lady in the front has the worst attitude while she takes your order. She rolled her eyes at me when I asked to make the order to go instead of for here after I realized the tables weren't clean outside. Also they give 2 small halves of lemons for the 4 tacos I got. The chile relleno seemed to have been cooked 4 days ago and re heated, they also put nopales and they don't mention that before you order. Worst food. I'm definitely not going back at all read more

Umm the place was my favorited went two times , first time got a free consome, cuz 2.50 a lot for just caldo , and I went the second time , I went again an god dam. 10 bucks for just one quesadilla it went up damn , I thought this time it did come with a consome like it went up but naw , and the tortillA boy even home made , too expensive read more

El Cabrito - Mexican Near Me - Santa Ana, California

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This is my favorite taco place! They are delicious! Their salsas are amazing and consomé is delicious. The also have a variety of Mexican sodas (jarritos, sidral, sangria) and fresh flavored waters. The service is friendly and polite. Two reasons for 4 stars instead of 5: 1. The seating area and bathrooms could be a little cleaner. 2. The food takes too long to come out (for a fast food establishment). BUT if you simply want awesome tacos and don't mind waiting a few extra minutes this is the place! read more

Delicious! I ordered 2 tacos (1 barbacoa 1 birria) my husband ordered 1 buche, 2 birria and 2 consomes. Everything was amazing, it had great taste, great salsas and the service was fast and good. Definitely, will be back when we're in the area. This is the closest meal to birria from Mexico. read more

El Cabrito - Mexican Near Me - Santa Ana, California

I have been craving birria (goat cooked in red sauce)for the longest time so I finally made my way to this establishment that I have seen for the longest time but never stopped . I'm so happy I did !!!! The service was great we were greeted by Juana she was very helpful on what we should order and very attentive on what we needed . I will definitely be going back read more

The food is great. Especially the goat meat tacos. However, beware of Ali (Alicia), she's the older Mexican lady that is mostly seen charging at the register. She loves to sneak in and add extra charges. So please please please check your receipt after you pay. She's been there for a very long time and till this day she's still defrauding people. It's so petty but if you add those 5 dollars from each person for x amount of years. That's a lot! Today she verbally repeated the order back correctly, but after I paid, the receipt said different. She added an extra fish taco and charged me for xtra cheese and sour cream. I'm like when did those words ever come out of my mouth????? She must have a special friend telling her these thing in her head or something lol. Maybe them dead goat spirits are haunting her and us!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhh! read more

El Cabrito - Delicious tacos BUT check that RECEIPT because there's always a surprise (additional charge). - Mexican Near Me - Santa Ana, California

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I always make sure to make a stop here whenever I'm in the OC The Birria here is absolutely AMAZING!! I always have the tacos de birria with a consume delicious!! They have grilled onions, salsa and tostadas as appetizers....OMG my mouth is watering just writing this review! lol My review is based on the Birria only. I have not tried anything else on the menu. read more

El Cabrito - Tacos de Birria - Mexican Near Me - Santa Ana, California

I had Quesadilla, Birria, consomé, tacos lengua and pastor. Everything was delicious... however salsas were not good enough to complemente such delicious dinner. read more

Driven by this place a few times and finally decided to try it out with some coworkers. I ordered the birria, barbacoa and lengua tacos and they were all delicious. But I expected more meat on my taco, specially since they are almost $3 dollars a pop. The consomé was just okay, nothing special. We all came to the same conclusion, not enough bang for your buck. The food is great, but a little steep in price for what it is. Not sure if we'll be coming back anytime soon. Too many other options in Santa Ana. read more

I was a little disappointed in the food here. It was good don't get me wrong however I feel like it was overpriced and the amount of food they gave me was not as much as I thought it would be after knowing how much I paid. I was recommended by a friend to try it. The customer service was good. They were nice and friendly. It did not take long for me to get my food. I would recommend going to La Super Birria instead. It is down the street. The food is absolutely amazing. Be warned they only take cash which is lame. read more

Fast and friendly staff! A must if you like Birria! Barbacoa tacos are the best! Will be making this my go to place. read more

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Went here for the first time. Heard stories of how good this place was. Yeah no! Never again. Worst customer service and the food was crap.