Mesa Rosa 620

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Mesa Rosa 620
15515 FM 620
Austin, Texas 78717

This is the second of three Mesa Rosa restaurants I’ve reviewed (Click here for the the other Mesa Rosa). I would have thought everything would be the same, being the same family owned restaurant, but not quite. The taco shells were very crispy and had a real snap to them. The ground beef wasn’t just browned in a pan….it had a nice char flavor to it as if they grilled it with the fajita meat. The 620 Mesa Rosa has had several additions as it gained popularity, with different dining areas and a nice deck overlooking some of the few wooded areas remaining between Round Rock and Cedar Park. As early as 6:00pm they were busy, but still not much of a wait. Wait staff varied from high school kids to professionals, so service may be hit and miss. But overall, great tacos, and that's what counts! This Mesa Rosa is on my ‘regular’ list now and I’m looking forward to the third Mesa Rosa.

La Palapa Restautant & Cantina

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La Palapa Restaurant & Cantina
6640 East Highway 290
Austin TX 78723

La Palapa is a place everyone who as lived in Austin for a long time knows about….and what great tacos! Crispy shell, lots and cheese and veggies, and nicely favored ground beef…..that wasn’t all drippy. Unlike your regular very flat corn tortillas, these shells were super crispy with the little bubbles you get from bread raising. The only negative thing is it seemed all the extras have a price tag (most places do but it seemed like everything did here). When my dining companion asked for a little guaq the wait person quoted the price….a couple tortillas, price…..different side, price. Maybe we just didn’t want to hear it so much. The chips were as fresh and crispy as the shells, and free as were the refills (some places actually charge for chips!). The salsa has a mild heat to it, but a bit too much cumin for my liking. It nearly overwhelmed the other flavors. Alas, it was lunch time during the week, so not beer, but their selection looked inviting. With its cantina and live music nightly, I need to come back.

Serranos (Lakeline)

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Serranos Café & Cantina
Lakeline
11100 Pecan Park Blvd.
Cedar Park TX, 78613


Walking into Serranos reminded me of the Tony Roma’s rib house that used to occupy the space not that long ago, but it could have been Serranos’ mesquite fired grill adding to the aroma.

Regardless, their tacos were pretty decent. Two large tacos sitting in a bed of lettuce and tomato, stuffed with meat, hard to beat. The salsa was great; just the right amount of heat and chopped cilantro to add a fresh flavor.

The service was a bit on the slow side and since they weren’t very crowded, I would have expected better. The beer selection was typical, but they serve it with a small 4 ounce glass, which for some reason I find to be an enjoyable way to imbibe one’s beer.

Another Taco Shack

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The Taco Shack
4002 North Lamar
Austin Texas

I had to try another one. Just a couple blocks away from the Taco Shack on Medical Parkway, I found a completely different looking one on North Lamar across from Central Market. While the first was rather small and eclectic, this one looks pretty much like a normal fast food place. The tacos however were identical in construction. One mistake here, they wrapped them in foil together. The added heat steamed off more juice, making them both a bit soggy. Otherwise, for a 99 cent taco, tough to beat.

The Taco - The Perfect Food

The taco is the perfect food. All nutritionist will tell you to eat a well balanced variety of foods and use the food pyramid as a guide. Even the United States Government agrees with that.


To refresh your memory, the food pyramid starts wide at the bottom with grains, then next is nearly equal parts of veggies and fruit, then meat and dairy and at the pointed top, a sparing amount of oil and sweets.

The taco is all of these.
-The shell is coarse ground corn taking care of your body’s need for grain products. Better still, it’s “whole grain”.
-Tomatoes are really a fruit and lettuce is the vegetable, and a good source of "ruffage" which everyone will tell you to have in your diet.
-Of course meat is meat and cheese is obviously dairy. Even if it's goat cheese.
-Tasty ground meat will always have a little fat or oil. With properly drained meat, a little fat is what you should get.


There you go, the perfect food. Except for the sweet, so you can complete your meal with a Mexican praline or one of those little green and white mints.

Next time you munching down a taco, feel good about yourself. You're living healthy!

The Taco Shack

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The Taco Shack
4412 Medical Parkway
Austin Texas

One of six family owned restaurants,
the Taco Shack, wedged into a corner on Medical Parkway with one picnic table outside, is truly a to-go only place. Six adults inside and the place is packed, but what tacos! Wrapped in foil to keep them warm and with two little containers of salsa, these are some of the best little tacos you’ll find. Not heavy on the veggies, they were stuffed with finely grated cheddar and Monterey Jack and well drained meat. By the time I got to my second taco, it was a little soggy. Being wrapped in foil, it was due to a little fat sweating out of the meat. Still good. No beer, that’s expected for a to-go place (TABC rules and all), but the service was friendly and my tacos were out in under two minutes. The stars say it all.