Taqueria La Pila
Taqueria La Pila is worth the trip to South El Paso!!! The location exterior doesn’t show how great the food is so don’t let the appearance, or the drive, keep you away. When you order the flautas order them ‘bandera’ (flag) style to make a good looking plate even better! Click HERE for the entire review!
8714 Alameda Ave El Paso, TX 79907
OVERALL BITES:
Value: Taqueria La Pila offers most of their plates for under $10! That includes flautas, gorditas and tacos. Most plates will come with rice and beans too.
Taste: The taste of most of their food was a lot better than I was expecting…read below for more info.
Presentation: Maybe I don’t get out too often because this is the first time I have seen the ‘bandera’ (flag) presentation on food. Of course it makes sense when you see it…the two different salsas with the cream in the middle give the food the look of a flag which I thought was pretty cool.
Vibe: We went at roughly 430pm and the shop wasn’t too busy. Go by during lunch time or a little later and they’re packed!
Accessibility: La Pila is a little out of the way. They do have a location in Horizon or you can go to South El Paso which is where I went. They are right off of Alameda and there is plenty of parking even though the shop is kind of small.
Review – Taqueria La Pila
I’m sure you’ve heard the expression, “don’t judge a book by it’s cover,” and that would apply to Taqueria La Pila. Looking at the exterior you wouldn’t think there is much going on but Taqueria La Pila has great prices, great looking food, and pretty good taste.
After a long drive from Albuquerque I decided to pick up my significant other for some lunch. Of course we decided to try something local, as we always do, so we drove down Alameda until we came across Taqueria La Pila. I was a bit hesitant at first. The sign had a slight break in it and it seemed a little hidden (you had to drive towards the back of a lot to find it). I figured, what the heck you only live once, right?
As you enter you’ll go to the counter to place your order and you’ll get a number so they can find you when they bring out your food. I had the gorditas plate with picadillo (ground beef and potatoes), pastor, and carne asada. My significant other had the flautas done with ‘bandera.’ As I said above, bandera (flag) is the salsa/sauce placed on each side of the flautas with the white cream in the middle. This gives the appearance of a flag on your food. See the pics above to see what I’m talking about.
We arrived at roughly 4:30pm and they weren’t too busy with only a few tables being used. We got our drinks and complimentary chips and salsa almost immediately. It only took a few more minutes for our food to arrive and since I was hungry from the drive I dove in! The gorditas look just like I remember my mom used to make – small, round, and fried. I’ve reviewed a few other locations which don’t fry their gorditas so I felt it was important to mention that. They weren’t too crispy, in fact, they were a little softer than I would like but how fun would it be if all gorditas tasted the same, right?
On to the taste. The carne asada gordita was on point!!! The meat was seasoned perfectly and the meat was tender. There was just enough filling to keep the gordita full but you were still able to handle it without the meat going all over the place. I would have one of these again! The picadilla gordita was also very tasty. The ground beef and potatoes were seasoned perfectly. The pastor….I’m sorry to report didn’t taste much like anything. In fact, the only flavor I had was from adding the salsa we got with our chips. I will give them the benefit of the doubt and say this isn’t the norm since the other meats were seasoned so well. Let us know what you experience.
My significant other’s meal was delicious! Why is it that their food always looks better and tastes better too!?! In any case, I think it may have been the bandera presentation that made them that much tastier. You can’t go wrong with the flautas that’s for sure.
Taqueria La Pila gets 4.5 Bites!!! I loved the food and how fast the service was. There was a litle disappointment with the broken sign because they have been there for years and I would hope they would get that stuff fixed quickly. I was also a bit disappointed with the gordita that had the al pastor meat. Even though they had these slight items I felt they were worthy of every single bit of those 4.5 bites!
Go visit them next time you’re in the area or take the drive. Check them out on Facebook too!