5 /5
Évaluation
★
★
★
★
★
Hacienda La Joya is a diner in a Mission Viejo strip mall that specializes in both American and Mexican breakfasts, sandwiches, and burgers. I wasn 't sure what to expect before I walked in, but I was immediately set at ease with Hacienda La Joya 's welcoming décor, clean tables, and its delightful and familiar aromas of meats being sizzled, onions being sautéed, eggs being griddled, and pancake batter being cooked. For my breakfast, I ordered the Taco Combo #2, which consisted of two tacos, rice, and refried beans for $6.99. The first taco I ate was the Carne Asada Taco, which is delivered wrapped in foil, with two white corn tortillas, melted cheese, onions, and cilantro along with the well seasoned beef, tender and soft. In fact, this is soft enough to be lengua, but it really is just well marinated beef. My other taco selection was the Hard Shell Potato Taco, which contains home fried potato chunks cooked on a greasy plancha, the starches of the potato adhering to the grill surface and crisping up in the best ways you want your breakfast potatoes to cook, with crunchy edges and smooth, soft innards. And yet the best aspect of these potatoes was not the texture, but rather the mildly spicy seasoning blend that really brought them to life. This is an uncanny potato taco a breakfast style potato taco rather than the usual mashed potato style tacos which makes it uniquely awesome. You must ask for salsa on the side, as it does not normally come out with the Taco Combo. Don 't expect much heat from it, it is somewhere between bell pepper and Tapatio on the Scoville scale, but it is otherwise a decent tasting rustic salsa with freshly chopped tomatoes, onions, and cilantro. Karina Franco owns and runs this vibrant Mexican greasy spoon diner with her husband Carlos. They inherited the place from Mrs. Franco 's mother and have built a stellar local reputation that I believe is well deserved based on my 7:30am Sunday morning visit in May.