Chronic Tacos (New West)

If you’re looking for a laid back place to pick up some Mexican-style fast food, Chronic Tacos might be the place for you.  The interior of this American-based franchise is a little too Ed Hardy-esque for my liking (I think my retinas are still recovering from all of the bright red walls).

I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised by the designs and the semi-slacker vibe of the wait staff considering the term “chronic” is used as a reference to high-quality weed.

We tried the Al Pastor Tostada Bowl.  I don’t think it was as good as the one we’ve had at Taco Luis but it wasn’t bad.  The bowl was fairly crispy and it was stuffed pretty high with rice, beans, veggies, and salsa.

The one disappointment that I had was with the spicy marinated pork with pineapple and onions… truthfully, I couldn’t find any pineapple in here at all.  The pork itself wasn’t too bad, but I was primed for some pineapple flavour.

We also tried 2 Fatty Tacos – the Al Pastor – like the Tostada Bowl, I couldn’t detect any pineapple flavour to this but the taco was pretty good.  The tortilla was barely big enough to hold all of the fixins.

We also tried the Spicy Baja Style Fish Taco – this seemed to take a long time for them to prepare (but I suppose that means they were making it fresh?).  This taco was really drippy and difficult to eat without making a mess.  I suppose that’s why they have large napkin containers on every table.  Aside from the mess, this was probably my favourite.

The thing that I really liked was the Lime Jarritos – a popular Mexican soft drink.  I’ve been looking for where else I can find this drink but I haven’t found any place yet.  Does anyone know of where I can find this drink around Vancouver?

*Update* If you’re down by Granville Island, they carry this drink at the South China Seas Trading Co.

Chronic Tacos is pretty much like a Mexican Subway – the food’s okay with some offerings better than others.

One of the problems with the atmosphere at Chronic Tacos is that the music playing in the shop is a little too loud… I couldn’t hear a thing that the server was asking and had to ask him over and over again to repeat himself.

It’s not the best Mexican fast food I’ve tasted but not the worst either.  I’m really interested to try out La Taqueria and see how it compares.

Food:  3 / 5
Service:  3 / 5

110 – 66th Tenth Street
New Westminster, BC

www.chronictacos.ca