Long Island City is starting to turn into another North Williamsburg but with less hipsters. There is a flurry of restaurants and stores that appear to be opening up soon. Along with Vernon Blvd, Jackson Ave is starting to show some liveliness especially around the Dutch Kills bar area. This Tacombi outpost just opened very recently within walking distance from our residence.

Tacombi is a NYC chain taqueria with several establishments across the city. We had been to the Flatiron location of Tacombi several times before, but I’ve never made a proper Tacombi post. Because we actually took pictures of the food in the new LIC location, we’ll share those here.

Ambiance

Both the Flatiron and Long Island City location have a very similar atmosphere. The inside feels like a taqueria. There’s Mexican fiesta music being piped into the loud speakers. The decor on the walls and the table have a lot of white and yellow hues. At the Flatiron location which is bigger, you can actually see them press the tortillas themselves in the back. Here, the kitchen is definitely smaller, but the food tastes consistent at least in the 2 locations I’ve been to.

The service as expected was pretty prompt. When we sat down in the corner, it did take the server to take notice of us, but that was easy to rectify.

If you desire take out, you can walk into the restaurant and place an order with the cashier to the left.

Food

The rubio (left) is tequila with sandia and fresh lime. I thought the tequila did not blend that well, but maybe I am preferring non alcoholic beverages more nowadays.

The agua de sandia (right) was a vitamin packed, hydrating blend of watermelon and lime. This tasted very refreshing. If the weather was super hot outside, this would definitely be a sweat quencher.

The guacamole con totopos came with a blend of Haas avocados, jalapeño, red onions, and lime juice. The chips were housemade and lightly salted. The Flatiron location’s chips were much more hard and stale than this location’s. I thought the chips here had the right crunch and did not tear apart my mouth like its sibling’s. The guacamole was definitely on the chunkier side. Compared to the Flatiron location, the spice level in this location was pretty much nonexistent. This was good, but if you prefer, the guacamole here is very easy to replicate at home if you want to pass.

The corn esquites came with sweet corn sliced from the cob with cotija cheese, smoky homemade morita mayo, and spicy chili pequin. I actually like the corn esquites at Tacombi. It’s basically corn with some cheese, lime, and a spicy Mexican-ish mayo. You get the sweetness of the corn with some citrus and spicy spikes. The corn itself tasted like it was slightly overcooked, but it was still good.

The rice and beans came with black beans, cilantro, onions, and traditional Mexican rice cooked with epazote, an aromatic Mexican herb. My first thought when I ate this was El Pollo Loco. But really, that’s not a bad thing. It was good. The black beans were definitely mushier than they look.

The adobada burrita (note the menu does not say burrit-O) was basically slow roasted tender heritage pork wrapped in a homemade vista hermosa flour tortilla with rice, beans, cabbage, spicy escabeche, and salsa. This “al pastor” was actually pretty flavorful with some crispy edges to it. It actually wasn’t that spicy, and they definitely did not shy from loading meat into it.

The la bisteca burrita (note the menu does not say burrit-O) was seared, thinly sliced sirloin steak wrapped in a homemade vista hermosa flour tortilla with rice, beans, cabbage, spicy escabeche, and salsa. At first glance, the thinly sliced meat reminded me of a gyro. The steak was decently flavored and tender. It definitely was very similar to a steak gyro in terms of texture.

Final Verdict

Tacombi is definitely not the best taco place in NYC, but it definitely is a good satisfier for those taco needs if you’re in the LIC area.

Yelp Jabs

After being told it would be 15 min, I waited outside for 45 min and during that time they made me feel like I was being pushy. The hostess told me “what can I say.. the kitchens backed up” and when I told the manager he said to give him two minutes. He then came with my food, apologized and threw in a soda. First off, I don’t drink soda and that wasn’t what I was looking for.

This is a funny review. This Yelper went to complain, and the manager tried to rectify it with a soda (which would satisfy most people). But of course the typical Yelper would complain about that. I’m a little disappointed that this LA Yelper ordered a chicken taco and had high expectations. I’ve always been disappointed with the chicken in taquerias. The money is going to be in the pork, steak, and maybe fish.

I ordered one al pastor taco and again, maybe this was due to delivery, but the meat looked/felt/tasted like it had been sitting and drying out under the sun for 3 days. The tortilla used personally isn’t for me – it was strangely thick and chokingly dry, but also managed to be greasy?

This is because al pastor is basically thin layers of marinated pork stacked on top of each other and sit on a spit similar to shawarma. It’s likely this Yelper got an edge cut that had sat there for a while. The greasy part of this is because there is a lot of juice in this marinated pork meat. When my pastor burrita came fresh at the restaurant, it was already greasy, but it was flavored pretty well.