A fact of suburban Houston living is that often the restaurants are more miss than hit. But when a place hits the fabled summit of pretty good, it’s like discovering buried treasure. El Taqueo opened recently in the northern suburb of Humble, and it’s already making an impression along an increasingly busy stretch of FM 1960.
El Taqueo opened in November 2025 at 4920 Atascocita Road, right across from the popular Porky’s food truck park. It shares similar branding and menus with an El Taqueo in Ciudad de Allende, a city in the Mexican state of Nuevo León. El Taqueo in Humble did not respond to Chron’s request for more information.
My first visit to El Taqueo was after an exciting hour at the adjacent indoor playground Cheeky Monkeys. My wife, three kids and I strolled into the simple taqueria for dinner. The restaurant space is small, oriented like a corridor, and can probably seat maybe 20 to 30 people. It’s a clean place with granite floors and white-tiled walls. The overhanging vents are fire-engine red, as are the Coca-Cola-branded plastic four-tops and two-tops to the side.
El Taqueo bills itself as a Tijuana-style joint, which is supposed to be a lot of open-flame cooking and big dollops of guacamole. We ordered a pair of mulitas, a kind of tortilla sandwich: two crispy corn tortillas with Mexican cheese, guacamole and meat in between. In our case, we went with carne asada. Before the meal, staff provided a small basket of chicharrones. It was a perfectly serviceable snack.
The mulitas arrived with significant heft. The tortillas were appropriately crispy, the guacamole tasted fresh and the cheese had that enjoyably gooey pull. The beef itself was alright, but it lacked that flame-kissed, caramelized flavor that I would expect from an open-fire grill.
On a second visit, my wife and I sprung for the same with the addition of an order of doraquesos, or crispy corn tacos filled with cheese and meat. Again, we stuck with asada, though you can get marinated pork, chicken or tripe. Like the mulitas, the doraquesos had that same shatter-crisp exterior and delightful savory filling. El Taqueo also provides a small plastic bag of cilantro and onions, plus bottles of salsa on the table.
The handful of Mexican restaurants near my house are not very good, save for the always excellent Titas Taco House on Wilson Road, just south of FM 1960. It’s nice to find another restaurant that doesn’t disappoint on repeat visits. And it’s the perfect way to end an evening out with the kids after they’ve dragged you through one too many nearby trampolines.