Don’t Judge This New Bedford Taco Truck by Its Shell

Sometime in July, a coworker casually mentioned a taco truck she saw in New Bedford. But the weird part about it was despite the hype around food trucks, no one in the office had heard of it or recalled seeing it anywhere in town.

I'll admit, I was extremely apprehensive to even give this truck a second thought, especially seeing the pictures of it on Facebook.

After much digging, we found only a few Yelp reviews from Roger E. back in 2016: “Not entirely surprised this place hasn't been reviewed much yet. I guess the employees at the fish houses don't get down with yelp. It's a local gem and, while something of a secret even in NB, those in the know are well aware it is one of the finest spots in this entire area for authentic Mexican street food.”

The Yelp review sealed the deal for us and since July, we have been on the hunt for El Tarrito and its tacos ever since. Today, thanks to a very rare update on Facebook that simply said "Cool Monday Taco Day," we were able to track down this hard-to-find truck and have the lunch we've been waiting about six months to have. For real, we were out the door the second the notification popped up with their location for the day.

When my coworker saw the truck parked from what seemed like a mile away, you would have thought she just saw wild horses run across Route 18, judging by her excited reaction. We parked, did a full walk around the truck to inspect it, confirmed it was the real deal and walked up to the window.

Juan and his co-owner Latissa walked us through the menu and explained why they were hard to find the summer. In between making tacos, he told us all about how they've actually been around for seven years, usually in areas up the North End, near Riverside Park during soccer season or near the indoor soccer facility over on Church Street.

I agree with the two Yelp reviews that the only bad thing about the truck is how hard it is to find it. But you know, sometimes things are worth the chase. In less than five minutes, our tacos and carnitas were bagged and ready to go.

Let's just say we were highly impressed. The ingredients were all fresh, and the perfect amount of seasoning and the soft shells were so yummy. We are thinking the salsas are homemade because they also tasted so fresh.

The menu is fairly simple, featuring all of our Mexican favorites. The prices are definitely reasonable. I'd say I'd make this a usual taco Tuesday spot but there is no guarantee that they'll be in the same spot each week.

Embarrassingly, in between bites, my coworker told me that at some point she would actually text Juan to see where he was. I didn't even ask how she ended up with his number, but after today's lunch, I'm glad it worked out for us.

If you see this truck parked in your neighborhood, definitely give it a try. We don't think you will be disappointed.

Have you seen this taco truck in your hood and didn't even give it a second glance?