Arturo’s Mexico to Go

If I could just get a text every time they have their cactus tacos, I would be a happy woman.

I love these guys, friendly and quick. Having a tostada today — what a great and filling affordable option. I also love the burritos and the fact they have cactus on the menu. What more can you ask for from a food truck.

Can’t think of a better burrito place downtown. The lineup is what it is and it’s worth the wait. On a nice day, I usually just go and sit on the seawall about 2 blocks away which makes for a pleasant experience.

Last week, as I was trying to decide on where to go for lunch, I spotted Arturo’s Mexico to Go food cart. Never having eaten there before, and not being in the mood to walk around looking for a place to eat, I decided to try their food and ordered a beef burrito.
I’m not sure if goat/​feta cheese is a standard ingredient in their burritos, but it was listed as an available topping, so I was very clear that I did not want any on my burrito, as goat/​feta cheese makes me vomit, and there have been several occasions at various restaurants where it was not listed as an ingredient in the dish I ordered, and surprise!
Now, one of my peeves (other than putting major ingredients in my food which are not listed on the menu) is when I order something and very clearly specify «No XYZ, please» and they ask, «Is ABC OK? Is 123 OK?» or ask me about every single fucking topping that is standard for that dish. So because I said no GOAT/​FETA cheese, they asked if mozzarella cheese and sour cream (which were listed as standard ingredients for the burrito) were alright. *sigh*
I repeated that I did not want goat/​feta cheese, but all the other toppings were alright, and specified that I DID want mozzarella, sour cream, and every other standard burrito ingredient. The guy at the cash registered even assured me that there would be sour cream, etc. on my burrito.
Because the food cart was so high (I’m not a fan of food carts for this reason), I couldn’t see them make my food, so had to trust that my burrito was being made correctly.
When I got back to the lunch room at work to have my lunch, shockingly there WASN’T goat/​feta cheese in my burrito. However, there also wasn’t mozzarella or sour cream (or salsa or guacamole, which were listed as standard toppings). As if that wasn’t bad enough, the burrito had a strange flavour, and it was cold. Part of it was simply not warm, but a portion of it was COLD.
It was such an unsatisfying lunch, and rather expensive as well – after tax, the burrito was around $ 8 or $ 9. The only thing worse than gross food is expensive gross food. Not only are you left hungry (or feeling a little ill if you actually ate it because if you don’t eat your blood sugar will dangerously drop and you can’t afford to buy anything else), but ripped off.

LOVE IT. authentic mexican food from a mexican guy, what could be better. under 10 bucks and quick even tho the line seems pre long. not bad at all. lots of flavour considering its a taco and burrito truck. if youre really hungry it satisfies you because the portions are quit big to be honest. id go there again

The lineups tell the story here. Arturos is one of the few places downtown (food truck or not) where you can get good quality food at a reasonable price. I love their salad bowls which are often the envy of the office when I bring it back!
They have great personable service and have found themselves a great location on Cordova and Howe.

Head on over to Arturo’s food cart for some tasty and filling eats.
While the line-​up may look daunting, don’t sweat it. It’ll go quickly, and you’ll have your treats in hand in a flash.
I’ve had it all — tacos, burritos, salad bowls, nopales, enchiladas. All of it has been super tasty. No complaints about anything.
My meals usually come in under $ 10, and around here, that’s a steal.

Arturos is healthy Mexican comfort food, prefect for a mid summer day or winter warm up. I regularly go for the burrito salad bowl with veg and really enjoy the variety of flavors & colours.
As someone with a sensitive stomach, I never have issues here. The food is very fresh, basic and not at all greasy.
The staff are friendly and incredibly efficient. I was thrilled to find such a healthy and wholesome lunch in Downtown Vancouver.

Easily one of the best food carts in town! Atrturo uses quality ingredients and takes pride in his food. Try it you will love it!!!

I can’t say enough good things about Arturo’s. The food is awesome, portions are huge, and it’s priced right. If you like Pork, order the gringa, it’s awesome.
Update Feb 2015: Prices have been raised considerably — 20% on most items. I think only the burrito is less than 10 bucks now. I’m downgrading from 5 stars to 4 to reflect decreased value.

There was about a dozen people ahead of me, but the wait was not too long. The truck’s assembly line worked efficiently — something I appreciate with a limited office break.
I was happy with my enchilada order. At $ 9.50 after tax, I got a full size meal equivalent to what I’d expect at a restaurant. My only complaints: the salad was runny, and the enchilada was mostly wrap, and not quite enough chicken. However, they made up for it with sides of salad, rice, and beans. Topped with sour cream and guacamole; I was so stuffed! I also appreciate the attractive presentation. One warning: their hot sauce is HOT!
This truck is several blocks from my office, and worth the walk. I’m looking forward to the next visit!

I do quite enjoy the food here, though I wish they wouldn’t use mozzarella cheese. I think the food would be complimented much better by something like a monterey jack. Also, the main chef has more attitude than should be acceptable. Every time I request corn tortillas (which they clearly offer!), he rolls his eyes.

The prices are ok for the amount of food you get. I had the chicken quesadilla and the tortilla soup. The soup was just perfect for a cold day. Just the right of spice to warm the body. The quesadilla was just ok. I didn’t like, how I had to put in the ingredients on my own.

I love Arturo’s. I absolutely love it and for good reason. The service is friendly and quick, the prices are reasonable (especially for the amount of food), and then the food… well, you’ll just have to try it. No matter what you order, you really can taste the fresh vegetables and meat, not to mention the wonderful spices. If you ask for it spicy, you’ll get it spicy. Beware! My favourites are La Gringa and the Holy Moley, but really anything goes!
If you try it once, you’ll be back. I promise.

The promise of Arturo’s is that its food is fresh, sourced locally, and uses hormone free meat. The recipes are a fusion of Spanish and traditional Mexican food.
Even though they had some specials on menu, I went for one of its regular items, Gringa. It’s Arturo’s original recipe, with rotisserie pork and warm salsa as filling, with rice, beans and salad on the side.
It’s just like a quesadilla! The tortilla was grilled to be a bit crispy on the edges. The filling was gooey thanks to the mozzarella cheese, and the warm salsa was a bit vinegary and had a lot of caramelized onions. The portion size was quite big, with three generous slices of stuffed tortilla. I was a bit disappointed by the amount of meat in the filling. I opened up each slice to find my meat, and still couldn’t really see much of it. We could choose the level of heat in our chipotle sauce; I chose mild but it was not spicy at all. I couldn’t taste any of it.
My coworker picked the Beef Burrito, which in his own words, was «like Steamroller’s burritos, but better». Not sure how much of a compliment that is.
Pictures and more details here:

BLEH! So, even after a 1 star review, I was willing to join my buddy and give Arturo’s another try… wow, what a mistake.
I honestly have no clue how this place is still in business, all I can say is the food is absolutely atrocious. I love street food… actually, I love most, if not all food, yet this truck serves out «meals» that even I cannot enjoy.
None of the food tastes good, far from it, its smells worse and this time, I actually found myself in the line at McDonalds (very rare) since I decided to package up my meal and give it to a homeless man (I hope to god I didn’t send him to the hospital with that food; if so, It’s all Arturo’s fault!
My suggestion — burn the truck, come up with a new idea and start from scratch.
*cross your fingers that it works because given this failed experiment, you guys need all the luck you can get.

* This isn’t carne asada! *
Menu option: Burrito.
Choices listed: Meat or veggie. Whole wheat or white.
The dialogue:
Me: Do you have carne asada?
Him: Yes.
Me: Ok, I’ll have a carne asada burrito.
Him: Yes.
Me: (Waiting patiently — no questions about whole wheat or white, but just going with the flow and assuming likely to get white if not asked)
Him: Here ya go.
Me: (Pay the man). Thanks. (Walk away to open up my carne asada burrito.)
Me (to myself): Oh, they gave whole wheat without asking. Hm…
Photo:
Me: (Bite into it)
Me (to myself): WTF? This ain’t carne asada! This meat has not seen a grill. It is stewed. Ugh… I wanted grilled. Ugh. Grumble grumble grumble.
Me (after eating): (Walk back past truck and decide to ask) Interesting carne asada — I’ve never had it stewed like that instead of grilled.
Him: We don’t serve carne asada.
Me (to myself): WTF!!! Did you not see the dialogue from before!!!
Photo of «carne asada»:
I really don’t like when a place says they have something, you order it, you find it isn’t what they said, and then they say they don’t have that. That just ain’t right. Just like that wasn’t carne asada.
Bad business practice.

Street food just makes me salivate! I have been eating it since my young years in Keene, New Hampshire when I used to go to the towns summer sidewalk sale. In fact I was featured in my local paper biting into a piece o BBQ chicken at the age of 13.
You can find some of the best food on the streets. The reason is that the owners of these trucks specialize and don’t try to be everything to everyone.
The best $ 4 you can spend at lunch is for a taco at Arturo’s to go! A Mexican friend of mine was visiting and he dove into the tortilla soup and had a little orgasm. Now that is a compliment!
If you are a party planner or office manager why don’t you talk with Arturo about parking in front of your office and letti g your boss splurge?

A deconstructed burrito, or a Burrito Salad, is essentially the burrito without the tortilla.
Your choice of Rotisserie Pork, Sirloin Beef or Tinga Chicken, and different hotness of their homemade salsas. The rest of the ‘salad’ comes with rice, black beans, guacamole, sour cream, corn, lettuce, tomato, mozzarella.
It’s a good sized portion, with a bit of everything. Just remember to mix everything up because it tastes so much better. The pork was tender and flavourful, and went well with the whole salad. Just wished there was more meat.
This was at the Live Summer event at Stanley Park, and I paid $ 10 for my food. I’m hoping it’s regularly not that much because I won’t be paying that much for street food.

I visited this truck back in Oct. Food truck + Mexican = how could I not! I made a pitstop here w/​some friends for a taco de puebla and a mild beef burrito.
Unfortunately, even for this Vancouverite’s underdeveloped Mexican palate, it was a bit of a hit-&-miss. The ratio of the burrito fillings seemed off — too much rice & beans — which made me uncomfortably full without the flavour pay-​off. The taco de puebla was good, but expected the rotisserie pork to be moister that what it was.
The order window was also ridonkulously high back in the day. but seems like they’ve fixed that!