Birrieria El Camaronero

I decided to try some place new for lunch and went here. Although I don’t speak Spanish very well at all, I do know how to order in Spanish.
The food was okay. Not great, but not bad either. The service was okay too. I guess I can’t really comment too much on service because there was a communication barrier that really inhibited service opportunities.
I paid for my meal with a credit card, but that involved having to be escorted to the Mexican grocery store next door as the restaurant doesn’t have a credit card machine. That was a bit odd.
I might go back at some point, but if I do, it won’t be for a long while.

Found this little place early Sunday morning as we were returning home.
Thought we would try it because it was in the neighborhood expecting to cross it off our list for being «so-​so». Being Sunday, I ordered their bowl of menudo. I consider a good test for a Mexican restaurant is «Can they produce a decent bowl of menudo?» I’ve used this test in Central and Northern Mexico, New Mexico, Arizona, and all over California. Where the test doesn’t work is in Texas. The Lone Star is stuck on Tex-​Mex which is anything covered with melted Velveta cheese & a sprinkle of Jalapinos. What arrived at my table was a unexpected bowl of the best menudo I have had in a very long time. The broth in the soup had a light flavor and when asked the cook told me it was Puebla Style. While I found this soup within walking distance of my backyard, I think it’s worth a 30 mile drive. I’m giving this little neighborhood restaurant three stars because my wife thought her breakfast plate was just o.k. Their sign says open at 8:00 a.m. and for Gringos obsessed with time this might be a problem. When we arrived for a second visit at 8:10, they really were not ready. If we wanted beans with our breakfast it would take another 15 minutes, so early birds learn time to relax .
Conclusion; If I was grading this restaurant only on the menudo which they serve every day, it would get Five Stars.

The moment I entered the restaurant I got friendly greetings and a big smile (-:!
I love how small the restaurant is, we waited for about 10 minutes but the wait was worth it!
I got the lamb barbeque, shrimp quesadilla, shrimp burrito, & milanesa torta (didn’t get the chance to try it since we got full from every other food items we bought). I tried the lamb 1^st, took one bite and I enjoyed it right away!.. It was cooked all the way, juicy, and the flavor pops soo good. The tortilla chips were crunchy and the salsa was flavorful and just right, not overwhelming at all. The shrimp quesadilla had a blast of delicious flavors, and was cooked very well! I loved the red rice and beans that came together with the quesadilla. The red rice reminded me of the 1^st time I had red rice and fell in love with it. I took a bite of the shrimp burrito and it was yummy, but I liked the shrimp quesadilla a lot better because it had a blast of flavor from just one bite!
Overall I had a great experience and will be coming back! I will recommend this place to everyone near the sylmar area!

I just had their birria. 1^st time here. Based on their service, overall price and taste. I could say I’ll be back. Small restaurant, what people call a «hole in the wall» they usually end up being some of the best places to eat. Would definitely recommend it to anyone in the area. They would have received a five star… But I like my salsa spicy and the tortilla chips hot (these chips were cold) other then that… I’m satisfied!

This place serves great birria. I surprised how much better birria tastes fried.
Will be back soon !

Birra de chivo (goat) dorada combination was the best. Passed by this place on my way home to Valencia at night and it was delicious. Service was great too.

I got camarones imperiales (Bacon covered shrimp). The shrimp were bomb. The side of rice and beans could have used a tad more salt but all in all the food was really good. Good portions and their hand made tortillas stand them apart from the rest. My Hubby got tacos de asada on hand made tortillas. He said they were really good. Will come again

Great food. Good prices. There beef vegetable soup is incredible..

I want you to know the food was okay, but the experience wasn’t the best. I used to come to this spot when it was a pizza place, note the receipt has the name of the old place. I was pretty excited to try the place out.
So the menu has a million different choices which includes Birrieria or lamb which I’m not a fan of so i got a asda burrito «wet» style.
So why two stars, so when the guy finally charged me when he handed me my food he charged me a different price than was on the menu board above my head. Then he pointed to hand written sign in Spanish which was partially covered the receipts coming out of the cash register that the prices were now different.
WTF?!
If you don’t read spanish or read the sign your gonna get mad at pay time.
I might give them another chance, someday, like I said the burrito was okay.
There is plenty of seating.

Came here with my Tia since she likes the birria and if she likes it, it must be good! Ordered birria de chivo with rice and beans. It was really delicious! Almost, almost as good as my Tia’s. Will come back. Only reason I have it 4 stars instead of 5 is due to customer service. Our waitress was on her cell phone when she took our order. Like really?

i’m prolly not that qualified to review this place, since it’s a birrieria and i don’t eat birria. to be honest, i didn’t even know what that word meant until i looked it up on google. haha. but i have tried the enchiladas and the chilaquiles, and they were both delicious!
they use handmade tortillas in all their dishes (and for the chips and salsa), and you can really taste the difference. chilaquiles is pretty much my favorite breakfast food (so i’ve had it from a bunch of different places) and the ones i got from here were especially good. plus you can order breakfast items at any time of day! who doesn’t love having breakfast for dinner? =)
the menu is extensive and full of standard items (tacos, burritos, quesadillas) as well as less common items (birria, barbacoa, ceviches, soups). everything is reasonably priced and the two things i have tried so far were both delicious. the portions were large and i had enough for leftovers.
the inside wasn’t particularly nice (very «hole in the wall» vibe), but it was clean. the lady behind the counter didn’t speak any english, but she was friendly. and i was able to convey my order w/​my terrible spanglish (even if you don’t know any spanish, you can probably just point to what you want on the menu and get by). the food was made to order and came out very quickly. and they accept all major credit cards (which is nice, since a lot of hole in the wall places only take cash).
great experience, all in all. you should definitely check them out if you’re in the area! =)

Come with at least 1 hour and a half time to spare. We arrived to this establishment at 10:06am (i know I’m a stickler for time) There was not many other people there other then us two tables worth of other diners. We were greeted warmly and I was excited to eat some of their hand made tortillas. Our drink order was taken and I had a huge craving for a nice cup of coffee. I didn’t mind if it was instant or freshly brewed although I’d rather have a fresh brew any day. I asked for an Arizona iced tea for me to share with my nephew– with a cup so that I may pour him some. My mom and sister each got Jamaica water. Our drinks came in ten minutes (Save for the coffee no coffee yet) and I didn’t get the extra cup I’d asked for. They took our order. I wanted ONE quesadilla with meat and avocado slices on the side. My mom ordered 2 tacos, and my sis and nephew each got breakfast plates. 30 mins go by, No food, No coffee, no extra cup. By now the place is getting a lot more full. Almost every table was occupied. I saw the young lady who was waiting on us give another table an extra cup and brought to her attention my cup, and coffee. «Oh yeah be right there!» she brought the cup. Your coffee will be out in 10 minutes. Mind you by now we have NO FOOD. I was okay because I figured they brewed a fresh pitcher of coffee and good coffee is worth waiting for. Boy was I wrong. She pranced out with a small bottle of Folgers instant –_​– later came back with a mug of hot water… WTF? where in the world does it take 45 mins to boil water? When she brought me the water she asked «Did you want your quesadilla to be made out of flour torilla or corn?» … um… you haven’t even started to make it??? holy smokes. 15 – 20 minutes later we got our food. It was OKAY certainly we could have cooked food just as good or better at home. Only reason I didn’t give it 1 star is because I got to hang out with my mom, sister, and nephew and that is always a good time. I feel they are just very unorganized not malicious. By the end of it all we waited in the car while my mom paid. It took long… She said the guy could hardly work the cash registered. So Arrival time 10:06am departure time 11:42am.

This place is a small hole in the wall joint located next to subway.
The ladies working the night I went were really nice. All smiles and two thumbs up.
They had some mean ass birria tacos on hand made tortilla. Cannot rave enough. My husband doesn’t even eat goat and he actually liked it!
The carne asada, pastor, shrimp tacos were pretty darn good, too.
Unfortunately, they didn’t have any fish for fish tacos so we didn’t get to try that.
I’m not sure when they open but closes at 10pm.
Better than a lot of the places around!
Def. will be coming back!

Came to try the Birria and enjoyed. Also had handmade tortillas. Came back the next day and tried the Carne con Chile de Molcajete and really enjoyed. Nice and spicy.