El Bebe

Price: 4.2

Atmosphere: 7.3

Taste: 5.95

Overall: 5.85

Michaela’s Review:

Gentrification carries with it a certain negative connotations. Displacement, cultural shifts, increasing prices etc. are products of this movement sweeping across Southeast DC. Which, like, isn’t necessarily ideal. But you know what is ideal? New places within walking distance of Nationals Park to get tacos, which is pretty game changing when you open up the possibility of lunch time taco reviews. Sorry for being insensitive to those negatively affected… luckily no one reads these.

Anywho, when Kevin and I attended the soft opening of El Bebe back in the spring, we were two margs deep and didn’t think our reviews were going to be accurate. That damn alcohol tends to lower standards. It’s a problem. So we decided to return during our lunch break last week to soberly enjoy the tacos.

Much to our surprise, the restaurant was packed. I guess normal people actually take long lunch breaks? It’s a strange world out there, filled with other people making more money, while having better work-life balance. We ordered chips and salsa, which was an extra $3 but was definitely worth it. Our waiter took quite some time to come back and grab our food orders, which was causing us both to get a little antsy. When they did come over, we each ordered 3 tacos. I got carnitas, chorizo and pork belly. In order of best to worst: 1. Carnitas 2. Pork Belly 3.Chorizo. The carnitas were by far my favorite. The meat was juicy, but the toppings were a little lackluster. The pork belly was good, but Tiki Taco’s pork belly taco had similar flavors and definitely surpassed this one, so it faced some tough competition. Finally the chorizo… not good. Definitely will not get that one again. Supposedly it had potatoes on it, but I literally didn’t see a single potato and the promise of that starchy topping was one reason I selected the Chorizo option. Big potato girl.

Overall, it was good, not great. I would go back for happy hour and to try some of the other menu items because it did have relatively good service and seemed like the place to be, but definitely wasn’t one of my favorites taco-wise. Good margs though (from what I remember).

Kevin’s Review:

Now that this blog is gaining traction with readers I should probably improve my overall writing ability and content production. Yes, that sentence is 100% made in jest but seriously this should get better, just give it time. Also, you found this blog post so you have enough free time to read this, so at worst this your punishment for not being productive at work, life, etc.

Enough of my ranting, time for more ranting in the shape of tacos. Being physically the nearest taco place to work, Mic and I decided to save El Bebe for a lunch trip review. To be completely upfront about this review, this was our first lunch taco review so take this with a grain of salt because we know you are really taking these review to heart. My biggest concern was that we wouldn’t be able to get in and out of El Bebe in an hour. Even with a longer than usual wait for service we did get served and paid our bill in about 45 minutes. El Bebe advertises itself as Tacos & Tequila. Sadly no tequila was consumed on this trip but stay tuned for the future Mic & Kevs’ tequila blog titled “What Could Possibly Go Wrong? w/ Mic & Kev”.

Back to the Tacos! After downing $3 chips and salsa, I went all in on the crispy shrimp tacos, chorizo, and EL GUERO SUPREME (basically just an Americanized taco with a bold name). The shrimp tacos weren’t as crispy as advertised and the shrimp were tiny. The chorizo wasn’t too bad but this blog has taught us that there is better out there. The EL GUERO SUPREME was the largest of the three tacos and wasn’t terrible but with the bar somewhat lowered for a glorified American taco, I didn’t have high hopes for it and it was fine. That is all I can say about EL GUERO SURPREME. Overall the tacos were ok. Street Style (smaller than average) Tacos for $3-$4 is a little high for me if the tacos aren’t great/excellent. These tacos were good, not SUPREME.

El Bebe
Navy Yard
99 M St SE Ste 120
Washington, DC 20003

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