Price: 5.9
Atmosphere: 6.2
Taste: 7.3
Overall: 6.68
Michaela’s Review:
Happy Social Distancing readers! To say we have taken a brief hiatus isn’t even accurate. I have straight up been SLACKING with the taco reviews. Despite pleas from Kev to update the blog, I have ignored my responsibility, nay, my duty, to review. To the readers, I apologize for my negligence. To Kevin, I’m not particularly fond of admitting that I am wrong to you, but I’ll take the L on this one. My bad.
Anywho, like 2 months ago we visited Las Placitas. I’m going to be honest, I wasn’t expecting much out of this place as it is a neighbor to the underperforming Taco City (see the old blog post. One word: soggy), and both establishments always appeared to have about the same amount of people. Not a great sign if you are having a close competition with a sub 6 on the Mic & Kev taco scale.
We walked in and I immediately became enthralled with the Mexican Soap Opera (aka. Telenovela, shout out to my 9th grade Spanish teacher Senorita Young for dropping that knowledge) on the television. The leading lady was shot within the first 10 minutes by a man who appeared to be her lover. Great TV. Outside of this unexpected in-house entertainment, the atmosphere was pretty solid, and it seemed like a lot of neighborhood folk were just chilling in there after having already finished their meal. I found the service to be very straight-forward, as in they just wanted us to order and leave. No frills. However, a post-taco investigation with a local couple (Joey and Meredith WHADDUP), led me to the discovery that if you are a regular, you are treated as family. They encourage you to stick around. We were mere outsiders at this establishment and had yet to gain their trust.
On to the food. Bonus point number 1: free chips and salsa. Good work Las Placitas. Unfortunately, their taco menu seemed a little limited than some of the other places we went, but they did have a combo platter that gave you one steak, one chicken and one shrimp taco. When they brought out the platters, we found that this was more of a build-your-own taco situation, with just the tortillas and meat put together and the additional toppings (beans, rice, lettuce, guacemole, sour cream) on the side. My first thought: “THE AUDACITY of them to make me put my own guac on this taco”. That quickly disappeared when I actually tried them and noticed the quantity and quality of the meat on each of the tortillas. These little guys were hearty and delicious.
Price point was a little steep for the platter, but given how much food was included, I was content. It was a good taco experience that made me want to become a regular, so that I too could comfortably hang at the tables after my meal was finished, chatting with a pal, and watching Maria, Pablo, and Antonio navigate their intense love triangle. Did Maria survive the shooting?! I may never know.
Kevin’s Review:
Sharing a wall with Taco City on 8th Street at the tail end of Barracks Row, Las Placitas, a Salvadorian/Mexican themed sit-down restaurant was our first taco spot of 2020. As most of our adventures begin, we had a long day the office and were in desperate need of taco relief.
Las Placitas had an authentic family feel to it with Christmas lights still hanging after the holiday, although Michaela and I did wonder if the lights may have been more of a permanent fixture. Las Placitas has a small selection of taco options but did include a trio option which included chicken, steak, and shrimp for $15. After a slightly longer delay than anticipated our platter arrived. I have never been a huge fan of the make your own style taco platters but Las Placitas did not disappoint on the protein options. The portions of protein were way above average and the shrimp especially was extremely well cooked and seasoned.
Overall, Las Placitas lasting impression was the portions of protein. The rest of the platter was fairly uneventful and for a price of $5 a taco that was the only slight disappointment.
Las Placitas
Barracks Row
1100 8th St SE,
Washington, DC 20003
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Kev & Mic's D.C. Taco Reviews 
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