La banca en la avenida 42

Just off of Figueroa Street in Highland Park sits Las Banquitas off to the side of the road right before Ave 42.

Las Banquitas is spanish for “the benches,” something that would be beneficial for sitting when eating a meal.

With 4.5 stars and only four reviews on Yelp, Las Banquitas has a bit of expectations from reviews and local customers.

Finding Las Banquitas wasn’t very hard despite there being many food trucks in the area, as they typically have their name somewhere on the truck. In this case, I was also looking for a bench.

Parking is something that could possibly become a problem when coming to Las Banquitas, as customers have to find parking on the streets nearby.

Upon arrival there were very few people there, considering it was almost 8 p.m. on a Monday evening. There were about 3 people in line ahead of me plus another family waiting for their food.

As I waited in line with my friends I couldn’t help but think of one thing: where was the bench? How could the food truck be called “Las Banquitas” and not have any benches for customers to sit on and enjoy their food?

I looked around while I stood in line and came to be a bit disappointed. Adjacent to where customers order their food is where the bench is. In my mind I had pictured these cute benches surrounding the truck for customers to sit and enjoy their food because food trucks usually are packed. In reality there was only one black metal bench that blended in with the black gate that it leaned against. No wonder I couldn’t find it from the get-go.

The truck staff are very friendly with all their customers and do provide good customer service. They are able to take orders in both english and spanish.

When it was my turn to order I was unsure of which language I should order in, but being a spanish speaker my instincts told me to speak spanish.

When I was deciding what to order I was expecting to be overwhelmed with options from a big menu because food trucks usually have their walls full of the food they offer. Las Banquitas only has a small poster menu that listed tacos, burritos and what kind of meats they offer.

I ordered a carne asada quesadilla and three tacos, one carne asada (beef), one al pastor(pork) and one lengua (tongue).

I wasn’t asked whether or not I wanted salsa, cilantro and onions on my food. As an avid taco stand and food truck visitor, I like to be able to add my own flavor liking to my food and add it myself.

As I waited for my food I went over to the drinks section. I personally like to drink a cold horchata with my tacos, but a cold soda will also make do. The lack of drinks disappointed me a bit. I was expecting horchata and freshly made drinks and some sodas, but there were only sodas, ranging from cans of Sprite and Coke to bottled sodas such as Jarritos, Sangria and Coke.

The wait time for my food was roughly about 10 minutes. Not bad, but was definitely a bit longer than I would have waited at my regular taco spot.

My tacos were the first part of my order that came out. I tried the lengua taco first because lengua is my favorite. Upon the first bite I wasn’t really able to taste the meat itself due to the amount of onion and cilantro on my taco. The green salsa that I chose was different from other green salsa I’ve had, this one had a hint of lemon-lime flavor so I was unsure of whether I liked it or not. After trying trying the carne asada and the al pastor taco I decided that the carne asada was the one I liked the most.

Shortly after finishing my tacos my quesadilla was ready. My first reaction was that it was bigger than I expected. This quesadilla was huge, enough for two people actually, as it was very cheesy and full of meat.The one thing that I did not like was how greasy the quesadilla was, you could easily just by pass it and go in eating but it was enough that some had to be dabbed off with a napkin.

Once it came time for me to pay, I was a bit baffled when I was told that my total was $12.50. That was almost thirteen dollars for one person. The quesadilla was $6.50 while each taco was a $1.25.The quesadilla was a bit pricey, had I known I was going to be spending that much on just the quesadilla itself I would have thought about it twice before ordering.

Las Banquitas is definitely a good place to go to if you’re in a rush and want some tacos or even if you’re just in the area, but after a first time I think i’ll stick to my usual taco spot.

Rating: 3/5 tacos