Comments on: El Brasero

By: Skip this place!

Skip this place! — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 05:54:26 +0000

I live 3 blocks from this place and sometimes I feel like some Mexican food late at night after other things have closed. I’ve tried (and love) the other carts in Cartopia, but sometimes it’s just got to be Mexican, you know? Well, this is NOT the place to go. Three separate visits yielded nothing but overpriced, mediocre and bland ‘food’ with awfully rude service. I haven’t been drunk enough yet to enjoy it. And I never will.

By: My Name

My Name — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 21:41:58 +0000

So it was a weird day yesterday all the way around… but this, this is unbelievable, even for Portland.
I was running late and skipped breakfast, a big no no. So I decided to get a burrito at the food carts on 11th & Hawthorne. They are generally ok, nothing to write home about, but ya know, a burrito would certainly keep me full through the entire day.
So, I go up to the little window and I order a Classic Vegetarian from a guy on a phone. Since it has no guacamole or anything, I ask for fresh avocado. He says $8… um, oookkkaaayyy, that is a bit much for a food cart vege burrito, but hey, maybe it’s awesome. I’m alright with that. This is almost twice as much as it was a year ago mind you it’s only a vege after all, ya know with like 75 cents of actual cost. He takes my money, hands me $2, and before I could even tell him how I wanted it he turns around and starts doing stuff… I am trying to get his attention.. “excuse me”, “pardon me sir” and the like. I am completely ignored. I also have a stamp card for this cart and I have it on the counter and I want him to stamp it so I can put it away and put my gloves back on – it’s freezing outside. I continue to be ignored while he has a very loud conversation, in Spanish, on the phone. I finally say, “maybe if you weren’t on the phone you could do your job a little better?” Again, he does not hear me (I do know he didn’t hear me) and I refuse to scream in to a cart. After what seemed like forever he turns around hand hands me a burrito. It is very very light for an $8 burrito, very. I have to practically jump up and down to get his attention again and ask him to stamp my card, I even say please as I am over the previous shit – I have my food, I just want to go. He looks at me and just says “NO”, very rude and loud. Nothing else. I say, but it is for this cart, I have previous stamps from here. He again says “NO”. Um, huh? I say “excuse me?” He says something like “we don’t have those” I say “but you do and here it is”, I turn the card so he can clearly see the logo. If they in fact discontinued the stamp cards, that would be one thing and he could easily have said so. I finally can’t take any more – this has been one the absolute rudest experiences I have had in as long as I can remember. I say to him, “sir, you have been very rude to me” (when I get mad I get very polite)… before I can say anything else, and while he is still on the damned phone mind you, he turns the radio up full blast in my face. Um, really? So I walk away. As I am walking through the lot I say to the guy that had greeted me upon entry at another cart, what a rude experience that was. Then I decide I do not even want his burrito. I can’t take it any more and I turn around and throw the burrito at the cart. I was intending to get it into the window, but a pitcher I am not. It hits the cart and explodes all over the little stairs. AHHHHHHH, much better. Normally throwing a burrito that cost $8 would never be an option for me, I am usually a bit better behaved. However, in this case I feel like I was not only in the right, I almost had a duty for myself and anyone else that has endured such horrible service. And it turns out, the burrito was almost all rice. make that 35 cents worth of ingredients. The name of the place is El Brasero and I intend to Yelp and Google Review this story and I hope if he is not the owner, that it reaches them. Especially considering I was the only customer at that cart (hmm, wonder why) and it was lunch time. I went and got a bowl of Pho and felt much better, even with the horrible Christmas music.

By: AgentCool

AgentCool — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 04:12:37 +0000

@Andrew, what were they saying?

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 21:44:51 +0000

I used to go here every now and then to grab a burrito until the other night. The workers were openly making fun of their customers but doing it while speaking spanish, thinking they wouldn’t understand. I understood what they were saying and it was very uncalled for. I cant support a place like that. I wont be going back.

By: Foodcartmasterotheworld

Foodcartmasterotheworld — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 17:01:25 +0000

Three words. Carnitas Burrito yummy.

By: mike

mike — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 03:55:57 +0000

I cant belive any good things said about this place!
I went there and yes 2 bucks for a friggin coke and it was HOT not warm but HOT. The food sucked, the worst I have EVER had at any food cart ever! The prices are insane for what you get. Well look at the layout, big bucks to have all that space, and the customers that get ripped off there are the idiots like me paying for it. I can honestly say I would have feed a family of 4 at Taco Bell for half the price with god forbid leftovers! I don’t belive that the comments here that are positive are true or those liking the crap they call food from this truck cant taste!

By: NagaNgNg

NagaNgNg — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 21:06:48 +0000

When I visited this cluster of carts on hawthorne, they were the one with the least business, but did not think of it. Visitors who were coming in would pick and choose what they would be grubbing on, and very few went to El Brasero. I then saw a crew of five crusty college kids who were looking in all of the trash bins to see what people threw out. This, I assume would be their dinner, but more power to them. One of the ladies in the crew goes to the trash can near the Brasero, tastes it, and starts doing a move that I can only compare to Perry Farrell in “The Mountain Song” video, followed by “this is not even worth the trash bag that holds it”.

As I look at the comments, it seems quality has dropped considerably. I may try it out this week just for fun, just to see if the recent comments on this page are true. If they are, I’ll be at Whiffies.

By: dave

dave — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 06:42:46 +0000

Do not eat here! nasty and people are not friendly. I have tried the food a couple times and not very good.

By: DiDi

DiDi — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 03:33:58 +0000

Stopped here to try the pork tacos, an easy way to gauge a cart’s credibility. Not great. Tortillas tasted microwaved, not griddle steamed. Large chunks of pork that were bland, decent onion and cilantro amounts. Garnished with old radishes. I wouldn’t eat here again, but was something that a picky child would like.

By: Debbie

Debbie — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 06:13:13 +0000

I am on a quest to find a decent, great would be preferable, but will settle for a decent burrito in Portland. Thus far, no success, but this only my 3rd try. I found the burrito lacking in flavor, but I think what stood out the most from the experience is a side of chips is $6.00. When she said my total was $11.75, all I could was stare! What did I order? A burrito & chips at a cart! I said that was way too much for chips so I would do without. I stopped at QFC on the way to appease my chip craving.