Jalapeños

My friends in Santa Cruz are more polarized about Jalapeños than any other burrito joint in the area. I happen to occupy the "yea" camp, but I will seek out someone in the "nay" camp to provide rebuttals to my big ups. Anyway, if you find yourself hungry downtown and don't have the energy to walk off Pacific, go to Jalapeños, perhaps one of the smallest taquerias in Santa Cruz. Thank me later. The service isn't great, but that doesn't affect how your burrito will taste.

Quality of meat (1-10) : 7.3
The meat must be the reason why some people don't like the burritos here. I happen to be a fan, but I can understand why some aren't. To be fair, I have only tried the carne asada, which is certainly flavorful, but a bit shredded and a bit too salty. I prefer my carne asada in full strips; that is, I'll take carne asada over desebrada any day. However, if you are a fan of shredded beef, they do have bistec ranchero here, which I imagine is comparably good. Also, I can't forget to mention that the chicken mole here is really, really good. If you are a fan of pollo burritos, do not skip over Jalapeños' chicken mole.

Quality of house salsa (1-10) : 8.7
The pico de gallo here is really good, significantly better than most other places. They even give Los Pericos a run for their money. Pico is pretty hard to mess up, a fact that Jalapeños is fully aware of.

Quality of guacamole (1-10) : 7.4
Like at La Cabaña, the guacamole here is good, but it doesn't stand out as great on its own; rather, it adds to the flavor of the meat. It might be barely worth paying extra for, but thankfully, it already comes with most of the burritos.

Quality of chips (1-5) : 3.5
Standard chips, nothing too special.

Size/Diversity of menu (1-5) : 3.0
The only diversity on the Jalapeños menu comes from the selection of meat, specifically the availability of mole. They don't have a lot of different cuts of meat, but they do have a lot of different preparations of chicken and beef, most of which are noteworthy at worst. And I do hear very, very good things about their vegetarian burritos.

Size of burrito (1-5) : 3.6
Jalapeños burritos are well-sized. They will certainly fill you up, as any burrito should, but they probably won't make any future appearances as leftovers.

Approximate price (For a standard burrito) : $6

Locally owned? (Y/N) : Yes

Satisfaction Factor (1-10) : 7.6
I like the burritos here, but I feel they pale in comparison with other burritos in the greater Santa Cruz area. The burritos themselves are satisfying; knowing the burrito you could have gotten is disappointing. Then again, there's no point in not trying to be content with every decision you make. I highly recommend that you at least try Jalapeños. I do have friends that swear by it.

Overall taste (1-10) : 8.1

Jalapeños

206 Laurel St

Santa Cruz, CA, 95060