Name: Taqueria La Sirenita
Location: 2817 NE Alberta Street Portland, OR 97211
Contact information: 503.335.8283
Hours: Every day 10 a.m.-10 p.m.
Cost: $3-$6 for burritos, tacos and other mains
Reservation recommended: Not Taken
Good for: Cheap, quick Mexican
Insider tip: If you want to eat, make sure you’ve got cash - nothing else is accepted
Review: This tiny cash-only Mexican restaurant on Alberta Street overflows at lunch hour when students, businessmen and hard-working landscapers flock to the cheap-eats diner.
Taqueria La Sirenita is one of the few places in the city where you can still get a bean-and-cheese burrito for less than a Big Mac. Although tacos and burritos are the most popular orders, the restaurant still serves some traditional dishes like tripe.
The food is what you expect for a meal under $5 - tasty, filling, but probably not made with top-of-the-line ingredients. Some things you’re better off not knowing. The restaurant itself is far past its glory days. Ask for your order to go and find a nearby park, or take it back home.
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Their bean and cheese is actually cheaper, if I recall! And yes, it’s very good…there are quite a few in that neighborhood.
If you want good cheap Mexican food in the area, checkout Ole Frijole on 42nd and Killingsworth. It’s my new favorite. Unlike Sirenita, which was rumored to be closed due to health code violations ( and if you’ve eaten there it seems entirely plausible), you can see your food being made at Ole F. It’s an equally inexpensive but much tastier option.
I like Ole Frijole. Really good tortas, especially. I don’t know if I’d say it’s in the neighborhood, though. It’s got to be at least a couple miles away. Don Pancho or Paco or whatever is in the nabe, though, and while not as good as La Bonita is another decent option and a HUGE step up from La Sirenita.
I wouldn’t feed Sirenita’s “food” to a dog, let alone a human. Half a block away is truly good Mexican at La Bonita, and it’s not that much more expensive.