Taqueria La Fe Houston

On our annual trips to Isla Mujeres (off Cancun in Mexico), we eat 60% of our meals at this food stand where Mayra sells memelas with fresh pressed masa. Another spot we frequent has literally the best beef burritos and birria tacos. You can imagine we miss them every time we leave. So we embarked on our mission to find a comparable spot here in Houston. After all, we're the closest metropolis to Cancun. There are quite a few taco spots in the geographical rectangle encased by Clay and West Little York, between Highway 6 and Gessner, and Tacos La Bala is one of them. There 3 other locations throughout Houston, and we tried out this spot. The restaurant is clean, and while service isn't overly friendly, it's fine. The menu is in both English and Spanish. The hubby commented that he likes how they wash the outsides of the sauce bottles (no drips or grease). The ordering is counter service. I was curious about the cecina plate but no one had posted a picture of it so I didn't want to risk it with a lower turnover item. We also asked for tacos with homemade corn tortilla. The tortilla itself tasted more like a mix between masa (corn flour) and flour, and while that wasn't up to snuff, we reminded ourselves that we are not in Mexico, and it was plenty good. Onto the tacos we got: - Tripa crispy, 1/5 - got this per reviews but this was pretty much just fried fat. I couldn't finish it. - Cochinita pibil, 4.5/5 - easytop choice! Best flavors and not as greasy - Lengua, 3.5/5 - pretty good - Barbacoa, 4/5 - good flavors but a bit too greasy for me I just realized they didn’t give us any cotija cheese on our tacos. What the. I was surprised that the sauces and meat tasted barely seasoned. It's the first time I added table salt at a restaurant, but this is not a bad thing. I'd much rather add salt than to get over-salted food. The clear winner was the burrito that we got with two items (fajita and chicharrones, or pork skin) - off the menu but at $7.20 before tax and tip. The picture doesn't look great because I had already taken bites out of it, and the fluorescent light doesn't do anything for it, but it was yum. That said, we asked ourselves whether we would get this burrito at $9.25 or a Chipotle burrito at $14.50; the hubby says Chipotle (which is also nearly twice the size), and for me, I think it would depend on the mood. I can't say this place is comparable to our spot in Mexico, but we are not in Mexico, and this is a pretty affordable option for solid food. An easy 4/5, and when we’re back, we’ll ask for cheese and maybe try the sopes.