Every Tuesday is Taco Tuesday in our household, which generally means I put together tacos for us. I really love having a fill-in-the-blank night for meal prep; I generally just insert a protein and the meal is planned already.
Sometimes, though, time constraints, life, whatever it may be, we wind up going out for Taco Tuesday. Luckily, we have some local standbys that work great — and we’ve been to Orale Mexican Kitchen a bunch of times (mostly for Taco Tuesday, once for dinner with a friend).
Also, Orale has this awesome deal on Tuesdays — 50% off every order of tacos (regardless of seating location in the restaurant – it’s not a bar-only deal), as long as you pay cash. There are 5 tacos in an order and they range in price from roughly $14 to $18 (oh, there are 2 taco types that aren’t included in this deal, but there are a total of like 7 types? so you’re still able to order from most of the menu!). That means 5 tacos… $7-9. That’s less than $2/taco!!! That’s cheaper than the Taqueria a few blocks away!!
The first time we went was with HtG, and we all ordered drinks. Mine was super bitter and super boozy. We were all pretty happy with our drinks, though Hubba Hubby wound up taking mine so I could get something different. 
Another time, Hubba Hubby and I sat at the bar and drank more. I know my drink had grapefruit and his was super smoky — meaning we were both really really happy.
Guacamole!
They have several types on the menu, but I’ve stuck to regular/original each time. I like it just fine as a starter — it’s not amazing but it’s definitely solid guacamole. Yum.
Another time — queso fundido, melted cheese with meat bits in it to top your chips. I love queso fundido in general and this one doesn’t disappoint – again, not the most amazing one but it’s definitely good. (A quick check of their menu indicates they call this queso flameado… or took the fundido off the menu…)
The first time we went, I also ordered this soup to start – I believe they likened it to a Mexican “French onion soup” – I really enjoyed it, but this seems to no longer be on the menu at all. boo. 
This is another confusing item — I was certain we’d ordered duck nachos, but the menu only has barbecue pork nachos. I liked this dish but we haven’t ordered it again. 
Enchilada! No idea who ordered this, but I know it was met with approval. 
Another dish no longer on the menu! Chicken & waffles I think? Also met with approval but “too much food!” as it was only half-eaten by the time we left. 
Hm, maybe I shouldn’t put these in this post since — I can’t tell you what it is and it doesn’t appear to be on the menu anymore. Hahaha… well, I’m really here to tell you about the tacos anyway! 
10 tacos for 2 people is a bit much.
But we tried. Fish tacos in the foreground, which were OK (we’re big on crispy fish tacos at home)… 
Bone marrow and crispy pork belly tacos in the back. Really rich, good to try once but I didn’t want to try them again, I knew that. 
Funny enough, months and months went by before we finally returned – probably after I realized paying $3.75/taco at Taqueria was totally not worth it when we could go to Orale for less than $2/taco but fancy – and our first order was… 
barbacoa. Carolina pulled pork, BBQ sauce, pineapple… I really liked these!! I felt they were super fun and flavorful, and Hubba Hubby added some hot sauce (they have a hot sauce trio here that he quite likes, but each are too spicy for me) — I found them spicy enough (but not overly so) for me. Definitely one of my favorites now!
As “crispy fish” tacos are such a hit in our household, we kinda forgot how we’d felt about them last time and ordered them again. 
Ah, shame — these had little to no fish taste to them and were overbattered, so all you could taste was the crispy airy slightly oily batter. I ate a couple but was full and not too enamored so I stopped. I don’t think we’ll be ordering the crispy fish tacos here again, though there’s another type of fish taco as well so perhaps we’ll try those! 
Also — with each order of tacos comes a bowl of rice & beans. If you’re at all worried this isn’t enough food, you would be wrong. It’s plenty of food — 10 tacos, 2 bowls of rice/beans, an order of guac, a couple of drinks — we were very, very full and happy in the end.
The place is decorated in Dia de la Muerta stuff and has a very fun vibe. While it can get super packed and is pretty dark inside in the winter, the spaces by the window are bright and fun, and still get you great service (I wish we’d gotten our bartender’s name! he was on top of his game, despite being the only person behind the bar, and would come out to check on us periodically – we were never ignored). I highly recommend Orale – the food is pretty good, the service is rockin’, and damn the Taco Tuesday special is legit!!!
Orale Mexican Kitchen
341 Grove Street
Jersey City, NJ 07302
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