The off campus hit, Taqueria Santa Cruz is on Monterey Street, super close to campus. Photo courtesy of senior Dylan Shaouat.

  Mexican food is a hit in SLO County, and San Luis Obispo High School students have countless Mexican restaurants all throughout the city.

Given these vast amounts of choices though, which restaurant should students go to?

  Taqueria Santa Cruz is a local Mexican restaurant with two locations in San Luis Obispo. The one restaurant residing on Monterey Street however feeds a large amount of SLOHS students going off campus for lunch everyday.

  “Taqueria Santa Cruz is probably the best taco place in SLO by far,” said senior Jimari Nozil.

  Santa Cruz serves genuine Mexican food with some Americanized dishes that will satisfy your lunchtime cravings. 

  “I think [places like] Taco Bell [are] not authentic. It lacks what Santa Cruz has, lots of authenticity,” said Nozil, “It’s very good and very easy to go and get your food, and you’re out in five minutes.”

  A handful of “Mexican Restaurants” that high school students resort to however, turn out to be fast food places such as Taco Bell. SLO is very lucky to have countless Mexican style restaurants spread across the city yet many students don’t know of these hidden gems.

  “I love Taqueria Santa Cruz. I usually get a burrito with some rice and beans with cheese and carne asada. The carne asada is really good,” said senior Aiden Spurlock.

  Santa Cruz has a limitless menu ranging from tacos and enchiladas to breakfast burritos as well as some seafood options.

  This isn’t saying that the other many Mexican style restaurants around SLO are inferior to Taqueria Santa Cruz, it just happens to be that this restaurant is most popular with SLOHS students as well as the closest Mexican restaurant to campus.

Sources: taqueriasantacruzexpress.com