Carniceria Ponderosa Panaderia (bakery & cafe) have two locations in North Phoenix Arizona that are relatively close to each other (around 15 minutes apart). I went to the 2nd location that is close to the upper west side part of Phoenix on Bell Rd. Inside you will find a Mexican grocery store with some produce, dry goods, cold beverages, baked goods, meat cases, fish and cheese cases. They have signs out saying that they will cook certain meat purchases for free. They also have a Charcoal Grill Kitchen that offers street tacos, burros, quesadillas, tortas, and MORE!
The sign is hard to see as it blends in with the wall but below is the Charcoal Grill and Kitchen.
It’s casual. The employee didn’t speak English and the cashier (maybe manager) ran over and told the employee what we wanted in Spanish. If you order tacos they get topped up for you Chipotle style. You either take out and you can sit at the counter by the cashier. We picked up our order packed up a beverage at the beverage section and paid and sat at the counter.
I got three double shelled tacos that came fully stuffed so much so that they were very hard to pick up. Pico, guacamole, and green salsa were added to my tacos. I tried carne asada, pollo asada, and beef barbacoa All the meats I tried were very flavorful. My favorites were the chicken and beef barbacoa. The carne asada was very flavorful but lacked that bbq taste that I look for and also was slightly chewy.
My husband tried a birria queso taco.
He also had-
carne asada, beef barbacoa, and carnitas topped with red salsa and shredded cheese.
Our mutual favorites were the beef barbacoa and the pollo asada.
These tacos were very inexpensive. The birria queso taco was $3.99 but the over stuffed street tacos were only around $2. each.
Noticed the hard to find chiltepin peppers for sale at the counter…..cheap and fresh looking.
Yes I did.
Some great finds can be found at
Carniceria Ponderosa Panaderia
3510 W Bell Rd PHX AZ
602-296-5420
I haven’t found a website
Everything is subject to change
