Carnitas El Rey

Carnitas El Rey is a family-owned carnitas shop in downtown Oxnard, California, known for pork cooked fresh each day and for a 2017 Yelp list placement cited by the city's tourism bureau.

Overview

Carnitas El Rey operates at 124 East 5th Street in downtown Oxnard. It is one of the anchor stops on the Oxnard Taco Trail, the self-guided route promoted by Visit Oxnard. Both the tourism bureau and a 2025 feature in the Santa Clarita Valley Signal describe it as a local, family-owned business whose carnitas are made from scratch every day.

Visit Oxnard reports that Yelp named the restaurant one of its top 100 places to eat in the United States in 2017, a distinction the shop has used in its promotion since.

Food

Carnitas, the Michoacán-style pork slowly cooked in its own fat until tender and crisp at the edges, is the specialty. In a taquería setting it is usually chopped to order and served on corn tortillas with onion, cilantro and salsa, or sold by weight for families to assemble at home. The shop's daily cooking means supply can run short late in the day, a common pattern at carnitas specialists. Sources do not name the owners or the founding year.

Reviews

See also

• Tacos de carnitas

References

1. "Oxnard Taco Trail". Visit Oxnard. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
2. "Exploring the Oxnard Taco Trail". The Signal (Santa Clarita Valley). Retrieved 2026-10-10.