I know this post is old, but I had to post on this. The best spot to eat is Taco's Jessica on Crows Landing road near School Ave (Next to Shell Gas Station). Tacos are $0.50/piece and are bomb. I get full on 6 of them ($3).
La Morenita is garbage and expensive as fuck. Don't waste your money. If you want some real Mexican food go to El Marinero at 1239 Crows Landing Rd or Mariscos Sinaloa at 1312 Crows Landing Rd. Some other good spots are:
Web's Big Ben Burger on 7th Street - Good burgers and fries
Doc's Q'in Pit Stop near the corner of Maze and Martin Luther King - Bomb ass barbeque
Tokyo Teriyaki House at 1769 Crows Landing Rd - Order the Yakitori Chicken.
Chicken Barn in McHenry Village (Corner of McHenry and Briggsmore) - Order BBQ Chicken and Spuds.
The area where there's hella liquor stores in the Southside on Holm/Herndon is Varrio Southside Modesto. It's rough there. And as far as it being funk season in Modesto, it is. The worst spots right now are in the West and the South.
My hood, the OG, and Martin Luther King between California Ave and Maze are the worst right now, in my opinion. There was two drive by's a few minutes apart this last weekend in the OG. There was a shooting in the Varrio 2 days ago, too. Earlier this year there was a shootout that left a women that was laying on the ground injured in the OG. Probably over ten REPORTED shootings in that hood of only 2,000 people so far this year, and most don't go reported in this area.
On Martin Luther King in the last few months there was a stabbing behind Alex & Sons, a double shooting in front of the store (as two people were walking out somebody shot them), a Sureno was shot at another liquor store, a skater with a red shirt was attacked and stabbed at Mellis Park, some gangsters opened fire into a liquor store at the corner of Maze and Martin Luther King, and there were 2 more shootings on Maze Blvd near Martin Luther King. And the shootings already mentioned, an 18 month old on H Street and a 15 year old on Rock Pine.
It's all bad in Modesto right now.