I must first start off by stating that i am thoroughly impressed by Besa Mi Taco's ability to screw up every single possible aspect of the fast food dining experience. I mean, seriously; you have to TRY to get zeroes across the board. And yet, there it is. I have given this place FOUR chances to do what they claim to do, and have only been able to not absolutely piss me off only ONE of those times. Even then, I wasn't even satisfied; I was just not pissed off.
All four times, I went around lunch hour (11:30 - 1ish). I understand that the place is surrounded by office buildings, and is going to get a lot of traffic. The problem is, THEY don't understand it, even though they've been open since 2004. I have seen the line regularly reach the doorway of the place and snake around, several times during the course of my meals, and this doorway is a good 40-50 feet from the registers. And how many registers do they need to handle a REGULAR clientele that size? Well, they think 2 should be enough. It's not like they just don't have the staffing, its that they just don't have the physical registers. That's right - all these years of long lines and waiting customers, and they never sprung for a single additional register. I've also been stuck at the end of that line, and timed 12 minutes on one particular visit (yeah, I'm that guy. I'm in a line doing nothing, and I have a watch). i stayed because I don't have any set time limit on my lunch break, but I bet a lot of these other people do, and I am astounded by the level of patience they have.
The place is also very open, and thus, noisy and echo-y. To really drive this fact home and make you appreciate it, they put the shortest, meekest girls they can find at the registers, so you have to literally lean over the register and get right in their face just to hear what they're saying. Even though I'm the third guy in line I watched do this, they still give me this dirty look like I'm doing something totally bizarre and unacceptable.
Today, I ordered four steak tacos. I did not give them any kind of custom order. 4 steak tacos and a large pop. That's it. I stood at the pickup area until they got an order number that was TWENTY ahead of mine. I understand that certain foods take time, like baked apple pancakes or a deep-dish pizza, but I had ordered the most basic of all Mexican food groups. And its not like they had to cook more steak or something, I saw plenty of steak dishes whizzing past me. I asked the girl if she had an ETA on #96. I had to repeat this twice, and then yelled it at her the third time. I got that nice dirty look that they apparently train their employees to give again. She walked away, then came back and started handing out peoples orders again. She didn't even look at me. 5 minutes later, she asks what my order number was. I hand her my ticket, but by that point, someone was carrying it over. She slid it across the counter to me, both without apologizing, nor without making eye contact or even smiling.
Now on to the food:
I have gotten four dishes there: Tacos, a torta, a burrito, and a couple of enchiladas. All four of these taste EXACTLY THE SAME. I'm not even exaggerating. It's honestly astounding that they manage this. It wasn't until today that I finally realized how this can possibly be: ALL THE FOOD IS BLAND AS HECK. Seriously. I took a BIG bite out of my first taco at lunch, and you know what I thought? "WOW. This is a really flavorful tortilla." Yeah, the tortilla. I immediately realized that ALL I could taste is the tortilla. You know you're in trouble when the most flavorful part of your food is the part that is SUPPOSED to be bland. So, I inspected.
I had my tortilla there, yes. There was a decent helping of tomatoes in there, a bunch of lettuce, a TON of cheese, and a decent amount of steak. So, its not that they just skimped on anything, the food really was this bland! I was honestly legitimately intrigued. I couldn't believe it. i forekd out a few pieces of steak and popped them in my mouth. They tasted like nothing, like water, or air or plain jello. It was downright bizarre. The texture was horrible, too: it was like a very dry pork. I even thought it might ACTUALLY be pork, and then realized that they don't serve pork there. It was bad times. I got through about a taco and a half, and couldn't take it anymore. I brought it back to the counter, explained my situation, and told them I'm going to need my money back. The manager offered to cook me a fresh dish, but I explained to him that the way they cook their food IS the problem, so his idea wouldn't help. he did give me my money back without much hassle, which was indeed pleasant. The amount I paid was in excess of $10, which is also EGREGIOUS for four tacos and a pop. that's like $2 each for four servings of cardboard in a tasty tortilla.
Finally, what's with the name? Veiled sexual reference, anyone? They've even got lips on the sign. Gross. read more
