I recently had to adopt a heart-healthier diet due to medical concerns, so I've been replacing red…read moremeat with chicken and fish and being much more careful about fatty foods. I've even been using AI to help me find healthier restaurant options, which is how I came across Tacos America. It recommended the restaurant because they grill their chicken, so we were excited to try it.
When we arrived, we saw them grilling meat outside and thought, "Perfect! This is exactly what we're looking for." Since the tacos are topped with vegetables, we felt like this would be a great, healthier option.
Unfortunately, that's not what happened.
While we were waiting, the people ahead of us ordered tripe. The tripe was being heated on the Blackstone in lard, and you could see it sizzling in the lard. After they removed the tripe and served it, it was time to prepare our tacos. They put our grilled chicken on that same surface with the same lard that had just been used for the tripe.
I'm not someone who likes to complain, so I didn't say anything at the time. Looking back, I wish I had. I understand that they need to heat the meat before serving it, but if you are advertising grilled chicken as an option, customers should be able to expect that chicken to remain a healthier choice. At the very least, customers should be told if their food is going to be heated in lard and given the opportunity to say no.
For someone like me, the entire reason for ordering chicken instead of fatty meats is to avoid exactly that. If I wanted my chicken cooked in lard, I could have ordered something else. It was especially frustrating because we specifically chose this restaurant believing we were making a healthier choice.
As for the tacos themselves, they were good. Unfortunately, I ended up taking the chicken out of the tacos and only ate about 1/3 of it because I didn't feel comfortable eating all of it after seeing it heated in lard. I hated wasting the food, but I'm trying to take my diet seriously for my health.
I really hope Tacos America considers this. If you offer grilled chicken as a healthier option, please don't put it on a surface covered in lard without telling the customer. There may be people ordering chicken for medical or dietary reasons who cannot eat lard or added fats. A simple question or warning would have made a huge difference.
The tacos were good, but unfortunately, the way the chicken was handled completely defeated the reason we chose them in the first place.
