Burp. Sorry, my tummy is a bit upset. Why you ask? I'm almost certain it's because of my culinary adventure today at Taco Casa. The good reviews here are shocking, and at the same time, a little concerning. They are either fake, too old to be relevant, or referencing a completely different Taco Casa on Euclid Ave. in Des Moines. This was, hands down, the worst Mexican food I've ever had. No exaggeration. Go here again? No. Recommend it to others? No. What would I compare it to? Surgery without anesthesia. What would I rather do? I'd rather get Montazumas revenge on a trip to Guadalajara. Six hours after our lunch my wife and I have cramps, and have prayed to the porcelain god a few times each. No matter how many times we brush our teeth, the taste of Taco Casa won't leave out mouths. I'm going to go as far as saying that it could be one of the worst restaurants we've ever eaten at. From a small food stall in a Southeast Asian city, to oil drum jerk chicken in a Jamaican slum, Taco Casa takes the cake as the worst food establishment in my 30+ years of dining out. Proprietors of Taco Casa, I'd like to make a few suggestions for improvement: 1. It's probably best if the person working the register and collecting money is not the same person handling food preparation. This is food sanitation 101. 2. Calling your co-workers over to say "are the beans supposed to be that consistency" infront of your customer does not exude confidence in your ability to operate an establishment of this nature. 3. Clean your seating area. Seriously, stains were crusted on tables, chairs, the floor, and the walls. This, to me, implies they were there for more than just a short time. 4. Instead of advertising "chips" just say what they really are - taco shells that you've just broken in half. 5. Instead of offering nearly 50 menu items, maybe consider cutting it back to 5. That way, you can master the preparation and have less food sitting around. Well, that's about it. It's been a while since I did a review, but this was such a memorable experience. Back to the bathroom..... read more

I came out here to grab an order to go during work because one of my coworkers was telling me how great this place was for fast Mexican food. Walking in here you pass through the outdoor seating area first which is just a few tables under the roof. I think it would've been better if they renovate and seal the outdoor area to create a larger indoor seating area. The indoor seating area is just a few tables, I don't know how many people eat in here, but don't expect a seat during a busy time. You order up at the counter after looking through their extensive menu on the board, I'm glad I looked at their menu online before coming here, because there are so many options. I ordered the soft shell chicken tacos and a chicken quesadilla. Both items were very good, I wouldn't say it's better than the other fast food Mexican places in town such as Tasty Tacos and Aberlados; I would say it's different but not better. The staff members are very friendly and quick to get your food out. I would say they could do a better job cleaning up a bit in seating area to make it more presentable, but as I waited for my ordered it looked like the majority of the people just get their food to go. Parking is somewhat limited, it's a pretty small lot. read more

This place is a total taco dive. If you want something else, go somewhere else. That being said, I've been here a thousand times and it's delicious. Some combo of the seasoning and meat and cheese and their homemade hot sauce is just right. Mmmmmmm. The past few times I've been there (past couple months) have been less awesome than usual, so I marked down a star. I hope it gets better! I would recommend the softshell tacos (which are huge, I can only eat one) or the burritos (same size), definitely get some hot sauce to put on it. read more

This is the worst Mexican food I've ever had in my life. Yes, it was inexpensive and quick but there was no flavor whatsoever. The hard taco shell and the shell that held the refried beans was stale. The chicken taco had no seasoning and was soaking wet. Literally I pressed the taco and liquid poured out onto the plate. The dessert chips were stale. The iceberg lettuce was wilted and some of it was brown. The enchilada was soaked in grease and the cheese tasted like a slice of Kraft. I have nothing good to say about this place and don't understand how this is considered a Des Moines classic. read more

My husband and I have been eating here for years like 15+ years and we have always loved the food and the people who worked here were always very nice...but in the last couple of years the people have changed over multiple times and they are horrible. They are horrible to customers and have horrible attitudes. Just the other day they over charged my credit card and wouldn't correct it. I have left over 5 messages for the manager and no one ever calls me back. I will NEVER set foot back in there! ! ! read more

Oh boy, if you want The Best of Tacos you must get here!!!!!!!! I love the tacos but my favorite is The Taco Burger! Wow its the best I think! You have to ask for cheese but if you love guacamole then order a large container cause its made fresh with the perfect amount of spices!!! I also love the fruit punch Yum Yum Yum!! My mouth is drooling! I hope to see that they stay in business forever cause to me they have the best in all they do!! Friendly staff* and keepin it real!!Thanx! read more

I grew up in Illinois & I would vist like every other weekend to Des Moines & my Pops would take us here. Best White Tacos I EVER HAD Hands Down that CHESSE is AMAZING. read more

The cheese tasted different , the oil in the lettuce salad changed.I bought my sister a cheese quesadilla , she said "how can they burn it" and she said the cheese tasted like cheese wiz. before we left i asked if there was enough sauces , she assured me that there was one for each item well 3 out of 5. Well I still like the taste of the sauces, I really sad the quality has changed. I go to places for the certain items and consistency!, now i'm not sure if i want to break another 20 to find out anymore. I really wish it was like it used to be.................. read more

My oh my has this place gone downhill. I came here after a volleyball game down the street one night, about 8:30 p.m. The sign said they close at 9 but the apparent manager on duty yelled out to the employees that we were the last ones. They denied about 5 people who came in before 9 o'clock just because they wanted to close early. On a Thursday. Not even the weekend being antsy to leave. They were busy so it's not like they were bored. It took them UNTIL 9 to make our TWO burritos. Our fajita burritos, which we had to settle with chicken. It normally comes with steak but the manager I mentioned earlier said they were out when she heard us order them. Then I heard someone in back by the grill say "No we aren't" and the manager gave her a look like "Be quiet!" ...I'm guessing they didn't want to have to cook any more which honestly would have been fine if they did considering we already waited a half an hour for our two burritos. They were small (smaller than they have been in the past). Also, aside from that aspect of it it was just seriously very unprofessional. I get that it's not a 5 star restaurant but one employee changing out the trash was literally SLAMMING everything around and startled me, two other customers, and their small child several times. There were people walking around aimlessly as the "manager" talked on her cell phone seeing if the fam wanted her to bring anything home. They declined tacos and wanted McDonald's in case anyone was wondering. It's sad to see what used to be a really great authentic taco place go to crap. I have heard they have been struggling and, well, the proof is in the pudding. read more

My favorite enchiladas in all of Des Moines. Very reasonable prices. A hole in the wall with great food and fair prices, I like it!

Horrible atmosphere but amazing food! Seating is cramped and awkward. But food definitely makes up for it. Busy and well known for a reason. Recommend the softshell taco and dessert chips (think giant cinnamon toast crunch). Ten dollars will feed two people to the brim. read more

My first exposure to Mexican food as a kid was the Taco House on lake Okoboji, so when we discovered that Taco Casa was owned by the same family we had to give it a try. Great home made flavors with one of the best hot sauces around. The frijoles are a real stand out, and they serve them on Fritos style chips with cheese in one of my favorite dishes here. read more

This is probably the best kept secret in town. Great mexican food and good prices. Nothing fancy. The burrito grande is one of my favorites. Their refried beans are fantastic. read more

Great! Love the sauce too! Maybe it's nostalgia but this place is a local gem. Grab the nachos grande and some tacos! read more

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I live super close to Taco Casa so I've been eating here for a very long time! It's really cheap and I've never been disappointed with my food. Then again it's really hard to mess up meat, cheese, and lettuce right? It has a one of a kind taste compared to other Mexican fare in the Des Moines area and that's what I like about it...not authentic as in the 'real deal' but unique. I absolutely love both of their hot sauces (red-med green-HOT). I've never had anything quite like them anywhere else. As for the food, I've tried it all...love their nachos, tostadas, burritos, their taco burger, chicken quesadilla, chicken chimichanga, and the rice and beans are both awesome...and I don't even like refried beans!! The mexican salad is another favorite but be sure to order the "mexican salad". If you order a "taco salad" you may be disappointed...unless you like broken taco shells...kind of confusing. The only thing I'm not particulary fond of is the enchiladas...too much sauce! Other than that, this place truly is a diamond in the rough! Ps. If your looking for hangover food, this is the place to go!!! Lol read more

Pretty darn good. I had one hard taco, one soft taco, and Nacho Grande. All tasted great.

Grew up with this place as my dad's first auto repair shop was just West of here. I've always loved their Nacho Supreme and Beef & Bean burritos. The whole family enjoys it here so we'll keep coming back until they give us a reason not to :) read more

Alright, let's just admit it, the ambiance and location suck. The staff can range from helpful and pleasant to pretty bad, but the food is awesome and the prices are great. Love this place. read more

Now, I might be a little biased when it comes to Taco Casa since I grew up eating at this place all the time. The hard shell tacos, burritos, and enchiladas are usually my go to items on their menu. The hot sauce is EXCELLENT! I would definitely recommend this place if you are looking for a taco dive and maybe something a little different than your usual taco chains. read more

Atrocious service, good pseudo-Mexican food!

This place is definitely a hole in the wall! Immediately this place catches your eye with the name of the joint and advertisement for tacos burritos chilli dogs and burgers.. My boyfriend and I couldn't help but stop in and check it out. This is a pretty busy place considering how small the restaurant is. The indoor portion of the restaurant seems really cramped and loud so I recommend the outside seating. The ladies working there mean business when you order so make sure you know exactly what you want! I got a chicken taco salad, my boyfriend a fajita burrito and obviously a chilli dog. The burrito was really greasy and smaller than what we were expecting. I wouldn't get it again. When you eat it make sure you have tons of napkins near you. Chilli dog was good but average. Taco salad was definitely where the money was at!!! I'm giving this place 3 stars because the ceiling had an AC vent which was leaking on my head when I walked in.. The ladies gave me the wrong order.. I originally ordered a chicken taco salad but they gave me a beef taco salad. It was still delicious and I would come back just for the taco salad but I was disappointed they messed my order up. They also forgot my side of guacamole until I came back into the restaurant for extra hot sauce. Make sure you check your order before you leave this place!! Final thoughts: this is definitely the joint for you if you like greasy Mexican food and hotdogs at the same time. I'd come back for the taco salad and maybe try a taco. But word to the wise, burritos are not all that. read more

Great food , great people, it's just really slow at getting your food out. The burritos are the best. It's a small taco place but it is a great place for a bite to eat. read more

best burritos in town. get the all beef burrito, add sour cream, and pour a little hot sauce on each bite. trust me.

The only good things here are the nacos and the price. At this place you get exactly what you paid for. Really cheap mexican food. While many seem to rate the bean and beef burrito extremely high, I certainly wasn't impressed. It tasted like something that you got out of your freezer to make in the microwave. On a better note the nacos were pretty good with the salsa. The salsa didn't seem too hot at first, but you begin to notice a kick too it. Overall though I was pretty disappointed in the food. read more

I don't know who they have working at this place, but the owners really need to rethink who they have employed here. We have on more than one occasion called in and ordered food for several people in our office. Before today, I would have given this place a 5 Star Rating. They are always fast, always accurate, and always friendly - even when rushed. This used to be a go to place for us here at work for lunch during the week. Never. Again. Today, we ordered lunch for four people. It wasn't a stretch at all, four meals on a Friday afternoon and they weren't that complicated. I let them know we would be there at 12:10pm. At precisely 12:10pm we drove in. It was a ghost town in there. In fact from what I could tell there were more people behind than counter then there were customers. We paid for our meal and left. Back in the office, it became quickly clear that they hadn't listened to me when I made the order over the phone. We ordered 2 Chimichangas - Beef and Bean with No Onion. Chicken with no Tomatoes. The Beef and Bean had onions...and the Chicken had Tomatoes but no Onions. So, as I don't mind onion, I traded with the no-onion gal and gave her mine. Biggest mistake ever. Their beef is worse than lunchroom beef. I couldn't believe what I was eating came from the same place who makes the chicken that I just love. The Chimis were soggy and just - gross. We also ordered Chips and Salsa (or their sauce...since they don't apparently have salsa), and received broken up taco shells rather than the chips they give you for nachos. So we called them back, hoping they might correct their error. What we got was the worst customer service we've ever had. The lady, who I can only assume is the manager, treated us like complete dirt. They didn't offer to fix their mistakes (in fact, the only response we did get was "What do you want me to do about it?"), they argued about everything that we complained about, even going to the point to lie and try to claim we didn't get there until after 12:20PM. I don't know how being late would magically make the ingredients wrong, but that was their stance. They claimed that two of us ordered no onions...even though we only received one Chimi with no onions - the wrong one mind you. And she blatantly told us that we only got nacho chips if we ordered nachos. Of the two people we talked to, no one even apologized. If you want bad customer service, improperly made, soggy, disgusting food - By all means. Taco Casa is the place for you. As for us? We'll take our business elsewhere. read more

Ok, so yes, this place this a hole in the wall. But, don't be scared! The staff is 99% women and sometimes they can be a little mouthy, but it's all fun and games. When you go, if it's your first time, I highly recommend grabbing a menu (up by the register) and taking a seat and looking it over. The menu high above doesn't list what all of the dishes are made up of. If you grab a menu, it has all of the details. They do have one taped up by the register, but if you grab one and take a seat, you won't feel rushed to order. My go to's are the Nachos Grande with a side of Rice with sauce or the Sampler #1. The food is definitely consistent. I don't remember once ever thinking my food has tasted off. I love their spicy sauce. Some of the best in town. I wish they sold it by the bottle. When you are in need of greasy Mexican food, this is definitely the place to be. Been going for at least 20 years if not more. If you are in a hurry, you can also call ahead and order carry out! read more

The food was fair, I don't really care for the sauce they use on everything,enchiladas, burritos, nachos. It's all the same taste. But the help wear dirty clothing, look "dirty generally. The manager is very rude and you really can't talk to her about a problem because she screams and uses foul language. My family quit going there not because the food was bad but because the management was rude,foul-mouthed and clearly uneducated in the art of restaurant management. read more

I fell in love with this restaurant in the 80s in Okoboji I live in Cedar Rapids so Des Moines is obviously closer... unfortunately the last three times I have ordered from the Des Moines location I have been sadly unhappy with the product. I drive 2 hours to Des Moines and order 10 tacos .. to turn around and drive 2 hours back to Cedar Rapids. I typically order extra red sauce because that is the key to why these are the best tacos ever. I have paid for extra red sauce twice and have not received it. The last time I ordered, which was today a friend of mine went to Des Moines to pick up the order which was $45 for 10 tacos and instead of them packaging it so that I could freeze it in the manner that they usually do, they actually made 10 soft shell tacos individually with lettuce and everything on them... rendering it essentially useless .. so. There goes $45 down the drain. If they could, for once, get my order correct I would definitely rate them a 5 star, because these are the best tacos EVER. However, when you're putting 4 plus hours into obtaining 10 tacos you expect your order to be correct and the last three times it has not been so I am extremely disappointed. read more

I went into eating at Taco Casa with an opened mind. I wish I would have not turned a blind eye to how poorly this building is condition is an walked away. This is not a place you go for the environment or the friendly ness of the staff. The staff was unhelpful and the building was dirty and disgusting. If you somehow can get past the condition of the building and unhelpful staff you're left with the food. They have a wide variety of mexican options ranging from taco salad, burritos, tacos, and nachos. I decided on the beef and bean burrito and beef and bean nachos. The staff seemed slammed with orders and with about six orders ahead of us we sat around for about fifteen minutes waiting for our food. The two burritos that we ordered came wrapped in wax paper and the nachos came in a tin pie pan. Starting with the burritos all I could taste was the refried beans. The nachos were decent when they were hot but after sitting on the table for a few minutes they got soggy. After eating Taco Casa I sadly thought eating at a Taco Bell would have been better. read more

Good food at decent prices. Chicken nachos are good as long as u eat while its hot. Hard shell tacos are filled up nicely. Employees are a little ghetto but friendly enough read more

Same wonderful food since we arrived in the area in 1973. Our entire family enjoys eating here and taking it out. Well worth the trip from wherever! Take some extra home to enjoy later. read more

Good Cheap Food. I've been to this place a couple times at night and the employees are always slow and complain about a number of things to each other usually going home early. All the hot sauces are amazing but the food is pretty average. read more

The experience we had at this restaurant over the weekend was the worst we have ever experienced. We were accused of lying about saying they hadn't put sour cream on our item that was ordered. Then when they realized they were wrong they said that it was our fault that we had never ordered it in the first place, which we had. We had placed the order for it after our meal so we just paid in cash for it. So the mistake is understandable, however not the way it was handled. We were told we didn't pay for it so we shouldn't have had it on there anyway. Then they gave us a tiny cup of it that we tried to put on it and it completely tore up the burrito and was unable to even be held together to eat. By this time we didn't even want it so we asked for our money back. They said their policy is to not do refunds. They then offered that all they could do is give us a new shell. So we said if that's all we could do then we would. After waiting 10 mins for a new shell, I went back up and they said well we thought you were so upset that you didn't want one. By this time we got pretty upset and said we just wanted refunded for our entire order of $18 that we hadn't even touched because we were waiting to all be able to eat together. We were told that would be ok but they had to get ahold of of the manager to get an approval code to take it out of the cash register. So then we threw the food away because if we were going to get a refund we were not going to eat it. They then came out and said that they manager offered for them to make all of our food over and that's all that could be done. So, we took the offer. After waiting an additional 10 mins they came out with only the burrito that had been made incorrectly to being with and said that they would not make over the food that wasn't wrong. So, in the end we paid $18 for one burrito and were treated horribly. Just an FYI. read more

I have eaten here since 1973. This was te same, he premium fast food taco joint in DesMoines. Always a treat, but those days are gone. The owner is spending her time in Norrhern Iowa at her other location and this one has suffered. Service is the same, but food is not. Taco's are soggy, meals are incomplete.. On a recent visit, They packed the to go enchiladas upside down in the bag. You now have to bag for hot sauce. Breaks my heart that this DesMoines institution has turned to crap. Another case of an owner that should have stuck to what they do best. read more

Ok, if you're one of those stuck up "Starbucks" bankers who's too good for paper napkins and a humble facade just get over yourself! This is THE best bang-for-the-buck for THE best Mexican food anywhere in town. For under $4 you can get a soft shell taco as big as Popeye's forearm stuffed full of chicken/beef/whatever...and plenty of cheese. They make their own hot sauce which is off the hook good and are VERY generous with portions. Occasionally people just get it right, and they did! Trust your gut, you won't be disappointed! read more

AMAZING!!! I can not wait to go back! The nachos are the best I have EVER had hands down!

it is very easy to find right on a corner of a busy intersection. the building is very well designed it looks like a adobe hut and has beautiful paintings all over and has a patio to. this place has very authentic Mexican food. a very compact quiet place its has the ambiance of a small hut that's filled with culture. the menu has a wide variety my favorite the poco taco it is the best and everything else tastes good to all in all its just a great restaurant. read more