SUMMARY:
I'm between 2 & 3 stars for this place. They have an expansive menu with nice pictures and ok prices, the food is really top notch, and the salsa bar is amazing. However, the location isn't great and they do a lot of little things that irritate me. The service is also pretty bad sometimes. It's disappointing that they could be SO MUCH better with a little effort.
THE GOOD:
They have a great menu with lots of pictures and variety! It's easy to tell what you're going to get and the only hard part is actually making a decision.
Admittedly, I love salsa, and their salsa bar does not disappoint at all. They have a great variety of very delicious salsas and it would practically be a reason to come here, even if everything else was terrible. My favorite is the burnt green salsa (such FLAVOR!) and my husband loves the roasted chili flakes in oil - very spicy!!
The quality, flavor, and authenticity of the food is absolutely top notch. Seriously, SO GOOD!! If they had a nice location and made appealing presentations of their food, they could absolutely have a really nice mexican restaurant and charge a lot more for each dish - and it would be worth it. While this is a good thing, it ends up making me feel slightly disappointed that they are a low-level taco joint instead of the very awesome restaurant they could be.
THE BAD:
They are located in a pretty questionable part of town. While not a deal breaker, keep your wits about you here. Like so many of their other negatives, this place could be really great if....(fill in the blank).
Although they have a nice menu with many options, their once beautiful (I'm sure) back-lit menu is really faded, looks old, and is hard to read in some places. Time for an update. Secondly, they seem to often not actually have what is on the menu and the cashier is not nice about it. The 1st time I went here, I ordered birria and was told in a terse way that they don't have birria. The tone and inflection and demeanor of the cashier all suggested that they never have birria and that I was stupid for even asking (even though it's on their menu). Very unfriendly.
The atmosphere is ok for a taco joint. The bright paintings and tiled table tops are neat, but the two TV's which are sometimes too loud bother me. The benches are cheap & uncomfortable, and the juke box randomly fires up with a catchy song that is loud enough to drown out all of your innermost thoughts.
The service. Aside from the terse or borderline rude way the cashiers speak to customers, there are quite a few smaller things that just irritate me.
1. The sign stating that if you use too much salsa they'll charge you a $.50 fee. What!? No, seriously, what in the world!? So, how much is too much? And who will be watching my salsa intake to determine if I need to be fined for over-consumption of salsa? Joking aside, this is just ridiculous and not customer service-oriented. I can understand that people probably tend to take more salsa than they actually eat and that costs the restaurant money. But, seriously, how about a polite sign asking people to moderate the amount they take in a friendly way? Or building that extra cost into your prices and allowing people to bask in the glory of your amazing salsa bar?
2. No napkins! Ladies and gentlemen, tacos are messy! People who eat tacos need napkins! Yet, there are no napkins on the tables and no napkins in sight anywhere. While I was getting my salsa, my daughter bumped my arm and spilled it all over my hand and onto the floor. I quickly looked around to grab a napkin and there were none anywhere and nobody was in sight to ask for a napkin. In retrospect, this probably allowed me to avoid the $.50 fee for taking more salsa than I was allowed to. If you do find someone, you can put in a request for a napkin and they will give you one. Or maybe two if you're lucky.
3. They also ration the utensils. You are only entitled to utensils if you order a dish that they think requires utensils. Sorry, allow me to correct that. You are entitled to a single utensil (a fork) if deemed worthy. And it doesn't come with a napkin.
4. In the salsa bar, they have delicious pickled beets & onions and other yummy stuff. They give you a single, tiny, styrofoam plate for all this goodness and it's inadequate and the yummy stuff all gets mixed together. Sad times. I was afraid to ask for another plate or extra salsa containers.
5. The actual service. I'm out of space, but it's just bad. For example, the woman brought out our order & I tried to hand her the empty chip plate (with large, crinkly wax paper) that was in the way. I held it up and she ignored it while placing the food plates down where it had been. I held it up a bit higher as she placed the last few items and she pretended not to see it, then walked away, leaving me with my hand in the air holding the empty plate like a silly fool. There's no way she didn't see it. read more