Tatas Tacos is located don busy Irving Park Rd, not too far from the Culver's. They have an outside seating area that would be great during a warm Chicago day, but definitely too cold when I came there on a dreary March evening. The dining area, I would call quaint, sitting about 45 people comfortably. It consists of mostly tables and chairs, and there are two wall mounted TVs. The kitchen is open-style, with staff members taking your order at your seat, and bringing the food to you. There is a table near the kitchen that has a select number of board games. The tables themselves, have blackboard toppers, so you can grab a piece of chalk and scribble on them while you're waiting on your tacos. Throughout the dining area, there are those carddboard photo-standins where you can take a picture with.
The menu itself is comprehensive. As the name suggests, this place is known for their tacos, with many different unique sounding tacos, like "Bow chica bow wow" and "Smoked Hog". The menu is a laminated rectangular menu, sectioned in three columns. They have other things besides tacos, such as burritos and salads. I ordered the following:
Guac and chips -- a decent sized amount of guacamole is the center of this dish's masterpiece, with tortilla chips surrounding the bowl
Elote -- street corn, that was decent, but unfortunately wasn't the best I had. I felt it was somewhat watery and the combination of mayo, cheese, and paprika wasn't quite right. The slightly small puddle of liquid at the bottom of the bowl kind of convinced me as well.
No'la taco -- blackened fish taco. The fish was grilled and spices were really good. I liked how there was just a good amount of coleslaw on it, that didn't overwhelm the taco itself. Quite tasty.
Shrimp/Camaron taco -- I thought this was somewhat bland. The flavor didn't pop as much as the No'la taco.
Frida taco -- grilled chicken with garlic, pickled cabbage, and lime. This was one of the better chicken tacos I've had.
Bow Chica Bow Wow -- chorizo taco with pico de gallo. The chorizo was very flavorful and this was pretty good.
The Tux -- tiny seared scallops, with ribeye steak. The scallops were small, and the ribeye steak was really soft. The flavors didn't quite match well, in my opinion. It sounded better than it tasted.
Smoked Hog -- this taco had pork belly, guac, onions, and jalapeños. I really liked the taco and the pork belly was really tender. This was probably my favorite taco.
Da' Harley -- this taco had smoked brisket on it. It came with jalapeno slices, which delivered a good amount of heat, but nothing too crazy
All tacos were street style, corn tortilla tacos. I was pretty full after eating all them tacos. Service was A-OK. I felt bad for the staff, as it seemed like there was only one server/waitress for the entire dining area, but she was doing a good job tending to the customer patrons. The tacos were very creative but I've had better tacos. If you go down west on Irving Park for about a mile, check out CTA (Chicago Taco Authority). I feel like their tacos are better. Sorry, I'm just being honest.
BATHROOM REVIEW: Located past the kitchen, the bathrooms are single stalled bathrooms, one for women and one for mens. Inside, there is a toilet and a floating sink, and a decent amount of orange. The toilet looked somewhat dingy, but it did the job. Sit or squat? Squat. read more