Travis - Taco Tour stop #32 - El Patio Cafe - 424 E Central

One stop that has been on our list that we keep forgetting about is El Patio Cafe.  Well this week we decided to give it a shot.  It definitely looked promising because the parking lot was pretty full and there was a decent crowd inside.  By the way, if you happen to pass this place headed east, don't try to get in the back way unless you're prepared to go off-road.  (Oops).

It's small inside, but there is still plenty of seating.  Even though they appeared busy, we were greeted quickly with chips & salsa and their service didn't seem to lag.  Their menu was a little different but it was still possible to order a la carte tacos - so I went for a chicken taco, carne asada, and a "puffy taco" (explained below).

The chips and salsa were tasty and a nice little kick.  It seemed like the wait was appropriate for our food and when it arrived, I dug into the asada first.  It had the right amount of meat. The meat chunks were smallish so it made it easy to bite into the taco and not have to "rip off" a piece of meat.  However the meat was slightly chewy - although not problematic.  The flavor was decent.  It wasn't memorable but it was an acceptable taco.  There was a slight kick to the meat - which I was a fan of.

The chicken was tender and not dry like I've encountered with other chicken tacos.  It had plenty of shredded chicken in there and had a good flavor.  I would get this one again if we make it back here and it's one you should try.

The puffy taco is basically just a ground beef taco but in a deep fried flour shell that makes it sort of puffy.  It wasn't bad - but it wasn't exciting.  It had plenty of meat but honestly it's tasted like your average slightly bland ground beef taco.  There didn't seem to be any seasoning in the meat so nothing really worth mentioning here.  Add some salsa so it has some flavor if you go this route.  Some might like the "novelty" of the puffy taco, but personally I really didn't care one way or the other.

Overall, as much as we've heard about El Patio, there just wasn't anything memorable.  I'd put it middle of the road on our list.  If you're in the area, I don't think you'll hate it. But there are places worth the drive that I'll go to every time over this one.  Having said that, it ranks above the "bad places" for sure.  Service and value was fine and the place was clean. No complaints on that front.  I just can't find a specific reason that makes me compelled to come back...

Out of 5 stars, here are my rankings:

Food Taste:
Value:
Cleanliness:
Service:
Overall:
Likelihood to return:

Travis - Taco Tour stop #31 - Taco Fajita - 1004 S Meridian

We have been hearing some good things about Taco Fajita - and since they were relatively conveniently located, we decided this was the week to go.  I can tell you - *spoiler alert* - we were not disappointed!

This is a seriously unassuming joint to walk into.  It doesn't look like much outside or inside.  But we've not been discouraged by that in the past and you shouldn't either - sometimes these are hidden gems!  There are enough tables to handle a small crowd, but even though there was a decent number of people here too, they didn't seem ready to be able to handle that many at once. Our initial orders came out very slowly.  I think it took about 20 minutes for my food to be ready - and even a little longer for Shon's.  Normally this would turn me off immediately, but patience won out today.

My order of a carne asada, al pastor, and pollo was called out from the counter and I brought it back to the table to enjoy.  These are pretty small tacos, but the $1 price is acceptable.  They only have 1 tortilla instead of a traditional 2 for a street taco.  I'm throwing a pic of the menu in here - in my haste, I didn't realize that one half of the menu was for white boys like me, and the other half was the name in Spanish.  I had intended on ordering 4 different tacos but mistakenly ordered 2 Carne Asada - ohwell!

I went for the asada first and it's definitely a pretty tasty taco to be enjoyed.  It had enough meat to be just right.  The meat was just a tiny bit chewy, but really not enough to complain about or to turn me off from getting it again.  It's a taco you should have if you come here - I don't think you'll be disappointed.

The al pastor was next and again I was pleasantly surprised by the flavor.  The meat was just right, and it was a tasty combination of flavors that were good.  Again, this taco is one I'd totally get again and I can recommend it without hesitation.

The pollo was nice and tender.  The chicken was cooked right and had good flavor in the meat.  It wasn't anything super memorable - but again, you won't go wrong if you get this.

At this point I realized there were 2 more that I'd like to try (and they're only $1), so I ordered the Suadero and Choriqueso also.  They were prepared much more quickly since the rush was gone.

The suadero was slightly crunchy but tasty.  It was a little chewy and definitely had a bold flavor.  I enjoyed it, but not as much as the others.  Some will probably like this taco more than I did - it wasn't bad, just wasn't one I would rave about.

The choriqueso seemed to be rushed because it was a little burnt.  As the name suggests, there was cheese on this one.  I think the taste was okay, but being that it was burnt in a few places, that didn't help the taste.  I don't know if I'd go for this one again, but if I could get it not burnt, I might consider it.  I didn't see much that would drive me to get this one over the first 3 that were more enjoyable.

I'm glad we found this joint, because it's conveniently located and definitely one I'd try again. The $1 tacos make this value excellent! They also have some massive thing called the Machete that I feel like is my duty to conquer.  I'll have to give that a go.  Only complaints on this stop is the long wait at first, and the rush/burn job on my second order.  I'm going to ding them on service, but if you go when there's not a rush, you'll be just fine.  Otherwise, I'm down for coming here again.

Out of 5 tacos, here are my ratings:

Food Taste:
Value:
Cleanliness:
Service:
Overall:
Likelihood to return:

Shon's Take - Taco Tour Stop #32 - El Patio Cafe - 424 E Central

If you ask people who frequent Mexican food downtown for a suggestion, El Patio is a name that comes up pretty often. It seems to be a local favorite and even though it's been forever since I had been there, I seem to remember that the food was pretty decent. Since our schedules worked out to meet downtown, we decided to make it stop #32 on the tour. Again. So let me explain.....


A few weeks ago, Chris and I actually decided to go to El Patio for the tour. Travis couldn't make it that week, but we decided to go anyway. A few days later when I asked Chris why he hadn't written his review, he basically said he'd "forgotten what the food was like." Not a good sign. But then again, Chris doesn't exactly have an eidetic memory. So.... we decided to go again. This time with Thing #1. When we got there, the place was pretty busy, much as it was the first time around. We were seated and helped immediately and got our complementary chips and salsa. I liked the chips here, but the salsas were meh. The mild was just runny tomato juice. But the hot salsa had a little kick to it. I decided to go with three tacos - asada, barbacoa, and chorizo.


After a reasonably short wait, the tacos came out with the usual street dressing - onion, cilantro, and lime. I started with the chorizo taco, which also had some egg mixed in as well. Apparently chorizo isn't on the taco menu, but they'll make it for you if you ask. I thought the chorizo was ok. It did seem to have some of the burnt after taste, but not as bad as some other places. Barbacoa was next, and I could honestly say the same for this taco - pretty middle of the road. The meat was tender almost to the point of mushiness. But flavor wise, I thought it fell a little flat. The asada was probably the best of the three tacos. Decent amount of steak, and with some lime and salsa on it, I thought it was a decent taco. On the service side our waitress was very nice and did a great job, although I think Chris is still waiting on his pineapple Jarritos. Bleh. Actually he should thank her for forgetting.


In the end, I think if I were downtown and had a hankering for some Mexican I would come back but maybe go for something else. I looked around and noticed that the crowd for the most part wasn't eating tacos, so maybe that's what I remember about it from a long time ago. Also, for the price (2.50-2.75ish/taco) I can get better tacos at other places not too far from there for a better price. My overall rankings on the 5-Taco Scale are below.


Food Quality - 2.5 Tacos
Price - 2.0 Tacos
Value - 2.5 Tacos
Cleanliness - 3.0 Tacos
Service - 4.0 Tacos
Overall Experience - 2.5 Tacos
Likelihood to Return - 2.0 Tacos

Shon's Take - Taco Tour Stop #31 - Taco Fajita - 1004 S Meridian

Let me start by saying "Thank you" to everyone for the recommendations and in particular to whoever recommended this one. Our readers have given us some pretty good places, so please keep it up. We're always looking for more. So.... what's the deal with Taco Fajita? Strange name. Good Food. What else is there to say? Tour stop #31 brings us to a little hole in the wall that I, personally, had never even noticed before: Taco Fajita, at Kellogg and Meridian.


When I pulled up, I actually had a good vibe about this place. Your typical hole in the wall joint for sure. When I got there right around noon, there was already a line at the counter and several tables of people waiting for their food. My tour mates had already ordered, so I went ahead and got in line. FYI the tacos here are only a buck. But.... they're also a little on the small size. But for a dollar, that would still be fine, if they're tasty. So since I pretty much assumed I was getting smaller bites, I went ahead and ordered one of each type of meat: asada, chorizo, Al Pastor, Pollo, Suadero, and Choriqueso.


This is where it got frustrating..... the wait was painful. Seriously. That said, I did hear someone remarking that they hadn't seen this many people in there before, so maybe, MAYBE, they just got unexpectedly overrun. But still.... it took well over 30 minutes to get my food. But when I did? They looked and tasted awesome. Thankfully. Because if not, it might've gotten ugly. All of the meat seemed to have the same type of seasoning which was fine, because it was really pretty good. And even though they were dollar tacos, I thought they were still pretty meaty for the price. All of the tacos came with standard street dress: cilantro, raw onion, and a couple of different salsas. Again, you can't go wrong here, although I did like the chorizo and the asada a little more. As I mentioned last week, a good chorizo seems hard to find, but this place definitely had one of the better ones.


Still, despite the wait, I'd highly recommend it. We hung out and chatted for a bit before we each ordered a second round of tacos and (thankfully) that next round came out in a reasonable time. So, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for a return trip (but not for this current review). Even though we had to order round two, I still had a very tasty lunch for 10.00 plus tax. My overall ratings on the 5-Taco Scale are below.


Food Quality - 4.0 Tacos
Price - $
Value - 4.0 Tacos
Cleanliness - 2.5 Tacos
Service - 1.5 Tacos
Overall Experience - 3.5 Tacos. I docked 'em a half taco for the wait, but I'm already looking forward to the next trip.
Likelihood to return - 5.0 Tacos

El Patino

Today we find ourselves back at El Patio on Central. I say back because Shon and I visited once without Travis and since neither of us wrote our reviews as we ate and waited a week before thinking back, we didn't write them...

I ordered a poofy taco, asada, chorizo and barbacoa. 

I started with poofy taco. It is ground beef with some super airy corn shell. 

Then I ate the barbacoa. It wasn't delicious. The meat was chewy and flavorless. There was very little meat in the taco as well. 

The chorizo taco was overwhelmingly flavored but not in a good way. I couldn't get past the flavor...

The asada was the best taco of the bunch but that isn't saying much. Very little meat inside a busted (soft corn) shell. The meat was tender but had no flavor. 

I can see why I couldn't recall this place as the food is nothing worth remembering. 

I won't be back. Not because their food was terrible but because there are so many better options within 10 minutes that you shouldn't even consider stopping. 

Taco Fajita...

Today we are visiting Taco Fajita. It is one of those tiny hole in the wall places right at the corner of McCormick and Meridian. 

When I walked in, the first thing I noticed was the smell. There is something funky in here but I am not sure what it is. The second thing I noticed was that I am the only person here. 

I took a look at the menu and their tacos are $1!!!!!! There are 6 meats available. They have Asada, Chorizo, Al Pastor, Pollo, Suadero which is a special seasoned beef and Choriqueso which is some sausage and cheese taco. 

I went ahead and ordered one of each taco and a pineapple Jarritos. 

Now, within 10 minutes of my comment about this being empty, there is only one table that is sitting empty. This place got busy, quick. 

I finally realize what is making the stink...it's the fish tank in the corner. But the smell is gone now that the delicious smells of taco are present. 

The service is extremely slow. There was one person order before me but somehow there was an entire table of folks that ordered 5 minutes after I did that got their food first...

It took 23 minutes for my tacos to arrive. 

Now my main question is, are these tacos worth the wait? 

I really didn't pay too much attention to which tacos I grabbed as I devoured them. They had a nice amount of meat which was pretty tender, with the exception being the Chorizo which is hard to keep from being a little crispy. 

The flavor on all the tacos was amazing. They were definitely worth the wait. 

They were so delicious that I decided to go for a second round. When I ordered the second round, the gal at the counter apologized for the long wait and explained that they had several large orders called in just before I ordered. 

My second order arrived within 5 minutes and was absolutely delicious. 

These tacos were definitely worth the wait. They were even better without the wait. Delicious food and awesome prices. I will be back. 

La Hacienda

Today we went to La Hacienda in Derby. Located right on K15, they are easy to find. 

Their menu has entirely too many options and the tacos are scattered all over the place. Some here, some there but not just a page listing what they have. I finally went with 4 tacos. 

Before I dive into the first taco, I notice that each of the tacos are filled with meat. And I mean full. So we are starting on a positive not. 

I started with the Pork taco. It was nice and tender but had little flavor. 

The chicken taco had an interesting flavor. Note that I said interesting, not good, not bad...just interesting. With lime and some salsa, it was almost yummy. 

I tried the ground beef taco next and the best word to describe it is drippy. Tons of grease leaking everywhere. 

The steak taco was alright. There was nothing special about it. The flavor was just OK. The meat itself was tender but just lacking in overall deliciousness. 

The price was fair for a sit down restaurant, $11.14 for 4 tacos, before giving the tip. 

IF I was in Derby and IF I didn't want to drive to Wichita for better tacos, I would return. They weren't particularly bad but they weren't particularly good. Pretty average all the at around. 

Shon's Take - Taco Tour Stop #30 - La Hacienda - K-15 in Derby

Well we're up to the big 3-0! Almost all of the first 29 stops were in Wichita near our more common stomping grounds. But for this one we decided to go a little more out of our way to a place that I believe was recommended to us: La Hacienda Mexican Restaurant in Derby.


When we arrived around noon, I was pleasantly surprised to find the place was pretty busy. My tour mates were already seated (yes, I know, I know..... I like to make the grand entrance as the last one there) with chips and salsa in hand. I thought the salsa was pretty tasty, kinda thin... but still good. They also had a hotter salsa available that had quite a bit of kick to it. Not overwhelming, but if you're a whuss like Chris, it ain't for you. Anyway, our waitress was fairly quick despite the crowd. Thing 1 and Thing 2 played it safe with beef, chicken, and pork. So as usual it was up to me to venture into different territory. So I decided to go with a Carne Asada, a chorizo, a shrimp, and a fish taco.


Now you might remember what I said about presentation at our last stop, right? Well, same thing here. Everything but the fish taco came naked, with salsa, pico, and lime on the side. Again, I don't mind it cause I can season everything to taste, but visually I started off disappointed. Especially in the shrimp taco which basically just came out with nothing but 3 tiny shrimp in a tortilla. Since I didn't want to look at that sad taco anymore, I threw some pico on it first. Flavor-wise, I thought it was fine, but very unfulfilling. Next I went with the chorizo taco. This one had the opposite effect - very tasty, maybe one of the top 2 chorizo tacos I've had on this tour. Main thing is it didn't have that common "after burn" taste that a lot of crappy chorizo tacos have. This was just a nice spicy flavored sausage in a tortilla. Nothing fancy, but pretty good. The fish taco was next - this was the only taco that came dressed, with a nice handful of slaw on a fried fish plank with what tasted like a combo salsa/tartar sauce on top. A very close 2nd to the chorizo taco today, this was also one of the better fish tacos I've had. Last was the steak taco. There was no shortage of steak on this taco and it had a nice flavor to it, though maybe not as "stand out" as some of the other's we've had on tour. Still, it was a nice end to a pretty tasty plate of tacos.


I would say I was pretty happy with this plate of tacos. The guys seemed pretty pleased with their choices as well, so I would say if you're in the area you should give them a try. Just skip the shrimp taco. My overall ratings on the 5-Taco Scale are below.


Food Quality - 3.5 Tacos
Price - $-$$
Value - 3.0 Tacos
Cleanliness - 4.5 Tacos
Service - 3.5 Tacos
Overall Experience - 3.5 Tacos
Likelihood to Return - 3.5 Tacos

Travis - Taco Tour stop #30 - La Hacienda - 1138 N Nelson, Derby

This week, the Wichita taco tour decided to expand it's horizons and venture south of the border (of Wichita).  I had a friend who recommended we check out La Hacienda, so we thought we'd give it a shot!  It's a bit of a drive if you're trying to make a quick lunch in Wichita, but the restaurant is larger and more "sit-down" style than what you typically see on our tour so far.  It's a nice restaurant and well maintained with plenty of seating.

Chris was already seated when I arrived and was enjoying some crunchy chips and tasty salsa.

A la carte tacos on their menu isn't real obvious, but you can get it if you ask.  I ordered a chicken, steak, and pork tacos.  They seemed to arrive in an acceptable timeframe and definitely looked like full tacos although not technically a street taco since the tortillas were slightly larger and only 1 per taco.

Digging into the chicken first, I was greated with lots of meat.  It also had cheese on it, which was a little different than what we typically see - and pico de gallo on the side for a topping.  So given this isn't a typical, traditional street taco, it was still pretty tasty.  The chicken was tender and flavorful.

The steak was next and although it was a little chewy, it wasn't really bothersome enough to make a complaint about.  The taste was a good meaty steak flavor with lots of meat.  Definitely an enjoyable taco that I'd encourage you to try.

Lastly was the pork taco which also had a good taste.  It had a little bit of crunchiness to the meat. I'm not sure if that was intentional or if it was just slightly overdone.  However, it did honestly bring a little extra flavor to the meat so I didn't mind it.  It wasn't an excessive amount.  The pork was tender and there was plenty of it.

My only suggestion would be that they toast the tortillas a little more.  It was a softer tortilla and could have used a little flavor to it.  Also, I didn't really care for the cheese on top of these tacos.  It wasn't bad, but it was a little different and I think I would prefer it without next time.  It seemed unnecessary and sort of threw off the taste slightly.

Overall, value was acceptable - $8.88 total for lunch with chips and salsa.  Really the only downside is the drive. I wouldn't say they are good enough to make a special trip to Derby for them - but if I'm in Derby (or close) in the future, I'll definitely stop in again.  For what it's worth, they have a pretty large menu (and they had a decent weekday crowd), so I'd imagine they have a good selection of tasty food if you're in the mood for something besides tacos!

Out of 5 tacos, here are my ratings:

Food Taste:
Value:
Cleanliness:
Service:
Overall:
Likelihood to return: