I know what you're thinking: "It's about time you wrote another review! Are you guys burnt out or what?!?" The short answer is, No, we're not burnt out. But with Chris trying to act like an adult and getting a different job, getting together for tacos over lunch takes a little more maneuvering. Especially since we've been spending Taco Tuesdays going to old faves instead of new places. But last week, we did FINALLY, hit a new place together (after much prodding from yours truly). After trying to go to El Corral (does anyone know if they're still open?) and finding locked doors and confusing handwritten signs, we decided to pop over to The Hill at Douglas and Oliver.
The Hill is a local neighborhood bar type place that has street tacos on the menu. I had been there before, although it's been a while. What I recall was that for a sports bar type place, it was a good place to sit, watch a game and drink beers. We got there on a Thursday after work and the place had a few tables with people, but was pretty open. It's a pretty nice place inside, but the parking was ridiculously small, which could be a problem if you're going on a busy weekend night. Anyway, Thing 1 and Thing 2 were already seated, so I copped a squat and went straight to the taco menu. My first impression was that this was not going to rank high on the value scale, unless the tacos were huge and amazingly delicious. A plate of 3 street tacos with rice was ten bucks and it was another $3.00 on top of that to get a variety. So yeah.... a $1 upcharge per taco just to get different ones, which doesn't make sense to me, but whatever. So after waiting to see what the Turds ordered, I placed an order for 4 tacos (just in case they were small, I wasn't wanting to go home hungry) - I decided to go with the fried fish, a chorizo taco, shrimp taco, and a steak taco.
After what seemed like forever (in reality was about 25-30 minutes or so) we did, finally, get tacos. My first impression was that they looked quite tasty. It was a well presented plate. My last impression was that they tasted like they'd sat back there on a table for 20 of those 25 minutes. Nothing came out hot. Anyway, I started with the fish taco, which had a nice slice of fried fish with some slaw and some type of tartar sauce I think. Anyway, I would say this was probably the best of my plate. Pretty tasty, and the warmest of my tacos. The toppings complemented the fish well, as opposed to overwhelming it. Which was really the problem for me on the steak and shrimp tacos: there wasn't nearly enough meat and the toppings were ok but really seemed to bury the meat. Not to mention, I really think the sheer amount of toppings contributed to their overall low temp. Anyway, I could taste a lot of oniony toppings, but not much of the steak or shrimp. Last was the chorizo taco, which was easily the second best taco and I think that was because it just didn't have as much topping on it, which actually allowed the flavor to come through.
In the end, I ended up with a four taco plate with some rice for $20.00 after the tip. That was with a water to drink by the way. So, on the value scale? Not very high. Service wise, I would say our waitress was polite, but she didn't seem to have any issue with our wait time. Which makes me think this must be the norm. So, if you're going for dinner, plan on some time. My overall ratings on the 5-Taco Scale are below.
Food Quality - 2.0 Tacos
Price - $$
Value - 1.0 Tacos
Cleanliness - 4.5 Tacos
Service - 2.0 Tacos
Overall Experience - 2.0 Tacos
Likelihood to Return - 2.0 Tacos
Tuesday, December 11, 2018
Friday, December 7, 2018
Travis - Taco Tour stop #66 - The Hill Bar & Grill - 4800 E Douglas
Hey it's me, Travis. Remember me? We used to write about good (and bad) tacos here in Wichita. I know, I know - it's been a minute. It's not entirely my fault though. Chris has a different job now and he has very limited time for lunch - so getting 3 guys together for supper is a pain. Anyway, we did finally make a new stop this week at The Hill Bar & Grill. But that's because we tried to go to El Corral and they were closed. I'm not sure why they were closed because their sign really made no sense... So we went to the closest stop we could find, which ironically was actually on our list of places to try. So way back when, someone must have actually told us to check The Hill out.
Chris and I were seated fairly quickly and waited on Shon to arrive. This was a Thursday night so it wasn't busy - but service didn't seem to be speedy either. This wasn't great because I had limited time to be there. Chris tried to order a Mtn Dew but they don't have it - even though they're a Pepsi place (#confused). Looking over their menu I could tell we weren't going to be happy about the value. You could either order 3 tacos of one kind for $10 or you could mix and match for $13 - so that's a $3 upcharge ($1/taco) just to get a variety of tacos. Those plates did come with a bean salsa and mexican rice on the side (more on those later).
Order placed for the mix & match with carne asada, carnitas, and chicken tacos. Then we waited...and waited... for quite awhile... 20 minutes pass and still no food. Finally the food did arrive and it was almost 25 minutes after we ordered. At first glance, nothing too impressive but lots of toppings.
I went for the Chicken first. It had plenty of toppings on it and actually had a lot of flavor with a good kick. The chicken was tender, not overly dry but not really moist either. I did think this taco was acceptable, but the flavor came from the toppings, not really from the meat.
Next I tried the carne asada - meh. Really wasn't anything special at all. I wouldn't say it's bad, but it's not really "good" either. It's just there. It had plenty of kick and lots of toppings also. It wasn't warm - maybe room temp at best and slightly chewy. Again, not much flavor in the actual meat.
Last and least was the carnitas. I like carnitas tacos a lot of places - this won't be one of them. It wasn't warm and the carnitas was lacking any real flavor in the meat also. I taste the salsa and everything else on it - including the very strong onions. I wanted to taste the actual meat but couldn't. Again, good kick to it, but that's about it. Disappointing.
Additionally, the bean salsa was okay but not enough to wow me back into a happy place. The rice was sticky and kind of dry. So the entire plate was pretty disappointing - especially since it was $16 (with tip) for 3 mediocre and small tacos, the sides, and water. And I left still hungry (and having to rush).
Overall, I left pretty dissatisfied with The Hill. I've heard people talk about liking it - but maybe they didn't get tacos. Service, while polite, was slow. I skimmed the rest of the menu and there are other things I'd be willing to try - but I just can't see coming back here anytime soon. And definitely only if I have plenty of time to just sit.
Out of 5 tacos, here are may ratings:
Chris and I were seated fairly quickly and waited on Shon to arrive. This was a Thursday night so it wasn't busy - but service didn't seem to be speedy either. This wasn't great because I had limited time to be there. Chris tried to order a Mtn Dew but they don't have it - even though they're a Pepsi place (#confused). Looking over their menu I could tell we weren't going to be happy about the value. You could either order 3 tacos of one kind for $10 or you could mix and match for $13 - so that's a $3 upcharge ($1/taco) just to get a variety of tacos. Those plates did come with a bean salsa and mexican rice on the side (more on those later).
Order placed for the mix & match with carne asada, carnitas, and chicken tacos. Then we waited...and waited... for quite awhile... 20 minutes pass and still no food. Finally the food did arrive and it was almost 25 minutes after we ordered. At first glance, nothing too impressive but lots of toppings.
I went for the Chicken first. It had plenty of toppings on it and actually had a lot of flavor with a good kick. The chicken was tender, not overly dry but not really moist either. I did think this taco was acceptable, but the flavor came from the toppings, not really from the meat.
Next I tried the carne asada - meh. Really wasn't anything special at all. I wouldn't say it's bad, but it's not really "good" either. It's just there. It had plenty of kick and lots of toppings also. It wasn't warm - maybe room temp at best and slightly chewy. Again, not much flavor in the actual meat.
Last and least was the carnitas. I like carnitas tacos a lot of places - this won't be one of them. It wasn't warm and the carnitas was lacking any real flavor in the meat also. I taste the salsa and everything else on it - including the very strong onions. I wanted to taste the actual meat but couldn't. Again, good kick to it, but that's about it. Disappointing.
Additionally, the bean salsa was okay but not enough to wow me back into a happy place. The rice was sticky and kind of dry. So the entire plate was pretty disappointing - especially since it was $16 (with tip) for 3 mediocre and small tacos, the sides, and water. And I left still hungry (and having to rush).
Overall, I left pretty dissatisfied with The Hill. I've heard people talk about liking it - but maybe they didn't get tacos. Service, while polite, was slow. I skimmed the rest of the menu and there are other things I'd be willing to try - but I just can't see coming back here anytime soon. And definitely only if I have plenty of time to just sit.
Out of 5 tacos, here are may ratings:
| Food Taste: |   |
| Value: | |
| Cleanliness: | |
| Service: | |
| Overall: | |
| Likelihood to return: | |
Thursday, November 29, 2018
I would say down in flames, but flames are warm...
For today’s taco tour review, we are at The Hill. SHON planned today’s visit to El Corral but we found out they were closed when we tried to get in. I am not sure if they are closed this evening or permanently. The sign on the door was in broken English.
This has been on our list for quite a while, we just hadn’t made it out this way.
This place started with 2 glaring issues. The first is that $13 for 3 street tacos does not rate very high on the value scale. That’s actually quite awful.
I am also bummed that they have Pepsi but not have Mountain Dew.
I ordered shrimp, steak and carnitas street tacos. There were a handful of people enjoying their beverages but very little food on the tables.
For some magical reason, it took 25 minutes for my 3 tiny tacos to arrive.
I started with the shrimp taco. I can’t say as that the shrimp had any taste at all. The chipotle sauce over it was quite tasty though.
The steak taco was cold. Not warm, not even room temp, COLD! It was lacking in flavor, cold and I didn’t feel the need to finish it.
The carnitas was room temp as best. The meat was flavorless and was smothered in mediocre green salsa.
If you are going to take 25 mins to get TACOS out, they had better be good. This was not. 2.5 tacos in, I am still hungry. I guess I will swing by Taco Bell on the way home for dinner that is appropriately heated and has some flavor.
Service could best be described as inattentive. After ordering, she came by once to fill our waters and once to collect payment.
If you want overpriced hipster tacos, go to District Taqueria. You will leave hungry, the same as we did here, but it will taste good. This was a $16 disappointment.
Friday, September 28, 2018
Travis - Taco Tour stop #65 - Restaurante delicias - 2117 E Central
You've heard us say it before and I'm sure it will be said again - restaurant turnover is inevitable in Wichita. Mexican restaurants are not immune either! This week we visited a familiar location with a new name and owner... Restaurante Delicias has opened up in the spot that used to be...um...something else. It was the place that left me standing at the counter for over 5 minutes without even acknowledging my existence. (Did I mention turnover?) Oh yeah, the old El Pollo Dorado El Carbon! (Wasn't memorable - did you catch that?)
Anyway, hoping that it's not a location issue, we ventured over here to check them out and without spoiling it, it was much better!
It's set up just like it was before. You order at the counter and then take a seat and wait for your order to be called out to you. Complimentary chips and salsa were waiting for me (Chris beat me there). Unfortunately the chips were slightly stale. They have both a green and a red sauce and the red is pretty darn hot. Definitely not for the faint of heart!
The tacos came out and they were very hot in temperature! Yay! Always happy to get hot food - sometimes tacos (since they are open) will come out cool or be cool by the time we're done eating them. This was not the case today.
They were out of something - I think it was barbacoa but now I can't recall. But starting with the pollo, it had plenty of meat. Even though it was just slightly dry, it still had a nice taste. Just barely chewy but overall a good taco that I enjoyed.
The carne asada was next and it had a good steak flavor to it. Again, just a tad chewy but the flavor really made up for it in this case. I really liked this taco.
The al pastor was next and it came out with the nice red color you want to see. The flavor was bold and good - just like I was hoping for! Again, just a little bit chewy but nothing worth complaining about.
The service this time was much better too. Overall, in spite of a tiny bit of chewy meat, I enjoyed this stop. The location is slightly inconvenient for me, but I'd still say it's worth checking out sometime - especially if you like hole-in-the-wall joints. This one won't win any awards for presentation, but they do make some good tacos.
Out of 5 tacos, here are my ratings:
Anyway, hoping that it's not a location issue, we ventured over here to check them out and without spoiling it, it was much better!
It's set up just like it was before. You order at the counter and then take a seat and wait for your order to be called out to you. Complimentary chips and salsa were waiting for me (Chris beat me there). Unfortunately the chips were slightly stale. They have both a green and a red sauce and the red is pretty darn hot. Definitely not for the faint of heart!
The tacos came out and they were very hot in temperature! Yay! Always happy to get hot food - sometimes tacos (since they are open) will come out cool or be cool by the time we're done eating them. This was not the case today.
They were out of something - I think it was barbacoa but now I can't recall. But starting with the pollo, it had plenty of meat. Even though it was just slightly dry, it still had a nice taste. Just barely chewy but overall a good taco that I enjoyed.
The carne asada was next and it had a good steak flavor to it. Again, just a tad chewy but the flavor really made up for it in this case. I really liked this taco.
The al pastor was next and it came out with the nice red color you want to see. The flavor was bold and good - just like I was hoping for! Again, just a little bit chewy but nothing worth complaining about.
The service this time was much better too. Overall, in spite of a tiny bit of chewy meat, I enjoyed this stop. The location is slightly inconvenient for me, but I'd still say it's worth checking out sometime - especially if you like hole-in-the-wall joints. This one won't win any awards for presentation, but they do make some good tacos.
Out of 5 tacos, here are my ratings:
| Food Taste: | |
| Value: | |
| Cleanliness: | |
| Service: | |
| Overall: | |
| Likelihood to return: | |
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
Shon's Take - Taco Tour Stop #64 - Rene's - I-235 and West Central
There's something to be said about "reputation". A good one can get you by for quite a while, even if you slip up. A bad one can make life hard for a looooong time. Rene's seems to have a good reputation and always seems to come up in our taco conversations with others. We finally decided to get together at the I-235 and Central location and put their tacos to the test.
First, I have to admit that I've only been to this location once in the 19 years I've been in Wichita and I didn't even have tacos. I got a burrito, as I recall, and it's been so long I really didn't remember anything about it. So I felt like I was coming in with an open mind. The restaurant is a quick serve, sit down restaurant, so I placed my order at the counter and copped a squat with Thing 1 and Thing 2. I decided to go with the fried fish taco, lengua, asada, and chicken. After a few minutes, the tacos were ready. Rene's does have a little bar with different salsas on it as well, so I decided to go with the green tomatillo salsa with mine. The fish taco came out with lettuce and tomato only. The fish was pretty bready and overall was very...... meh. So-so. Definitely not something I would come back for. But, it did benefit from a little salsa to get it down. The other three tacos all came out with onion, tomato, and guacamole. Like, covered in guac. Now.... unlike Thing 1 and Thing 2, I do actually like guacamole. BUUUUUTTT in this case? Not my favorite. The guac was just bland. It looked worse than it tasted, but still.... I felt like the guac definitely covered the meat flavor and not in a good way. All three of my tacos were filled with decent amounts of meat, prepared well, not chewy, etc. But when my tacos stayed together, all I could really taste was mediocre guacamole. Which brings me to another pet peeve: not a single shell stayed together. Not one, and the other turds had the same problem. If I wanted a taco salad, I would've ordered one. On the plus side, it did give me a chance to sample some of the meat from the bottoms that didn't drown in green goo. Those little morsels actually didn't taste too bad, but still left me..... wanting.
So, what's the verdict? I guess I'll be generous here and say that I'm... what? Neutral? Maybe. I think there's a possibility I could talk myself into going back and maybe skipping the guacamole. But for this review, I always like to go with the way they give them to me. And for me, I'm just not feeling it. The fish taco didn't help at all and there's no real service to speak of (not that it was needed really). The price was fine ($2.15/each), but I'm just not in a hurry to buy crumbly gobs of goo anytime soon. My overall rankings on the 5-Taco Scale are below.
Food Quality - 2.0 Tacos
Price - $
Value - 2.0 Tacos
Cleanliness - 2.5 Tacos
Service - 1.0 Tacos (not bad, just wasn't anything other than calling our name to get our order)
Overall Experience - 2.0 Tacos
Likelihood to Return - 1.0 Tacos
First, I have to admit that I've only been to this location once in the 19 years I've been in Wichita and I didn't even have tacos. I got a burrito, as I recall, and it's been so long I really didn't remember anything about it. So I felt like I was coming in with an open mind. The restaurant is a quick serve, sit down restaurant, so I placed my order at the counter and copped a squat with Thing 1 and Thing 2. I decided to go with the fried fish taco, lengua, asada, and chicken. After a few minutes, the tacos were ready. Rene's does have a little bar with different salsas on it as well, so I decided to go with the green tomatillo salsa with mine. The fish taco came out with lettuce and tomato only. The fish was pretty bready and overall was very...... meh. So-so. Definitely not something I would come back for. But, it did benefit from a little salsa to get it down. The other three tacos all came out with onion, tomato, and guacamole. Like, covered in guac. Now.... unlike Thing 1 and Thing 2, I do actually like guacamole. BUUUUUTTT in this case? Not my favorite. The guac was just bland. It looked worse than it tasted, but still.... I felt like the guac definitely covered the meat flavor and not in a good way. All three of my tacos were filled with decent amounts of meat, prepared well, not chewy, etc. But when my tacos stayed together, all I could really taste was mediocre guacamole. Which brings me to another pet peeve: not a single shell stayed together. Not one, and the other turds had the same problem. If I wanted a taco salad, I would've ordered one. On the plus side, it did give me a chance to sample some of the meat from the bottoms that didn't drown in green goo. Those little morsels actually didn't taste too bad, but still left me..... wanting.
So, what's the verdict? I guess I'll be generous here and say that I'm... what? Neutral? Maybe. I think there's a possibility I could talk myself into going back and maybe skipping the guacamole. But for this review, I always like to go with the way they give them to me. And for me, I'm just not feeling it. The fish taco didn't help at all and there's no real service to speak of (not that it was needed really). The price was fine ($2.15/each), but I'm just not in a hurry to buy crumbly gobs of goo anytime soon. My overall rankings on the 5-Taco Scale are below.
Food Quality - 2.0 Tacos
Price - $
Value - 2.0 Tacos
Cleanliness - 2.5 Tacos
Service - 1.0 Tacos (not bad, just wasn't anything other than calling our name to get our order)
Overall Experience - 2.0 Tacos
Likelihood to Return - 1.0 Tacos
Monday, September 10, 2018
Travis - Taco Tour stop #64 - Rene's - W Central & 235
Somehow I forgot to write this review - we hit up the popular "after-last-call" spot awhile back. Full disclosure: I've only been here when completely sober and that includes this visit. From what I've heard, the food at Rene's Restaurant is pretty good when slightly inebriated - so you might take that into consideration! Also, please note in the title I put it as near W Central and 235 - technically the address is 677 N Eisenhower. This is the one that's just west of the 235 overpass on Central - there is another location past Tyler that I've not been to.
Okay with logistics and semantics out of the way, what did we think of Rene's? If you haven't been here, it's a very small restaurant with a drive through. Not much parking or seating here, but that doesn't seem to be an issue. Didn't this used to be a Dairy Queen long ago or am I thinking of somewhere else? I could really go for a Blizzard...
Okay this is fairly typical fast food - you order at the counter and they call your number when it's ready. A la carte options here are okay but aren't the best value if you go that route. Spoiler alert! The word of the day is PLENTY of meat, and disintegrating tortillas... (That was more than 1 word).
I ordered the ground beef, shredded chicken, carne asada, carnitas, and adobada. Everything comes out in an acceptable timeframe. Note - most of their tacos come with guacamole on them. I honestly don't understand (or like) this method of dressing tacos. I feel the guac just covers up the flavor of the meat. You might like guac - you might even like it on a taco. I don't so I order without it.
First taco is the ground beef which was in a deep fried shell. It was very crunchy. It wasn't bad actually - I did kind of enjoy this taco and it had a decent taste. That said, not a lot more to say about this one. Deep fried ground beef taco should tell you what you need to know.
The shredded chicken was next and I got that in a hard shell. It was VERY juicy and there was plenty of meat. Honestly this one kind of surprised me - I wasn't expecting much but it had a tiny kick and turned out to be pretty tasty. It won't win any taco tour awards but if I come back, I'd get this one again.
The asada was next and came with pico on it. In a word: eh. Lots of meat but a little chewy. It wasn't bad but not really much flavor either. There was something just slightly odd with the steak flavor - never quite figured out why. The tortilla disintegrated after 1 or 2 bites and a lot fell out so I needed a fork.
Carnitas was next. In my notes I put "hmm, not sure"! This one felt like it should have been better - but wasn't. It was just okay. Again not a ton of flavor but lots of meat. One big chunk of meat that could have been cut better. This one seems like it was missing something - oh yeah, onions and cilantro instead of pico. I prefer the more traditional instead of pico on my tacos. But to each their own!
Last was the adobada - it was a mess. It had lots of meat also, kinda chewy, and plenty juicy. It too seemed lacking in flavor - nothing bold about it. The tortilla also disintegrated after a few bites and lots fell out.
With everything left over on my plate after falling out, I probably had at least 1 or 2 more tacos's worth of meat. But frankly, I didn't bother. Nothing was good enough to motivate me to use the fork. To sum up the visit, everything was just "OK" with lots of meat, mediocre flavor, and disintegrating tortillas. The tortilla edges were a little tough and I think everything could have used 2 tortillas instead of 1.
I think this is my second visit to Rene's (both times sober). I honestly don't see the draw. It's okay - you get plenty of food, but I still think there's so much better quality around town. I know they have a ton of fans and maybe it's for stuff besides the tacos. So if you're out after last-call, try them out and let us know if it's something besides the tacos we should be having!
Out of 5 tacos, here are my ratings:
Okay with logistics and semantics out of the way, what did we think of Rene's? If you haven't been here, it's a very small restaurant with a drive through. Not much parking or seating here, but that doesn't seem to be an issue. Didn't this used to be a Dairy Queen long ago or am I thinking of somewhere else? I could really go for a Blizzard...
Okay this is fairly typical fast food - you order at the counter and they call your number when it's ready. A la carte options here are okay but aren't the best value if you go that route. Spoiler alert! The word of the day is PLENTY of meat, and disintegrating tortillas... (That was more than 1 word).
I ordered the ground beef, shredded chicken, carne asada, carnitas, and adobada. Everything comes out in an acceptable timeframe. Note - most of their tacos come with guacamole on them. I honestly don't understand (or like) this method of dressing tacos. I feel the guac just covers up the flavor of the meat. You might like guac - you might even like it on a taco. I don't so I order without it.
First taco is the ground beef which was in a deep fried shell. It was very crunchy. It wasn't bad actually - I did kind of enjoy this taco and it had a decent taste. That said, not a lot more to say about this one. Deep fried ground beef taco should tell you what you need to know.
The shredded chicken was next and I got that in a hard shell. It was VERY juicy and there was plenty of meat. Honestly this one kind of surprised me - I wasn't expecting much but it had a tiny kick and turned out to be pretty tasty. It won't win any taco tour awards but if I come back, I'd get this one again.
The asada was next and came with pico on it. In a word: eh. Lots of meat but a little chewy. It wasn't bad but not really much flavor either. There was something just slightly odd with the steak flavor - never quite figured out why. The tortilla disintegrated after 1 or 2 bites and a lot fell out so I needed a fork.
Carnitas was next. In my notes I put "hmm, not sure"! This one felt like it should have been better - but wasn't. It was just okay. Again not a ton of flavor but lots of meat. One big chunk of meat that could have been cut better. This one seems like it was missing something - oh yeah, onions and cilantro instead of pico. I prefer the more traditional instead of pico on my tacos. But to each their own!
Last was the adobada - it was a mess. It had lots of meat also, kinda chewy, and plenty juicy. It too seemed lacking in flavor - nothing bold about it. The tortilla also disintegrated after a few bites and lots fell out.
With everything left over on my plate after falling out, I probably had at least 1 or 2 more tacos's worth of meat. But frankly, I didn't bother. Nothing was good enough to motivate me to use the fork. To sum up the visit, everything was just "OK" with lots of meat, mediocre flavor, and disintegrating tortillas. The tortilla edges were a little tough and I think everything could have used 2 tortillas instead of 1.
I think this is my second visit to Rene's (both times sober). I honestly don't see the draw. It's okay - you get plenty of food, but I still think there's so much better quality around town. I know they have a ton of fans and maybe it's for stuff besides the tacos. So if you're out after last-call, try them out and let us know if it's something besides the tacos we should be having!
Out of 5 tacos, here are my ratings:
| Food Taste: | |
| Value: | |
| Cleanliness: | |
| Service: | |
| Overall: | |
| Likelihood to return: | |
Thursday, August 30, 2018
Rene’s...sober
Let me start this evening’s review by stating that we, wait, I am 100% sober. I can’t speak on the level of the other yahoos and their sobriety.
Now that we have that out of the way, we went to Rene’s this evening. I have been to Rene’s more times than I can remember but I usually skip the tacos and go straight for the burritos.
After checking out the menu, I ordered 4 tacos and found a seat. The thing about Rene’s is that they do their thing. They move at one pace and if that means you wait while they serve the drive thru, then you wait.
Our tacos took a good while to come out but when they did, they sure looked delicious. They were all LOADED with meat. Apparently when I ordered my tacos, I misunderstood what “Mexican salsa” is. I think that is code for raw onions and tomatoes chopped into huge chunks and tossed on a taco.
I started with my fish taco. It came smothered in the Mexican salsa stuff, which I pulled off and jumped right in. There was quite a bit of fish but it was heavily breaded but it had pretty good flavor to it.
My next taco was the carne asada. It was lacking in flavor but the meat was nice and tender. About half way through the taco, the shell split and all of my meat went flying.
Next came the adobada. It was the same as the carne asada. Lacking in flavor yet very tender. After the first bite, the shell split and left me with a huge, flavorless mess.
I finally dove into the chicken taco. Again the meat was tender but it did have some flavor to it. Unfortunately, I didn’t even get to pick this taco all the way up before it split 3/4 the length of the taco and left me with a chicken/tortilla/Mexican salsa slop on my plate.
Overall, this should have been what I expected. The food was mediocre. That’s the nicest thing I have to say about it. I didn’t even finish my chicken taco as I didn’t want to deal with it. They need to learn how tortillas work as that was the most aggravating thing about the visit.
I will back to Rene’s soon but it will be for the burritos.
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
Shon's Take - Taco Tour Stop #63 - El Agave - 3540 N Maize
Being a west sider (at least during business hours) I'm always looking for new places close to the office to find some tasty tacos. We've been fortunate the last couple of weeks to be able to hit a couple of newish spots that opened up on the west side - first, Pedro's Express, then Rancho Nuevo, now this week's stop: El Agave on north Maize Road. For you east siders, many of you are probably familiar with the El Agave on N Rock and K-96. After operating there successfully for the last several years, the owners decided to expand to the west side of town in a nice, new, shiny location near 35th St N and Maize. I had eaten at the east location before but I didn't remember anything particular about it. So I was able to enter the new spot with open expectations.
We were seated immediately, and I noticed that the place already had a decent sized crowd there. After looking over the menu, the first thing I noticed is that this place is NOT going to be high on the value rating. They did have a la carte tacos, but you're looking at over 3 bucks each. Our waitress wasn't much help (listening to her try to explain the fajita taco to Travis made me tune her out immediately), so I just decided to go with 4 tacos: fish, shrimp, steak, and al pastor. We got to munch on some chips and salsa which were pretty tasty. After a semi reasonable wait, our tacos arrived. Now... from a presentation standpoint, this didn't seem ideal - I was basically handed a plate with 4 aluminum foil wrapped lumps. But from a practicality standpoint, it was nice to eat fresh, hot tacos all the way to the end. I decided to start with the fish taco, which was grilled (not fried) with lettuce, tomato, and sour cream. I would give this taco a very average "Meh". The fish tasted pretty fishy, which is fine for some people. But to me it was a little too strong, like it was cheap fish and not a clean white fish flavor. Next up was the shrimp taco, which came with white cheese and some lettuce. They actually put a decent amount of shrimp in the taco compared to most other places. The shrimp was cooked well - nice and tender, not chewy or overcooked. It lacked a little seasoning, but I threw some lime and salsa on it and was satisfied. The asada steak was next - basically a huge wad of steak put in a tortilla. No cilantro or onion, so it was a pretty naked looking taco. It had a nice steak flavor to it, but I still felt like it needed something. Onion and cilantro I think would've helped, but it was an above average taco with a little salsa and lime on it. Last was the al pastor - this one saved the day! No doubt the best taco of the day, this one was stuffed with plenty of tasty filling (pork? beef? I don't think we ever decided and I didn't feel like asking the waitress). Some people might think it's a little greasy, but the flavors really popped. A really nice mix of spicy pepper and sweet pineapple mixed perfectly in the meat. A huge thumbs up for this one.
Overall, I'd say the al pastor will definitely have me coming back. Travis said the fajita taco was pretty good also, so I'll have to make sure to try that on the follow up trip. My overall rankings on the 5-Taco Scale are below.
Food Quality - 3.0 Tacos
Price - $-$$
Value - 2.5 Tacos
Cleanliness - 4.5 Tacos
Service - 2.5 Tacos
Overall Experience - 3.0 Tacos
Likelihood to Return - 3.5 Tacos
We were seated immediately, and I noticed that the place already had a decent sized crowd there. After looking over the menu, the first thing I noticed is that this place is NOT going to be high on the value rating. They did have a la carte tacos, but you're looking at over 3 bucks each. Our waitress wasn't much help (listening to her try to explain the fajita taco to Travis made me tune her out immediately), so I just decided to go with 4 tacos: fish, shrimp, steak, and al pastor. We got to munch on some chips and salsa which were pretty tasty. After a semi reasonable wait, our tacos arrived. Now... from a presentation standpoint, this didn't seem ideal - I was basically handed a plate with 4 aluminum foil wrapped lumps. But from a practicality standpoint, it was nice to eat fresh, hot tacos all the way to the end. I decided to start with the fish taco, which was grilled (not fried) with lettuce, tomato, and sour cream. I would give this taco a very average "Meh". The fish tasted pretty fishy, which is fine for some people. But to me it was a little too strong, like it was cheap fish and not a clean white fish flavor. Next up was the shrimp taco, which came with white cheese and some lettuce. They actually put a decent amount of shrimp in the taco compared to most other places. The shrimp was cooked well - nice and tender, not chewy or overcooked. It lacked a little seasoning, but I threw some lime and salsa on it and was satisfied. The asada steak was next - basically a huge wad of steak put in a tortilla. No cilantro or onion, so it was a pretty naked looking taco. It had a nice steak flavor to it, but I still felt like it needed something. Onion and cilantro I think would've helped, but it was an above average taco with a little salsa and lime on it. Last was the al pastor - this one saved the day! No doubt the best taco of the day, this one was stuffed with plenty of tasty filling (pork? beef? I don't think we ever decided and I didn't feel like asking the waitress). Some people might think it's a little greasy, but the flavors really popped. A really nice mix of spicy pepper and sweet pineapple mixed perfectly in the meat. A huge thumbs up for this one.
Overall, I'd say the al pastor will definitely have me coming back. Travis said the fajita taco was pretty good also, so I'll have to make sure to try that on the follow up trip. My overall rankings on the 5-Taco Scale are below.
Food Quality - 3.0 Tacos
Price - $-$$
Value - 2.5 Tacos
Cleanliness - 4.5 Tacos
Service - 2.5 Tacos
Overall Experience - 3.0 Tacos
Likelihood to Return - 3.5 Tacos
Wednesday, August 22, 2018
Shon's Take - Taco Tour Stop #62 - Rancho Nuevo - 2330 N Maize
So when we started the tour, you might notice on our "Hit List" that one of the places I was hoping to go to was Las Trojas at 21st and Maize. Well, as restaurants around here tend to do, Las Trojas shut down before we made it. Buuuuut, a new place opened not very long ago in the same spot: Rancho Nuevo. I suggested we make a run for it before it also shuts down, and we were able to make it over for their $1.00 taco special on Thursdays.
I showed up right around the lunch hour and for the first time in forever, I was actually the first one there. Miracle, I know. Anyway, Thing 1 and Thing 2 showed up shortly there after, while I munched on chips and salsa. The salsa wasn't bad and would be appreciated more later, as I needed it on several of the tacos. Our waiter took our order and since I expected to get tiny $1.00 special tacos, I opted to try one of each: chicken, carnitas, barbacoa, asada, ground beef, and al pastor.
The tacos came out in a reasonable amount of time and looked pretty good. Onion and cilantro, and oddly enough, they came with lemons as opposed to the usual limes. But they had limes when we asked, sooooo.... not sure what was up with that. Maybe it's a regional thing or their preference. But I decided to try the lemon and it wasn't bad. I started with the chicken taco. All of the tacos actually had a decent amount of meat for $1.00 tacos, which gets them a decent rating on the value scale. The chicken was a good taco. Not amazing, but not horrible and it definitely benefited from some salsa. Same for the carnitas - the meat didn't have a ton of flavor and was a little dry for my taste. Still, I could tolerate it with some salsa and lime, but probably not something I'd come back for. After starting on the dry side of the spectrum, the barbacoa was the complete opposite: juicy, flavorful. I liked this taco for sure. Same for the al pastor - nice peppery kick, and a bit of a fried, crunchy texture that I actually liked. Definitely the boldest seasoning of the day. Ended with the two beef tacos - steak and ground beef. I'd call both of them average tacos. Decent amount of meat on both and I thought the steak was tender and prepared well. But just a little lacking in that flavor "pop" I really like. Still, if you like beef, you probably won't be upset with either of these offerings.
Overall, I'd say the tacos covered the full spectrum of emotions from "Meh" to "Yum". But I can definitely see myself coming back here for some al pastors and barbacoa on Thursdays, especially given the close proximity to my office. My overall ratings on the 5-Taco Scale are below.
Food Quality - 3.0 Tacos
Price - $
Value - 4.5 Tacos
Cleanliness - 4.0 Tacos
Service - 4.0 Tacos
Overall Experience - 3.0 Tacos
Likelihood to return - 3.5 tacos
I showed up right around the lunch hour and for the first time in forever, I was actually the first one there. Miracle, I know. Anyway, Thing 1 and Thing 2 showed up shortly there after, while I munched on chips and salsa. The salsa wasn't bad and would be appreciated more later, as I needed it on several of the tacos. Our waiter took our order and since I expected to get tiny $1.00 special tacos, I opted to try one of each: chicken, carnitas, barbacoa, asada, ground beef, and al pastor.
The tacos came out in a reasonable amount of time and looked pretty good. Onion and cilantro, and oddly enough, they came with lemons as opposed to the usual limes. But they had limes when we asked, sooooo.... not sure what was up with that. Maybe it's a regional thing or their preference. But I decided to try the lemon and it wasn't bad. I started with the chicken taco. All of the tacos actually had a decent amount of meat for $1.00 tacos, which gets them a decent rating on the value scale. The chicken was a good taco. Not amazing, but not horrible and it definitely benefited from some salsa. Same for the carnitas - the meat didn't have a ton of flavor and was a little dry for my taste. Still, I could tolerate it with some salsa and lime, but probably not something I'd come back for. After starting on the dry side of the spectrum, the barbacoa was the complete opposite: juicy, flavorful. I liked this taco for sure. Same for the al pastor - nice peppery kick, and a bit of a fried, crunchy texture that I actually liked. Definitely the boldest seasoning of the day. Ended with the two beef tacos - steak and ground beef. I'd call both of them average tacos. Decent amount of meat on both and I thought the steak was tender and prepared well. But just a little lacking in that flavor "pop" I really like. Still, if you like beef, you probably won't be upset with either of these offerings.
Overall, I'd say the tacos covered the full spectrum of emotions from "Meh" to "Yum". But I can definitely see myself coming back here for some al pastors and barbacoa on Thursdays, especially given the close proximity to my office. My overall ratings on the 5-Taco Scale are below.
Food Quality - 3.0 Tacos
Price - $
Value - 4.5 Tacos
Cleanliness - 4.0 Tacos
Service - 4.0 Tacos
Overall Experience - 3.0 Tacos
Likelihood to return - 3.5 tacos
Sunday, August 19, 2018
Pedro’s Express- by Chris
About a month ago, we hit Pedro’s Express at the corner of Central and Tyler. They are in the old Charlie’s Pizza Taco location. When we went, they had been open for about 3 weeks now.
The location is clean and quite nice inside. I reviewed their menu that has 9 tacos listed and chose 5. With a drink, my total was around $13, before tip. The tacos came out in roughly 7 minutes.
I started with the ground beef taco. It came in a fried shell loaded with tons of meat. There was not a ton of flavor but it was not terrible.
The chicken taco came in a fried shell. The meat was totally flavorless and tough. One bite was nearly impossible to chew through.
The al pastor was grossly over cooked and almost crunchy. What wasn’t crunchy was super chewy. It was flavorful but the taste was overshadowed by the crunch/chewiness.
The fish taco was entirely too much breading with not enough fish. The flavor is interesting but the breading is super crispy.
The steak taco is by far the best of the bunch. The meat was well cooked and had a nice taste.
I made a few observations about this place. First, they aren’t shy about putting meat in their tacos. I wish they would teach some of the other places how to load a taco up. Next, the meat was super inconsistent between our 3 orders. Finally, I think they have potential. The steak was pretty good but I think it would be better in a burrito.
They have some kinks to work out. I will likely stop by sometime in the future to see how it is going.
Casa Martinez
A couple weeks back, we hit Casa Martinez in Derby for some tacos. I arrived on time. While waiting on the other 2 yahoos, I enjoyed some chips and salsa.
When they FINALLY arrived, we placed our order and I went with the all you can eat ground beef fried flour tacos. I considered the street tacos but for whatever reason, I didn’t like they way they had them packaged with rice and beans for around $12. I wish they had an a la carte option for tacos.
I had heard about the AYCE tacos here and definitely wanted to give them a shot. I was informed by Enrique that the first order comes with 3 tacos then tacos are ordered individually after that.
When the tacos arrived, I was surprised at how large they were. I mean these were the biggest fried flour shells I have ever seen. The three tacos will stuffed full of ground beef and cheese.
After devouring the first taco, I decided to taste the second taco. While the taco is huge and filled with meat and cheese, there was just something missing. The taco was just OK. The meat was very lightly seasoned and I think it was just lacking in flavor. The meat was tender and slightly greasy but let’s face it, it’s a fried flour taco, it’s going to be greasy. Mediocre is the word that comes to mind when it comes when I try to describe the tacos.
Overall, I liked the place. The chips and salsa were quite tasty, the Mountain Dew was ice cold and delicious. The other guys were telling me that their tacos were fairly tasty so I think I just ordered the wrong thing on this visit. I will try them again at some point but I will be doing the street tacos instead.
Travis - Taco Tour stop #63 - El Agave (West) - 3540 N Maize
This week, we went back to Maize Road in search of great tacos on the far west side of Wichita - and we landed at the newish second location for El Agave Mexican Restaurant near 37th and Maize. Chris has a new job so we're having to continue without him (at least for now) - so it was just Shon and I this trip. We'll see if Chris can catch up - since he's almost 3 months behind on writing his reviews...
This is a larger sit down restaurant. With an established business on the east side already, we were hopeful they would deliver deliciousness on the west side too. The lunch crowd seemed good for a weekday and I've driven by a few times on the weekend and they seem to serve a big crowd. I was seated quickly, although I will confess our waitress wasn't overly friendly. They do have (pricy) a la carte tacos but there was some confusion as to what they were. I asked what the fajita taco was and she seemed very confused by the question and said she didn't know - she thought it was just like the other tacos. Uh.. what? Anyway, I assumed she was incorrect so I ordered that one, the al pastor, the ground beef, and the asada.
While we waited, we enjoyed some pretty decent chips and salsa. The wait wasn't horrible, but it did take awhile for our food to arrive. So probably not going to be a speedy stop during the week if that's what you're after. When the tacos arrived, they were completely wrapped in foil - which seemed odd, but honestly it was nice because they all kept their heat very well. That was a welcome change since they would all be hot - even when I got to the last taco.
I started with the fajita taco - which is pretty much what you think it might be. Fajita-like toppings served in a single tortilla, taco-style. Red peppers, green peppers, onions, and steak. There were plenty of stuffings and meat and honestly this was a pretty darn good taco. It had a really good flavor and I really liked this taco. I will definitely get this again... OR, maybe I should just get fajitas??
The al pastor was next - it had cilantro and grilled onions (but not raw onions). I couldn't quite figure it out until Shon finally identified it - it also had a little bit of pineapple cooked in it. It was nice and juicy and had that red color we've come to expect from an al pastor. It had a little bit of a kick although we debated on whether this was a pork or beef al pastor - Shon decided it was beef and it definitely could have been. Either way, this was a tasty taco - I really enjoyed this one too and the slight kick made it just right. I'd absolutely come back for this one too.
Next I tried the ground beef taco. I guess I should have ordered this on a crunchy shell. I'm not sure why, but I was thinking it was going to be something else. It was just ground beef, lettuce, and tomatoes. Eh. Really nothing else to say about it - other than that was an expensive plain old ground beef taco.
Last was the asada - which was a bit odd. It was literally just meat and nothing else. No other toppings in there. Plus, there was more meat than would fit in the tortilla. It was tender, but it was definitely odd with nothing else to compliment the meat. The flavor was fine... but it's just missing something else. I can't decide if I was disappointed in this taco or just underwhelmed by the lack of anything to go with it.
Overall this stop was pretty decent with the first 2 tacos but a little underwhelming with the second 2. I would absolutely get the fajita taco and al pastor again - or maybe I'll just try their fajitas next time. They're going to lose a few points on value though - before tip, my total for 4 tacos, no sides, and water was $13.82. The fajita taco was worth the price and the al pastor probably was too. The other two, not so much. So I'll ding them on that and I'm going to take away a point for the service because of the lack of knowledge and slightly "not friendly" demeanor... Bear in mind, no one was rude - but I did kind of just feel like "a number" during this visit.
Out of 5 tacos, here are my ratings:
Out of 5 tacos, here are my ratings:
This is a larger sit down restaurant. With an established business on the east side already, we were hopeful they would deliver deliciousness on the west side too. The lunch crowd seemed good for a weekday and I've driven by a few times on the weekend and they seem to serve a big crowd. I was seated quickly, although I will confess our waitress wasn't overly friendly. They do have (pricy) a la carte tacos but there was some confusion as to what they were. I asked what the fajita taco was and she seemed very confused by the question and said she didn't know - she thought it was just like the other tacos. Uh.. what? Anyway, I assumed she was incorrect so I ordered that one, the al pastor, the ground beef, and the asada.
While we waited, we enjoyed some pretty decent chips and salsa. The wait wasn't horrible, but it did take awhile for our food to arrive. So probably not going to be a speedy stop during the week if that's what you're after. When the tacos arrived, they were completely wrapped in foil - which seemed odd, but honestly it was nice because they all kept their heat very well. That was a welcome change since they would all be hot - even when I got to the last taco.
I started with the fajita taco - which is pretty much what you think it might be. Fajita-like toppings served in a single tortilla, taco-style. Red peppers, green peppers, onions, and steak. There were plenty of stuffings and meat and honestly this was a pretty darn good taco. It had a really good flavor and I really liked this taco. I will definitely get this again... OR, maybe I should just get fajitas??
The al pastor was next - it had cilantro and grilled onions (but not raw onions). I couldn't quite figure it out until Shon finally identified it - it also had a little bit of pineapple cooked in it. It was nice and juicy and had that red color we've come to expect from an al pastor. It had a little bit of a kick although we debated on whether this was a pork or beef al pastor - Shon decided it was beef and it definitely could have been. Either way, this was a tasty taco - I really enjoyed this one too and the slight kick made it just right. I'd absolutely come back for this one too.
Next I tried the ground beef taco. I guess I should have ordered this on a crunchy shell. I'm not sure why, but I was thinking it was going to be something else. It was just ground beef, lettuce, and tomatoes. Eh. Really nothing else to say about it - other than that was an expensive plain old ground beef taco.
Last was the asada - which was a bit odd. It was literally just meat and nothing else. No other toppings in there. Plus, there was more meat than would fit in the tortilla. It was tender, but it was definitely odd with nothing else to compliment the meat. The flavor was fine... but it's just missing something else. I can't decide if I was disappointed in this taco or just underwhelmed by the lack of anything to go with it.
Overall this stop was pretty decent with the first 2 tacos but a little underwhelming with the second 2. I would absolutely get the fajita taco and al pastor again - or maybe I'll just try their fajitas next time. They're going to lose a few points on value though - before tip, my total for 4 tacos, no sides, and water was $13.82. The fajita taco was worth the price and the al pastor probably was too. The other two, not so much. So I'll ding them on that and I'm going to take away a point for the service because of the lack of knowledge and slightly "not friendly" demeanor... Bear in mind, no one was rude - but I did kind of just feel like "a number" during this visit.
Out of 5 tacos, here are my ratings:
Out of 5 tacos, here are my ratings:
| Food Taste: | |
| Value: | |
| Cleanliness: | |
| Service: | |
| Overall: | |
| Likelihood to return: | |
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