Travis - Taco Tour stop #52 - Bento Cafe - 550 N Ridge

So this week we were attempting to plan ahead again - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  Shon had apparently been to this place before but suggested we take the next tour stop at Bento Cafe Mexican Grill & Sushi. Yes. I thought it was a weird combination too...  I didn't even know the place was there - but it is! Chris had to bail due to a customer coming in from out of town, but we went anyway because he said he would go that evening (guess who didn't go that evening).

Upon walking into the establishment, it felt really similar to a Chipotle - like down to the colors and menu and everything. It was weirdly familiar and yet....not.  Anywho, they only have 3 taco options to choose from so I got all three:  Grilled chicken, steak, and shredded beef.

They make the food in front of you at a counter setup (like Chipotle) and toasting the tortillas on a flat iron grill.  Ingredients are put on to your request and you're given a choice of salsa.  I took their tacos just like they typically make them (lettuce, shredded cheese, & tomato) and added cilantro.

They didn't look too bad, but since I've become a big fan of more traditional tacos, it seemed like the other ingredients were excessive and "over-Americanized".  Sidebar, I did try their chips and salsa and although I'm not convinced the chips weren't from a bag, they were fresh and tasty. The salsa is served warm (not chilled) - which is kinda weird and interesting, but it was good.  It wasn't enough to convince me to pay extra for them if I go back, but they were enjoyable.

I went for the grilled chicken first.  It had plenty of meat and was tender with a good taste. It definitely wasn't dry like we sometimes run into with chicken.  Overall the taco was fine, but nothing memorable.  The steak was next and it was a little chewy but not bad.  There wasn't a ton of flavor and not much heat either. Last taco was the shredded beef. It had a decent flavor and was juicy. She did drain it before she served it, so it wasn't excessive, but it was enough to drip out a little.  The meat was slightly chewy.  I added some warm salsa and this brought more flavor out.

I think the tacos were okay but it wasn't anything I would rave about. The common theme I found about this visit is that the toppings are excessive.  They should compliment the meat, not cover up the flavor.  I just think they could have toned it down with all the toppings. I'm also pretty sure the meat isn't freshly prepared. The steak and chicken were diced too perfectly and uniformly to be hand-cut on site. I could be wrong, but pretty sure I'm not - I think the meats came from a box/bag.  They had that texture/flavor.  I know for a fact the shrimp did because I saw them pull it frozen out of a box.

I just felt like it's probably not much different than if I bought the ingredients myself and assembled it at home.  If that's what you're expecting and you're okay with it, then you'll probably be fine going here.  I think this is probably popular with a lot of people, but just not for me. Overall not bad, but not really the flavor I'm after.  I prefer something else and less "Amercanized". 

So here are my ratings out of 5 tacos:

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

Shon's Take - Taco Tour Stop #51 - Los Compadres - 13th and West St

50. Fifty stops so far, at 50 different places in town. So to kick off our second 50, we decided to do something we hadn't done before: Go back to a place we've already reviewed. In this case, the place was Los Compadres at 13th and West St.


We'd all been talking about going back for various reasons. Travis and Chris had gone the first time without me, although I did go later by myself (See review #23). But probably the main impetus for a new review was because of their recent move. When we walked in, it was quite a change from the ultra small building they were at before. The place was pretty nice and looked like they had put some money into making this a good upgrade. Thing 1 and Thing 2 were already seated when I got there. Next thing I noticed: we had chips and salsa on the table. That was not the case at the old location, so they've obviously changed their M.O. since my last visit. They have a nice selection of tacos here, both street style and Tex-Mex/Americano tacos. I decided to stick with 4 street tacos - carne asada, al pastor, and both chicken tacos (grilled and shredded).


Tacos came out in a pretty timely fashion and looked delish. I started with the shredded chicken taco. And...... I think I FINALLY found a tasty chicken taco that was NOT dry. This taco was quite juicy and had a very nice flavor from the marinade. Highly recommend it. The grilled chicken taco was next and was also a pretty tasty taco. The al pastor had a good peppery taste to it without being too spicy or overbearing. Steak was last - plenty of tender, perfectly cooked steak. Maybe not the flavor pop that the chicken had for sure. But still.... a nice end to a pretty good plate of tacos.


So overall, I was very happy we went back. After I typed everything above, I went back and read my previous review - I enjoyed the tacos before, but this second go round moved Los Compadres up my list quite a bit. Finding one of the few tasty chicken tacos in town will do that. Plus the service was great and they came to their senses and are starting everyone out with chips and salsa. Combine all that with a pretty decent price ($2.ish a taco) and I'm pretty sure I'll be making my way back here for some more. My overall rankings on the 5-Taco Scale are below.


Food Quality - 4.0 Tacos
Price - $
Value - 3.5 Tacos
Cleanliness - 4.0 Tacos
Service - 4.5
Overall Experience - 4.0 Tacos
Likelihood to Return - 5.0 Tacos

Shon's Take - Taco Tour Stop #50 - Fuzzy's Taco Shop - Central and Rock

Well, here we are: the BIG 5-0. Ok, so we didn't hit our original plan (hey Travis, maybe we should update our page description?) of 52 taco joints in 52 weeks for 2017. But considering we're trying to get 3 busy guys together for tacos during the week, I think we've done pretty well. Plus, we're having so much fun, we decided to throw the 1 year mark out the window. As long as new taco places open (or current taco places change and evolve) we'll continue to go. And eat. And blog. So... speaking of new taco places, Wichita has been all abuzz about the opening of Fuzzy's Taco Shop. So, of course we had to go and check it out.


Chris was the first one to get there, around 1130am on a Friday morning, and the place already had a LONG line to wait in. It took every bit of 20 minutes for him to get all the way through it. The place is nice and new: sort of a yuppie's fast food taco haven. Bright, active, and loud. You go in, order at the counter, and they give you a buzzer to let you know your food is ready at a pick up counter. Be sure to navigate carefully, as you have to cross the pick up counter to get to the drink station. Not sure what genius designed that, but the traffic jam was noticeable. Anyway I went in and grabbed a table and had Chris put my order in since he was already in line: I decided to go with 2 shrimp and 1 fish taco.


Once the guys FINALLY got through the line, I had about another 10 minute wait before my food was actually ready. When I got to the counter, I couldn't find my plate, till someone pointed out my order was actually in a To Go bag. Anyway, I got my tacos back and tore in: if you haven't read the other guys' description of their tacos you should. Unfortunately, I was equally disappointed in my fish and shrimp tacos. Things were pretty skimpy and what meat was there just didn't have much flavor. They weren't "throw 'em back at the workers" horrible, but they were very meh.


So, my conclusion? I would LOVE to hire the marketing guy for this location. Seriously. Somehow they managed to get a bunch of 5-star reviews before the place even opened (apparently just based on the reputation of other locations nationwide) and have people lined out the door to wait 30 minutes for mediocre fast food tacos. At 2.59 each. MAYBE I'll go back, but not till they get a little better and the line dies down. WAY. DOWN. My overall rankings on the 5-Taco Scale are below.


Food Quality - 1.5 Tacos
Price - $-$$
Value - 1.5 Tacos
Cleanliness - 4.0 Tacos
Service - 2.5 Tacos
Overall Experience - 1.5 Tacos
Likelihood to Return - 1.5 Tacos

Travis - Taco Tour stop #51 - Los Compadres (round 2) - 3827 W 13th

We've had some discussion lately about possibly returning to a few places to give them a "second chance". Sometimes this is because they keep getting recommended or mentioned to us, sometimes it's because they've moved or made improvements, and sometimes it's just because our first stop left us wondering if they were better (call it taco gut instincts).  Los Compadres Mexican Grill in on the list of places to retry for all three reasons.  They do get mentioned a lot by others (both friends and followers).  They have recently moved from Central and Zoo to 13th & West street - and their new place is much bigger.  And after our first stop, I think we all felt like they might even be better than our first round.  That's not to say they were bad - please don't misunderstand! They just weren't memorable and we felt like either they or we had a slightly off day - like maybe they were right on the edge of being better than we first realized...

ANYWAY, we ventured to the new location and I must say this family knows how to make a nice looking restaurant. Even in the tiny spot they were in before, it was well decorated and kept up. The new place looks even better. They spent the time and money to make this look like a nice place - it's definitely not a hole in the wall. The staff is very friendly - even with a little fun sass from our waitress as we bantered back and forth (that gets you points in my book).

Chips and salsa were yummy - nice crunch to the chips and a good flavored salsa with an appropriate amount of spice.  They have a good variety of tacos in both American style and traditional - and with a good selection of meats. I went with 4 Tacos El Compadre (traditional) in Asada, Pollo (shredded chicken as recommended by our waitress), al pastor, carnitas - I also later added 1 grilled chicken to the mix also (and forgot to take a pic).  They are also a Pepsi joint - so I happily added a Dew to my order.

Our food came out in a timely manner and it looked yummy.  Everything was street style with 2 tortillas, plenty of meat, and onions & cilantro.  I dug into the asada first and it was nice and tender.  The meat was plentiful and had a nice steak flavor.  Did I mention it was tender? Because seriously, it was very tender. I enjoyed every bite of this taco.

Next was the shredded chicken.  I asked our waitress about the Pollo Asada on the menu - which is a grilled chicken. She said she liked the shredded better but that it was very juicy and came cooked in a red sauce.  She was right - it was VERY juicy. I thought maybe she meant it would have a red sauce over it, but it didn't. It just had a red color to it from being cooked in it (I assume).  Either way it had a really good flavor and was quite enjoyable.

The al pastor was next and was also a tender meat. I'm not a cook, but we've found that finding a tender al pastor sometimes is difficult. Even tasty ones are sometimes a little on the chewy side. This one was not - but it also wasn't quite as bold flavored as others we've had. It was still a good taco so I wouldn't shy away from it.

Carnitas was next - and as you probably know by now, my bar is pretty high for carnitas.  This one came out just a little greasy but it had a good flavor.  This was definitely a good taco also, but it just can't compete with Pollo Express - which I'm thinking about as I write this since I had a PE Carnitas last night! :)  Still, it's a good choice here too.

After I finished those, I decided to add the grilled chicken because Shon said it was good.  It also was a very tender chicken and pretty tasty. It was also juicy - which we've found somewhat difficult to find lately.  It seems like many chicken tacos have been a bit dry - this one was not!  This grilled chicken was yummy and not disappointing!

Overall, I'm really happy we came back to Los Compadres. The word of the day is tender! Seriously, everything was really tender! They know what they're doing. They make excellent food and I'm anxious to come back and try some other dishes here. The staff is friendly and attentive. The service is fast enough for lunch and the restaurant is very nice inside and plenty of room.  They are also close to my office so it's always a plus to find some really good tacos this close.  This will very likely become a more frequent stop!

Out of 5 tacos, here are my ratings:

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

Fuzzy’s Fail

Today we are at Fuzzy’s Tacos. Yes, the one you have been hearing about for the better part of a year. For a place that uses the slogan “your new addiction” their tacos had better be darn good. 

I came to their soft opening/VIP thing last week for a sample. I didn’t review them as they weren’t officially open. 

Today’s question remains the same as always, how good are the tacos? These folks have built a ton of hype, but do they live up to it? 

When you walk in, you are met with an insanely large menu. I think I counted 11 different meats you can choose for your tacos. There is everything from steak and chicken to shrimp and egg. I went with 5 of their tacos and found a seat. 

While I understand that this is their first week, I stood in line for 25 minutes before they took my order. I also watched people that ordered after me get their food before I did. 

They give you a buzzer that indicates when your food is ready. Then, when it goes off, you head to the food handoff area where a gaggle or employees ask your name and give you your tacos. 

When I finally got my food, the first thing I noticed was that the portions were SIGNIFICANTLY smaller than they were last week. BAIT AND SWITCH!!!!!!

The chicken taco was cold and had very little meat. What is most disappointing is that the chicken taco actually seem to have some promise.

The shrimp egg and cheese taco was the only one with what I could call an acceptable amount of food on it. The egg and shrimp were delicious together. I have been wanting breakfast tacos close to work and this is actually pretty good. 

The fajita steak was chewy and cold. The meat was favorless and there just wasn’t much of it. 

The “special ground beef” taco was flavorful but again, there was hardly any meat on it. At least it was warm. 

The spicy pork with neither spicy nor full of pork. I busted the bits of shell off that didn’t have meat inside and there was more shell without meat than there was with. 

In short, the ONLY acceptable taco was the shrimp egg and cheese taco. The rest were cold, lacking meat or both. For the wait, price and experience, find somewhere else for a good round of tacos. 

I feel that as a whole, fuzzies is nothing more than hype. The tacos are a fail, the experience as a whole was is a fail. The only real win here is their marketing. They do have that down. 

I will return but ONLY for the breakfast tacos and only if they can figure out how to take orders in a reasonable amount of time. 

Travis - Taco Tour stop #50 - Fuzzy's Tacos - 306 N Rock

So LOTS of hype going around about Fuzzy's Taco Shop this week. They just opened a Wichita location and the place had a nearly 5 star review before it ever opened. Obviously we knew we were going to go sometime, and this week seemed like the time to give it a shot. Chris defected last week and went with a co-worker - but he avoided the standard tacos and went for breakfast tacos. He said they were delicious so naturally we had some excitement to go and try "real" tacos.

The place is PACKED of course. Chris made it there before us and I think he said he was in line for well over 20 minutes.  The inside feels sort of like an "Applebee's for Tacos" if that makes any sense.  It has that casual "sports-bar" vibe only brighter. You order at a counter and give your name and get a buzzer for when your order is ready.

They have a pretty good selection of food, but I went for a la carte tacos - they call their tacos "Baja Tacos".  I'm not sure why - if they mean they're like Baja California or you want to go offroading when you eat them, or if they're "drop" tacos.  Anyway, I ordered 4 "baja" tacos - and selected "shredded chicken" on a crunchy shell, "shredded brisket" crunchy, "special ground beef" crunchy, and "spicy pork" soft.  $2.59/taco, so with a drink I'm over $13 - not high on the value scale yet.

When your buzzer goes off, you go to the counter and someone gets your tray off the counter and hands it to you.  I'm not sure why you give your name since they don't use it - and I'm not entirely sure why they have people standing at the counter to pull your tray off and hand it to you.  #efficiency  Of course it's packed around that area because both staff and patrons are standing around waiting, so it's tough to get through there to the drink station which has Coke products (bleh).  But even though there are plenty of people inside, it's not as loud as I expected it (like headache-inducing Buffalo Wild Wings).

I grabbed the tray and each taco had its own basket - again, not entirely sure why.  They are served on an open piece of paper and 3 of my 4 tacos had a sticker on the paper to indicate what they were.  The 4th didn't, and none of Chris's did. By my amazing power of reasoning I was able to figure out what my 4th taco was (process of elimination).  My first concern is with these being served open, they're not going to stay hot (and they didn't) - in fact even the first one really wasn't "hot".

I started with the "spicy pork" on a single soft flour tortilla - it had some chewy bits that were a little off-putting, but overall the taste and texture wasn't bad. It had plenty of meat and the taste wasn't bad. I'd put it middle-of-the-road, but it wasn't spicy at all. Nothing. I couldn't detect ANY spiciness.

Next was the brisket on a crunchy shell - I had hoped "crunchy" meant a sort of toasty/crunchy tortilla, but this is your basic corn shell.  So a bit of a letdown but I guess I shouldn't have assumed anything.  Lots of meat on this taco too - but more meat than flavor.  It wasn't bad, it wasn't great.  I'm just not really seeing much flavor so far and that's disappointing.  Brisket could be pretty darn good - but I had a hard time detecting any seasoning at all.

Side note here - I looked over because Chris was complaining.  His tacos had barely any meat. Mine had about twice as much as his did.  That's pretty inconsistent - check out his pics when he posts his review.  Pretty terrible for a $2.59 taco.

Next was the chicken and it also had plenty of meat.  Even though it wasn't advertised as spicy, it was more spicy than the "spicy pork".  Overall, this one had more flavor than the other 2 combined. It really wasn't too bad - I'd put it slightly better than middle-of-the-road.

Last was the ground beef.  It was a little oily - scratch that, it was a lot oily.  The meat had seasoning in it at least - but it tastes like taco meat that you cook with hamburger and a packet of taco seasoning from the grocery store. In fact I've personally cooked better tacos in a skillet and eaten from a bag of Doritos.  (No, really.)

I don't get the hype of this place. Yes it's new.  But people are RAVING about it already - and before it ever opened.  There are some annoying efficiency things they might adjust and some inconsistencies they need to work out.  The atmosphere is fun and the service is fine.  But really I don't see the hype.  I have had better tacos at fast food joints - or at LEAST as good for less cost.  Mediocre at best.  I'll just go down the street to Taco Shop.  (Yep, I said it.)  I wouldn't mind going back to see if other menu items are better - but I think I'll let the hype wear off and I definitely won't make a special trip back.

Out of 5 tacos, here's what I thought:

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