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: