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: | |
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