When my friend and fellow taco eater, (connoisseur is way too fancy of a word for what we're engaging in), Chris, asked me if I'd be interested in doing this blog, I was a little hesitant. But, then I decided "Why not? We're eating tacos all the time anyway. Might as well have a little fun with it." And the Wichita Taco Tour was born. Our goal: 3 guys. 52 Wichita taco joints. In 52 weeks. This means we'll be covering the spectrum from hole in the wall fast food joints, to chains, to gourmet local tacos etc. So, read along. Have fun. We'll be posting on our FB page where and when we'll be going next. Feel free to join us for some laughs....... and tacos.
Chris suggested we start with a middle of the road place to establish a "baseline" going forward. And let me say, this place definitely starts us at the base. The first stop on the tour: Taco Rio, at Douglas and Seneca.
Even though I've passed the place a million times, this was actually my first time here. It's an unassuming building, actually feels even smaller once you get inside. When you walk in, you can order immediately at the counter. The people working there were courteous and quick. A small variety of sauces were available at a counter for you to fill up as much as you want. I'd recommend the green chili sauce which had a nice little kick to it without being overwhelmingly hot. For those of you more adventurous, they had HOT and EXTRA HOT sauces to choose from as well. It's definitely not a place for ambience, yet I was surprised at how busy it was. I didn't want to leave any stone unturned or taco uneaten. So I ordered a variety from the menu - corn, flour, meat, chicken, combo etc. When I opened the first corn beef taco, I felt a little.... meh about it. The meat was ground beef but really kind of goopy for ground beef. It tasted better than it looked, but that's not saying a whole lot. The soft flour shells were pretty thin, it was almost like the thing was a crepe taco. The chicken tacos were much better and had a slightly smoky flavor to them. They were much better on the fried flour shells, which were light and not too flaky that they fell apart in your hands.
Overall, I would say this place met my expectations for what it is: a cheap Mexican fast food option. It's not a bad place to go if you're close and crave some edible tacos on the cheap. But for me, the one location in this part of town, means I probably won't make it back anytime soon. But if you do go, I would recommend the chicken tacos on the fried flour shells and some chips with the green chili salsa. I'm rating my restaurants based on the following criteria and on a 5 Taco Scale:
Food Quality - 2.5 Tacos
Price - $
Value - 3.5 Tacos
Cleanliness - 3.5 Tacos
Service - 4.5 Tacos
Overall Experience - 3.0 Tacos
Likelihood To Return - 2.0 Tacos
How fun! can't wait till next week
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