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:

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

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

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:

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

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. 

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

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

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.