Hot or Mild Review

On our last trip to see my Doctor, we passed by Mr. Taco. This restaurant appeared out of nowhere one day when we made a trip into the "Big City", actually meaning that we had never noticed it before.

Mr. Taco sign we parked next to it

It appeared to be a Hispanic bar/taco joint with a lot of outside seating, the side of the building is covered with large signs advertising various Mexican beers, and others displaying different food specials. They were really busy every time we passed by and I always joked that we should try it someday, basically since it doesn't look like a place Cindy would choose, I told her that some of the best food that I have ever eaten has come from stopping at what you would call a dive.

She almost went for it the last time we were in town, the place was packed that day and the only parking spot was around back next to the dumpster. Cindy looked at the back of the building, and then at the dumpster, and put the GMC into reverse, saying "I'm not eating at a place that looks like I might get my throat cut before I get inside", that day we took our chance with the ruffians hanging around outside the Olive Garden.

I was really surprised when we left the Doctors office and Cindy said "I want to try Mr. Taco today." I never expected this and was happy to see an empty parking spot right up front, we could smell Mexican food when we got out of the car, a much better experience than what we would have smelled the day we almost parked next to the dumpster.

Going inside the setup is for you to order your meal at the counter, they give you a number and you find a place to sit, when your food is ready a waitress will bring the food out to you, simple enough...Right?

The Breaded Fish Tacos

"Today's Special" was fish tacos for .99 cents each, I like fish tacos so I ordered a couple for myself, I even had a choice between breaded or grilled, so I ordered grilled, Cindy ordered a cheese enchilada and a shredded chicken taco, along with an unsweetened tea to drink, I looked around at all the frosted mugs and thought, When in Rome you do like the Romans do, or in this case when in a Mexican bar...

I ordered myself a beer in a frosted mug, expecting a draft beer to be drawn up, but instead the lady behind the counter reached down into a vat of ice and pulled out the tallest beer can I have ever seen in my life, I bet that I could have stood on top of it to change a light bulb even at my height, then out came a frosted mug large enough to accommodate the amount of beer inside the can.

While Cindy was getting herself some chips and salsa at the self service chips and salsa bar, I had to test this assumption by attempting to pour all of the beer into the mug.

There is a technique to pouring beer into a mug, if you simply pour it in, you will end up with half a mug of beer and the top half nothing but foam, this is not good if you want to actually drink your beer, because to get a drink tipping the mug back gets foam all over your nose, and with only half a mug you have to tip it back further than normal, and no one wants foam on their face and beer on their shirt because they had foam in their eyes.

For a good pour, you have to hold the mug at an angle and slowly pour the beer onto the inside top of the glass and allow it to flow towards the bottom, as the glass fills simply angle the glass to an upright position, and voila, you now have a full mug of beer with very little if any head, or foam at the top. This is what I did and low and behold the mug held every drop of beer from that giant can.

The only problem was that it was perfectly even with the rim, almost rounded up out of the glass like the slightest movement would send the liquid crashing onto the table, I did what any self respecting man would do, I sure didn't want to spill my beer and be accused of alcohol abuse, so I leaned over the mug and sucked the beer down to a respectable level, as I sat back upright I noticed Cindy standing there looking at me, she had just returned from the salsa bar and just stood there shaking her head, she didn't even ask...

Cindy was telling me about her experience while getting her chips and salsa, the chips part was easy because chips are chips, but there were about a dozen different salsas, Cindy is not a fan of spicy.

Self serve chips and salsa bar.

There was a young Hispanic man there at the same time she was, so she asked him about the salsas, he told her that he loved the green salsa and that he preferred the mild. The hot salsa was one one side and the mild on the other. She pointed in front of him and asked. Is this the mild sauce? And he replied. Give it a try. Cindy got a small container and scooped some into it, she dipped the tip of her pinkie finger into it and tasted it, she said that her mouth was immediately on fire.

She brought some for me to try and she was not exaggerating this stuff was really hot. I asked her what happened to her friend who told her to try it, she said he grabbed his chips and moved to the other end for the green sauce there instead.

About this time my fish tacos came out, the waitress walked up and said with a thick Mexican accent, "Breaded fish tacos?", I nodded my head, I was still concentrating on how this guy had suckered Cindy into tasting the hot sauce, the waitress sat the plate in front of me and walked away. Cindy pointed out to me that I had actually ordered grilled and not breaded, she flagged the waitress down, told her of the mixup and asked about her own order.

The waitress took back my plate and apologized, said she would check on Cindy's order and exchange mine for the grilled tacos. A little while later my grilled fish tacos arrived but  not Cindy's enchilada and taco, Cindy again asked about her order and the waitress again said that she would go and check on it.

To make a long story short, just about the time Cindy was getting up to go and check on it herself was when her order arrived, I could have eaten mine three times in the length that it took for Cindy's to come out.

Mr. Taco Review:

I thought that the fish tacos were really good and I would definitely order them again.

Cindy said they smelled really fishy.

Cindy hated the red sauce on her enchilada, and said the shredded chicken really didn't taste right.

Upon further inspection her shredded chicken was actually shredded beef, I tasted her red sauce and in my opinion it left a lot to be desired, kind of tasted like Tabasco with no kick to it.

Cindy loved the Spanish rice and said it was about the best that she had ever eaten, but that was the only good thing on her plate.

I am the wrong person to ask about Spanish rice so needless to say I didn't try it.

We both agree that Cindy's and my orders should have come to our table  at the same time.

The quality of Cindy's food was not good, and the service was mediocre at best.

I would give it another try, because my Tacos were good, the beer was good, and I didn't need a second one.

Cindy said she has no desire to go back again, if she had just ordered Spanish rice she said that she would have been happy, but everything else was so bad she won't even try them again.

Cindy and Jimmy not happy with Mr. Taco

End result is I have to agree with her on this one, the bad outweighs the good and we will not return. Mr. Taco gets no thumbs up and Cindy's little friend who tricked her at the salsa bar gets one digit.