Review Reviews: Tacos y Tequila

Lucas

Intro / Pre-Dinner – I had a hunch this meal would be riveting. After calling the restaurant at noon, we were told to call again around 5:30pm if we wanted to make a reservation for 6:00. It was to our chagrin when the restaurant responded to our 5:30pm call with “No tables tonight!” However, this was proven not to be true as we were able to book a table for 8:00 online, a booking method to which we were directed by a friend. Notably, we were not made aware of this method by the employees on the phone.

We were not seated until 18 minutes after our reservation time, despite being there a few minutes early. Even so, others in the schmob hanging around the hostess’ stand likely had it worse. 

The ambiance of the place was odd, with brewery vibes. I am not sure if Mexican breweries are known for their wood paneling, or if the brothers of SAE finally decided to work for one day in their lives by renovating the place.

The Menu – Apart from a few typos and two octopi-based appetizers with different names but the exact same description, the menu was solid. The restaurant certainly has robust offerings, but I found it manageable and not too much to sift through. 

We waited very patiently as our servers filtered water from the Connecticut River into our cups. We waited fifteen minutes, to be exact.

The Food – To my surprise, we saw a deer in the headlights at Tacos y Tequila: our server. This individual brought us chips as well as salsa that “tastes like Prego” to start. The salsa, we were told, would go seamlessly on any pasta dish. However, my fellow Review members noted that it looked like something one might eat during Pledge Term.

For my main course, I went with a burrito, as I had seen some at other tables and the portion size appeared generous. Even for $18, the size was fair. It was a pretty typical pork burrito with cheese sauce on it. 

The whole dish was as warm as I wanted it, which I was happy about. However, this made little sense because I could have finished an exam between the time we finished our appetizers and the time the entrees were served. Nonetheless, the burrito made for a very solid dish. 

The flavor was good, and the pork was tender. The pickled onions on top were too much, though, and I was forced to pick them off. (This, coming from someone who loves both red onions and pickles.)

Other Notes – More seriously, the place seemed severely understaffed. Although I am sure there were more employees on duty, I only spotted two the whole time. Not only was our entire experience slow, but our servers actually forgot to bring us cutlery. The plating also left much to be desired. We finally got out of the place almost two hours after our arrival, despite ordering each course as fast as possible.

After our visit, the restaurant’s 3.4/5 rating on Google Reviews seems about right, if slightly generous.

Zoe

After waiting about twenty minutes for our table and another twenty minutes for our waitress, we ordered our food. I’m fairly certain we were among the first, if not the very first, to request the tostadas de pulpo al mojo. At Tacos y Tequila’s “market price,” the octopus tostadas were nothing special. Served on a toasted tortilla that bordered on stale, the octopus possessed a similar flavor profile and texture to a thoroughly salted piece of rubber. Furthermore, I found the little suction cups on the chunks of tentacle to be off-putting. The overall sensation of consuming these tostadas was unpleasant, and I cannot in good conscience recommend them to anyone.

Our second appetizer, the “OMG Nachos,” provided a superior experience than the octopus tostadas. Long gone are the days of going to Molly’s to eat a pile of unevenly distributed cheese, pico de gallo, and guacamole on a bed of crushed up tortilla chips. Tacos y Tequila presents its customers with uniformly spread chips and carefully selected toppings. These nachos were not merely whipped up, they were masterminded. I must note that they required a fork, as the chips had a tendency to fold in on themselves due to their sheer weight. Initially, I was skeptical of their name. What sort of Icarian hubris could lead the establishment to title their nachos thusly? After having sunk my teeth into these chips, however, I can safely say: “Oh My God.” While the octopus tostadas were a mistake, the OMG Nachos were an experience worth repeating.

For my entree, I ordered the pollo and carne tacos—the chicken and steak tacos for those readers not as educated in the Spanish language. Tacos y Tequila gives itself an excuse to dish out their diminutive portions by labeling the tacos “Street Tacos,” so I won’t fault them on that front. The tacos had a fairly simple makeup: a corn tortilla and meat completed with a red onion and cilantro garnish. The restaurant didn’t exactly reinvent the taco, but I suppose they weren’t trying to. As far as the quality of the meat, the chicken in my taco was perfectly seasoned and overall pleasant. The steak, however, wasn’t worth my time. Dried-out, flavorless char would be more at home in a tortilla than this “steak.” I summoned all of my strength to chew through most of the taco, but in the end I was unable to finish it. Inevitably, I will someday return to TYT and eat a taco again. It is, after all, the only Mexican restaurant in town that isn’t a poorly-veiled Chipotle knockoff (sorry, not sorry, Boloco). Sticking with the chicken, and perhaps trying a pork taco, will be my plan moving forward. 

To those looking for a Mexican dining experience at Tacos y Tequila, I say this: secure your reservation, budget out about two hours to eat, avoid the octopus, and you’ll be just fine. 

Jhozef

After my long six-month career as a buffet waiter and a three-day stint at a Radisson Blue, I came to Tacos y Tequila with low expectations—predictably, they were met. With the ambiance of a beer distillery, and the abstract art of an IKEA, Tacos y Tequila was on par with the average, casual, small-town restaurant in “middle-of-nowhere” Hanover. However, the disorganized staff and the hit-and-miss food were a source of mixed feelings.

My insufferable European request for “water, no ice” was met with a smile from our server, which was then followed by a 20-minute wait. I can only assume that the ice extraction from the glass must have been an incredibly long and tedious process. The candle-holder glass itself was an artistic choice, but an impractical one. It clearly was not made for my foreign hands.

These foreign hands could also not pick up the “OMG Nachos” which crumbled under their own weight. (And hands they were because we were not given cutlery.) It must be noted, however, that they were the culinary highlight of the night. A combination of heat, cold, spice, and flavor, the nachos enormously overcompensated for the disappointment that were the octopus tostadas. Our initial surprise at the presence of octopus on the menu was met with equal surprise by the waitress when ordering the octopus tostadas. It later became clear that the octopus we were served was likely as old as the restaurant itself.

On to my main course. The Fajita Quesadilla, which came with the options of steak or chicken (or both!), was served with rice and a side of shredded romaine and tomato. An all-round success, it is my recommended choice from the menu. The sour cream and cheese gave the quesadilla a soft and sweet background on which the sharp flavors of onion and pepper played with the pico de gallo and the adequately seasoned chicken. The rice was a nice savory addition, which—with the gratuitous side of salad—made the quesadilla a solid dish.

Once we stood up to leave the restaurant, it came to my attention that the solid thin bench on which I had been sitting for the last two hours had caused symptoms of what is scientifically known as “ass-numbness syndrome.” The bench, a common restaurant tactic used to nudge the unsuspecting guest to vacate the table as soon as possible upon finishing his meal, was self-sabotaged by the slow service of the employees.

All in all, the establishment was pretty mid-range. The whole experience could have been improved with a little more organization and a little less octopus. Like other Hanover establishments, Tacos y Tequila also does not take reservations earlier than 30 minutes before an estimated mealtime. However, the possibility of booking online is a definite advantage, a convenience of which the person answering phone calls for the restaurant clearly had no awareness. The long line at the restaurant’s door, however unexplainable, could be easily prevented in the future with a clearer reservation policy.

I would not be opposed to returning to this restaurant. Armed with the knowledge of this visit, I am sure future experiences will be more pleasant.