Taco Fresco

The service at the Chicago location on Adams is the worse. I ordered chicken fajitas. I first noticed the small portion size given the price. Quite different from other locations I frequent. I then noticed the veggie substitution. There were zucchini and squash, no red, green, yellow bell peppers. This made for the worse tasting fajitas ever. I then noticed blondish hair in the lettuce and tomatoes. I asked for a refund and the older lady argued me up and down about how good the food is to her. Had I only looked at Unilocal before, I would have avoided this experience.

This place felt like a classic bait and switch. With decent looking signage out front – akin to Qdoba or other fast casual food. Entering it though, revealed stark taco place. Not that it looked disheveled or messy, just sad.
I went with my girlfriend and was mildly embarrassed. Usually the advantage of Taco joints is that they’re affordable, but this place just slowly added up – and the portions weren’t too big. And what we did get was basically oil and cheese.
I like supporting local business, especially if it’s location is in the loop. But this place seems to have given up ages ago, and probably survives due to its real estate and the density of neighborhood tourists that might trip in there.

One star is too many. Do NOT give this place your business. The lady who works there (who seems to be some kind of owner or manager) is incredibly rude.
I came in yesterday during my lunch hour to buy a homeless guy a burrito and she took one look at him from behind the counter and screamed, «OUT!»
I said loudly enough for the whole place to hear, «I am buying him some food.» (We were still several feet from the counter, so the volume really couldn’t be helped anyway, and you can bet I wanted the people eating lunch in there to realize how badly she was treating this man.)
She raised her voice at me and went off about how if I had been running a business and he came in and was bothering her customers, I’d be upset too. Apparently she’d seen him before.
I said, «I don’t need to know that situation, all I know is this man is a human being and he is hungry. But you know what? We are going to get food somewhere else.»
She was still spouting angrily at us when we were walking out the door.
This lady is honestly a nightmare. I came in as a paying customer for this man and she screamed us both out of there.
By the way, I did try the food there on a previous occasion, so the star applies to that too. It was overpriced, soggy, and nasty, so this lady really can’t afford to be shouting customers out of the place with serving compost material like that.

0 stars! Do not go here I gave my taco to a homeless guy. I let the lady at the front desk know her lines had gone bad and she gave me a bad look. I’m just trying to help! Ride and beans were disgusting no flavor. Only thing fresh is the lettuce and tomato. Tortillas were cold!

Worst cheese quesadilla I ever had. Served with about a teaspoon of sour cream and a teaspoon of brown guacamole and some sad lettuce. Cheese was barely melted and too salty. Owner was disengaged and disinterested. What a waste of $ 5. Never going back.

My experience was slightly better than many of the reviews here. The owner wasn’t rude, the restaurant was clean, and the ingredients were fresh.
However, I still wouldn’t recommend coming here. I came here for the first time yesterday and got a chicken burrito. Most of the burrito was lettuce, a good chunk of it was tomatoes, a moderate amount was cheese, and a very small amount was chicken and beans. The lettuce is obviously acting as cheap filler, which is dissapointing for the price paid (about $ 6 for a burrito). It’s also thrown in cold, which means you’re eating a burrito with huge cold spots.
I know their thing is «healthy» mexican, but grilled chicken and beans are healthy enough on their own. It’s not an excuse for using that much lettuce. The small bits of meat and beans I got did taste good (nothing super-​special, but good), but there was so little of it that it felt like a waste.
I also got chips with my meal. They were greasy but tasty. Probably not the best if you’re actually looking for healthy mexican food, but I was just looking for any mexican food.

Owners are extremely rude and they are very stingy with the amount of food they give you. Will never go back.

I think this place sat down and read their terrible reviews, no joke. A few months ago this place was terrible. Rude customer service and food was not fresh, I decided to give this place another chance and glad I did. The owners are trying to be nice and start treating you even nicer if they recognize you as a regular. Food is actually fresh lately too, was not the case before. Give it another try, seems like the owners are really trying (maybe having some of their neighboring businesses closing was a wake up call!)

I like Taco Fresco overall, and love the food, but this particular venue is awful. The place is dirty, the owners are mean to customers and the employees, and they charge you extra for EVERYTHING! I asked for a little extra cheese, and they charged me $ 1.25 for a teaspoon more. If I wanted salsa on the side, there is an extra fee for that. Since when do you have to pay extra for salsa at a Mexican restaurant?!? I’ve been there a few times, and each time I go, I leave angry because the owners are just so rude. I feel bad for the employees who have to put up with this #&@! every day. If you like the food, go to another location. The one on Wacker is great.

While the exterior of Taco Fresco is badged in huge signs touting «Healthy Eating» and «Quick, Fresh!», the joint on Adams and Wabash is none of the above — it’s greasy, stale, mushy, over salted and, quite simply, just gross.
Following an unremarkable first visit a week earlier where I sampled a pair of tasty chicken tamales (not on the menu, but I heard the person at the counter offer them to a customer in front of me…), I opted to try the Taco Combo for $ 6.45, featuring two tacos of my choice, «fresh refried beans», Mexican rice and a «can of pop». Despite a sign screaming «Best Fish Tacos In Town», I was met with a «Sorry, no fish today,» when I asked for the fish tacos. They did offer me «garlic chile shrimp» or «ahi tuna», for a $ 1 up charge.
I ordered the steak and garlic chile shrimp tacos on the combo. Not once. Not twice. But three times. My order was first taken by the guy slinging the tacos behind the counter. The second time I had to give my order was when asked by an older woman, standing just two feet away from the taco slinger. But wait, there’s more! — Then, I had to place my order a THIRD time with the older guy who rang up my combo, bagged up my «For Here» order and tossed in a lone, token paper napkin. And, despite ordering the combo «with a side of chips and guacamole», there were none in the bag. So I had to order my sides… again…for the fourth time.
I had no problem finding a seat in the six-​to-​eight table restaurant, since the place was empty at 12:45 on a Monday afternoon. My table was clean, but the seat was covered in crumbs and drips of salsa.
The chile garlic shrimp taco consisted of two tiny, un-​veined ⁶¹⁄₇₀ count shrimps, in a watery sea of brown, wilted lettuce, diced tomato, sliced onion and a pinch of what appeared to be Chihuahua-​style cheese — certainly no «pico de gallo» I’ve ever seen. The taste was overwhelmingly salty, only partially cut by the strong white onion — absolutely no taste of chile or garlic. The two six-​inch tortillas appeared to be corn, but had such a mushy consistency, and they literally disintegrated before I could get them up to my mouth. The steak taco was no better — less than a spoonful of chewy meat, tossed atop two flavorless corn tortilla — and these were light and fluffy on one end, but surprisingly chewy on the other.
On the combo plate, my two-​ounce portion of refried beans appeared to be straight from a can of Old El Paso, and utterly unadorned. The «Mexican rice» was completely bland, with no seasoning — it could have literally been Uncle Ben’s Boil-​n-​Bag rice. I’m not joking.
While the guacamole was outstanding — fresh avocados, onion, tomato, served chunky style– the corn chips left an oil slick on my Styrofoam plate and smelled of rancid, overused Fry-​O-​Lator grease. Some of the chips were kind of crispy, but I stopped sampling when I bit down on what can only be described as a rubber door jam — chewy, limp and saturated with grease.
Despite being only a block away from my office, I think after two visits I’m left to find another taco joint in the downtown Loop.

Haven’t gone there years. Went out to see if it improved.
It had not.
It was empty at 12:50. Found out why. I ordered the two taco combo and it came out to about $ 9.00, even though it looked to be advertised as $ 6.99 on the menu. Why? «Because steak is extra!»
OK. No thanks then.
Older woman behind register was beyond rude. I canceled the order right after she explained that i would be paying too much for subpar tacos. She then screamed at me as I left.
There’s a Chipotle around the corner. Trust me, you’re better off. No shady upselling and fradulent menus. You know what you’re going to get.
This place should shut itself down.

I’m an out-​of-​towner who stumbled into this place for breakfast. Man, I should have checked Unilocal before opening that door. Walking around the block from the Palmer in search of a breakfast burrito and with not much time to spare, I entered Taco Fresco as I saw a sign advertising breakfast burritos.
Never judge a book by its cover, right? In this case you should. The people working behind the counter did not appear to or sound like they originated in a place that eat Mexican food on a regular basis. Not that you can’t learn to cook and service quality Mexican food. And for that reason, I moved forward with my order, 2 steak and egg breakfast burritos.
I believe everything was warmed/​cooked on a hot plate. Total price for 2 regular size burritos was $ 17. When I questioned the price as the board said steak burrito were $ 5.75, I was told it was $ 4 extra for 2 eggs on each 1. No problem, but just post the price somewhere. When I asked were that upcharge was located on the menu, I was told it wasn’t but that is what eggs cost when you go to out to eat. Shouda walked out again.
Burritos were… wait for it… tasteless and boring. Will I go back? No.

The front counter area is dirty, cluttered with paperwork, and smelly. The restaurant just smells dirty. There is nothing fresh about this location. The food is ok.

I can’t do NO STARS and there you are.
I have had mediocre tacos here, a maybe not so great burrito. I am not on Unilocal to assassinate small places. I get that family owned is tough. But if I can walk up a flight of stairs for way better at the same price. Get with the program!
Today I had Burritos De Los Muertos. The breakfast burrito can maybe make you meet your ancestors and if you want to do that $ 4.99 is a deal!
Let me start, Breakfast Burritos are fun! So are Pirates! What is my point? Pirates are not fair and do not care about your long term survival. like the breakfast burrito served here. I do not normally look at Burger King longingly and think… at least the food there meets sanitary norms. Seriously, I threw my food away as I believed it would make me sick!
I ordered the steak egg and cheese breakfast burrito and the guy says «Order over there» by Millenium Park Hot Dog. So many points that I should have walked out. I have a friend who talks New Age Stuff about following your heart. I think that is a load of silly BUT SHE IS RIGHT! My heart said Run away 4 or 5 times! Like when she asked me like three times if I really wanted that. She pointed at the menu… I just wanted steak and eggs! I eat out once a month.
No, I see new it was NO Warning. she called down my doom! Isn’t that what you do to make Beetlejuice appear? Like my evil burrito! It makes sense now!
Look, I canmake this at home. No pre cooked (at room temperature!!) eggs and steak in 15 minutes. If you save time with food at room temperature people wil die. Literally it was not hot enough to met the cheese! But the eggs were way overcooked and crumbley.
EAT HERE AT YOUR OWN RISK! YOU ARE TAKING YOUR LIFE IN YOUR HANDS!
I can wash my hands of this place now knowing your lif eos not on my conscience.

I often pass by the front of this place, and I walk in for lunch once every few years to see if they’ve improved, but they never improve, and each time I wonder how this place is still in business. It’s possible that due to its location, they often get one-​off stop-​ins from tourists. Horrible, icky food (even for basic rice and beans, the rice is dry and the beans taste and feel like salted gunk-​paste), and slimy business practices.
One time when I walked in, I saw this trick: As the costumers are about to hand over their credit cards, the person at the cashier asks if the customer wants a pastry as part of the combo, and people in front of me have often taken it without asking the price, and handed over their credit card. When I’ve gotten to the front and asked what that pastry costs, I was told $ 5…what?! I’m glad I asked first.
The very last time I went in, the last time ever, when I asked specifically I could choose any free drink from the cooler to have as part of the combo, and after they said yes, after I paid for the combo the mean woman behind the counter yelled at me and said I had to walk back and pay separately for the soda I chose because it wasn’t part of the combo. They’ll do anything for that extra $ 1.
This leads me to believe that they don’t have any care about building any actual clientele, but just prey upon tourists who come in looking for cheap food in the middle of downtown Chicago.

WARNING!!!
We’ve found a long strand of gray hair in our beans.
Horrible customer experience!
We both ordered chips & salsa.
(*WARNING: the salsa is watered down!!!)
I originally had the taco combos which included 2 tacos of any choice you want (I got the refried taco; I’m a vegetarian thank you, but you can order black beans as well) along with beans and rice.
My fiancé ordered a burrito combo which includes one big burrito, beans (either bean beans or refried beans), along with rice and beans. He also requested guacamole, but they forgot to charged it. So we got charged twice.
Not even two minutes later, we were thirsty. We asked about the drinks that came with the combo. They just pointed to the drinks vending machine, and claim we only can grab can of soft drinks. We told we can’t drink can pops because it’s not healthy for anyone because what it has inside. We immediately ask can we get water. They said bottle water are 0.66 cents, if we want it. We didn’t want to keep charging our card onto this place because of the negatively vibe we were getting from the owner and the cook.
We said forget it, and this is where I finally checked into Unilocal and overview the comments of the place. I should have looked into the reviews before coming here.
I shook my head and continue eating, in hopes maybe this restaurant has changed. Everyone deserves a chance, right?
Or so did I thought so…
Not even three minutes of sitting down & eating our meals. My fiancé found a long strand of gray hair, I immediately jumped up and yelled out «eww are you serious?! A gray of hair in the beans!»
The manager whom is obviously older, he immediately pointed out that he has short gray hair and there was no way it was from them. Next thing we know he’s yelling at us like he wants us to argue.
Fortunately he was lucky, that we had to go back to college bound at 6pm.
The only good part about it, that he immediately replaced his plate with only beans & rice. My thing is why have a strand of hair into the consumers plate? Obviously the restaurant did not check their food & make sure it’s healthy and the customer would love the services from the restaurant.
OBVIOUSLY, we didn’t get both.
Note to Taco Fresco:
I’m highly disappointed with this restaurant, you guys have potential but almost a year of bad reviews on customer service is not looking good for them and obviously I’m spreading the word of mouth method about hair strand in the food they were serving.
This restaurant needs to get their products checked out before the customer walks out on you.
Thanks,
Upset customer

Just stopped by there for a quick lunch for the first time. I thought it was great, and I’m literally obsessed with tacos. I got a chicken and a steak taco. Both simple — in a corn tortilla with meat, cheese, pico, and lettuce. The price was equivalent to any drunk taco joint you’d find in Lincoln Park so I was pleased since this was in the loop.
Can’t say much on service. I was in and out in under 3 minutes and can’t say anyone was anywhere near rude to me — just efficient!

Average place… they have the best Tilapia tostadas though! I tried the shrimp one once; it was a bit fishy so I never got it again.
Yes, the lady at the front is a tad pushy but she means well. Lol

Very Disappointing!
I’ve been working downtown for the past 4 years now and my job is one block away, this was only my 2^nd time eating here. I absolutely hate wasting money on bad food and bad service. I would rather pack my lunch of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich than to spend $ 10 on a horrible lunch! A older couple runs the place and I must say the woman is very rude and micro-​manages EVERYONE! The older man took my order, no problem but then I asked for salsa for my meal and he’s like sure, take two. She turns around and says uh uhh you can only have one, then he tells her he told me to take two (mind you she was standing there the whole time he was talking to me anyway). I’m thinking so you giving me a extra sauce is really going to put you out of business huh!!! It is not that serious. But this definitely made me not want to come back. My homemade tacos taste way better than what they serve ANYWAY!

I needed a quick bite before returning to work and saw a sign that said «healthy eating.» I was already grumpy because every line at the billions of subways in the Loop were packed. Unfortunately, I have to watch my calorie intake so I was drawn to this sign promising me of Mexican food.
I ordered the «healthy» chicken salad. I was asked if I wanted everything on it, in which I asked what that consisted of; guacamole, cheese, sour cream, beans etc. Although those weren’t technically the ingredients for the healthy salad. I asked what the healthy salad ingredients were. Lettuce, tomato, salsa. Uhh. Okay? Whatever, give me all of them. I don’t want to eat a bowl of lettuce for my lunch.
The entire meal was disappointing. The lettuce was watery and the salsa did not taste fresh. The best part of the lunch was the tortilla chips that came with the salad (so many lies with the health factor) but alas, I had to eat sparingly.
If you are seeking a below average but cheap place to find tacos and salads, here you go. If you were lured in with the promise of fresh, healthy eating (or even just FRESH EATING), stay away.