Taco Fresco

Walked by today and thought, I could use a good taco… unfortunately I got this…
All I wanted was a taco without tomatoes. I ordered the special (two beef tacos) and an extra chicken taco — all without tomatoes.
Get my bag and ask, are these without tomatoes? Response, no tomatoes, we know what we’re doing.
Um, okay. Thank you.
Get to the office and ALL three BEEF tacos have tomatoes.
You don’t know what you’re doing, I won’t be back and should have gone to the truck across the street.

I’m very surprised to see TF only has three stars. While it certainly won’t be mistaken for world-​renowned Mexican, it’s super affordable and you get a lot of food! Case and point, I ordered the beef taco special today — two tacos, approximately 700 chips and salsa for $ 6.40 after tax.

Terribly small portions, would not put beans in my quesadilla, would not give me more than one tiny packet of salsa. Food taste was mediocre. Yes the base price looks cheap but that will definitely not fill you up. Not even for lunch.

Disappointed. Ordered the chicken burrito, it was mostly lettuce, beans, and tomatoes. Probably only had 10 pieces of small chicken. Not going back again.

It’s raining and I don’t want to go far. I’m sure as hell not eating in my buildings take out place again. I want something that feels someone healthy. Taco Fresco met all those requirements.
The portions weren’t massive, but were good for the cheap price. The meat didn’t taste overly cooked or seasoned, there was no grease dripping out, in fact the condiment application was perfect, nothing squirted out. I finished the burrito and felt full, yet not stuffed. The salsas on the side are great, cheap, and fresh.
I’ll definitely be coming back

I wish this place was better, as I work upstairs. the food is better than McDonald’s but just barely. The special of two tacos and soup for $ 5.99 is a good deal… i never got sick here but i never thought this was a top ten taco joint either. It is convenient, and sort of friendly enough…

This place is the best food in the loop! The price is right. By right, I mean cheap, and by cheap, I mean inexpensive for the insanely good taste of the food. The salsas are all home-​made and can have a varying degree of flavor day-​to-​day which is always good. Service is very quick.
I come here 7 or more times a month, it’s that good! I almost always get the chicken Quesadilla combo which has tasty quesadillas, sour cream, guac, shredded lettuce, beans, and rice, all for less than $ 8 with a drink!
Today I went out of my way to try something new, despite me kicking and screaming I didn’t want to. I got the Steak Burrito, it was also really good but unfortunately not the best burrito I can get. For a quick and good lunch, this is the go-​to for everyone in the office.

The food is unimpressive, the salsa is watery, and the service is terrible.

Decent price for downtown. I usually come here for the prices — you can get the «special» (seems like the special is the same almost every day) which is usually 2-​tacos, chicken or beef, and salsa and chips, or instead of salsa and chips, you can get the soup, which is either chicken tortilla and chicken and rice. All this for under $ 6. They also have a frequent buyer card too. Once you get 10 punches, you get $ 5 off your next purchase!
The tacos are «A-​OK»… not really the best I’ve had, and the tortilla on the tacos are kind of brittle and fall apart easily. I think its because they are generally room-​temp warm. The soup that comes with the special is pretty good. In the past, I have had the taco salad too, which is pretty much iceberg lettice with some guac, meat, tomatos, and cheese.
Overall, taste is OK, not the best mexican food that downtown has to offer, but the prices are really good. So if you are looking for a place to eat in downtown, but do not want to pay the downtown prices, definitely check this place out.

Get the lunch special. Two tacos (your choice of meat) and a huge homemade soup for under 6 bucks. Their salsas and soups are homemade, delicious and are low in sodium — woo hoo!

I’ve eaten here a few times in the last month, and I think this will be my go-​to «Oh, man, forgot to bring a sandwich for lunch today» place. Very fast service, and very easy to make the food healthier (low-​fat cheese and/​or beans), and all the choices you’d expect from a Mexican fast-​food establishment.
Pricing is decent, considering the area it’s located.
I’d definitely recommend you get the chips, whatever else you try.

They have a great lunch special! For under $ 6 — I had two tacos, which came with either a cup of soup or salsa and tortilla chips. It was tasty and flavorful food in a friendly, festive setting — I’ll definitely be coming back!

Fast, cheap, lunch that I can scarf down, be full — AND it is not a burger?
Sign me up!
Specials let you get in and out for @ 7 – 8 $ including a drink. I am quite happy with that. The food? I am OK with it.
This is not gourmet Mexican food but it is better than or equal to many late night places! The burritos are fine, quesadillas work too.
It is quick, easy and well, hey! No complaints here!

Pretty meh. Had three tacos– shrimp, chicken and pork. They were all edible though indistinguished– they give you a double tortilla for each taco, you don’t really need it, I just ate one. The chicken was probably the best one, the beef was pretty dry. Would not be in a hurry to go back, though finding authentico Mexican food in CHI town isn’t that easy…

The only reason I am giving Taco Fresco an AOK rating is because I LOVE their greasy, crunchy chips and salsa. If someone paid me $ 50 to just eat one chip + salsa I would probably have to pass because it is SO addicting!
Other than that, everything goes downhill from there. The beef doesn’t have very much flavor and the tortilla falls a part a bit too easily.
This food is not horrible but it’s not that great. To second another reviewer, I’d rather go to Taco Bell at the Ogilvie station for tacos.

This is the worst place I’ve eaten lunch at in the loop. The food was flavorless and the ingredients were subpar. I had a fish taco and a shrimp taco. The fish taco was ridiculously overcooked and dry. I don’t think the shrimp taco being better than the fish meant anything other then the fish taco being really really bad to begin with. My friend who sits next to me had the chicken taco. He said that was bad.
In conclusion? Taco Bell is WAY better… and that’s saying something.

Solid fast food Mexican joint. Line is usually never that bad, and it moves quickly. I’d recommend the healthy steak or chicken burrito (its like a regular burrito, but they use black beans and low fat cheese instead of re-​fried beans and regular cheese). Also they have a chart in the restaurant that states the caloric information, which is helpful if you’re on a diet.
As for comparisons to near by Mexican places, the burritos are smaller than Chipotle or Burrito Beach; but they’re about $ 1 cheaper and I always felt the other places’ burritos were too big anyway.

Had their veggie burrito the other day and I loved it. Flavor packed and the spicy green salsa added the perfect kick. I mean, why do people go to the bigger chains? It’s unnecessary… really.
It’s funny, that this location is kind of tied up with all the construction going on… but I actually feel like they’re getting a lot of extra advertisement with the extra signs pointing to the place on Franklin side. It took us a while to find the right cross street to get there, but we eventually got there from Washington.
Next time I go here, I want to try the tostada. I hope that’s good as well. Overall, my favorite burrito in the loop. So far…
02÷06÷12: Was here again and had a grilled veggie burrito. Definitely disappointing this time around. I wish I had remembered the details of what I ordered last time. Plus maybe it wasn’t as good because they were much much busier this time. I don’t know… but given one good experience and one bad, I will give them one more chance. The star rating will stay unchanged for now, but is subject to a reduction if the great burrito was a one-​time phenomenon.
11/​23/​2015: Hard to believe that it’s been this long since going here. This time I stayed away from the grilled veggies and went with the black bean burrito instead. Really meh… the beans didn’t have much flavor. Worst of all, the burrito didn’t hold it’s integrity. It was leaky from the moment I opened it and by the end it completely fell apart. They didn’t drain out enough of the black bean juice. I also don’t like that you only get one little salsa container — any more and they charge you extra. Next time… refried bean burrito. I shall recapture the goodness one day… :)
12/​02/​2015: There it is! I think I figured it out. So this time I got a bean burrito with the refried beans and it was quite good. I think the refried beans have a really great seasoning to them. The burrito was still quite soggy, but at least there weren’t any leaking juices this time. Gotta keep this in mind though — does anyone else user their own Unilocal reviews to remember what to order and what not to order at a particular place? I probably waited a bit longer than I would’ve liked before eating it so hopefully next time it’ll be less soggy as well. Will also try without the sour cream.

I realize that there are quite a few factors that go into searching for local cuisine. Unilocal has a break down for neighborhoods, distance, and all that good stuff. I think if I were to classify Taco Fresco into a section not currently available it would have a solid spot in the «Taco places within 3 blocks of my work that serve mediocre food at a moderate price» section.
So far I’ve been there a few times and I’ve tried their steak burrito, chicken tacos, and rice/​beans (if you mess up rice and beans you should probably close your doors permantely). All the meats have been a little on the salty side (which I think is the case with most «affordable» dining). The burrito was not quite on par with some of the chains I’m accustomed to but it wasn’t bad. The corn tortillas served in the taco dish were a little dry/​bland but tolerable. Overall, not a terrible experience but nothing to write home about.

This place is great for a quick lunch– fast, tasty, and filling. The lady taking our orders didn’t quite know if the beans were made with non-​veg ingredients… which can be a concern for a vegetarian like myself.
Turn-​off: they charge $ 0.25 for each (very small) packet of salsa… so for person who enjoys their food spicy (and not dry), half the bill may come from the additional condiment. I may be Gujarati, but that’s a little annoying.