Chico’s Tacos

So sad! Ive been coming here for 15 years and used to love this place. My 5 star review is now 1. Prices have gone up $ 2 and portions sizes are going down. The food is still good but its not worth the money. I dont know if management changed or if they just started trying to gouge people but i hope something changes. They lost a long time loyal customer today.

Chicken tacos were not very good. Beef taco was ok. Veggie burrito was ok. Salsa could be better. Gigantic burrito was not very good. Probably won’t be back again.

Not Bad
I pass by Chico’s Tacos daily but seldom stop in. Today, I was in a bit of a rush and decided to stop in for a quick bite to eat. I was pleasantly surprised at the large menu Chico’s offered.
You place your order at the counter and your number is called when your order is ready bring. The service is good, the restaurant is clean, and the atmosphere is pleasant.
Chico’s offers a «salsa bar» where you can indulge yourself with various types of salsas, chopped onions, chopped tomatoes with onions, peppers, and cilantro. On this visit I choose the grilled chicken and steak tacos. I really enjoy with the grilled steak taco. The steak was flavorful, tender, and season well. However, I did not care for the chicken taco. The chicken was somewhat dry and lacked flavor.
Chico’s offers a clean environment, good service, and inexpensive entrée’s. Depending on what you order the food can be from average to not so good.

Great place. lots of room — lots of seating — daily specials. They have fantastic shredded beef tacos. Good stop for a good lunch. Close to downtown Phoenix. Staff are friendly but only staff is behind the counter and in the kitchen. This is a pick it up at the window kind of place.

The carne asade quesadilla was delicious. The meat is sort of like shaved chunks; so you taste the meat. Yet, it’s still very cheesy. The $ 1.99 margarita was a yummy bargain, too.
I’ve eaten here about three times. Every time, I was pleased. The food is good and affordable. Plenty of seating. More than ample serving sizes. (I think I’ve seen construction workers eating here every time I’ve come.) Convenient location just off the 7^th St. exit of the 10.

One of my first or few Mexican experiences in Phoenix that are actually authentically enjoyable.
Entered there for early lunch and not very hungry which is not a good sign for lunch place reviews. Ordered a shredded beef tostada and a beer at 11.30 :). They have a nice selection of Mexican beer. Have to ask if they make Micheladas.
Tostada was buried in salad but was good! Especially because of the salsas they have in the amount that you want. Their green salsa — salsa verde was very good. The red ones I would definitely improve and chill a bit more. But it was so pleasant experience and I felt like in the right place.
Wanna try also their fish tacos next time.
And I just wanted to shop at Safeway :). Good for me:)

Salt /​garlic /​flavor would be nice. This is your usual run of the mill tasteless Mexican food meant to please the masses. I absolutely can’t stand that plastic bagged lettuce smell. It turns my stomach. But if you want quick random food, knock yourself out.

Tried this with a group of friends and I was pleasantly surprised. We had the breakfast burritos, steak/​eggs/​potatoes, and they very good. This joint may not look like much but the food is tasty.

This place has definitely changed over the years! Just found out this location is under new ownership. All the old employees have left and the prices have been raised. The reason for the 3 stars is that there is absolutely no consistency here anymore. The chicken is also tasteless and not grilled anymore. Yuck! Depending on who is in the back making the tacos results in if you get a taco with barely any meat or a taco filled up properly. Please bring back your old cook!!! The younger woman that is predominately back there now makes them so weak! You’re basically eating tortilla and lettuce!

Thus place is going down hill. The taco Tuesday prices went up from .99 to 1.69 and the out less chicken in the tacos. On top of that, the chicken didn’t taste so good. The only thing that is still the same is the front staff taking the order but what good is that if the food isn’t anymore.

Usually a HUGE fan of chicos. New chef? New management? but the food coming out of this place is different now. Especially the chicken. Which seems to be roasted chicken, RATHER than the grilled and fresh chicken I’ve always been used to. I guess I have to find that elsewhere now. I still will go for the breakfast burritos. Good place. Just seem to be changing

Missed this place for about seven years while I worked elsewhere. It is every bit as awesome as it was when I worked downtown many years ago. Superb variety of menu items. i go for the diet-​friendly chicken tacos and the amazing salsa bar. The staff recognizes regulars like me and they’re super friendly.

chicken «works» giant burrito. lots of beans but not enough chicken. hochata is decent.

I love this place. Chicos Tacos make you feel like family. The food is always on point and most importantly Robin was awesome with her customer service skills

Chico’s tacos rocks!!! Best ever dinner I ever had that place rocks even serves beer awesome everything about that place is the best!!!

I hate to be a negative Nel but this place sucks!
A friend of mine suggested I try this place for lunch, the ratings were just ok but gave it a shot anyway.
I ordered a carne asada taco salad, you know the kind with the crispy flour tortilla bowl? Needless to say it was a mini-​me version of something that wanted to be worth the 9 bucks I paid!
The cook didn’t even take time to slice the flavorless heap of meat that sat sadly on my iceberg. The person at the table next to me had a similar complaint except hers were tacos.
This place is frequented by lots of locals
I can’t figure out why… is there a Gold Membership we don’t know about???

You’re joking right?
Went here for Taco Tuesday and I have to say; Worst Taco Tuesday EVER!!!
Don’t be lured in by the $ 1.29 Tacos, go somewhere else.
The Chips were very basic, and the salsa bored me. My 3 Tacos came out and I didn’t quite know what I was looking at.
Are they hard shell or soft shell? Why did they put lettuce and cheese on them?
The Shells were OK, but the meat was a poor attempt. The Shredded Beef was mushy, no flavor. Chicken texture was ok, but no flavor. Ground Beef? What is this stuff? Mushy as hell, no flavor at all…

Finally tried this place for lunch as I’ve passed by it a few times, and it seems busy. Got there, placed my order (Tres Tacos, nothing else), and waited. And waited. And waited some more. Finally after about 25 minutes of waiting, I asked one of the girls behind the counter what was going on, and she never gave me a clear answer — just mumbled something to the cooks and all of a sudden my food magically appeared. All I got was a mumbled «Sorry». By that point I was already over my 30 minute lunch break. If I hadn’t opened my mouth, I’d probably still be waiting for my food. After all that, they weren’t even anything major to write home about — the soft taco shells tasted a little raw, and the fillings were decent, but again, nothing to brag about. I’m sure it’s like every other taco shop on McDowell.
It didn’t seem that they were short staffed, but with such a fast and busy lunch crowd, I expected better. Don’t think I’d go out of my way to come back anytime soon.

OK, The last time I went in there were a couple of big differences:
— The store hours have shifted much earlier than before, some nights closing as early as 5 PM (although this is to accommodate opening early for breakfast now)
— All the regular staff behind the counter are gone… the replacements are friendly and efficient enough, but so far it’s just not the same.
— Taco Tuesday is still a deal, but the prices of each taco if you buy 3 or more have spiked from $.99 to $ 1.29.
Having said all this, the tacos were fantastic, as were the chips/​salsa. I coincidentally happened to run into one of the old staff at another business a few days ago, and she advised me that this McDowell location is under new ownership and that the owners are changing things to make it more like another location that they own in Ahwatukee. As long as the food stays tasty I will continue to come back, but I just hope that they don’t move the closing time any earlier during the week!

Everything went better than expected!
We went here for lunch the other day after the original place we picked was too busy. By the looks of it I thought it would be a fast food style Mexican restaurant similar to el pollo loco or something like that so my expectations were not high. I was presently surprised.
Walking in there was lots of room but not very busy. The menu was well displayed. I went with the Achiote chicken salad which was quite good. I spiced it up a little with some salsa from their well equipped salsa bar. Although the salad was good I soon regretted my decision as I sampled my friend’s baja fish tacos. I love fish tacos. I REALLY love fish tacos. If my life was a video game their would definitely be a side mission that entailed trying fish tacos at every restaurant in the game. Anyway, the fish tacos were delicious. Everything I could’ve hoped for. A very classic fried fish taco.
Now I can’t stop thinking about fish tacos. Review over. I’m going to lunch.