Taco Haus

Lentils? Really???
People who eat Mexican food have been known on occasion to enjoy beans, be they refried or black, but never a lentil.
Though having tried a number of other dishes at Taco Haus, I believe the choice of lentils and bland white rice as accoutrements was so that the other food would not be overpowered by flavorful sides.
Also strange was the need to ask for salsa, which then arrived straight from the Pace jar, in a small to go plastic cup, which really enhanced the upscale casual dining experience.
It isn’t the location that will eventually kill this place, it is the odd choices that lead o a clunky execution.

My wife and I make this place a habit. Never once in our 10+ visits have we experienced any of the negative things mentioned in lesser reviews.
We are willing to drive from Gilbert to Shea and the 101 to eat/​drink at a restaurant where we know that the Chefs, business partners and servers put real passion into what they do.
There are not many restaurants where, on a Sunday afternoon you see a head chef in the trenches not just making amazing food but also bussing tables alongside his business partner.
We make the hike up to paradise valley every week for bomb nachos/​tacos/​dessert, awesome drinks and hospitable service from Victoria, Riley, Payton, Dave and the entire crew. These guys kill it and if you haven’t tried it, try it, you won’t regret it.

Taste not authentic, at all. Went with a group and was able to try quite a few dishes and nothing «hit the spot». We tried the skillet nacho, fried cauliflower, chorizo empanadas, chopped salad, Kale salad, Cubano tortas, strawberry haus margarita, sweet empanadas.
The good: fried cauliflower, flavor and portion was great. Should be an appetizer. Kale salad, flavor was great.
The bad: skillet nachos, overly flavored with pickled something. Chorizo empanadas, too bready. Cubano tortas, just taste like a sandwich not a torta or any Spanish flare.
Haus margarita, watered down.
The ugly: pipping hot chicken on the chopped salad. It was just a salad, not much chopped about it.
The eh… sweet empanadas. Good just like the ones they have at Taco Bell.

I really hope you review your reviews, taco haus staff, because each time we have been here, it’s been pretty empty…
The food is good, but the menu is missing an affordable taco experience. It’s the Taco Haus, and the tacos are overpriced. For me, everything else is workable, and we would come back if we felt like we could get a couple cold ones and wash them down with a few street tacos without ending up with a $ 60.00 tab. Make margins on booze, beer, half chickens and specialties. Just let me feel like I got a deal on a taco at happy hour.

Drink here… then you may be able to palette the food.
Cool atmosphere had us excited that we were about to taste something different. And we did!
Just not in a good way.
We ordered the Dungeness Crab Ceviche ($ 15) «Dungeness Crab, watermelon, olive, mint, citrus» and it was ALL watermelon chunks with small bits of crab clinging to it. The watermelon was not ripe, slightly slimy and the hint of crab just added a fish hint to it. The waitress tried to explain that that is how this seasonal ceviche is served… mostly watermelon, and the others were like a typical ceviche (I guess meaning there is actually more than a tablespoon of fish used) yet they are all described the same way on the menu.
Also ordered was the lentil salad. Zucchini, sweet potato, red and green onion and cilantro vin. What I got was a pile of cold, TASTELESS lentils. Urgh.
When I got up within minutes to get the check and told the waitress it was all horrible she tried to convince us to try something else. We were, of course, totally over Taco Haus at this point and just wanted out. She had heard my son say he wanted cake, so she did get us a piece to go, but as for the bill… She CHARGED US for all the other food we had only taken a bite of! Wow. That better be one damn good piece of $ 30 «complimentary» cake.
I think I need a drink to dull the memory of Taco Haus… but I won’t be back there to get it.

We dined here last Friday with a couple of friends. Someone we knew said it was good, so we thought to give it a try. When we walked into the restaurant, the place was dead, only a few customers. It did not look busy, but all of the tables were filthy. No one greeted us or told us if we could sit ourselves or they’d sit us. We finally found a table and waited for a waitress to wipe it off. She brought over some small plates and flatware, from then on, everything went from BAD to WORSE!
— We found a pill on one of the small plates that the waitress brought out. All she said was «Oh, I didn’t know how the pill got there?» I jokingly asked «Is it a marijuana pill or some kind of pill that gets me high?» She laughed «possibly!»
— Then my husband found a bug in his drink. A waiter who was not even waiting on us, apologized and brought the drink back to get my husband a new drink. When my husband told our waitress about the bug, she was arguing with him and said «it’s a normal thing to see bug everywhere and all the time. Espeically in the summer time, if you leave something out, they are going to attract to sweet and food of course.» Not one apology from her.
— My husband asked for the sweet-​n-​low sugar and she never brough it, but another waitress did. She was busy yapping with others. Then she pretended to bring them over after already knew another waitress had already helped us.
— The owner /​partner of the restaurant named John, came by to check on us and asked how we are doing. He looked very depressed. When we shared with him about the pill and the bug, he brushed it off and said «people complaint all the time because they want something free.»
We walked out with a bill of $ 56 for ordering 2 combos (3 tiny tacos on each plate, the rest is filled with lentils and rice), an iced tea, a margarita, a small flan, and suck a@@ service. The food wasn’t good and small portions. Their dessert is very aweful. I’m very sure I can get better service and quality meals at El Pollo Loco or Taco Bell. They won’t be survived for much longer with horrible food, service and attitude.
I ‘LL NEVER COME BACK HERE AGAIN. Don’t waste your money in this place people, you’ll feel sorry.

First of all, the service was very nice. Our server was super attentive and polite.
The food though was just ok. We had the carne assada tacos and the chicken empanadas. The chicken empanadas were displayed beautifully on the plate, but wasn’t super satisfying. The tacos were flavorful and big, and the lentil side instead of beans was an interesting take, but the fact that the lentil side was cold was not my thing.
They did a very nice job converting this location over from what was once a bland Blue Burrito into a stylish taco bar. The have a great outdoor patio that would be awesome when it isn’t hot outside.
Their happy hour also looks quite good, and would come back for that before a movie at the nearby Harkins Theaters sometime.

Seriously disappointing.. service was bad, food was HORRIBLE! we ordered the carne asada, pork belly, and chicken tacos. The chicken appeared to be boiled, watery, and tasteless. The carne asada was overcooked and chewy. the pork belly was just okay. We also ordered the chicken nachos which were disgusting– oily and topped with that boiled chicken again. The food was seriously disappointing.. I’ve had better Mexican food at Zipps. This is my first and only review, ever. Yup, that’s how bad it was.
EDIT– I just noticed that there is 28 reviews that are not «recommended» for his place. Do yourself a favor and READ THEM! I’m not sure why Unilocal does not recommended them because they are spot on with my experience! Thanks Unilocal,you should pay me back the $ 80 I just spent at this dump.

Very very good.
Came at a slow time after lunch (which can sometimes catch a restaurant staff sleeping on the job) but was greeted by a very attentive waiter and waitress. My waitress even offered to ice my left-​overs as I wasn’t going directly home. Knowledgable, accommodating, and very friendly staff.
Had the Fish Taco Special and the Tres Leches to follow.
Fantastic. A great and fresh spin on traditional Mexican fare.
Will definitely be back.

SO any food can be made nuevo sheek these days, just put a German style name next to the food, In this case taco haus.
As the name suggest tacos play a large role on the menu, and there are many small street style tacos with wall street pricing. $ 3 – 5 each. There is a civicheria here too, (raw fish cured in citrus with a few garnishes)
We oped for a chiviche of tuna, it was fresh and decent however the grade of the tuna was lower than I expected.
Our veggie taco platter was huge and the real star of the meal and reason for the score. A large selection of grilled vegies and even kale on a platter served with many small tortillas for a great DIY taco party.

Naming the place Taco Haus prepared my palette for a taco experience. Especially since it replaced Blue Burrito. But that’s not what I had. It’s almost like the chef wants to be a clever alchemist but fails. Tom Jetland he is not.
I had two tacos. One chicken. One carne asade. The chicken one had no flavor except I could taste the corn tortilla. The steak one tasted like the steak had been marinated in Worcestershire sauce, which was unpleasant. I dressed them both up with guacamole and salsa (I had to ask for and they were extra). I hated the lunch.
The place looks like it would be a great happy hour – inside has picnic table style seating, built to be lined up with butts from the frat house on Saturday night. There’s a lot of seating outside too, which would be a fun happy hour.
Service was slow, although there seemed to be a lot of servers. My friend and I paid $ 30 for our lunch, left and went to McDonalds to get ice cream cones to cleanse our palettes from a lunch we are trying to forget. He had ceviche, by the way, and was more than underwhelmed.
I am happy to read that some of these reviews of Taco Haus are so glowing. Maybe I caught them on an off day but somehow, I don’t think so. I am a total foodie and this is one place I would not recommend.
But what I will recommend to Taco Haus: write a little blurb about your style and philosophy on the menus so customers understand they’re not getting a taco that their palette might be craving.
I’ll give them two stars because it appears they have a wide selection of tequilas. After enough tequila, anything tastes good, right?

We’ve been long-​time fans of brat haus and decided to give the new taco haus a try today for lunch. Not super packed for a Friday and easily found a nice seat on the patio. The ambiance is nice (and who doesn’t like sitting outside in February). We had two servers come up to us and I think there was some confusion, but no harm done in making sure we were all set.
My husband and I ordered the chips and salsa as a small appetizer and both felt it could have come with more chips (small cereal bowl size) for the amount of salsa verde we received (two cups). The salsa was pretty sour to both of us and not spicy.
We both ordered a couple of street tacos for lunch. I don’t think I could say I had one that was a favorite, or very memorable. The shrimp was ok, the pork belly was bland, the carne asada was probably the best out of them but nothing to write home about.
I would say that taco haus doesn’t quite compete when compared to other local taco establishments. It was a good spot close to work and I might stop in for a Taco Tuesday happy hour (for the deals alone), but I won’t seek it out again any time soon.

I really wanted to like Taco Haus. I think Payton Curry is a great chef and I live across the street from his newest restaurant. I went with a few people around the time they first opened and came away unimpressed. I tried the tacos and had some drinks, but thought the best thing I had was the chips and salsa. It’s definitely not easy to open a Mexican restaurant in Phoenix so I expected better food. All of the things I had were forgettable, and even though I’d like to give it another try there are so many other restaurants to go to that were never that bad.

Had dinner here with the family the other night… probably will be our only visit to this restaurant. The neutrals to negatives outweigh the positives.
We started off with an order of the Skillet Nachos. These were pretty good — no complaints. The toppings weren’t overdone as you may get with other restaurants nachos that drown the chips creating a mushy mess.
For an entrée I had the Cubano torta. This was good and had a nice flavored mustard. The rest of the family ordered a variety of tacos. This is where things started to go downhill. Rather than have each person’s tacos on individual plates they were brought out on one big plate, family style and everyone had to guess and sort out which was what. The feedback I got on the tacos was they were OK… nothing spectacular. We also ordered the strEAT corn to share which did have a nice flavor. However, all the food came out warm, at best. One positive of the food is the portion sizes were just right.
The service was pleasant enough and the décor was very nice, but those things alone will not warrant another visit. Also, what is with the Tommy Hilfiger style logo?

Love was in the air…
It was Valentines Day and we had a babysitter (thanks again, Mom!)
Instead of fighting the crowds and hitting up a fancy schmancy restaurant, I suggested Taco Haus, and I’m so glad I did.
I love the casual atmosphere and the food was out of this world delicious. Seriously — some of the freshest, tastiest food I’ve had in quite some time. It was so good in fact, that I’m rounding up my rating to five stars despite a couple of hiccups with the service that evening. That and hey — love was in the air!
We ordered a ton of food because the entire menu sounded great… it was hard to choose. Our feast included:
*the scallop, shrimp, and ahi ceviche — scallop was our favorite but all were great
*the jicama salad (which we learned was the original menu item that Chef Payton created to go with this concept)
*beef tataki
*chips and guac
*roasted peppers — beware — they have a kick!
*side of veggies
*flan
*tres leches
We did a good job demolishing the majority of the meal, but we did take home leftovers, and they were just as good the next day!
Moderate prices considering the food quality, friendly service (even if they are working through the kinks at the moment), and a Valentines Day to remember. I can’t wait for my next visit!

Don’t Bother!
Saw a chef or an owner from the Taco Haus on one of the local Phoenix news channels one morning, and listened to the ohhh’s and ahhh’s about how much they pushed the freshness of their food and how wonderful it is.
Figured that one night when I wasn’t cooking, I’d send my hubby up there to get something after watching the tv show. I should have checked out the reviews on Unilocal first, but I thought, how nice… something new close to home! We used to get take-​out from Blue Burrito that used to be in that same location. Really didn’t care much for them either, but it was convenient for what we needed at the time.
Tonight, my husband went to pick up some dinner and while waiting, he thought he’d order ‘The Bentley’ margarita at the bar.
A tiny 8 oz glass, packed with lots of ice for $ 15.00! Don’t think so. Unreal! You can get a great double marg at other places for much less than that and still be made with a premium tequila! Strike 1!
So, he’s waiting around for our food and the waitress hands him the goods and says that ‘everything is in the bags, including our chips and salsa’.
Of course, he takes her word for it, doesn’t look in the bags and gets home only to find no chips, just salsa. OK, so we have some chips in the pantry to heat up with our dinner. Not worth going back to complain. Strike 2!
On to the ‘Chopped Salad’. About ½ of a cup of warm, wilted greens topped with thawed frozen corn and peas? Huh? And, no dressing? FOR $ 10.00??? Come On, Folks! Maybe they think that they can get away with this stuff since it’s take out and you won’t bother to bring it back since you’re already home. Strike 3!
Now, the pork belly taco’s… One — 3 inch flour tortilla with a ¼ cup of diced, fried pork for $ 3.50 each? Another ripoff! Strike 4!
Also ordered their ‘Bacon-​d Beans’… at $ 5.50 for roughly 12 oz? Totally dried out like they were made yesterday with the lid left off the pot and undercooked because the beans were hard in the middle. No flavor at all. Strike 5!
Cuban sandwich was awful… if you like thick slices of bread, deli meat from the local grocery store and French’s mustard, here you go! Strike 6!
Lesson learned — Won’t be back. We really wanted to like this place, too!

Ok, I’ve been here twice now and am totally loving it.
First time was for dinner, and we tried everything on the menu. The tacos are the street variety, that is they are soft corn tortillas. The tortillas are fresh made in-​house and are AMAZING!
The other things on the dinner menu are awesome, but the tacos and ceviche stand out the most.
Dessert of flan (slightly firmer texture than expected, but very smooth) and tres leches were also amazing.
They have an excellent drink selection as well.
Second trip: brunch
We started with the fruit plate, a very good selection of a variety of fruits and yogurt. I ordered the chorizo skillet, a very large portion of eggs, cheese and chorizo (spicy). It was awesome, and while I hopped to box up half of it, I ended up eating it all. Others tried all of the other brunch options. No complaints and many compliments.
I’ll also add that the coffee is excellent: I enjoyed it black.
Peyton et al have done it again! Expect to see a lot more check-​ins from me.

I decided to try Taco Haus last week for lunch and I enjoyed my experience. The carne asada taco and chicken taco were very good. The salsa that comes with the chips was excellent. I think they got their taps mixed up because my Green Flash IPA was something totally different.
Overall, a nice place. I’ll be back.

I know going to a newly opened restaurant usually involves hiccups in food preparation and service but I was not prepared for a MASSIVE TRAIN WRECK. This restaurant is NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME.
I thought Taco Haus meant a place with lots of tacos but really they only offer five tacos, A Veggie, Chicken, Steak, Pork Belly, Fish either grilled or Fried. We ordered one of each since they are small street tacos, a chicken mole empanada and street corn to share.
Our server said he’d bring us salsas and sauces and did come back with bottled sauces but no salsas.
First comes out our Chicken Mole Empanada. I liked the unique crispy shell of the empanada but I didn’t recognize any sort of mole there anywhere. A white slightly herb-​ed cream was under the Empanada and it was so mildly seasoned I couldn’t tell what it was suppose to be but it was sort of tangy and I thought it might be tarter sauce. Whatever it was I didn’t like it.
The Rotisserie Chicken Taco was MEMORABLE because it was the DRY-​EST Chicken I ever had and was like SAW DUST in my mouth and also was next to tasteless.
The pork belly taco just seemed like it was deep fried and also lacked flavors.
Similar stories with the fried fish, veggie, steak tacos and street corn. EVERYTHING WAS UNDER SEASONED.
My grilled Fish taco was INEDIBLE. It was either spoiled or next to spoiled. It tasted like rotting fish. I did inform the waiter and he took it away and insisted on bringing me something else. I almost died. In my head I’m thinking I really don’t want anything. Everything was terrible. My husband asks for a veggie taco to replace the fish. My waiter told me EVERYBODY WHO HAD THE GRILLED FISH SAID THEY DIDN’T LIKE IT. If EVERYBODY doesn’t like it something is wrong with it. (fish taco was removed from check and manager did apologized about the fish)
And Lastly the street corn was a terrible concoction. It seemed like old not so fresh water boiled corn that got slightly browned mixed with popcorn and a spoonful of mayo with so little anything else it had no resemblance or taste to street corn and had little flavor on it’s own.
I only heard good things about the chef from here but I seriously worry about his pallet.
Everything fell short.
SLIGHT UPDATE 2−2−14
Fish Tacos have been removed from the menu since my review.

First off I must mention that I’m beyond excited for this concept! Payton Curry is in da haus with some fantastic ceviche options! Wardy is stepping up his food game and rocking out some amazing things from the kitchen! Oh and for all you gluten free peeps out there, you’ll be beyond thrilled with all the options you’ll have with this amazing menu! Which by the way is all about LOCAL LOCAL LOCAL! Almost everything that comes out of this kitchen is locally grown, hormone and preservative free and FRESH! They even have the fish flown in 6 days a week!
Lets start with appetizers… The chips are made in house daily, lightly salted and gluten free! The table side guacamole is super fresh and made to order. All three fundidos are amazing so don’t forget to give those a try too! Both the Albondigas and the Tortilla soups are flavorful and heart warming. If your looking for a salad you’ve come to the right place! The shaved Kale salad is AMAZING! (yes I am now a believer that kale can be amazing! PS. add chicken) The Haus Chopped has a creamy cilantro dressing that’s drinkable it so good! (please don’t drink the dressing that would be gross) The Jicama salad surprised me. It was super crisp and refreshing! (make sure to add tuna or shrimp)
I tried all the empanadas and they all were fantastic… or what the tacotarians call «pillows of bliss». My favorite was the Carne Asada only because I loved the seasonings on the meat and how they compliment the cilantro crema on the bottom of the plate… but seriously they are all awesome!
$ 3 TACOS!!! OH yeahhhh! You can mix and match your own little taco stand to please your cravings! Choose from: Fresh fried fish, mouth watering pork belly, in haus rotisserie chicken, marinated carne asada or local veggies! They all come served on their haus made gluten free tortillas!
There’s two options for how you’d like to go about the main entrée portion of dinner. You can go ahead and order your own entrée or theres also a section on their menu called «taquiza» and those are entrée options for two to share! Both sections have amazing options like grilled tuna, scallops, beef or pork tenderloin, flank steak, you can even order a whole rotisserie chicken. (They have other options too, but these are a few of my favorites).
Now for my favorite part… The ceviche! I was nervous at first but I gave them all a shot and I’m so happy I did. The Halibut was by far my favorite. It melts in your mouth with its buttery taste and texture and kicks you at the end with a citrus note. The Ahi ceviche was my runner up, SUPER FRESH! I’m not a shrimp or scallop person but I went out on a limb and tried them both… The shrimp was light and refreshing and the scallops were herbal and buttery, to both I’d give a thumbs up! All ceviche is served in an avocado.
Desserts –THE TRES LECHES IS TO DIE FOR!!! The flan and homemade chocolate bar are also mouth watering!
One tequila, two tequila, three tequila… more? Taco Haus has over 36 tequilas, 20+ beers (including big bombers!), an amazing wine list (+ sangria), Haus cocktails that will knock your socks off and duh! tons of awesome margaritas!!! Be sure to try the Vergara Margarita– which is Serrano infused, soooo good!
Okay okay so the food and drinks are amazing but that’s not it! Taco Haus has an awesome environment and a killer staff! And once again they support local business. They even had a local artist come in and paint the walls! All in all it really is comes down to… Tacos, Tequila, Ceviche, Cerveza… I’m sold.