Tacomiendo

Not sure if this will post or not for others to see but I made a mistake of going here again after I vowed never again (since the nacho incident and huge price increase). Please do not eat at this place! On Monday I felt like tacos. I went to Tacomiendo and got 1 chicken and 2 chorizo tacos. I opened the chicken taco first. looked decent. Tried to take a bite and the meat was like a slab of meat… cold…and about half of it was raw, yes, you read that right… RAW! Being the optimist I am, I ate around the raw part and thought what the hell. Chorizo tacos were good, well, they used to be better. Anyway, I go thru my day feeling totally fine. The next morning, I wake up and can barely get dressed without vomitting. I call into work. Get in bed, run out of bed to vomit. repeat for about half an hour. I slept from 8AM to 4PM! I will never go to this place again.

Brace yourselves — this could be a wordy review. After receiving word via complement from Candice that my Tacomiendo review was an ROTD on 2÷10÷13, I pulled the listing up to check it out and noticed there were a few more reviews added since the one I posted in Sept — and they weren’t all that good. So I decided to head back to Tacomiendo to see what the ruckus was all about.
And yes — times are a’changin’ at this restaurant but everything isn’t in place yet, so based on my experience and observations, I’m changing my review to 3 stars — ON THE FENCE. One thing that I found disturbing was the claim that prices had gone up 30%. So before I left my place, I pulled up their website and checked the menu out — comparing it to the hard copy I took home with me from my last visit. Hmmm, same menus — so what’s this 30% thing about???
I park in teh lot and am heading toward the door when I see the first change in the form of a note to Groupon users — «Dear Groupon Customers — Due to a change of ownership, we are no longer accepting Groupons.» Interesting — new owners. And as for no longer accepting the Groupons, seems to me if you’re a new owner, you would just as soon take the hit for the cost of the Groupon in order to promote your business. Oh well, I don’t have a Groupon with me — so not relevant anyway, other than the «new owner» news associated with the notice.
I brought my review with me in hard copy as I wanted to share it with the owner /​manager and also bring up the fact that it seemed as if people who reviewed after me found some issues that impacted their reviews. As a former hospitality manager, I love to have conversations like this with owners and managers — it’s a nice way to build a rappoport with a restaurant and staff.
So I walked in and up to the counter and looked at the menu near the register. What do I see — PRICE CHANGES — and in some cases, pretty significant:
Tacos $ 1.75 (old) $ 2.05 (new)
Burritos $ 4.95 $ 6.00
Tortas $ 4.75 $ 5.25
Sopes $ 2.50 $ 3.25 (up 30%)
Tostadas $ 2.00 $ 3.25 (up 62.5%)
They are clearly listed as they’ve «boxed» over the old price on the menu and inserted the new one. Bummer! What was an excellent value is now just so/​so. The waitress at the counter asked if I wanted to eat in and when I said «yes», I was told to have a seat and she’d be right with me. Same as my last visit — this place is set up more like a «counter order» place — not really sure why they insist on doing table orders, but so be it.
The chips came out immediately with two salsas in squeeze bottles along with a picante in a small cup — no change there. The waitress asked if I was ready, but I had barely settled in so I asked for a few minutes. She returned shortly afterwards, so I ordered about the same thing I had last time, less one taco (it cost me 71 cents less than my larger order on my last visit). One thing that’s perplexing is the soda doesn’t appear to be refillable (not fully confirmed this though) and the soda machines sit at the counter practically beckoning for customers to come up and help themselves.
My carne asada burrito was about the same as last time as was my pork taco, so no noticeable changes there. They DID come out with limes — both orders! I noticed an older woman back in the kitchen area and asked the waitress if she was the owner or manager — she said, yes, sort of with some hesitancy. I asked her if the woman was familiar with Unilocal,and she paused with some hesitancy again. I gave her the review to show the «manager» and was trying to tell her that the review was listed as an ROTD that very day. The waitress returned with the review and said the «manager» said «thank you» — but I don’t think the concept of the ROTD Unilocal review was comprehended. I also wanted to inquire a little more about the changes, but to no avail.
So I finish and give the waitress my debit card. She returns and asks for my zip code, which I found to be odd, but gave it to her. She then gives me a cellphone with one of those mini «the Square» card readers attached. along with a cushioned pen to sign my name on it. The tip option is ONLY a percent — 15, 20 or 25 — no other percentage options — or if you’re like me — a way to round a tip so the bill total is an even dollar amount. Not so good.
I get up from my table and head to the counter to grab a to-​go menu or two since the ones I have at home are now outdated. I ask for them and the waitress points to the ones in a stand. They say:
Arturo’s Mexican Grill
«Since 1988»
Really? The sign out front says Tacomiendo and the place used to be an Arby’s!!!
On the bottom is the Elmhurst Road address — no others. So — owners have changed and it looks like Tacomiendo — as I knew it — is almost a memory.
Still a decent place — menu to be expanding, so I’ll go back and re-​review in a month or two after the changes.

I really wanted this place to be good. It’s got a nice look a drive thru and it was super clean, but I just spent $ 18 on a burrito, some nachos, and a drink. My hopes is that with a price that high it HAS to be good, right? Very wrong. The nachos barely had any cheese on them the beans were cold the chips were cold. The guac was bland and my burrito was mediocre at best. I would gladly change this review if they either lowered their prices and/​or improved the quality of their food. Sorry. I really wanted to like you guys.

Shame on you Tacomiendo! You raised your prices by 30% and lowered the quality of the food at the same time! This is a recipe for disaster and I will predict your business will fail because of it. The white meat shredded chicken that many people raved about is now big fatty dark pieces. The red hot sauce is different and doesn’t taste good. They used to give limes with each order and stopped that too. I can understand costs need to go up and I’m willing to pay more as I think their prices were on the low side before but I will not pay more for a lower quality food. If they are smart and actually read these reviews, hopefully things will change but I’m not sure I’ll be back to find out…

As the «duke» of this establishment, I must say that a few visits into my «dukeship»… This place totally blows. I really wanted to say that the other night was a fluke, but I am gonna settle on saying that the first 3 times I came here and was pleased was the fluke (were the flukes). Ordered the following tacos the other night: Al Pastor, Cabeza, and Chorizo. All of these damn shits were severely undercooked. The shittier part of it was that I was too dumb to notice until I was a taco and a half in. The smell and taste of everything here I quickly realized was «coochie stank». This is soo like realizing that you’ve went on several dates and even slept with someone a few times before you realized that they have stink in their folds that they miss when they shower, and that they shower just enough for you to not notice the stank fully until you’ve associated enough for people to believe that you have some sort of «thing». Alas, if you have read this far, you will surely never, ever recover the seconds or minutes you’ve wasted reading this. Tacomiendo has cooties, and they kinda suck.
Sincerely…The Duke of Tacomiendo.

Good food good prices. They should serve tamarindo though.

Excellent pork tacos! Loves that there is a drive-​thru! Fast, über curteous service and the place was clean inside too!

Excellent pork tacos and find! Drive thru option a great add! Been here 3x in the past 2 weeks and each time the service and food quality has been outstanding!

First off, let me start off by saying that the level of quality the service that is provided here is amazing. The waitresses are very, very nice. You sit where you want and the wait time to give your order and to receive your food is very little. The food is amazing as well. The flavors bled so perfectly. If you’re in the Wheeling, Illinois area, I highly recommend Tacomiendo. You won’t be disappointed.

This place has been open for about 3 months and we didn’t really want try a new Mexican restaurant just to be disappointed. We can be very picky seeing we are Mexican and know how real Mexican food should taste! Anyway, this place was actually pretty good! I had a sope and they loaded it up with meat, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, and even mex cheese! It did not disappoint me at the very least! Food was good and service was great! Clean place too! If you want good Mexican food try this place out! I can say its Authentic!

Surprisingly a breath of fresh air in Wheeling. Plenty of choices around the area, but a real treat. Their tacos are authentic mexican and you can even order them «Gringo» style which is what most Americans are accustomed to. (lettuce, tomato, cheese). I was with several others in my party and we all had different types of meat. All were very tender and tasty, no complaints. Restaurant was tastfully decorated and extremely CLEAN ! Prices are realistic especially for the quality of meats received. I have been there three times since open and suggest others to try it, NO DISAPPOINTMENTS SO FAR !

edit — This review is for the «old» Tacomiendo before the ownership changed. I’m leaving it here for posterity.
edit 2 — I drove past this place a few days ago and the «Tacomiendo» sign was gone and it said «Arturo’s Mexican Grill» and there was a big «under new management» sign hanging up. I think it’s a different restaurant now so my review below probably no longer applies.
After having driven by this place a few times, I decided to stop in a give it a try. I ordered combo meal with a chicken taco, a steak taco, a chorizo taco, rice and beans. I got the tacos with cilantro and onions AND «gringo style» (with cheese, lettuce, and tomato). What can I say, authentic or not, I like cheese on my tacos.
Everything was quite good. As another reviewer stated, the chicken meat appeared to be pulled chicken breast meat which was a plus. The beef and chorizo tacos were also good, as were the rice and beans. My meal came with two lime wedges as well.
You are likely to find a type of taco you like here. According to their menu they have the following taco meats available:
— chicken
— beef
— pork
— chorizo
— cabeza
— lengua
— steak
My gf got a steak taco which she liked and an order of beef nachos which she said didn’t seem to have much beef on them.
Our order also came with red and green hot sauces which weren’t anything special.
Overall it was a good meal and I plan on going back.

Tacomiendo keeps things simple and puts out a quality product. I got tacos and tostadas, trying the Steak, Pork, Chicken, and Chorizo. Tacos are $ 1.50 +$.25 if you want to go gringo style with lettuce and tomato — but the traditional onion and cilantro are free. I found the tacos to be plenty big and a good value. I can’t help but compare Tacomiendo to El Famous — and I’m sure the owners intended it that way; the menu is similar to El Famous Burrito in the items they serve and the meat choices, but I found the meat and tortilla quality to much better. For instance, the chicken was a white pulled chicken meat, not the dark mystery meat. The pork and steak were leaner cuts with less grease, and the pork had an especially good flavor.
You can get take out, or eat in. If you eat in they seat you and provide complimentary chips and salsa. Service is quick and friendly.
I recommend to people who like El Famous Burrito, but are looking for a less grease and higher quality products.

After 2 other horrible restaurants with no pull, we get a great little joint that excels at what it does. Inexpensive but quality quick Mexican food with great service and a nice setting. I will be a regular at this place and am happy to finally have a better than average Mexican food joint near me.