Friday, March 6, 2009

Taco Shop (Tucson)

I heard good things about Taco Shop so I had to check it out. There are a couple locations in Tucson and I went to the Broadway one and ordered a grip of tacos: 2 al pastor, 1 pollo asada, 1 carne asada and one carnitas.



The shop itself has no character whatsoever which could be either a good sign or a bad one. Near the register there are pictures of their workers and regular customers and I get the sense from other online reviews that the crew is pretty much the same around the clock. While I waited for the tacos I helped myself to some salsa from the salsa bar but my options were much more limited than at other places. There was a hot red, a medium red and a green. Not a "mild green" just a "green." Salsa was totally neutral and not worth trying. The tacos on the other hand were pretty good.



Normally if a place has a weak taco it is the pollo or the carne asada and tends to depend on the quality of the meat. At the Taco Shop my favorite was the pollo! The meat was amazing. Cooked perfectly so it was juicy enough but not charred too much. The flavor on it was subtle (perhaps simply taste from the grill). All the tacos came with a big dallop of decent guacamole.



The al pastor was good but not as good as the pollo. As pastor seems hard to find in Tucson so I might try it again but really only the pollo was one I'd highly recommend to others. I often scoff at taco joints that double up on their tortillas cause most are light on the filling and the "wrap" seems excessive. In this case the tacos were very generous and the thin tortilla came apart on ever taco. With each I took a bite from each end before the taco fell apart and then I just ate the pieces out of the styrofoam cartons they came in.

Carnitas seemed too greasy but the crunchy parts were pretty yummy. The carne asada tasted better than it looked. I had flashbacks of Los Betos before I had my first bite but the meat was not as poor quality as it looked. I didn't want to finish either of these two. They were fine but not worth much commitment.

Overall Taco Shop is a good place and is open 24 hours which is a big plus. Prices seemed a bit high at first but then the tacos are large. Next time I'll get three tacos instead of five and it will be plenty. Definitely a place to recommend!

Taco Shop on Broadway
Pollo = A
Al Pastor = B+
Carnitas = B-
Carne Asada - B-

1 comment:

yamiblue990 said...

they're good if your hungry and want a generous portion for the money. it's a bit bland without salsa but is pretty good overall. certainly better quality then the overpriced food at pimacc.