Taco Alto — Restaurant in Barcelona

This Taqueria is located just next to 'Arc de Triomf'. The place has a very unusual decor, normally most of the mexican places are full of mexican decor what is a bit exhausting, so we enjoyed very much the smart and modern decor they've used. We tried the tortillas chips (totopos) with guacamole, a variety of tacos, some quesadillas and two flavor margaritas. The freshly made 'totopos' and guacamole were really awesome!!! Both 'pibil' and 'sinaloa' tacos were really tasty but what really exceed our expectations were the 'pirata', the 'baja' ones were ok but a bit different of what we normally find. After all this tacos, I wanted to try a quesadilla so I asked for one with extra chicken (called 'tinga'), this was also very nice, but nothing made me forget the 'pirata' tacos......., just amazing! If you want to test your 'manhood', we can always spice things up with the 5 sauces available. You have the 'salsa verde' with the lowest spice, then the 'salsa roja' a bit spicier, 'la borracha' with a bit of beer flavor with a mid scale spice, 'la morita' spicy with a smoked-dried flavor and then the 'salsa valiente' only for the brave with jalapeño... Remember, when a mexican guy says it is not spicy, for the normal human being IT IS... So use the number 5 with caution... I've tried it and it is ok, but some salt was used as my lips were 'suffering a bit' with my craziness... Regarding the margaritas we enjoyed them a lot, fresh and authentic flavors with salt in the straw. At the end I was curious about a meter they had on the counter, so I asked what was it for, so it is a social media LIKES meter. NICE! The service was really fast and all the staff was very kind and considerate, specially Antonio! A place to go if you want authentic...

They served pork in one of my tacos (which I ate a bit without knowing) even though I had only ordered vegetarian ones. When I pointed it out and also mentioned how I don’t eat pork, the staff was not even apologetic, all they did was make me one of the vegetarian ones I ordered and took the pork one away.

Even though the place looked nice and the food tasted good, I would not recommend, given the poor customer service.

Reply to Owner's Comment:

The person who took my order and served was the same. Also, when checked (by the employee who took my ordered and served me as well as one other employee who was present), the order in the till was the right one (1 baja, 1 vegano, and 1 vegetarian). Please don’t twist the facts.

Also, you’re in a business where even small ingredient mistakes can be very significant for people with food restrictions and allergies. There should be extra control measures in place. In case of mistakes, the attitude displayed by your employees of “what’s the big deal? We’ll just make another taco.” is not enough. A refund and an actual apology together with an understanding of the severity of the situation might be a little better response. Hence, the 1*...

I just went to Taco Alto near the Arc de Triomf and was quite disappointed.

Some of the tacos were tasty. None of them were anything even vaguely genuinely Mexican. Most are what I would describe as "created by someone who had a friend who once flew over Mexico and told them about the fabulous tacos they smelled from the plane".

The taco shells were neither fresh nor crispy. They were bendy and chewy -- par deep fried at best. The guacamole was effectively avocado paste with no pico de gallo or otherwise discernible flavors that suggest it might actually be more than guacamole paste.

The tinto taco was kinda tasty -- if someone were to try and pass that off as a Mexican inspired spanish tapa, they might have a chance at an acceptable dish.

The fish taco tasted like good British "fish and chips" fish would taste like -- included was some shredded red cabbage. Kinda tasty, but very not mexican.

There was another mystery taco that had a sauce that you normally get at a Döner place. Pretty good, but again, wrong part of the world.

If the food at Taco Alto was actually good, even if it wasn't genuine, I would be a little more pleased. But this was expensive bland food pretending to be...