Joe Taco on Wallace — Restaurant in Amarillo

Referred by our hotel clerk at Baymont Wyndham (East I40) as her favorite place to eat. Always willing to try new Mexican restaurants, we lucked out, and was wildly surprised at how good the food was. We are Colorado, Green Chili lovers, with an infinity for good, homemade, Mexican food. It was easy to get to, a friendly hostess/waitress greeted us and after seating us showed she also knew the menu, and overtime, had tried everything on it. She was attentive, personable and able to help negotiate getting us exactly what we wanted, even though it was not exactly on the menu. We were brought the regular chips & salsa. The chips were on the + side, but the salsa wasn't, just pureed tomatoes plus? However, the food came out quickly and was hot, fresh & yummy. The kicker is how inexpensive it was overall. Kudos, to Joe Taco's management on having Welcoming staff people who know how to make your business great, give excellent service to their customers, and a kitchen staff that knows what they are doing with their creations. The interior was clean, but plain, not very inviting at all, and the atmosphere inside was quiet, the only thing that lightened it up was our waitress and it's lively lit star lights. But, for us, just traveling through & staying over only the one night, it was no big deal, especially considering they hit it out of the park on the top 3 priorities of 1) good food, 2) good service and 3) good price. Although the atmosphere was blah, it was clean which is a high priority as well. Only one real negative, the silverware was the cheapest I've ever seen and because of the poor quality very uncomfortable to use. Maybe going cheap on the utensils and interior design is how they keep their costs low and yet prepare good...

MANAGER PUT HANDS ON MY FRIEND!!

Took 2 bites of our food and realized it was severely overcooked and tasted like it had been sitting for a WHILE and was just reheated to be served. Told the waitress our food wasn't fresh. She didn't offer any kind of solution to remedy the problem (remake, get something else, or discount) she didn't even apologize for how inedible it was. If you want over cooked, soggy food smothered in "aged" cheese then this is your spot.

The manager, Shainna (or at least thats what she said her name is), only escalated the situation rather than deescalating when she put her hands on my friend by grabbing her shirt and then LAUGHED when my friend asked her not to touch her. Why did she grab her shirt? To try and FORCE my friend to stay and listen to her (very poor and irrelevant) excuse for not offering us any kind of compensation. We were both done and ready to leave, just wanted to get a receipt. Shainna refused to allow us inside (for some reason? Even though SHE put hands on my friend) and made us stand out in the rain while she took far too long to retrieve the receipt for us before finally allowing us to leave the restaurant. She kept trying to justify her refusal to offer compensation even as we walked to our car.

The customer doesn't matter at Joe Taco, you are expected to pay for food you wouldn't even feed to your dog and be extremely disrespected by management for bringing inadequacies to their attention. Overall HORRIBLE experience, the margarita was...

Great food! Appetizers are enough to satisfy a full meal. Their wings with different sauces are on my list as must-try when passing thru Amarillo. Awesome service on Mother's Day, with fast seating even when busy. We got there just after peak, with no parking, but we're pleasantly surprised to find the crew handling everything in stride; well oiled machine. Food was served super fast, and hot. Drinks were always full. Staff made a point to check on us frequently, and all the other crowded tables. Well done!

A few days later, went back and had some young kid as a waiter, food came out more than 30 minutes after ordering, couple of app's and enchiladas...served cold. Water was not refilled. Place wasn't busy. The kid knew he had let it slip. He tried to apologize only after we called him on it. We left, without eating. Didn't need to get him fired. Hopefully management tightens up with the staff. A bit of tough love can do good for the snowflakes. Place is great when it's on point, but lackluster when you get the short straw on staff.

The Plaza down the road is a great alternative for similar entrees. We found it via Google after Joe's disappointed on the Wednesday after Mother's Day.

Five stars on first visit. One star on second. Posting three stars for this review. Hopefully you'll visit Joe's...