Tacodeli — Restaurant in Austin

After nearly a dozen trips to Austin, I can't believe I'd never had Tacodeli until now! This place is absolutely delicious, and I ate there three times on my most recent six day trip to the city. Each time I had something different, all equally delicious. I could totally eat my way through the entire menu!

This place is sort of like a mashup of Velvet Taco and Torchy's, but it's better than both. I really like the limited menu, and there are lots of vegetarian and vegan options to make everyone happy!

My favorite taco actually was the Vegan, because the black beans are crazy good. Like SUPER tasty! I also like that you can choose corn, flour, or wheat tortillas, and they are made with avocado oil. In fact, most of the menu items seem to be healthier than your typical taco spot, and I also appreciate how the restaurant prides itself on using locally sourced ingredients. These are high quality tacos.

Prices are in line with most gourmet taco places, think $4.50- $6 per taco. I found two tacos was more than enough for a filling meal, but bigger eaters may want to get an extra. My husband tried the meat and chicken tacos and said they were all good. The shrimp was the weakest, but it was still yummy.

The sodas are local and artisan, but they offer free refills. There's a small salsa bar with some yummy sauces as well as big, fresh limes (my favorite). Outdoor seating is plentiful, and the employees are super friendly. Even though the restaurant has a small attached lot, parking is a pain, but you can sometimes find a spot on the nearby neighborhood streets (watch the no parking zones).

Also note that if you come during busy mealtimes, you need to be prepared to wait anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes. It's worth it for freshly prepared gourmet...

The thing I hear most often about Tacodeli is how wonderful their tacos are. They were one of the first restaurants I was impressed by when I moved here eight years ago, and I've been going consistently since then.

Tacodeli has phenomenal recipes, the Cowboy, Al Pastor, Picadillo, and they always have great limited-time items for when they get limited supplies of ingredients.

Another thing I hear sometimes is that they're over-rated. This is a problem, because it's simply not true. Someone who complains about it being over-rated or overpriced needs to reevaluate their expectations of a restaurant with locally-source ingredients operating in the year 2014.

No one ever sold Tacodeli as the cheapest tacos you can buy, because they're not. They're not expensive, but because they source their ingredients carefully, they can't charge $1 per taco. And no one ever described it by saying how 'authentic' their tacos are to central Mexican cuisine, because that would be asinine.

To draw the inevitable comparison: Torchy's may be marginally cheaper (I think that may have been true when they first opened, maybe not anymore), but significantly greasier. Where they source their ingredients doesn't seem as important, and their recipes pale in comparison to the well-balanced and seasoned variety they have at Tacodeli.

The staff there is also unfailingly friendly. I've never had a bad interaction in years of patronage, which is something I can't say about many Austin businesses.

In short: If you want fantastic, delicious gourmet tacos, go eat...

Came here based on a friend's recommendation and glad we did. They do have a small parking lot, which isn't always a given in the Austin area. Seating is limited inside as our family took their only table for 4, although they do have outdoor seating both in front of the building as well as to the side.

We arrived just before 11:00, which is when they switch over from their breakfast taco options to their lunch options, but they said we could order from either menu. You also may choose your tortilla from flour, corn, or wheat. I stuck to 3 from the lunch menu: the Heather ($3.95), grilled queso fresco, refried black beans, guac, lettuce & tomato; Space Cowboy ($4.25), baby portabella mushrooms, corn, peppers, onion, guac & queso fresco; and Papadulce ($3.95), sweet potato, corn, roasted pepper, onion, toasted pepitas & chipotle-camote sauce. All 3 were generously filled, different than anything I have had elsewhere, and tasted amazing.

Bottom line, I highly recommend a visit to this place as the service is fast and friendly, the prices are reasonable, and the tacos...