Taqueria Arandas — Restaurant in Austin

Saturday 04/19/25 – First Time Visit

This was my first time at this location. Right off the bat, the handicap parking situation was a bit cramped. When we were leaving, someone’s truck bed was sticking out, so I had to be super careful while reversing. There was parking to the left that probably would’ve been easier to use in hindsight.

When my party and I arrived, we weren’t greeted at all. Instead, everyone—including employees and a few customers—turned around and just stared at us. It was the weirdest feeling, something I’ve only experienced in super small towns, never in Austin. After a bit, one of the waitresses stopped staring and finally came over to take our orders.

This place is small—you can see everything, and they can definitely see you too. When the food started coming out, each plate was brought to the table one at a time, with noticeable gaps in between. Two of the four dishes arrived fairly quickly, but then we waited quite a while for the third. Mine was the last to arrive—after everyone else was already eating. That’s never happened to me anywhere else, especially with the few customers in the whole place. Oddly enough, another table that arrived after us started getting their food before my plate even showed up.

Once we were all finally eating, one of the waitresses stared at us. It made me feel so uncomfortable that I had to stare back before she finally turned away. Again—weird.

I wasn’t planning to tip because of the staring, and the weird order delivery, but I ended up tipping anyway, because that’s just the kind of...

One of our people ordered the TexMex plate , swapping the taquito for another regular taco . It came with a taquito ( which they called the enchilada), that has 1 little spoon of meat in the very middle of a rolled up tortilla. The plate has no enchilada and the taco tastes stale. We asked about this was told taquito was an enchilada, and sorry they forgot to write down switching the taquito for a taco but since she has already bite into the taco in the plate nothing could be done . After several minutes or arguing we sent the plate back and asked for our ticket was charged full price for all other plates .. lol and $2.99 for 1 taco. This place is a joke , if you can't get your orders right and then you have to squabble over an enchilada and a $2.99 taco then you have big money issues . I guess I should have argued that I didn't get my taquito and charged them a rebate . Lol At least we had a good laugh while we were eating at Polvos a real restaurant that knows how to manage a business and fix their mistakes . Btw, we had no mistakes and a...

I’ve come in here twice— both times have been during the last hour before they close and I just ordered the food to-go. Most places close at 11, they’re open until midnight so it’s a good option for some late night Mexican food.

Even during the last hour, the service was still great. Servers were friendly both times and didn’t seem annoyed that I was coming in 30 minutes to close, which is not an uncommon attitude other places. They answered my questions and got the food out quickly.

The chicken tacos, beans, and rice are all very good. Last night we ordered two burritos. Those were not nearly as good as the tacos, probably wouldn’t order them again without making some modifications. Half of the burrito is just lettuce and tomato... they’d be much better without the L&T and instead with some rice and more beans. We did find a small, sharp, bone in the shredded chicken which was not ideal, but meat has bones. It happens.

Overall, decent food with good portions and great prices. Staff is friendly and food is quick....