Torchy's Tacos — Restaurant in Austin

After not being able to go to Torchy's in over a year, my son and I were thrilled to be here. It was busy, but that is expected with Torchy's. When we ordered, the person behind the counter seemed annoyed with us. We had to clean our own table in order to sit down, the dining area looked dirty, and there were many people standing around waiting for take-out orders. Our queso arrived lukewarm and missing the beans we ordered, but because we knew our food would be hot we weren't that bothered. However, our food arrived lukewarm/cold and the order was incorrect. Plus, our number had been mixed up with another one causing lots of confusion. We also received our order before quite a few people who been waiting long before us. It all seemed extremely chaotic and unorganized. I happened to be near the kitchen later on and saw an employee come out of the men's room and head into the kitchen. He proceeded to handle the food without gloves- some were wearing them and some not. Not a surprise when, later that night, my son ended up really sick with food poisoning which continued for the next few days. He could not keep anything down (he ate the Baja shrimp taco).I contacted the restaurant, via the feedback page the next day, but never heard from them. I then contacted the corporate office and received no reply from them either. Next, I wrote a letter to the CEO (G.J. Hart) two weeks ago. Absolutely no reply whatsoever from anyone. Other than being hugely disappointed in the food, it is the lack of care and complete disregard for the customer experience. Torchy's has shown they now only care about profit and expanding- nothing about the customer care or safety of them matters to them now. It is disgusting and shameful behavior and all about corporate greed. Shame on you, Torchy's for not being more careful about the safety of your customers and only caring about the profits in your pockets.

**Reply to owner: I contacted you through feedback the day after our visit. Absolutely no reply from anyone. See...

Edit - 8/30/19 - No rating change CAUTION - if you order catering orders online, or via phone, be prepared for them to be LATE. I waited 15-20 mins past pickup time a few weeks ago, and today I waited 30 mins past pickup time (and I was a hair early to make sure they were on it). Also, got talked down to and blamed for a system error between the terminal/online ordering and kitchen printer - still had some messed up tacos. No "Sorry we're super late", No "Sorry for the confusion", No "Would you like a soda/coffee while you wait for your late tacos". Guess I'm going back to the Cedar Park or Spicewood location, where they actually value this ~$200 catering order, and make it worth my longer drive, like I've been doing for 3 years... Leaving 2 stars, because the tacos are still very tasty, and apparently in store and to-go in store orders are still fine.

Edit - 6/24/16 - Minus 2 stars Orders started to be on time, but they started labeling and packaging everything weird, where it became confusing and frustrating for our large group. They didn't include the sauces that we ordered, and packaged them weird as well, making it difficult for people to just grab and go.

I contacted the manager, and he said he'd call me on a specific day and time - I skipped my lunch this day, so I wouldn't miss his call, and he never called me.

I gave them at least 10 strikes - they're out! Never ordering from here again. They just don't have it together. Only reason they have two stars and not one, is because the tacos are still good.

Edit - 4/15/16 - Minus 1 star Consistently late when placing online orders, and they didn't even put the sauces we asked for with our order. Tacos are still excellent and hot.

Original Post - August 2015 Consistently order large orders of breakfast tacos from here. Always excellent and hot when I pick them up. Had an issue a few weeks ago where they were not up to par, and the manager is...

Not worth the wait. This was the second Torchy's Tacos we visited today after walking out of the first one because the lines are out the door. Their tacos are overpriced and just a collection of 5 items thrown on to one very small store bought undercooked tortilla. The cashiers do not seem go like their jobs much as you can tell by the look on their faces and the lack of life in their tone of voice. They dont even try to make eye contact or speak up as it is very noisy in this restaurant. We ordered the chips and queso. And one Democrat and one trailer park, trashy. After ordering, we went to find a place to sit and none of the tables were bused, so we grabbed some napkins and had to wipe the table and chairs down for ourselves. The floors were a mess. There was crumbs of food and debris everywhere. I've seen cleaner floors at the Texas roadhouse. After about 15 minutes we got our queso and chips. The chips were a bit stale but the queso was good, not very spicy though. After about 20 minutes our tacos arrived. The tacos were good and we ate them as we were very hungry. For the price you would think they would either be bigger or have more ingredients in them. I believe they use very small tortillas to make the small amount of ingredients make the tacos look larger, this along with the very small baskets they serve them in allow for this trickery. During our time here I also made a trio to the bathroom to wash my hands. The bathrooms were very very dirty and smelled of urine, with wet floors. Again, cleaner restrooms at the Texas roadhouse.

I may give torchy's another try on another day when the hype is over or some other new restaurant opens in the area which will draw the crowds and make visiting a torchy's more pleasant. Until then I think you should try it and judge for yourselves as this is just my personal experience...