Velvet Taco — Restaurant in Austin

here is what you need to know before coming to this location

I now understand over the years the balance of the good and bad reviews for this location and how they differ and let me explain as I at one point thought I had left a review for this location but I'm now going to use this opportunity to redo a proper review up-to-date

First off the restrooms are unlike anything you will ever see that you design is unique and different that they have a sink area through to the back that is all by itself it's own design and what you have is people from the kitchen constantly coming there to wash their hands as well as people coming in and out of the restrooms thus with only one trash can really hear from washing hands then I could tell at any point of time this area could get disgusting

then you have like two stalls for on one side and two stalls for the other and they're not really a sign for men or women they're just again restroom stalls you open the door in a random close

And keep in mind these location is open ridiculous late hours and long shifts so I could see how this area could end up getting neglected depending on especially if they are getting slammed or the employees are just wasted after a long day

also I don't hold it against the manager who have had conversations with in the past and then came to realize oh wait a second there's rotating managers because this location has such ridiculous long hours especially on Thursday to 1:00 a.m. Friday and Saturday till 4:00 a.m.

keep in mind they open between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m. each day and although they don't do breakfast they have a large rotating staff quality control is going to just take a hit no matter how you do this to be able to handle the kind of volume this location gets

so I commend them on when I arrived to my mom the place was spotless clean they were keeping up with the steady flow of traffic coming in and we were able to get our order fixed and let me explain

I got an email promoting the $25 special so I downloaded the app and set it up and put in the order and paid an advance it would be ready for pickup from my mom and I to eat there but when I did substitution for what I thought was just a substitute to Pico corn when I didn't realize it was diet substituted the meat for roasted vegetables

so when I handed back the order and showed how I ordered and have any meat on either bowl they helped me understand and go through the app and quickly just made a correction and added meat to both bowls at no additional cost

again what I got was that the customer service here and a manager or not necessarily disconnected from customer service they're just exhausted and run long hours long work hours ridiculously long work hours and that would grind on just about any person that especially pending on how they're all just rotating different positions taking orders getting orders cutting corn cutting fresh corn again let me make note that you do fresh cut corn like they will constantly having somebody cutting the corn fresh off the cob

that being said your mileage here is always going to vary as they have tacos of various flavors across the board but right now the best bang for the buck is their $25 special after 5:00 p.m. where you can get two balls chips your choice of queso or guacamole and by the way they served us generous portions of guacamole which I appreciated especially with how hard it is these days to find guacamole is not like two or $3 for small portions

And of course with this place is famous for velvet cake a slice of velvet cake which was delicious didn't care for a caramel but I will definitely say I became a fan of their velveteen hot sauce

now here's the next thing I'm going to want everyone here because they have a rotating staff is constantly exhausted burnt out worked hard rotated and long hours your mileage of regards to being able to ask anybody there at the front what comes in each thing is always going to vary keep in mind people that complain about the spices yeah both of their sauces are spicy so keep...

This sort of passive response to try and seem proactive and responsive to reviews is hollow and trite.

You have my contact info, you can reach out to me. Just replying and saying please contact us, puts this on me to care to make things better. My biggest problem is that when I asked for it to be resolved in the store at the time, I didn't get any results and when I posted a negative review previo7sly, it got removed.

But, here we go.

On July 3rd, 2022 at 1021pm I placed an order for 5 tacos and some other items to go. They were confirmed for pickup at 1044pm.

I arrived around 1035pm and the order was not ready. After waiting for 15 minutes I asked where the order was, and was informed that 2 of the tacos could not be prepared because the ingredients had run out. I was asked if I would like 2 alternate tacos instead, and i switched them at that time. The other 3 tacos were ready. At 1105 I asked what was the status, and was told my backup tacos were also out of ingredients. At this point I asked for my money back but was told 2 other tacos would be out immediately and to just wait. I gave 2 additional back up tacos. 10 minutes later, people started getting the first tacos I had ordered (Tikka masla) again as the ingredients had been prepped. The backup backup tacos then took another 20 minutes to prepare while new customers were getting a full menu and out the door. At 1130pm I again raised the question to the manager and he ordered me out of the store after my refund was processed. As we started the refund, the 2 tacos showed up and I took my order of hour old and 1 minute old tacos and left. I have not returned since. An employee gave me some free taco coupons and had a sympathetic look on their face, but didn't say anything.

The manager/chef in back was rude to several customers, including myself, that evening. He was short and condescending to numerous employees as well.

I have receipts and Google maps timelines to prove and show the visit, but was flagged and removed for my review...

First time eating here at Velvet Taco. Michael greeted us at the register and offered suggestions and personal favorites of his from the menu. We ordered 4 tacos.. spicy tikka chicken, picnic chicken, and two slow roasted angus tacos. We also ordered a side of Elote (think Mexican street corn). We mentioned wanting to try their red curry coconut queso and crisp tots with an egg on top, but figured it may be too much food.

Well, Michael went above and beyond to make our first visit absolutely fantastic. When he brought out our food, he also showed up with the queso AND the tots with the fried egg!!! When I say my inner fat kid was screaming from the sheer excitement of getting to try all of these amazing things, I am 1000% serious lol

Y’all... Every. Single. Thing we ate was better than amazing! The tikka chicken taco was pretty spicy and full of flavor, picnic chicken taco sooo freaking good, angus tacos were perfectly cooked, and the sides of corn, tots, and queso were wayyyyy better than we anticipated.

But, that’s not all..... when we were about halfway through with our meal our new friend Michael came by the table and set down a large slice of red velvet cake. He then explained that they serve it drizzled with cajeta (which I LOVE). This cake, with the cajeta, was the cherry on top of our visit.

We literally have zero complaints from our visit and we both agreed that we’ve never experienced such an amazing amount of customer service before! (*if you’ve ever been to a chick-fil-a that’s saying a lot, because they’re known for their value of customer service).

We thank Michael and the staff at Velvet Taco for our fantastic/friendly experience. We left full and happy after eating amazing food. If you are ever in the area I highly recommend trying...