PureTaco — Restaurant in Carlsbad

Food: Tacos are bland AF. Drinks are decent. We ordered the taco flight (yes a taco flight which is why we came here because that sounded unique!) plus brisket taco & the Philly taco. When the older gentleman brought our food out, he made an unnecessary comment about all of the tacos we were having … Anyway, most of the tacos for the flight were pork based. The shrimp taco was good & so was the fish taco. Carne asada taco was eaten last since we knew it would be decent (it was). The chicken taco was very dry & also bland. Al pastor taco tasted too artificial. Hard to explain but definitely did not taste authentic and they added what seemed to be diced canned pineapple... Yes pineapple pairs with Pastor but for the prices they charge, they can afford fresh fruit not canned. The tacos sadly had little to no flavor. We had to ask for salt and some hot sauce, but they only had Tapatio (?). If you’re Hispanic, you know only offering Tapatio at a taco spot is a huge miss. And yes, all other patrons were white. Not a single Hispanic person dining there. They must’ve been 2 doors down at the other Mexican food place.

They put slaw on mostly every taco. Please stop doing this. Lol it’s ruining the taco. Just keep it simple with known ingredients. The brisket taco had BBQ sauce AND slaw on it with crema. 100% ruined the taco. We only ate half of it and trashed the rest. The tortillas were really good, except they were drenched in oil :( see pics attached. The flour tortillas were good and homemade which is a plus! We also ordered the avocado fries. $10 for 6 small pieces of fried avocado. It’s less than half an avocado in pieces which is such a rip off.. Not worth it.

Ambience is nice: heated outside dining & they offer thin throw blankets to keep you (your legs) warm.

The service is good. The young man with a curly fro taking orders was nice. If you sit at the bar, you get full service otherwise it’s self-serve after you order.

Full bar. Dole whip was good. The pineapple one is a classic, the raspberry is good and tastes like a daiquiri. Parking is not...

As much as I would love to give this place five stars, I simply can't. I ordered three of the Baja fish tacos. Now I understand that for a 1.99 I shouldn't expect too much, however, when you have two out of the three tacos that were literally cool to the touch and extra crunchy, that's not how you want your food to be served to somebody now. I understand the 1.99 is simply a loss leader, but it should be a much better tasting experience than eating at Rubio's. The plus side to these Baja fish tacos is at the toppings are excellent with the fresh tomatoes and onions and cilantro, Also, when I told the server who came out, she was very attentive but did not offer to get me some fresh tacos. I simply mentioned to her that Pure taco should at least serve these tacos fresh and that I felt that these were probably just sitting in a bin and not just fried fresh. She just kindly apologize and that was it... If it were me I would have offered either a refund or simply got the customer two fresh tacos. There is a lot of competition in Carlsbad and I sincerely think if you're going to serve $1.99 Baja fish tacos, they need to simply be better so that customers will come back and try more premium offerings. To management, try going over to Rubio's and then compare your fish tacos to theirs, Even better try going over to coyotes on Tuesday and order up a fish taco, I would definitely pay a couple dollars more for much better quality, maybe that would help your "loss leader" to be a more...

Updated review now that they've been open 6+mo:

Food is still really good and service is still good but for some reason they can't get food out hot. We've been now problem 6+ times and it's the same issue literally every time. Food is not even warm when it hits the table. Even burritos which should be the easiest food to serve hot. I am guessing it's because they try to time in so a tables order is all server at once which is nice but I think most people would prefer staggered service times if the food is hot.

........….

Really good new restaurant! We've been 3 times since it's opened and have had a chance to try most of the menu and just about everything we've had has been great. All food we've had has been well seasoned, especially the Korean pork and citrus pork. The margarita's were good, a little on the weaker side but solid over all. Service has been friendly every time, and for a new restaurants they're doing pretty good. I've had food come out cold once, and they should really offer more salsa when food is served. And for the prices, they should include free chips and salsa (especially if cocktails are ordered). Prices are the main issue, they really need to provide more value for the cost. For example, the California burrito was super tasty, but small compared to other offerings and at $11 it's $3-5 more than anywhere else. For that price it needs to include a side or be larger. Overall a great new spot with a few wrinkles that need to...