Tavos Antojitos y Tequila — Restaurant in City of Rochester

I live close to this restaurant, but had’nt checked it out until just this evening when myself and a friend stopped for dinner. Immediately we were impressed by the decor. You wouldn’t know how vibrant and colorful it is inside from the dark outside. They did a REALY nice job renovating the space. The hostess who greeted us was nice, and told us we could sit at the bar until our table was ready. We picked seats at the bar and immediately the bartender asked if we were waiting for a table. After we said yes he asked if we wanted drinks. I was thinking it over, but my companion said no. The bartender acted annoyed that he wasn’t getting a drink, and made sure to loudly tell the other bartender “they’re just waiting for a table”. Now, I could totally see being aggravated if we were blocking people from getting a drink, but there was no one waiting, and even still a couple of empty seats at the bar. But regardless I decided to order a drink in order to feel a little more worthy of sitting there. All of the flavored margaritas are $12, so I decided to order one. I gave the bartender $15 in cash. My plan was to give him the $3 in change for tip. However when he threw my change back at me I noticed he only gave me $2. I caught his eye a minute later and asked him where the other dollar was, and he acted close he had no idea what I was taking about. He went to the register and magically found the remaining single. He said he was sorry, and I told him I was planning to give him the change anyway. I set the money down in front of him and he just walked away from me. I’m not sure if he didn’t hear me, or didn’t care what I said. Either way he was inattentive and acted like we were bothering him, and I think he thought I was too dumb to count my change from a simple transaction.

The saving grace was that the good and drinks were excellent. Kudos to the chef. However, my waitress seemed frazzled and a little green. When my appetizer came I asked for a couple side plates so my friend and I could share. She told us they were actually out of side plates… it was a messy dish, so we spread our napkins out and did the best we could. Then after we finished dinner we decided to split the tres leches cake I’d seen served several times since we got there. That’s when our waitress informed us they had sold out of both flavors for the evening.The thing is, they have 3 desserts total on the menu, and they were sold out of 2… Plus tomorrow is cinco de mayo, so one would think they’d have extra of everything on hand to prepare for the next day. Maybe not.

All in all it was kind of a lackluster experience. Which is too bad because the food is good. But because of the rest I’m not sure if...

Update after going back a second time:

The food is still really awesome, and like many places, they are still understaffed and the service suffers a result. Your best bet is sitting at the bar at this place. Services seems a lot faster when you have an employee nearby at most times. But the food is worth it if you're patient. Great menu with really tasty food. This place would be five-stars all day if they hired more staff. Don't know if it is the front or the back of the house, but there is a serious bottleneck somewhere.

We showed up at 4:45 on a Saturday. The bar was full, but the dining area was almost empty. Ordered some drinks and some apps. By the time the apps arrived around 5:00, the place was almost full and the service was reduced to a standstill.

The guac was actually just kinda meh. Nothing amazing, but better than the stuff at the grocery store. The Tacos de Nada (little fried tacos full of mashed potatoes) were excellent and unique.

Now, we finished our apps and waited for our entrees. And we waited... and waited... and waited. Around the 30 minute mark, our server stops over to apologize about the time it is taking and offers some extra chips in the interim, which was nice, but probably about 20 minutes too late (also, give people free chips at a Mexican joint and if you're gonna charge, make them fresh and hot). She came right back with the chips/salsa and before we could eat more than a couple, our meals arrived.

My girl had a combo with 2 tacos and 2 burritos and she loved just about everything except for the chicken. It was kind of bland, but was fine. I had a combo with a sope, a chalupa, and a burrito. The burrito was alright for being small and not filled with a ton of anything besides meat, and the barbacoa inside was great. The chalupa left something to be desired from a textural standpoint as it was soggy and falling apart, but it was really tasty. The sope was FANTASTIC! I had it topped with the carnitas and that was flavorful and actually kinda spicy. I will almost certainly be getting more of those next time I go.

That being said, everyone was friendly. The space was comfy and clean. It did get a bit loud when full, but that comes with the territory. I enjoyed the vast majority of what I ordered. I'll definitely go again, but I will try going a little earlier because when it's full, the service can be...

I was excited to see Tavos being advertised as a new Mexican restaurant within 5 minutes of our home, especially because there were rave reviews and also because of my familiarity with El Rincon and other establishments under the same ownership! We decided to try Tavos for a first visit on Cinco de Mayo. I had seen the restaurant We expected it would be busy in spite of arriving around 4:45 pm. We were greeted and told the wait would be about 40 minutes in spite of Google not reflecting how busy the restaurant was at that time. Fortunately, we were seated within about 20 minutes. In that time, I got a drink from the bar which was delicious and inquired about the "Guac on the Roc" special advertised online for free guacamole with the purchase of certain beverage offerings. I was told by the hostess and another member of waitstaff that this was not being honored that evening though the dates in the Facebook advertisement showed that it ran through 5/5 and beyond. It was a disappointing start given this was one of the reasons that brought us in to begin with as we live in the neighborhood. Once seated, the advertisement disappeared from Facebook with no apology offered. We then ordered the ceviche, taquitos and barbacoa tacos. The taquitos and tacos came out and had a great presentation and were delicious. After this, we told the server we didn't get our ceviche as we ordered it as an appetizer, and he asked if we wanted it still or if we wanted it removed from the bill. We told them we would still like it and found it very fresh and flavorful though, being a San Diego native, I thought the fish being chopped so finely was strange. Overall, the experience was ok but the food was exceptional to the point where we ordered takeout the next day. Going forward, I would just be leery about promotions but definitely give them a shot for some fresh Mexican food...