Torchy's Tacos — Restaurant in Columbus

4 of us went to Torchy's Tacos for the first time on a Saturday night. It's an order/pay at the counter, they bring the food to you kind of place, that expects a tip (don't they all?) before any service is rendered, meaning when you pay. This would come back to haunt us later.

Our total cost, without anything complimentary provided (no free chips & salsa, no nothin') came to $98 with only one small fruity alcoholic drink ordered, the rest of us had fountain drinks. Whoa!!

The trio of dips appetizer was disappointing. We chose queso, guacamole & red salsa. Their only choices of salsas are red or green (tomatillo). Each dip came in very small bowls which were difficult for multiple people to dip from. The queso was the best; the guacamole had a weird chemical flavor that tasted like it was some commercially made product. The salsa was the same. Too smooth, no descernible bits of anything real like tomatoes, seeds of, onions, cilantro, green peppers, etc. I know that a lot of Mexican places don't have salsas that are anything special, but Torchy's CHARGES for theirs, so they should make some effort, and ditto for their guacamole.

3 if us had 2 street tacos with one side each, and one of us had a chicken bowl. Other than the salmon taco, which was declared a standout, all the rest of the tacos were just ok. The tacos were single wrapped by the tortillas which were clearly not house made, just had that "fresh out of a bag" smell and taste. The sides were rated as follows: Mexican rice-lousy, refried beans-decent, tater tots-decent, but bacon topping so fatty as to be inedible, street corn-good.

The chicken bowl was declared tasty and was a good portion, though again, pricey!

As for the service, a roving dining room manager came by to ask how everything was, which sounds like a nice touch but really wasn't. She offered to bring us more chips, as the paltry amount that we had paid for with our trio dip order were almost gone. We thanked her and waited for them to be brought out. And waited. And waited. We watched her begin a friendly conversation with a couple of employees, then head over to the cash registers, where she proceeded to do all kinds of things with the machines that did not involve customers, as there were none at the time. In fact, other than our table, there were only 2 other occupied tables in the entire restaurant and several wait staff, so they were not busy nor short-handed.

My daughter had also never received the second of the two tacos she had ordered, so finally after about 15 minutes of having spoken with the manager, I headed to the counter to ask about the missing taco, only to be given a stricken look by the manager before I reached the counter, with her saying "Oh, the chips!" She then headed to the kitchen to get them before I could mention the undelivered taco, leaving me to scout out another staff member to ask about the taco.

He hurried back to the kitchen about the taco and by the time the manager brought out the chips, she assured us the taco would be right out. Nothing was offered because of this deeply delayed taco or chips. No taco refund. No free cookie for my long suffering yet patient daughter. No coupon for free chips & salsa or fountain drink next visit.

Let's just say customer service and customer satisfaction is not this company's strong suit.

So given our mostly mediocre and expensive visit, we will not...

Would love to give this place five stars, and I will explain in this review why I didn't

The food is consistently good, and the portions are generous -- far better for the money than some other national taco chains. We've never had anything here that didn't taste good.

The dine in experience has varied a bit from visit to visit, but we've never had a problem that warranted a complaint of any sort.

Take out, however, is another matter entirely. In truth, we have never had a take out order that didn't have a problem of some sort. It's usually small stuff, like incorrect type or quantity of sauce, it's still annoying to get home and discover your favorite sauce is missing (in spite of being on the receipt/ticket). Same holds true for special ingredients or customization. On multiple occasions, I've gotten home with an order only to discover that a custom ingredient is missing (on the ticket and charged for it).

There is also a bit of a disconnect between the web site customization capabilities and at the register. On a recent visit, I was unable to create the customization that my wife absolutely loves online, so I had to go to the store and order there. Not a huge deal, but when I got home, yeah, you guessed it, the custom ingredient was on the receipt/ticket but wasn't in the bag. Turned what would've been a nice take-out experience back into "meh".

Thus 4 stars. If they can solve the QC issues on carryout, I'll be happy to revise this...

It it hard to get good food at a good price. Torchy's delivers. You need to try this place. Size is worth the money. These tacos are larger than normal. Burrito was one step away from huge. I had two tacos. That was enough. You will leave getting a good value. Better than most places these days.

Quality- Packed with meat, vegetables, sauce etc. Everything seemed good quality.

Flavor Texture- This is important. Anyone can stick some meat in a shell or tortilla and call it a taco. Too many times in restaurants I pay for food that is average and leave feeling cheated. Torchy's delivers with some culinary skills. The flavor and profiles of their food stood out. The texture of their food stood out. You had food which actually gave you an experience and filled you up. And, at a good price.

Staff goes above and beyond. I am not a tipper at these types of places normally. You should give a small tip to their staff at the register. It was very apparent the staff were going out of their way to help customers and interact with them, especially Alejandro and his buddies. Helping us clear our tables, and to package up left over sauce. It reflected highly on the management and staff. I had better GENUINE service at Torchy's than I have had at some other "full service"...