Torchy's Tacos — Restaurant in Dallas

I have been going to Torchy's Tacos for about 6 years now. It still is, by far, one of my favorite places to get tacos here in Dallas. I will say that when I first started going to Torchy's it definitely had a higher quality edge to the experience and to some of the food there. I fear that their rapid expansion has turned it more into a chain and they are finding ways to cut corners here and there and unfortunately it shows a little bit but thankfully it is still overall a delicious place to get tacos. If you would ask me when I first started going to Torchy's, I would have given it five stars. A couple of main critiques are the unbelievably slow painful process of ordering food there. Of course it's a great place to get tacos so naturally you have half of Dallas trying to cram through the front door at almost any hour of the day. The problem is it seems like the line moves at a snail's pace. Unfortunately when you compare the processes that they use to ring up orders it's nothing like Chick-fil-A. At Chick-fil-A an entire Stadium could order food in what seems like 10 minutes. At Torchy's though it is a very slow process to get a line of people pass the register and they really need to look at how they can improve this experience. Secondly, it is definitely off-putting when the order takers at the front register push for you to fill out and sign the credit card slips because there is obviously a spot for a tip on there. They all but say, "make sure you put in a tip on that receipt and sign it". Now when I go to a sit-down restaurant I usually tip at least 20% for good service. When I go to a more-or-less fast food experience, where I stand in line, wait to have a cashier take my order and then get all of my drinks and accouterments myself, I'm not inclined to tip. At any sort of fast food style restaurant, I'm doing most everything myself and the only thing that's happening is somebody's running the food from the kitchen to the table and that's it. The restaurant needs to pay their employees a livable wage, if they aren't doing so already, and stop pressuring the customer to write in tips on the receipt. Let's face it these tacos are not cheap and I would say with the amount of money that Torchys is clearly making, they ought to make sure that they are taking good care of their employees and not putting that responsibility off on the customers who are already shelling out quite a bit of cash for a...

I had probably the worst experience possible at this Torchy's today. I was in line at 12:35pm. The line was long - I totally understand the wait during lunch hour and I didn't have a problem with the wait in line. Once we were seated we got our queso and chips fairly quickly, and it was delicious as always. However, that's when the good experience came to an abrupt end. At 1:20pm (that's right - 45 minutes) we still had not gotten our three tacos. I mentioned something to a member of the food delivery crew and she disappeared into the kitchen. At almost 1:30 we finally got our food and it was cold. So - it appeared the food had been ready for a long time and just hadn't been brought out. I sought out the manager to discuss the incredibly long wait and the cold food. When he came back to my table and I mentioned this to him, he merely pointed to the line of people waiting to order, as if this should have been the only explanation I needed for my food to take so long to arrive cold. There was NO apology for the wait or the food. He offered to replace the food, but frankly I didn't have another hour to wait. He offered to refund our bill, and then shook his head at our table showing that he thought we were obviously being unreasonable. When he came back to the table to check on getting the refund I told him that he didn't need to give me a refund because obviously he was too busy being rude to me than to try and straighten out the situation. He then told me that I was the one being rude. I have been to a lot of restaurants and to two other Torchy's. I can honestly say I have never had a restaurant manager be that rude to me. If this had been my first experience at a Torchy's it would have been my last. Even the customers at the table next to me came over and made mention of how rude the manager had been to me. Torchy's has great food and is a great place to eat, but I would STRONGLY urge you NOT to give your money to...

The moment I walked in, a warm welcome awaited me, everyone at the counter was having a good time with me and seemed as excited as I was.

Cris S hooked me up with the secret menu and seemed happy to wait for me to get my brain around all the crazy good sounding options. Incredible service and super helpful, I was able to take my time and everyone was glad that I was there, even dancing along and hyping me up in my excitement about some delicious food.

On the topic of food—excellent. I got one each of the Trailer Park “trashy” (queso on it), Democrat, Mr. Pink, and Fried Avocado tacos. Each was bursting with flavor. The refried pinto beans on the Fried Avocado were smackin’, peep the huge slice of avocado on the Democrat, which had immaculate barbacoa and tomatillo sauce…

About the sauces, each one was exactly the right amount. They know what they’re doing here!

Back to the tacos, the queso on my trashy Trailer Park brought the thing to life! They have their flavors dialed. Finally, Mr. Pink was my favorite. It’s a prime example of how they don’t skimp on portions here. Huge piece of salmon for a taco (not too big though), perfect flavor combinations, texture, everything!! In terms of ingredient quality AND quantity, the prices here are unreal! Other places will charge more for half the size tacos and they comparatively have little flavor.

I paid 24 bucks and some change for these four huge tacos and a drink, and I’ll be back again and again. A normal person could definitely fill up on a couple of tacos, however I’m a big ole boy and I wanted to have a flavor journey.

This place is it. Taste and see...