La Plaza Mexican Kitchen — Restaurant in DeLand

My daughter had a doctor's appointment in DeLand, and my grandson wanted to ride along. After school he was hungry, so we stopped in for a snack. We looked around downtown and decided on El Taco Rico. It was our first visit. The server gave us a menu and asked us to take a seat. She came to our table shortly after with chips and salsa and took our drink order. We ordered the nachos thinking it would be a lite snack before dinner. The steak nachos came on a large platter and were covered with lots of toppings. They looked wonderful but more like a dinner for two than a lite snake. The tortilla chips were crisp, hot, and fresh. They were covered with refried beans, crumbled steak bits, fresh crisp lettuce, vine ripe diced tomatoes, sour cream drizzled all over the top, and had a huge dollop of freshly made guacamole topping it. They looked amazing. The queso came in a boat on the side and was a white cheese sauce, not too spicy and had visible red and green peppers bits. The nachos were great but a huge portion even for 9.99. We only ate half of the wonderful dish and asked for a box for the rest. The only negative was the steak bits. They were dry and crumbly and tasted of old oil. I was so full I did not eat my dinner and my grandson ask my wife if he could have the nachos for dinner. She was not impressed with me for that but said OK. I look forward to visiting this...

Was in town for an event at Stetson University, and the two of us were looking for an interesting place to eat, and Mexican appealed to both of us as soon as we saw this place.

It's a tiny place, and almost every table was taken (a good sign), and there was a steady stream of take-out customers. It isn't fancy, but I don't care about that at all. The food is all that counts.

We were first served a generous cup of salsa and chips. The salsa was blended smooth, not chunky, which is my favorite kind of salsa (but rare), and was spicy and delicious. The chips were house made and crispy. For my entree, I got a Wet Burrito, which is what I usually get at a Mexican restaurant, with spicy pork carnitas, and my companion got a chicken Chimichanga. Both were as perfect as we've ever had anywhere, fat and full, with a generous side of rice and refried beans. It was excellent, and so big that neither of us finished it all. We were both extremely happy with our selections.

The whole dinner came to just under $40, with tip, which is an excellent value. Chipotle wouldn't have been much less, and not nearly as good.

Later, at the event, I even overheard one student recommending it to another student.

A grand slam home run, and highly, highly...

I've been taking advantage of the taco tuesday deal here for weeks. 5 authentically made tacos for $6. Can't be it. But today was my last day, sinply because of who they choose to have behind the counter. It's always these little teenagers who have no idea what customer service is or how to talk to another human. There's been multiple times that I've put in an order with a coke, just to walk to the parking lot and realize they didn't put the coke with my order. Today, I called to order on my lunch break. The phone rang for about 3 mins. Called back, same thing. So I went up there on my limited time and asked if the phones were on, one of the kids behind the counter picked up the phone, hit a key on it (taking it off of mute) and then just said "what would you like to order?" Wtf?? So just before I walked back in, I called the same number, just to see if I was right that she had taken the phone off of mute. Phone rings once, and miraculously! The same kid answers. Confirming what I already knew.

Advice to the owner: Please hire people that actually do their job so you don't continue customers. After today, I'm done...