Taco John's — Restaurant in Elk River

If I could give them a zero, I would. When we walked in, there was one customer sitting waiting for their order and one standing at the counter waiting for her order to be fixed. We stood there waiting, and all we could hear was a girl in the back yelling and complaining. The girl at the counter said, "You have to ring the bell." We rang the bell, and a guy came out to take our order. The girl continued yelling and arguing with coworkers. The customer waiting for his food said, "Stop yelling and do your job." Probably thinking if the girl knew we could hear her, she would stop complaining. She continued anyway. We sat down and waited for our food. Our order came out first, and it was wrong. The guy who had been here the longest said, "What about my order?" The guy who brought it out said sorry we messed up, and it will be right out. The next person who got their food was the girl waiting for her order to be fixed. It was wrong again. The kid who brought it out just walked away. Finally, the girl who had been yelling the whole time brought out the first guys food. The girl at the counter waiting for her food to be fixed finally said, "You know what, you guys can keep it, and I'll be calling corporate." The girl went back to the kitchen and yelled,"She's calling corporate." One of the employees said loudly,"Who cares?" Terrible customer service and the food wasn't good. As I'm writing this one of the kids came out to complain to us about the lady who left saying "she's been in here 3 or 4 times saying we messed up her order and we didn't." I let him know the impression we got from the moment we walked in was not good and told him how we heard the girl in the back yelling and complaining. He said, "She doesn't have that good of a life right now she's homeless." He said,"Not to make excuses, but we are trying to do other things too." We let him know our order was messed up too, but we didn't want to send it back. He said he was sorry and said, "Thanks for not getting mad at all of us." While we appreciate his attempt at smoothing things over, it doesn't make up for the lack of customer service and professionalism. I sincerely hope none of the team members who were here were managers. Teach your employees...

This message was sent on March 29th 2024 to Taco John's customer service email that was on my receipt. I feel disregarded just because nobody had the courtesy to respond with a simple apology. Thanks for such a memorable experience.

The worst service ever!  This is the first thing that crosses my mind every time I past the Taco John's located at 18033 Zane Street NW Elk River, MN 55330.

I still feel this way after nearly two months.  Here's what happened.  On 02/03/24 my wife and I entered this location and waited at the counter for nearly 5 minutes.  We were understanding because we knew there was a line in the drive thru.  During this time we were never acknowledged.  All of the sudden about 5 or 6 people walked around us and started to order from a kiosk.  Yes, we felt stupid but there was no sign or indication that we had to do this ourselves.

When it was our turn to order my wife order my wife ordered 3 Beef Crispy Tacos.   I ordered a Boss Steak Burrito with no pico.  The reason I ordered no pico is because when I eat things with raw onions I have difficulty breathing.  Not realizing that there was pico and salsa on the Burrito I placed my order.

After waiting about 20 minutes for our food I took my first bite and realized there was salsa on the burrito and returned to the counter and explained to the young man that was now behind the counter that I could not eat salsa.  He said he would get another burrito made and have it out shortly.  After over 20 minutes had passed my wife and I decided to leave.

After running an errand I returned for the burrito about 30 minutes later.  At this point I was pretty hungry.  I spoke to the same young man behind the counter.  He said that his manager refused to make me the second burrito from the earlier visit.  I said that would have been great to know earlier because I waited for over 20 minutes.  I asked to speak to that manager.  After a brief uncomfortable conversation he made me a new burrito with no apology.

I don't plan on visiting another Taco John's again after this experience.   Due to the lack of customer service ( no customer acknowledgement due to...

Unfortunately, this branch has went downhill rapidly. When we walked in on a recent visit, it was clear that the dining room had not been cleaned in a bit. As for our food, there was one person waiting for an order, 3 guys that had just placed one, and then we placed a dine-in order for 3. I'm not sure how many were working when we were there but I saw 3 employees. As we sat down and waited for our food, I had a line of sight to the back prep area. I could see two of the guys running around and throwing - what I assume was food - at each other. Those that ordered before us had gone up to check on their orders a few times and ours came out about 20 minutes after we ordered. The food was pretty 'meh' and none of our tacos had any lettuce (???). When we were done eating, one person didn't feel so well, one got sick, but I felt fine.

I've shown up more than once to a sign on the door that said 'Short staffed - Dining room closed' or 'cash only - credit card machine not working'. This branch had always been pretty decent but is seems like it has taken quite a dive in the last 6 months or so. With the prices on everything going up, its at the point where you can go to a sit down Mexican restaurant for only a couple of $$$ more. I like Taco Johns - as they are far superior to the Bell IMO.. but probably won't go back to this location any...