Backyard Taco - Gilbert — Restaurant in Gilbert

Update- Since franchising food tastes different and smaller qty, with higher prices. Seems that’s the pattern with places that expand. They do use msg in some items like the rice. Carne asada was not the same, chewy and not as flavorful in Sept 2025. Sadly we stopped going😢. Getting the correct salsas was a crapshoot, plus we all thought they were more watery. Originally you had 5 stars from us.

—— This was a long time favorite for us for years. Carne Asada was always good. Chicken is mostly good but maybe one out of 10 times seems weirdly off in flavor. Not sure if it’s the spices or who cooks it. -beans and chips are too plain. -potato loco comes with butter, cheese and sour cream wrapped in foil and you cannot get it without dairy. Honestly potatoes don’t need to be cooked in foil. It’s a waste and harmful. I wish these were just cooked with Avocado oil and salted on the open fire or oven, and could get without dairy, because they would be a wonderful option if you are not doing grains. Traditionally, the tacos and burritos do not come with cheese(which is my preference) and come with cabbage. Wish they had bigger menu like; salads and lettuce as an option, a veggie burrito(like taco bells previous 7 layer burrito but no MSG)and cinnamon sugar chips, but nope!

Unfortunately, they have a hard time getting orders straight as far as if you say you want pico or guac added, and getting the salsas on the side, correct. Sometimes they only fill tiny salsa cup 1/4 full so that’s ridiculous. The burritos are huge and the tacos are quite small not as small as street tacos. They keep raising their prices, so unfortunately, our weekly to biweekly choice has become less, but I’ve never gotten sick from the food and we still love the carne asada. Fyi-They use msg...

I went through the drive thru today to place my order for a 2 taco plate with chicken and another 2 taco plate with shredded pork. The process to place my order was painful because the order taker was not understanding my order. The first time she repeated my order, I corrected her. She apologized, said she would update the order, and then repeated my order back to me. Shockingly this happened 3 more times. After finally repeating back my order correctly, I drove to the pick up window. I was met by a young woman who had “Tiel” on her name tag (not sure if she was the one who took my order). I paid for my order and she handed me a bag and asked if I wanted any salsas, which I said yes please. While she was getting those, I noticed that my bag seemed light, so I looked inside and saw that things were missing. When she returned to the window with the salsas, she handed them to me (6 tiny containers worth) without a bag and one ended up falling to the ground. I then asked her if the bag she previously handed to me was my complete order and she said yes. I explained that things were missing. She looked confused and summoned a manager with the name tag “Maria” (who never made eye contact, nor spoke a word to me). After some back and forth Tiel handed me 2 more bags. No apology. When I got home and emptied the contents of all 3 bags, everything was there, however, we received 1 extra item (looked like a bean quesadilla) which I assume belonged to someone else. After working all day, I just wanted to pick up a quick meal and chose Backyard Taco because it was close by. NEVER AGAIN. In-N-Out & Rubios consistently offer excellent customer service and tasty meals served quickly and accurately, so that’s where I’ll be taking...

This is the worst establishment for tacos and quesadillas - the chicken is dry and the quesadillas have no cheese.....the one good thing on the menu is their carne asada burrito. However, it's not good enough to offset the bad customer service. I ordered two carne asada burritos and two chicken quesadillas via the drive through, along with pico de gallo and hot sauce. The quesadillas we received had NO CHEESE, so I called the establishment, spoke to Brian (the night manager) and he said, "the cheese is hidden under the meat" - this is a quesadilla, the point of a quesadilla is to have cheese - instead I got a large dry chicken taco that may have cheese hidden somewhere under the meat?? And instead of pico, I got a plate of radishes. As for the hot sauce, I received ONE hot sauce container for FOUR items!! Then to top it all off, Brian said that their refund policy is that all items MUST be returned to the restaurant for a refund. So first they mess up my order, ruining our dinner, then we have to go out of our way for THEIR MISTAKE to get a refund for the horrible food and bad customer service THEY provided?!?! Brian even got on the phone with the owner, Ruben Alvarez,(supposedly) and said the owner was unwilling to refund unless the food was returned. Anytime I have called in an incorrect food order or complained about bad customer service (which isn't often) I have always been refunded or at least been offered a replacement food item at my next visit. But this "refund rule" on top of the horrible food AND bad customer service has driven me to write this review and I will not be returning to any of the Backyard Taco establishments. I recommend you avoid going here - there are plenty of other great taco...