Taco Casa — Restaurant in Homewood

This is a small “chain” of restaurants that is based out of Tuscaloosa and this location is the only one not IN Tuscaloosa. Hands down, I’d pick this place over any fast food place locally. I will say, though, if someone is accustomed to Taco Bell as their only frame of reference for fast food tacos- this is for sure not that. First thing to know- it’s messy. No way around it. But that “messy” part is what makes it so good. You expect your ground beef or shredded chicken to have “some” type of flavor/moisture, but here, you order your food mild, hot, or extra hot. And the sauce of your choosing is generously poured on the meat portion of your food. You absolutely can order whatever you want and “get the sauce on the side” if you are worried you won’t like the sauciness of it. But just dive on in. I personally do not get lettuce on anything here because it gets really soggy from the sauce. I promise you aren’t missing anything by not having shredded lettuce. The tortillas are specialty made- not in house- but are not your standard tortillas. During Covid, they were unable to get the supplier they normally use, but I believe it’s been back to normal for a year or so. The crunchy tacos, burritos, casa-burger and the sopapillas are great, but hands down, one thing that no one seems to know about is the pizza. Mild beef pizza, no lettuce is…chefs kiss. If you can, eat inside or at a table, as this food is really tough to eat on the go. Oh- this matters to some- they have...

I'm not from Alabama, but I constantly hear commercials on the radio for Taco Casa since I'm near the state line. My fiancee and I were in the Birmingham area and decided to give this place a try.

The employees are super friendly and professional. The dining area is clean as can be.

But the food is just... Meh.

Everything looks and tastes like Taco Bell copies made with grocery-store bought ingredients. I had a chicken Casa Pizza and over half of its weight was just semi-melted shreds of what appeared to be Kraft cheese, with hardly any real fillings. Salsa tasted like Pace picante, which is fine but not what I'd expect from a restaurant. The chicken taco burger I got was tasty, but soggy and semi-warm, and using a tiny, plain bun that again screamed "store-bought".

Lastly, my fiancee got cheesy beef nachos. The cheese sauce and chips come separated, which is fine, but there was not nearly enough sauce for all the chips. The "beef" amounted to a small number of tiny flakes mixed into the cheese. It was so little that we both sat there wondering where the beef was, before realizing it was the specs in the cheese that we originally thought was a seasoning or something. Right about the time she gave up eating the food, she found a stray curly hair in the chips that belonged to neither of us.

I'm sure this place is popular, but from an outsider's perspective the food was...

I came to Taco Casa on a Friday night the drive-through was empty. I ordered $40 worth of food that included a large sweet tea. I tasted the sweet tea because you know you always have to make sure the tea is good before you takeoff with it. I enjoy sweet, sweet tea but this tea was so sweet that after I received my food and they open the window back I asked for just a water glass empty with ice only so I could try to dilute The tea to be able to drink it. I was told if I wanted some ice cubes I would need to pay for the ice even though I had just purchased a drink that wasn’t drinkable, I was trying not to complain about And just fix it myself. I asked her if she was serious about paying for some extra ice for my tea and she said she very much was, I said that’s a very new one considering I need to fix the beverage that you just gave me. I told her I won’t be coming back if I have to pay for a few ice cubes. I hate this, I have loved taco casa my whole life it brings back great childhood memories i’m growing up in Tuscaloosa. If this is how ridiculous they have gotten they won’t get any more of my money. I eat here weekly as I work down the street . Sad to see you go to Taco Casa You will be missed but it’s very hard to keep patronizing somewhere where your business is not appreciated enough to even give you an...