Torchy's Tacos — Restaurant in Houston

Update - we've been to this location 10-15 times in the last 12 months and they've done a much better job all around. Upgrading to 5. Great job with pandemic precautions, too Good job!

I love Torchy's Tacos. The food is great, drinks are great and we love the atmosphere. It gets 3 stars just by providing the standard Torchy's experience. Another 1 star for higher quality drinks, food and atmosphere than your average Torchy's.

HOWEVER - at this particular (new) location, there doesn't seem to be the same type of enthusiasm that we experience at other Torchy's locations. In addition to that, we've had wrong orders nearly every time we've gone (3 out of 4 times?). We have only sat at the bar and the bartender that we have ordered from will not write down your food order by default even with a history of botching food orders, so I tell him to write it down now so our order isn't incorrect. Even when he has gotten the order right there has been mistakes in the kitchen where they don't make the appropriate changes to the order. One time we also received chips covered in a ridiculous amount of salt. We complained and were told "that's how they told us to make it" when we've had the same chips at other Torchy's and they weren't prepared in that way.

In short, this location has some work to do in improving their operations. Bartenders should write down or punch in food orders as they receive them and should confirm with customers their order is correct to prevent mistakes. The kitchen should double check orders before they're prepared. Also, smiling, eye contact and the usual keys to good customer service would be helpful.

Torchy's in the Heights is the gold standard in Houston. They make going to Torchy's an experience. The bartender welcomes everyone that walks through the door and has a big smile on their face. He double-checks orders. The people that take your order and deliver your food are more friendly.

Weslayan Torchy's - talk to their the Heights franchise owner about how to deliver an exceptional experience...

This is the fourth time I’ve come to this location in 4 months. I always place a to go order in person and all 4 times waited at least 30 mins for my food. They are either that slow even when half the tables are seated or extremely sloppy and lose the order tickets. And it usually take me asking when it’s been 20 mins and they come back and say will be ready shortly and then at 30 minutes I tell them this is ridiculous even after they checked already. So the photo the food was ordered at 6:59 pm and I finally received it at 7:37. I’m sure if I hadn’t complained I would never have received my food. And each time it happens, they just bring the food out after several complaints without apologizing or providing some sort of make-up for the inconvenience. Ive been in the service business so I know 1) there will some mess-ups from time to time for even the best service providers so I did not want to leave any feedback after the first two occurrences, but after four I was compelled b/c it means management or the owners do not care enough or are completely clueless of their problems with their operations. 2) The best service providers still make mistakes, but it’s how they handle the when they do occur and they do not do anything for the customer at the time of the problem nor longer term focused in terms of addressing...

I gave this place a full on try. Although the atmosphere is appealing. The food was mediocre at best. It does not taste like authentic Mexican food (although it has the appearance). It is also saltier than I am accustomed to. (I am Hispanic for background). My taco was cold, and I dont mean just cold from the tomato/onion/cilantro pico de gallo that is used. The tortillas were undercooked and fell apart in my hand. The queso also had too much thickening agent (possibly corn starch because that was the flavor of the queso dip)

Also, It was not busy by any means but we still got our beverages and chips after we had gotten our tacos and were almost done. But this only happened after asking about it. Otherwise they would have forgotten.

The saving grace was my drink when I finally got it. It was tasty.

Oh to top this all off. If paying with card. The only way to leave a tip is by paying up front. You pay before you eat here. This may work better for some people but not when tipping is part of it. You don't know what kind of service you'll recieve.

All of this along with multuple other minor things I didn't appreciate, have made me determine that this would not be a great place to bring my parents. Who would have made a scene... Try this place if you're curious.

(I had to leave the rest of that...