Rusty Taco — Restaurant in Hurst

Hi, my name is Jourdan Delphen. I have worked for Rusty Taco for almost 7 months and I would like to give you guys/girls the most honest review of my life. No lies, no false advertisement. Just the truth on how this store is run and some things that you might not know. When I started working here I noticed so many things wrong from the beginning it was hard to even pay attention to the job because everything is so filthy. From small bugs in the back of restaurant to crickets or roaches. But I gave it my all and i tried my best until walking away tonite for good. I have tried to talk with the owner (Conner Cupid) who is impossible to get ahold of and we (employees) do not have his number. From the start the restaurant is just run poorly and by young adults no older than 24, I am 31 and the oldest person in the restaurant. Therefore most of them will not care if your food is cold or even if the meat is 2-3 hours old. We dont have a time limit nor do we just throw it out. We were told to use it until it runs out, so your not really sure if your getting fresh chicken or 3 hour old chicken, its just in the warmer staying hot all day. (I COOK FRESH WHEN YOU ORDER). The temperature is suppost to be checked hourly I believe, we do not check temperatures, they simply say they dont have time, so if you want it done right you have to do it yourself. The only meat that will get thrown out after sitting to long is the grilled shrimp, which they will throw out if it (looks) bad. Ive seen brisket sit there from 8 am 2 before running out and if you dont run out, we will simply use that meat again the next day, it does not get thrown out, whatever meat is left at the end of the night is simply put in cooler and used first thing the next morning until gone. This goes for pretty much every meat except seafood. If you are allergic to seafood please also do not order fried chicken as it is cooked in the same seafood oil in the fryer. Seafood and chicken gets cooked in fryer #2 everything else in the store from chips to potatoes and even churros and fruit tacos are cooked in fryer #1. So your fried chicken is covers in fish and shrimp oil. The meats on the grill are all cooked with same spatulas, so doesn't matter if its grilled shrimp or grilled fish, eggs or beef fajitas or even rajas and chicken its all the same spatulas. The condiments are fresh and prepared daily, excpet for our cheeses (cojita & queso fresco) which are literally dated back to the 19 of last month and they are still using it. The sauces are always fresh and tasteful, but the containers we use to make salsa( red, green, orange) are also used to dethaw shrimp during the day and then we use those same buckets to put bleach in and degreaser at the end of night to scrub floor then they rinse it out and put up. So at the end off night its bleach and degreaser and in the morning its new fresh salsa. The margarita machine should be cleaned daily, hasnt been cleaned in months, theres mold on the nozzles you can see it also, its all black and moldy in all three liquid margaritas which also do not come out of machine. So the liquid margaritas could be a week old even 2 weeks old. I have Never seen them emptied or cleaned in 6 months. Never emptied just stays there all day and night. The frozen is stored in the cooler for next day. The tea pitchers are always just sprayed out never actually scrubbed, you can tell just by looking inside at the stained sides. Whatever chips are left at the end of the night are saved for the next day in the morning. The exrta shrimp and chicken fry is saved at end of night and reused in am, which means the chicken fry and shrimp\fish fry are combined at the end of the night for the next day. Not to mention out machines are so dirty if you just look closely most of them havent been cleaned since open, dont believe me, just look at the fryers and I mean look at them. There is 1 year worth of build up and gunk on there. The health inspector needs to come through here asap,...

First off, we'll be back. Read about Rusty Taco and thought the family would give it a try.

Restaurant - VERY clean. Menu items easily laid out. Although they offer different margaritas, we did not have any...but they looked good.

Staff - Honestly, I have never experienced a more friendly, helpful, COHESIVE, service oriented restaurant staff in my life. There were about a dozen people working, from register, cooking, prepping, etc. it was really great to see how everyone worked together like a well oiled machine... and again, whenever our chips seemed to be low, someone would come by and asked us we would like some more chips. Just very impressive.

Food - I love tacos, like there's no tomorrow. My very favorite taco place to go is Velvet Taco in Fort Worth or in Dallas. Honestly, it's just the bomb...But it $5 to $6 dollars a taco, it's not a place that the whole family goes every day. Rusty's, it's more along the lines of your street tacos. The meat Was very good, their fish taco was very good, and the grilled onions with it as well. My only suggestion that would really bump up everything a few notches would be the following... which street tacos, I'd like to be able to add some more cilantro, or diced up onions, or diced up radishes, or extra sauces, etc. Although the staff was very accommodating when we ordered more tacos (after initial six) and asked for extra cilantro, I really wish they had a condiments bar. Will you have different accoutrements to add to it whether it is diced up jalapeños, diced up cilantro, Pico de gallo, maybe a smoky hot salsa, a mild salsa, etc. You see this at other places (Taco H, Rosas, Taco Cabana), and I think Rusty should have it in their restaurant. If they would do that, literally this would be the bomb of places when it comes to street tacos.

Again, very tasty food, very fresh, very clean restaurant, extremely helpful/happy/pleasant employees, place to eat. I just hope they add a...

I have gone here twice for a Togo order in the last 2 weeks. First time was on a Saturday morning for breakfast tacos. I like the selection of breakfast tacos and they all were very good. The service was adequate for a counter order type place. I do think they are a bit over priced at $2.50 a taco for breakfast tacos but it looked like most of their tacos (breakfast or not) were about that price so it does keep it simple.

I went back today for dinner. First off the reviews I have read that say these tacos are small clearly don't know what a street taco is........the menu clearly states these are "Street Tacos" which indicates they are NOT a regular sized taco. So be prepared to either order multiple tacos or get chips and dip. I enjoyed all the tacos, queso and the churros we're awesome!

Now onto why I have given this place 3 stars and not more..... This place has an open kitchen so you can watch as your food is prepared. As I was sitting waiting on my order a girl walks in to begin her shift. Her hair was down and she walked up and down the kitchen line putting her hair up as food was being cooked and did not wash her hands before she began to help prepare food.....she did however put gloves on. Also when my name was called to pick up my order the same girl was behind the counter complaining about her being the only one that takes out the trash. Now I get co-workers will have complaints about each other but I as a customer don't care to hear her issues. The last reason I am giving them 3 stars is because every person behind the counter had a drink on the line which is one of the not so well known health code violations. Personal drinks aren't to be kept near any place where food is prepared. With all of that said none of the grievances I have stated are going to keep me from returning. They can all be corrected...