T’ähä Mexican Kitchen — Restaurant in Kansas City

Disappointed After Previously Great Experiences

We treated our two adult kids to dinner at TaHa last night. This was my second visit and my husband’s fourth or fifth — he’s even taken clients here because we had such a great experience when they first opened. Unfortunately, this visit didn’t live up to that past standard.

We arrived about 30 minutes before our reservation and checked in with the hostess. She told us we could sit at the bar until our table was ready. We asked if we could sit on the couches in front of the bar instead, and she said yes. We sat there for over 20 minutes, but no one ever came to greet us, offer menus, or take a drink order. Eventually, we checked back in and were told our table was ready.

We were seated near the kitchen. Our server was friendly and mentioned they had just launched a new menu that day, and they’d appreciate any feedback. We ordered drinks and one aguachile verde to share. When it arrived, the shrimp were large, butterflied, and still noticeably gray — they clearly hadn’t spent enough time in the lime juice to “cook.” We were concerned it might not be safe to eat, so we just picked at the avocado and onions and left most of the shrimp. My husband explained our concern to the server, who thanked us for the feedback.

We did enjoy our entrees (carne asada, salmon and tacos). But when we asked to have the aguachile removed from the bill, the server said he needed to get a manager. A woman came over — I assume she was the manager — and asked what the issue was. My husband explained the concern again, but she didn’t seem particularly interested or apologetic. She just said “okay” and walked away.

The check came shortly after, and we were surprised we were never offered dessert — which we definitely would’ve ordered. Our server mentioned the aguachile had been taken off, but when we got outside and looked at the receipt, we saw we’d actually been charged for two orders of aguachile, both discounted by 85%. We only ordered one. So, in the end, we still paid for part of a dish we couldn’t eat — and twice.

We’ve loved TaHa in the past and were really excited to share it with our kids, but the poor service, handling of the situation, and billing error left us disappointed. We spent a lot for four people with drinks, and while the entrees were solid, the overall experience just didn’t meet expectations. Hoping this was just an off night, but sadly, we’re probably...

You wouldn’t expect to start an upscale dining experience with corn fungus but here I was at this lovely Mexican restaurant near the plaza in Kansas City and I couldn’t resist. The restaurant is self-described as Central-Mexican cuisine with “an American Midwestern connection.”

I was intrigued.

I started my meal with the “Empanada de Huitlacoche” which consisted of “Heirloom maize azul, huitlacoche, Oaxaca cheese, cream de maize” for $14.

Fine dining lovers says that “Huitlacoche derives from Nahuatl, a language of the Aztecs, which is still spoken in central Mexico. As Aztec farmers discovered blue-black spores overtaking their corn, they did not worry. They rejoiced. It was huitlacoche, which bestows a rich, mushroom-like flavour and makes for an excellent quesadilla filling.”

They were brave because if you see this on corn, at least my first thought would not be Oh let’s eat that and see what it tastes like. But alongside the Oaxaca cheese, it provides a rich smoky earthy flavor. Definitely a lovely way to start off a meal. The maize azul shell complemented the rich earthy textures of the fungus and cheese.

For my main course, I was debating between the Cornish hen with mole and the octopus. My server informed me that the octopus would be a lighter dish, and not being too terribly hungry, I went with that. Let’s just say if that’s his idea of a lighter dish I wonder how heavy the Cornish hen was! The grilled octopus came with roasted potatoes, a roasted tomato, and roasted morita peppers. Alongside it were two cremas with chipotle and tomatillos. As far as Central Mexican cuisine went, this had a Veracruz influence to it and reminded me of my visits there when I used to visit Central Mexico. It was delightfully grilled, but not overcooked. The octopus was tender. The roasted potatoes provided a nice counterbalance to the Kramer and the tomato with smoky paprika and sweet onions along with the peppers.

I was getting quite full after all of this, but I couldn’t resist dessert. It’s really hard for me to choose between a flan and a Tres Leche, on the advice of my server I went with the Tres Leche, which was incredible. The berries were fresh and flavorful, and came with a little carafe of sweet cream to pour over the cake. Along side of Cortado it finished...

This was by far the WORST service we have ever received. The food was mid and the service was a -100/10. First off, we made a reservation and after showing up at our reservation time and the hostess failing to find our reservation, the manager, Sam, promised us that we would be seated within 20 minutes. Spoiler alert: we weren't seated and never even received a text about our table being ready after over 2 hours. After snagging a seat at the bar, it took 15 minutes to get our drink order taken. Apps and drinks were served semi-quickly, it just took quite the effort to get any type of order in. Additionally, we watched one waiter dig their bare fingers into the cherry jar to get a garnish for a drink and after chatting about it to each other, one of the waiters came upto us and joked "she's totally right, never buy a drink with a garnish on it because odds are our fingers were on it". Anyways, once we placed two entree orders, the food came out an hour later, but 15 minutes apart. After 2 hours of sitting at the bar and waiting for our food, the bartender told us "hey I know y'all have been waiting awhile, I'm gonna go talk to my manager and figure something out for you guys". Spoiler alert, again: the manager said he couldn't do anything for us. When we asked to speak to the manager at the end of our experience, he said "I understand you're upset about the entrees coming out at different times, but ceviche is served cold and we sat you at the bar"...we didn't order the ceviche and the bar is first come first serve, so we decided to sit for a drink. We ordered tacos and fajitas, both hot dishes that every other Mexican restaurant seems to be able to serve at the same time. Sam was extremely condescending, especially considering the bartenders were apologizing several times throughout the night and were acknowledging they were in the wrong. The bartenders were kind and even offered us free drinks due the poor service, but the manager, Sam, seemed very unapologetic and never offered any type of compensation for the long wait times and terrible service. We will never be coming back to this awful establishment and I truly hope no one else wastes...