Torchy's Tacos — Restaurant in Katy

I love Torchy’s but this location is horrible for Togo orders. They’ve stopped the curbside pickup option which was fine because they were never really good at it. The restaurant would place Togo orders along with delivery orders on a Baker stack near the door and everyone just grabbed their orders from there. I thought that design was a little unsanitary I love their tacos so I overlooked it.

Most recently, I placed an online order as I normally do. There was one lady picking up an order before so I waited patiently in lime at the bar. The lady leaves and the bartender goes to assist the patients already sitting at the bar. No problem, that’s his job. I continue to wait. Then I see him head to the back of the bar for a convo with a guy that’s been standing their for a while. He never comes to assist me. A young lady joins them in the conversation. I wait a few minutes as the restraint is not busy and I’m thinking, surely someone is going to assist me. A young man that running orders to tables is walking back and forth and asks for my name. He couldn’t find the person he was looking for. I tell him I’m waiting to be assisted with my order and he leaves. Meanwhile, the 3 people at the bar have said nothing and I’m 5 minutes in at this point. The guy running the food come back with a bag for me thankfully but I wanted to add a margarita to my order. So I continue to wait. NOTHING. Now I’m getting annoyed because I’m standing right in front of these 3 people with such an important conversation at the bar. A lady walks up beside me and the you f lady behind the bar comes over to assist her. Wow!!!! After she’s done, she walks away. The younger guy walks over near me to check on another lady that’s sitting at the bar. At this point I’m wondering if invisible. Finally, one of the cashiers comes over because they’ve gotten the regular line down. I explain that I’d gotten my Togo order but I wanted to get a margarita Togo as well. She goes over to make my drink and I see her talking to the 3rd person behind the bar that’s never moved from his position. She comes back with a single small cup. I asked where the other part of my drink was. I ordered the large margarita which they normally give you 2 small cups because they ordered small cups by mistake. Or at least this is what I was told during my previous visits. The young lady says she was asking her manager (3rd person behind the bar) about that and he says that they have been giving out too much by giving the two cups. I poi t out the glass on the bar that’s used for the margaritas and explain that this tiny cup is not even close to the same size. And for $10, I definitely wouldn’t have ordered. She dismissed me by asking if there was anything else I needed help with. In that moment, I was so upset that I knew it best for me to just leave. I didn’t want to cause a scene and I’m sure she was just doing as instructed. But you don’t cut a drink down to half the serving size and not expect people to be a little annoyed.

Anyway, I won’t order Togo from this location again. Well I won’t patronize this location at all but it doesn’t seem that you will be ignored by staff or given a fraction of a $10 drink If you’re dining in. Great tacos,...

“Average food and service for a steep price,”

Overall - Don't get me wrong. I am a big fan of the original Torchy's tacos in Austin. But with their expansion into other cities I feel like they have lost their trailer house charm. The food still has the essence of the Austin spot, but there are factors (service and food quality) that add to the overall negative experience.

Let me review this in two stages - Dine in and carry out.

Dine in - The good - Think a sports bar with TV screens (a bit smaller in size here) with table/chair and booths. There is a full service bar as well, if you please to sit there. The ambiance is average as if I will not prefer to watch my sport games here. You place your order by lining up, (more on that in the bad), paying and then take a number and wait for your order to be brought to your table.

The bad - I am noticing a new trend with restaurants where they enjoy with people waiting in line spiralling around their restaurant. If you are hungry, there are fine places in the same lot that you can enjoy. Service is just average and the food will eventually arrive at your table. Depending on the time of the day your food may or may not be up to the standards. For example - we tend to order the chips and queso and have had an inconsistent result every time. If you are around during lunch, then you may be lucky to get a fresh batch. Dinner, I am not so sure. I have been lucky and disappointed at times.

Take out - The good - The best part is that we get to order and grab our food as we live within 10 minutes of the restaurant.

The bad - They seem to be "always" busy or short staffed. We have had to wait on the phone for a bit before we can place our order. When you arrive to pickup, ensure that you periodically ask about your order as it may be sitting on the counter, but no one calls out your name or number. We have had times we waited over 15 minutes before someone picked it up and hand it to us.

Tips - Keep an eye out for your food and the time it takes to reach your table as it may be no longer be hot (mostly lukewarm). Try to get them to reorder or reheat or you can always try to get your money back. I have done all of the above.

Try ordering the chips and queso, its really good when they do it right. You cannot go wrong with the brushfire taco (a little on the spicy side), though I have also enjoyed the baja shrimp, the democrat, trailer park and the...

On Saturday, March 1, my wife and I decided to have some drinks at Torchy's Bar around 8 p.m. It was a quiet evening with only the two of us at the bar. We ordered a beer for myself, a margarita for my wife, and some chips and guacamole to snack on. After a little while, I ordered another beer.

Around 8:40 p.m., we asked for the check, and the amount came to $30.03. I handed over my credit card, but when the bartender returned it, the total on the bill had jumped to $51.85. I immediately pointed out the discrepancy and asked the bartender to explain the difference. He simply insisted that it was a mistake on the bill, but I found it hard to believe, given that there were only two of us and the bar wasn’t busy.

I asked to speak with the manager to resolve the issue privately, but he didn’t offer much assistance. He apologized briefly, handed me his business card, and gave us a chip coupon. I felt like he was unprepared to handle such a situation and didn’t genuinely care about making things right.

In an attempt to resolve this, I called corporate three times, left messages, and never received a return call. This lack of response only added to my frustration.

This experience left me feeling like I was being taken advantage of. What should have been a simple and pleasant evening turned into an incredibly frustrating ordeal. I would go as far as to call it a robbery, as the unexplained overcharge felt intentional. I will not be returning to Torchy’s, and I would caution others about potential billing issues and poor...