SoKno Taco Cantina — Restaurant in Knoxville

Hartford Score of 58 out of 75.

SoKno Taco Cantina takes its name from the esteemed Southern region of Knoxville, an area that many endearingly refer to as "SoKno" (This, of course, stands for South Knoxville). The rest of the name is derived from the fact that it is a taco cantina. Hence, SoKno Taco Cantina. This small, South Knoxville restaurant is one of the hidden gems of Knoxville if you like the hipster vibe and cheap tacos. If you don't like that sort of bohemian scene, or if you don't care for tacos, then this establishment may not be for you and you can end your reading of the review here.

Please be warned: the rest of the review may contain discussion of tacos as well as photographs of the location.

The tacos at SoKno Taco Cantina were served in a small fry boat which threw me off because I did not order fries. They were approximately the size of a young eel, perhaps even smaller, and wrapped in a good amount of aluminum foil (see pictures below). For those of you that aren't true kitchen aficionados, aluminum foil is often used to keep food warm due to its heat retention.

As for the location, it couldn't be better. The outdoor seating was full and it was about 11 p.m. when we arrived, but the indoor seating was just as accommodating. I can't help but imagine that sitting outdoors would have been equally good.

If I were to say the portions were big, I would need to turn in my pen and paper and hang up my reviewing hat because I would be telling falsehoods. In fact, they were quite small for the price in comparison to other establishments.

The service was also somewhat lacking. Our waiter had the personality of a sea sponge. When I say that, it is important to note that I am not referring to the interesting "Spongebob Squarepants" character but rather a true-to-life sea sponge that can neither talk nor have adventures with his starfish best friend.

Overall, SoKno Taco Cantina has left me wholly unimpressed. However, I will likely give it a second visit as it is relatively close to home and stays open much later than other establishments. As stated above, 58 out of 75 on the...

Things have drastically changed at this establishment, and NOT for the better. I don't know if they have a lot of new serving staff & a lot of new kitchen staff, or if management has changed. Whatever has happened recently has caused the quality of food AND the quality of service to take a steep dive. It seems painfully obvious that the training received by the kitchen & service staff is not what it should be. I took a long bike ride on a Saturday morning with the intention of rewarding myself with a lunch at SoKno half way through my 30 mile bike ride. I had no idea that the trip to SoKno would be more like a punishment rather than a reward. I arrived at 11:10 on a Saturday morning and was the third table to be sat. I ordered a guac app and a shrimp breakfast burrito with a chicken taco on the side. The guac app was satisfying and I finished and waited for my breakfast shrimp burrito and chicken taco, and waited, and.......waited some more. All of the while waiting, the tables around me that had all filled up. I kept waiting and noticed that all of the tables around me received their main dishes and some had been sat 30 minutes after me. My dish did not come out to me until 56 minutes after I ordered. Additionally, my shrimp breakfast burrito was barely warm on the outside and the some of the shrimp was actually cold. My chicken taco was also barely warm, even though it was wrapped in foil. I understand that some restaurants and staff have timing issues with serving staff & kitchens from time to time. I've worked in over a dozen serving jobs throughout my life, so I understand the restaurant business. These issues hint at more than just a timing issue, which is why I am giving only a single star. I will give this restaurant another chance just because I have had 3 positive experiences here previously and I ride nearby weekly. I just hope that they make some serious improvements to their...

This is one of those all hype and no substance places you might Find in Branson or Gatlinburg but it's stuck in a really cool side of Knoxville, South. So it's even more difficult to know that this place is like this when it's in an area that deserves good quality restaurants. Everyone there looked like they were having a blast, hipsters, college kids, couples, but the food I ate was definitely not the reason. It was trivia night and at the end of the evening so things were winding down but the food. Wow. We had fish tacos which I recommend you avoid. Not only do they have so much salt on it, I felt nauseous after eating them but the fishy smell, ew. We had tamales also and the inside tasted like a pizza roll that hadn't been fully cooked. It was hot but it had this spongy quality that I've never had in a tamale before. The queso has ground hamburger in it like hamburger helper?!?! It actually tastes like the sauce in a hamburger helper dish. If you just scooped out the sauce with a little bit of hamburger that's their queso. You can go and test it out for yourself. We were surprised to find little meat treasures we dug out of the cheese. Ooh surprise! Meat! It's fine to have meat in queso I suppose, but it would be nice if the meat was tasty and the cheese was good. Whatever the case may be, this place is not for human consumption, but maybe just a place to hang out and drink a beer. I don't drink beer, but everyone else seems to be having fun with the skunky type tap beer people love. To me there has to be about a dozen other better Hispanic food places in town and you would be better served to go there. To be honest I'm shocked people tell me that they like this place but I always keep my mouth shut because I don't want hipsters to think I'm not cool. But food is food and it doesn't have to be cool. It just...