Cocina Tarascas Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Lake View Township

We are visiting Chicago and decided to just drive around and pick a spot. We saw this cute Mexican place on a corner, looked up the reviews quick and decided to go. What a treat!! The service there is impeccable. We did not have to wait for a thing, also we didn’t need to ask for a thing as staff anticipated our needs and brought items right over (water, napkins, chips)!! The food was delicious, I shared a steak fajita with my 9 yr old and there was still food remaining after we were full. I do wish the fajitas came with lettuce and cheese…but I know that’s not traditional. They also have some traditional art there, which led to a discussion with my 9yr old of why there was art with exposed breasts (not sexual at all)…not a bad thing, just glad I had some knowledge on the subject or else I’m not sure what I would’ve said.

Overall we loved this place - family of 4. If we were local we’d definitely visit again. We made sure to let our server know how taken care of we felt, and how much we enjoyed our meals…he was very kind and...

The food was nothing special, average-ish, but the service is absolutely terrible!! We waiting 30-40min after we sat down to have a waitress get our drink order. Then we had to find her again because almost another 30-40min later we still didn't have drinks. It sucked that we had to tell the manager if he could send the waitress over so we could order food. The restaurant wasn't even packed!! The drinks weren't great. If you want Mexican food and decent margaritas, there's a lot better places to go to like Lalo's, Cesar's, Fiesta, Patron's, D'Noche and any other Mexican/Latino restaurant. This place was very disappointing.

Albeit policy, but also an inconvenience is that they do not separate checks for a group and wont accept more than 5 cards if one was to split it. And I guess also policy, that they don't tell you about, is that in a group of 3 or more they tack on a 20% gratuity that you have to pay regardless of how terrible the service was or how rude your waitress was the times she remembered to...

My friend and I went right after the Pride parade. It was busy but we were seated quickly. We chose to sit outside. It was very clean on the patio and the trees offered some nice shade. The bathrooms were very clean as well. I ordered a traditional margarita and wow. Had I drank another, you'd probably have to carry me out. It was strong in content but the taste was very well balanced. I honestly liked the chips, salsa and guacamole more than our actual meal. I got a burrito with carnitas and it was pretty standard. There wasn't a whole lot of flavor. However, the refried beans had a smokey flavor to them and I loved it. Our waitress was amazing and very friendly as well as the bus boys who came by to refill our waters and take away dishes. I'm glad I finally got around to checking this place out. I'd definitely be back for drinks and apps to enjoy out...