Bandit - Tacos & Coffee — Restaurant in Madison

A casual but serious sit down cafe. The space itself is gorgeous: it’s overflowing with plants and sunlight and the large vintage airport sign on the wall softly flickers through letters to create a calm ambience.

The coffees are good but certainly take a backseat to the ‘Taco’ side of the concept. The tacos are small and expensive, but exceptional. The Great Lakes Whitefish in particular was delicate and meticulous and exciting. The short rib taco felt like its more sultry twin and paired beautifully.

However. As a Texas transplant who lived in the Borderlands for most of his life, I was eager to try the chips and salsa. The first shock here was the price. The chips cost $4 and the serving is paltry. The second shock: salsa costs an extra $2 each and arrives in a tiny plastic container. The reason why these are served separately eludes me; the chips would have to be spectacular wonders, Platonic ideals of the tostada in order to justify the price, the portion, and the fact that they come alone. Which brings me to shock three: the chips are lackluster. Though the restaurant boasts that they are hand made with local organic corn, the severely undersalted chips are shatter when you bite them, sending shrapnel through your mouth as the expensive salsa launches back onto the table. A great tortilla chip is almost briny and crumbles in your mouth; it should reveal layers of masa in the oil that separate from each other as they fry and create multi-textured chambers for salsa to sit and absorb. These chips are monotonous.

Their failure would be forgivable if they came for free in a heap next to a bowl of Herdez salsa. But the fact that you must pay so much to get so little cracks the facade of the entire operation. Did I stumble upon a quiet, charming little operation that serves glorious foods and views? Or have I been duped by the veneer of authenticity and pretentiousness receiving only the idea of...

So sad to have had such a bad experience. Arrived and told some of the staff that we had that many coming. Two girls suggested we grab two tables to bring together. We did that. Then, the owners came and asked the tables to go back together. They don’t want the tables moved because they are expensive tables. That’s fine, please educate everyone. We were still so excited to try the tacos. Tacos were all served cold. Group of 12 with 24 tacos. All served very quickly but seemed like they forgot to warm up the meat ahead of time. They don’t warm the tortillas before serving. We ordered about 10 bags of chips. At $5 a small bag of chips, $10 for an okay margarita made for a very expensive dinner. After still being hungry, we went to order dessert. We asked the staff about the sun flower ice cream. Going through three girls at the counter and none knew if it was the flavor or if it was made with sunflower oil. They went and asked the management and confirmed it was with oil. I then asked if it was in lieu of milk? The girls admitted they had no idea and didn’t seem willing to figure it out. We ordered four bags of churros and they were half cooked. They then ask us to bus our own tables. After spending hundreds of dollars for a cold dinner, we won’t...

What a hidden gem (tucked next to Local Motive big yellow train engine/bar)!!! We walked over, placed our order, paid, took our coffee and number & chose a table to await the goodies.

We stopped in for a late breakfast comprised of a tall delicious drip coffee, a Bandito Breakfast Burrito, Steak & Eggs Taco and a Bandito Tostada. All tacos & tostadas are in house freshly made corn tortillas and it SHOWS! These were supple & flavorful…now add the well prepared & generous toppings! The heritage pork shoulder rubbed with coffee, cocoa & pasilla was incredibly tender and loaded with flavor complimented with a ribbon of scrambled egg beneath and fresh cilantro atop it all. Absolutely wonderful. The steak & egg taco & Bandito Tostada had similar rub preparations and were also wonderful.

We still had room for the delicately fried finger sized churros (8) that were crisp on the bite but had an almost creamy texture within and dusted with sugar & cinnamon. A decadent but necessary order. We comfortably shared a bag for dessert.

The decor is brick along with an abstract mural in an open space and LOTS of sunshine. Free WiFi too!

Would I recommend Bandit Tacos? HECK YEAH! Hustle over and enjoy a delicious meal that the folks take time &...