La Taguara Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Madison

We LOVE this place!! One night we were trying to decide where to go for dinner and decided to try La Taguara, which we had driven past countless times but never bothered to check out. It's a great family restaurant, which is good because our little group had two adults and one kid. The place is relatively casual, with a nice atmosphere and friendly servers. We ordered the Cuban sandwich, the Pabellon Jr., and the house salad. All three were delicious. I will admit, service was a little slow, but we couldn't really complain as it was a Friday night.

Anyway, we've been back several times since then and almost always order the same thing; each time it is AMAZING. However, we always make one big mistake: we order two huge plates of (super delicious) appetizers (arepas and sweet plantains), then fill up almost completely on those so that by the time our food comes, we only have room for like two bites. That's okay because it leaves us with plenty of leftovers for the next day, but if you make the same mistake we did and eat way too many appetizers, order something that will be good reheated the next day.

Let's talk drinks - the alcohol options are good; there's a nice drinks menu. Of course, this is no good for the kid in our party, but there are a lot of tropical drinks as well, like Passionfruit juice and coconut water. They also have Pepsi products, but those are boring in comparison to the variety of drinks they offer alternatively.

P.S. Here's a handy tip. Get the passionfruit cake....

We really enjoyed our first, of hopefully many, dining experiences at the newly opened High Crossing Blvd location of La Taguara Bar & Grill on the east side of Madison, in the prior Uno's building. The menu is extensive, with something for just about anyone. The Sampler aperitivo is a great way to get introduced to a variety of Venezuelan delicacies and flavors. It comes with 3 each of cheese masa balls, yucca sticks, ground beef empanadas, arepitas and tequeños, served with dipping condiments of nata (like a sour creme), guasacaca (avocado based sauce) and tartara verde sauce (tangy dill tartar type sauce). We all agreed this is a must order next time we go!

Not knowing what to try for entrees, our server (a family member?) suggested three of "Specialties", the Pabellón "Venezuelan National Dish", the Bandejita Paisa, and Cachapa con Queso & Cochino Frito / Sweet Corn Pancake with Pork. All three were excellent, each coming with generous portions. We each saved half of our plates to take home so we would have room for one of the 9 dessert options. We chose rice pudding with coconut milk, the egg custard (flan) with caramel sauce, and the Churro Sandwich with ice cream and chocolate sauce. We loved all three, but the Churro Sandwich that my son had is what I would likely save room for the next time.!

We can't wait to go back to try out many of the other menu items, including specialty arepas, empanadas, Venezuelan Lasagna, and flat...

Absolutely love going to La Taguara! This was our first time going to this location and it was just as lovely as the first location on East Wash! Our server was Orlando (I believe that was his name, I’m not great at remembering names) and he was great! Very friendly and patient while we took our time to decide what we wanted to eat, he was also very attentive throughout the meal so we never had to wait for anything we needed! We decided to get the sampler platter first so we could try a little bit of everything on the appetizer menu, it did not disappoint! Everything was delicious but we especially loved the mini arepas,the Venezuelan cheese sticks, and of course the beef empanadas! It was also nice to be able to try a few of the sauces that we had never had before! Afterwards I got 3 big empanadas for my meal, one bean and cheese, one beef, and one shredded chicken, every single one of them was as good as I always remember them to be! We really love the guasacaca sauce, it’s delicious on anything you put it on! My husband also really enjoyed his chicken arepa and beans & rice as well! Very good portion sizes with plenty to bring home for later! Also very affordable for all the food you get! We can’t wait to go back and try their breakfast menu that they have from 9am-3pm on Sundays! I highly recommend trying this restaurant to anyone looking for delicious food in a...