Tex Tubb's Taco Palace — Restaurant in Madison

Me and my sister and friends went here on 10/18 around 7:30 pm we got sat down really fast and brought out water we ended up ordering another drink and got that pretty fast after that we got chips and some sauces we end up eating it all up before the waitress even bothered to come over and check on us before asking us what we wanted me and my other friend wanted the same my friend hers in and I went to say mine but forgot to say what meat I wanted since she didn’t ask me what kind I wanted but she asked my friend and she said chicken so I told her nicely that I wanted beef it took a while to get food even thou it was pretty dead and we didn’t order much and when we got it she pretty much put the plate down and goes this is beef and here’s the chicken I went to start eating and found chicken in mine so I told her she miss placed the plate and said it was ok as I handed it to my other friend who had found chicken in hers as well the waitress then said that one had to be beef even if there was chicken in both and then ran off wi the out asking if we needed anything else when we did want to get more to drink she didn’t check on us till after the meal was almost over and I went to tell her it was the wrong one b it since I was already eating it that it was fine she told he she would take it off the bill and was sorry I told her it’s ok since it was already late and half eaten then my sister tried to ask to get more to drink since we drunk all the water and the drink we had but the waitress talked over her and then ran off again when we finally where done we all got our cards out and sat for a good 20 mins as she sat on her phone and talked to the bartender before coming back over and handing out checks I checked mine over to see that she didn’t take the food off but discount it I wouldn’t have said anything if she wasn’t so rude and distance but when I went to talk to her and ask about it she acted rather surprised that it was still on it and that I wanted what she told me she would do we also had to get up and walk to the bar to pay for our checks since it was closing soon and she didn’t seem to want to come back over to us the bartender was nice enough to help two of but she insisted that she helped me I wouldn’t call it help thou since she said it and then flipped the screen and ignored me when I asked if it was done she just seemed to want to know...

So we were gifted gift cards for this meal and I'm very happy that we paid with them otherwise I would made sure our meal was free for the terrible food we ate. The food was horrible. I ordered wanna be "Baja California" Fish Tacos. The choice of fish Cod, excellent not fried ok something different (normally this style and type of Taco the fish is fried). They decided to serve this fish Taco blackened.

My meal:

Tortillas- barely even toasted, it's like they put it on the comal (Pan) for about 20sec and took it off. It was cold and tasted like they just took it out the bag it comes in. Which yes if you dont toast it long enough on the comal (pan) it will have a horrible taste.

Pico de gallo/Cabbage- The taste that I could pull out of it was ok. I couldn't get to much of feel for it becaus it was drenched in the Chipotle Crema

Chipotle Crema- Great. lt didn't have to much mayo and was creamy not watery. Now I would highly recommend offering it in a dipping cup so your guest can add there own amount as they want. Today for me it was all over.

Fish- the main thing that makes this taco. Horrendous. The chef added way to much Chili Powder and Paprika to it to give it its blackened look. It was like I took a spoon full of Paprika and Chili powder and ate it. He didn't add any salt probably assuming that the Cods salty side would make up for that but it didn't because Cod isn't a salty fish to begin with. The fish was dry and tasted horrible.

So, from a Mexico/Texas native now in the states please oh please do me the favor and stop butchering my country's food especially our staple the Taco. If your going to do something do it right and seek out help on how to season things well or just make it in the form it's supposed to be in. There is a great restaurant in Texas called Chuy's they would be a good resource to tap into on how to perfect True Tex-Mex flavors. Don't expect the Chipotle Sauce or the Pico to cover up the horrible seasoning efforts on the fish. People like me who really know food find all these details in a meal. If no one has told you before I'm telling you now fix it because what I had today was unacceptable and tasted horrendous.

I don't recommend this place at all and if you do still decide to go, stay away from...

I get that it's more Mexican themed than a Mexican restaurant but I've had better food at Taco Bell. This restaurant was not very clean either, there were stains all over my menu, and there was garbage surrounding our table. Very strange to see garbage left, since it wasn't busy at all and it was an hour and half after the restaurant opened. You'd think the staff would have time to tidy up a little. Our server didn't really seem comfortable serving us, she came to our table for the purpose of taking our orders, and that's it. Never checked in with us about the quality of the meal. The Texas Poutine was very dry (no sauce), yet somehow still really greasy, do not recommend it. The food runners don't even know how to pronounce the menu items (This one staff member said "chile re-LENO", which was hilarious) and the service was slow and awkward. The food took forever to come out, too. I would understand if it was busy, but it wasn't. We paid $60 for food we didn't want to finish. I gag a little thinking about the food already. I also didn't get my drink until the end of the meal when I had to remind the server, and I was very tired by the end and my stomach hurt bad afterward which made us late to the wedding we were in town for. I would hate to see cleanliness of the kitchen, and would even go so far as to say the health department should pay this place a visit, So so disappointed. I'm only giving this a 2 star review instead of 1 star because it seems like our server was new and as an ex service industry worker I can understand why serving 9 top when you just started off might be overwhelming, even on a slow day. But that's about as empathetic as I can be. Thankfully I don't live in the area, so I don't have to try and give this place a second chance, and I wouldn't...