The Mad Taco — Restaurant in Montpelier

Friday night... Place is packed, standing room only. Its about 845 and the joint closes at nine... People are hungry, impatient, but there is hope... Behind the counter is the man, myth, legend (,machine?!) cranking out beautifully compiled vermexican food at break neck pace, jamming out to appropriate, yet edgy music at a comfortable volume, double fisting ladles of mole to expertly drench tacos and carnitas, stopping only to smile and with manners that even the queen herself would graciously accept, ask the next patient customer their order. Peoples first impression would be to get frustrated, maybe even turn and leave, see if any other place is putting together fairly priced delicious mexican food at this hour, but one look at the man behind the counter, and they are put at ease. His suave confidence as he rolls out another burrito, and modest smile as he makes their change make it dinner with a show, that, though impatient, people stay to watch (dare i say... enjoy?). Im not sure what the kid is making, but its definitely not enough. He got more customers that would have otherwise gone out that door empty handed and disapointed fed within 15 minutes than any reasonable person could expect. And he did it with a smile. He indulges my custom orders with creative suggestions, mixes custom blends of hot sauces so every time i order the usual, its unique. This...

Showed up to find the place empty, that should have been a sign. Sat down, ordered 2 drinks and 2 shots of tequila with lime and salt. Waitress brings out 2 shots of tequila, 4 TABLESPOONS of salt and 2 ENTIRE LIMES, sliced. Okay, whatever. We laughed harder than we did at Kevin Hart's last special, but no harm no foul. During this time we'd ordered food, and brought a recipt got the entire meal before we even saw our food, or the drinks we'd ordered. Our food was brought to us by the "cook" covered up in takeout containers. I'd ordered 2 chorizo tacos, which looked and tasted like someone cut a medium cooked burger in half, topped it and sent it to me. My girlfriends "burrito bowl" was beyond gross, sporting large chunks of fat mixed in with mushy rice and a massive amount of melted cheese and a mountain of cilantro. By now our drinks have shown up, 20 minutes later. I really feel for the waitress in this situation, it's not fair to her to have to serve this "food" and be the face of it. With that said she agreed to take the food off the bill, and stated they've had employment issues. With that said we left hungry, and likely to never return to this location. It's a shame, the Essex location isn't amazing but it's solid for a quick meal and a...

My first time here. So I ordered two tacos carnitas and two tacos Al pastor with a beer. They were the first two items on their Taco menu, and they happen to be my favorite types of tacos.

I was a bit disappointed in both. The tacos al pastor and the tacos carnitas were both effectively the same shredded pork except that the al pastor had pineapple in it. Also who uses shredded pork for Al pastor. A simple Google search of it will show crispy chunks of pork shaved off a spit. Being charitable I understand that having a spit is not really necessary. You could just crisp it up on griddle. But shredded pork is way off the mark.

The flavors were both pretty bland. The tacos al pastor had no discernible flavor aside from the pineapple and not even the hint of red that you would expect from adobada. The carnitas was not crisped up at all. So it was a pulled pork taco.

The salsas were pretty underwhelming.

I would have given more stars expect for the price. I paid over $40 for four tacos and a beer. The same meal in San Diego would cost twenty or less. It doesn't need to be San Diego quality but let's be fair and admit that a $20 discrepancy doesn't leave a good taste in one's mouth. It's unfortunate that the food...