Torchy's Tacos — Restaurant in North Bethesda

Was here for the opening event, where first 100 people in line gets free queso and chips for the year. I was actually the 101 person in line, so didn't make the cut. I get it, you snooze you lose. But if you see the picture of the Keychain below, you will see that the reality is different from where I lost.

You see, Torchy's tacos chose the reality, where they didn't make losers out of the people that waited in line. I observed that people behind me still received the Keychains. I think they will be a great addition to the community, because they showed they cared, and wasn't just here to be a pest and for corporate greed.

Interior has a nice glow. Food is tex mex, with variations of the taco formula that you expect from these type of spots. I've tried the taco: Trailer park, trashy style (chicken) And the burrito with chicken.

A commonality I found is that they were both saltier than what I'm used to. In a way that i felt it was overpowering. The texture of the chicken was somewhat disappointing, but I think the flavor overall was unique and enjoyable. And maybe the "saltiness" was due to it being packed because of the opening event, I'm not sure.

I enjoyed the food enough where I'll likely come back to try the other meats, and I'll see if the saltiness is a feature or was a mistake. And to be fair, I'm not sure why I ordered Chicken, when I don't particularly like it. I usually go with meats like chorizo or carnitas. Decision making was somewhat off for me that day.

The burrito wasn't packed with rice compared to other burritos, which may be seen as a negative by others, but is something I appreciate. I think they are doing the American Healthcare system a big favor. The salsa roja that comes with the burrito is not spicy. Which I'm not knocking them for, just providing information.

Chips and queso was actually my highlight. Great crunchy chips, and queso was great, although it was free for me.

Also thought the price was fair. Because I was initially worried about the $5-6 price and wasn't familiar with the chain. But after trying it and doing some math (metaphorical) in my head. I realize it's sort of a different product than tacos you would get at more strictly mexican spots. It's bigger, and the toppings are more varied and complex. So I think it's alright.

I appreciate that the vegetarian/vegan options looked good. Not just for accommodation and health, but for variance in flavor.

Will update when I come back a few more times. Looking...

Edit: I changed my review to add a 4 star for service, the email I sent to Torchy's regarding my double charge was handled very quickly and the double charge was refunded by their online email team. I would still advise using caution signing up for their membership. Even thought I like the food, I'm leaving the 3 stars because I have to reheat it every time.

Original review: the food here is never all the way heated, not even the side of beans, but especially the kids tacos for some reason. We thought it was a fluke eating in store and everything was cold, but it happened again in our pickups, so now we pick up, bring home and microwave it every time. It's kind of annoying. Also, the cheese dip (my favorite), I don't know what happened to it, but now it was brown instead of yellow in my last order and tasted horrible. I'm hoping they didn't change the recipe to it.

As a warning to others: Yesterday I placed an order in my cart (order online, pickup in store.) Before I could send my order through it asked if I wanted to join their membership for a free chips and queso dip. I clicked on yes and entered my email. It asked me to create an account and then signed me in. When it signed me in with membership added, my cart was now empty, so I put everything back into my cart. I placed my order and my husband went to pick it up. When he got home we realized there seemed to be more food than we expected. we were concerned we had gotten someone else's order too, but both bags had the same order number on the ticket. An hour later I checked my credit card and realized that not only did the order with the free Queso Dip (when I signed up for membership) go through, but somehow even though it emptied my cart, the first order must have gone through at the same time! So now I have money that I didn't think I was spending. Our last store pickup before this they forgot our drink and kids taco, but it was super busy in store so I said nothing, but this was just too much! Double check your credit card and...

I had heard a lot of people talk about Torchy's so I came in for dinner. You can choose between quick service or you can go to the bar if you want full service. The restaurant was clean but the trash can was overflowing a little bit. There was an all gender restroom and a women's restroom which seems like poor planning because I walked into the women's restroom to find a man using a stall in the women's which is awkward and uncomfortable. When you dine in they give you a table tracker so the staff knows where to bring your order and you sit wherever you like. After ordering I had only been at my table for maybe two minutes and my food already came to the table. While the service is very fast and the staff are nice this is concerning because that tells me that the food is most likely prepared ahead of time and not necessarily made to order. I ordered two chicken fajita tacos, one steak fajita taco, and one Baja shrimp taco. I also ordered chips and guacamole and a fountain drink. The meat in the tacos were cooked all the way through which is good but the veggies were not fully cooked and the tacos were warmish when they got to me. Everything looked like they just kind of put stuff on a tortilla and that was it. Almost as if they didn't even try. The guac was pretty decent but it had a back of throat tingly kind of spice I was not prepared for (I eat spicy food all the time and the heat wasn't intense or anything like that but I kept needing to take a drink) and the chips were the same kind I could buy at the grocery store. Everything just tasted like it was prepackaged and heated up. The food was overpriced for what it was in my opinion and there are other places where you can get better tacos for a more decent price. It wasn't terrible but it was disappointing. I'm glad the option is now there for the people who do like their food but I personally...