El Gran Taco Mexican Grill — Restaurant in North Township

My sister and I were coming back from an event and decided to stop for tacos. We got there just shy of an hour before closing (approx 50-55 min). When we walk up to the door there is a big sign in all caps CASH ONLY. Really? Who carries cash anymore? Luckily we had some cash left over from our charity event we just left. When we walked in all the booths were dirty and they tried to get us to sit at a very large (10+ sized) table. Seems like they weren’t cleaning the booths that people got up from to stop people from coming in. We actually had to ask for them to clean a booth and it was met with some pretty dirty looks, nobody was outright rude….but you know the undertone when you get it. I would understand had it been closer to closing, but almost an hour is kind of soon to be getting mad that people are still coming in. The server was nice and efficient, we had to flag her for refills, again almost feeling the push to get out (people were still very much coming in) but never outright rude. The food was mediocre, not the best Mexican food not the worst. Al pastor tacos were ok, definitely just seasoned meat and not off of the spit, solid 5 out of ten. The bean……WORST TRAGEDY to ever be served! Water! And I don’t mean consistency. It seemed like they were going to run out before close and so they added water and possibly cornstarch to stretch and thicken. Tasted like a glass of water. I don’t know how else to express that they tasted like drinking water but not in the least bit runny very weird. At the end we had to flag the girl for our check, which they actually don’t give. You have to go to the register and give them your table number. In all there were things I really liked, I love the container of pickled jalapeño and veggies on each table, it is a pretty efficient system once you know how it works, they are open later than everyone else, and on a scale out of 10 it was a solid 5 (would have been 6-7 if not for the beans). My sister and I did notice that people were only leaving these young ladies in there $1 gasp for a tip. We saw a whole family of 5 or 6 people peel off 3 whole dollars for their server! And no I was not mistaken they were right behind us and I got up and looked…..yes I sure did because I was appalled! We left that young lady a $20 bill stacked our mess and had a better understanding why they were so over having people walking in, which by the way was still happening when we left at about 15 minutes to closing (I wouldn’t have even come in at that point) Overall I would go again and not get anything with beans, they are open late and not horrible. And BTW they have an ATM...

The inside wasn’t very welcoming. It was really confusing on who to talk to and find out where to be seated. We were instructed to sit at a filthy table. We had to move to a different one. What a way to start off our dining experience, huh? We got Chips and Salsa brought to our table after quite a bit of time. The Salsa had a spice to it and wasn’t too enjoyable, along with just about zero percent of quality. The Green Sauce in the squeeze bottle was better than the Salsa, unfortunately. The waitress seemed to start off with a bad attitude and it seemed she wanted us to hurry up and order.

I ordered a diet soda and the Three Taco Dinner with rice and beans. A huge red flag was that you choose a Small or Large Soda. There aren’t any refills. That’s very disappointing to me. For the Taco Dinner, I chose one Steak Taco, one Marinated Steak Taco, and one Flank Steak Taco. We also got a Guacamole to share.

The Guacamole was really good. The Steak Taco was also really good. The Marinated Steak Taco was average. As for the Flank Steak Taco, it was absolutely disgusting! It seemed to be just chunks of Steak fat that they acquired over a period of time and slip it on a taco. The rice had peas and carrots, which is yet another red flag for me, along with no flavor. This dinner was a waste of $11.99.

We finished our food and awaited the waitress to come back to the table to ask how everything was and bring our bill. We are aired about 20 minutes and still nothing. She whipped around the restaurant cleaning and doing miscellaneous tasks. We were finally told by someone who wasn’t our waitress that we’re supposed to go up front to receive our bill. That’s very odd. I’ve dealt with paying up front before, but to assume your customers know that they get the bill up front and pay up front is absurd. Things are done poorly here.

Overall, the quality of the food doesn’t match the price and along with the bad service, I’d call it a Nightmare Fiesta! The service was trashy and it very well could be under the top three worst experiences I’ve ever had list. I advise you to stay...

Food over priced and not good flavor, Thank you for your repose I order some tacos they where flavorless, tortilla was hard, the service at the drive thru was very horrible you have to wait at the speaker for a long time before someone takes your order, and once you get to the window they send you to park and you have to wait again for more then 10 mins and when the order finial comes its not right. One more thing my husband went a couple of weeks ago again thinking that it might have been a bad day for your restaurant so he give you another chance same thing happen long wait time same issues. I will never ever come there again I will take my business else where, were you get good service and great food.

July 2, 2020

Since there is still no place to add a new review, I am adding to my previous one. I decided to give El Grand Taco a second chance as the owner suggested to see if anything changed for the better after the two years. Big Mistake nothing changed for the better all for the worst with the service and the food. I went through the drive-thru after waiting in line for 45 minutes, I finally get to the window to pay and I was asked to move to a parking space to wait for my order, I waited another 15 minutes when I finally get my order the person that brought out to me asked me if my order was two tacos and two tortas I said yes mind you the person who took my order repeated my order correctly as well. But when I get home I get one taco cold as ice tortilla hard and greasy, and I got cilantro and onion wrapped in foil instead of my taco, So I throw away my taco because it was nasty, I open my torta and that was cold burnt and no avocado which a course I was charge extra for both tortas and did not get, oh by the way I asked for steak and got al pastor and was charged extra for the steak that I did not get. So needles to say I had no dinner I throw all of it away. And before the owner responses and says sorry I am sorry you feel that way etc...... He should maybe get his staff and...