EATACO — Restaurant in Northfield Township

I visited for the second time just a week ago and met a friend here. It's a cute place that has maybe 6-7 tables and a long counter along the window.

There was a server and a cook. We arrived and other tables were already seated. We ordered their chips and guac to start. I'm not a guac fan, but my friend liked it and the chips were crispy and good.

He ordered a non-alcoholic beer and I a diet soda. All three were served rather quickly. Then we looked at the menu to decide on lunch. The server kept checking on us (like every 15-30 seconds) to take our order. It was annoying.

When we were ready, she was nowhere to be found. We called out from the register and she appeared from the kitchen and took our order.

We each got three tacos. I ordered the burgermac, coconut shrimp, and skirt steak. He got the chicken tinga, crispy avocado, and ground beef. They all come in soft tortillas in corn or flour. We both got them in corn.

We got our orders pretty quickly.

The tacos "shells" were already falling apart, so the fork came in handy. Disappointment #1. The flavors were all over the place. The burgers in the burgermac taco were so overdone that they could easily be stamped with the "NHL" logo and be used in a hockey game. Disappointment #2. The coconut shrimp was good and the sauce was good too, but since the taco basically fell apart, it turned into a small plates tapas dish which isn't a good option for that kind of meal. Disappointment #3. Lastly, the skirt steak was actually able to be eaten like a taco albeit the taco falling apart in my hands. I ate it as best as I could. The same thing happened to my buddy with his tacos. He thought they were just okay.

Once we were finished, we again had to track down the server as she was nowhere to be found again. Finally she comes back and I can pay online. Perfect, as I figured it would be another 15-20 minutes before we saw her again.

With so many places for tacos, this...

4/5 stars for 2024-07-26 late lunch, 2024-05-08 & 12 dinner and 2024-02-26 lunch:

4/5 Food: the beef brisket taco (citrus marinated beef brisket, cheese onion, cilantro, smoky pasilla chile salsa, in a bliss-worthy, charred taco shell) is best. The lamb taco is a good but much heavier runner-up, although for a great runner-up, go with the BURGERMAC taco (Angus beef, lettuce, tomato, cheese, wholly unnecessary house mac sauce). Great name too, by the way. But stay away from the grilled octopus taco. It has far too much sauce and far too little octopus. Also, bone-in wings may be consistently cooked but are also consistently flavorless. They definitely need one of many available sauces. Or a salt shaker.

5/5 Service: our server was personable, friendly, and attentive. She also got our order right(!), which a different server from a year prior failed at, despite our being the only late-luncheon diners present at that prior year's visit.

2/5 Atmosphere: the dining area was clean and colorful and, thanks to its windows, infinitely brighter than the eatery across the street. We had very unlucky experiences, however, with the bathroom's broken hand soap dispenser one visit and, at another visit, a sink that someone used as a trash receptacle for empty, plastic water bottles. So much for washing hands easily after a saucy grilled...

So disappointing! I’m seriously surprised in light of the positive reviews I’d seen here. This was a nightmarish visit on a moderately busy Saturday afternoon. We waited 25 minutes and still didn’t have our food. The tables were filthy as no one removes their dishes after eating (they don’t tell you to do so anywhere that I could see). So we sat for 20+ minutes with half eaten food in front of us. We asked several times for someone to bus the tables and were finally told by a bespectacled woman with a scowl on her face that people were supposed to clear their own dishes. She didn’t offer to help at all. Customers at numerous tables outside where we were seated were speaking with each other, comparing wait times and encouraging those entering to go elsewhere. Ultimately, after nearly 30 minutes, we asked for a refund. They politely complied with an apology. The menu looks good and perhaps the food is also good, but a fast food restaurant with a Chipotle-type system is supposed to move quickly. This restaurant, however well intended, is only 2 months old, and perhaps will be better with time. However, I am unlikely to come back in light of the many wonderful Mexican restaurant options on the north shore. If you plan to go, give them a few more months to get their...