Taquiza — Restaurant in Overland Park

The servers were great...upbeat, cheery and attentive. The only missing star for service is due to the fact that we were literally the only ones in the restaurant, and our food took forever. The chef was spotted in the bathroom in between our ordering and receiving our food, so that explained that.

The atmosphere could have been perfect, except that this "no-smoking" patio is next door to another bar, and their outdoor smoking area is along the side of this patio, within the same enclosure. I think the "other bar" is in a consortium with this place, so to say it's some other bar, seems a little of a stretch. Our server said there's an imaginary line over there that is theirs...that's where they can smoke. And it was 10 feet away, and our visit was spent with a constant stream of smokers. It wasn't ideal, and if I had known, we would have sat inside. Also, their patio TV's have around 1/8" of standing dust on them, we couldn't see the game that was on until the sun went down and the TV had better contrast, due to the filth.

Finally, the food. It was mundane and bland. If I can say anything positive, it was around the price...$2.25 for most meat tacos, $3.25 for shrimp tacos. I think the lower price is due to only 1 corn shell, and a smaller footprint for each taco compared to most places, but I am okay with that. The tacos looked far better than they tasted. Very bland and flavorless in general, EXCEPT FOR THE CHORIZO...it was darn good! Each of us ordered street tacos. 2 plates came out with "V-wave" taco holders, 2 came out with the tacos mashed next to each other on the plate. Keep in mind, we are the only people in the restaurant at this point. Are they out of the taco holders? Why are 2 identical plates served looking differently? It mattered because the plate where they all were laying flat, you had to tear at the corn tortilla to get it off the plate as the sauces and salsas soaked the corn.

Overall, it was a rough night for Mexican food. I think Mexican is usually pretty easy to find a decent place...this place has 4.5 stars, so it seemed good at first blush. I saw a few other reviews on the flavor of the food as I read downward today, so maybe next time I read the reviews instead of just looking at the stars.

Sorry for the rough write-up, but after a meal like that, it had to be shared!

(PS...DO NOT order the "spicy" salsa....it's orange/yellow, looks like oily baby food, and it tastes awful. I am not...

This is not Mexican food, maybe Mexican-inspired, but not Mexican. Maybe there is a region of Mexico where they don’t use salt or seasonings?! Maybe in that region, their salsa tastes like tomato water, their black beans taste like they came straight from the can (and not drained), and their tortilla chips are chewy? If that’s the case, then I guess you can call this place a Mexican restaurant. But on my next visit to Mexico, I’d definitely avoid that region.

The servers were nice and did their job, nothing special, but no complaints. The Oaxaca Old-fashioned really was Mezcal, maybe a drop of simple syrup, and an orange slice. It was pretty bad. There was a used ash tray on our table with water in it that I had to ask to be removed. The rice was cooked well at least, but really bland. And I wasn’t kidding about the “salsa” or anything else above. How you screw up salsa is a mystery to me, but it was inedible. And the annoying club next door or whatever it was, was so loud that we couldn’t hear what the other person was saying at our table outside.

I’m not saying this in a hyperbolic way, I mean it… it might have been the worst “Mexican food” I’ve ever had. This place would be just fine as a bar and should think about sticking to...

The food presented well, but lacked flavor. The birria Lucia tacos were bland. Better when I added someone else’s salsa and sour cream. The house favorite burrito was okay—lukewarm with fatty meat (the beef was an add on). The street tacos were solid, the best of the bunch. Menu said chips and salsa included with meal, but they never showed up.

The service was subpar. Waitress was slow to get to us. She took our order without writing it down, then had to come back later to verify. Pro tip: Write it down! No silverware or napkins until well after our food was delivered by a manger type. Our waitress never checked back after the food came out. After finishing our meal, we noticed our waitress was behind the bar slinging drinks. We waited an awkwardly long time to see if she was ever coming back, but gave up. Had to go to the bar to get our check and a to-go container. No idea why she abandoned us, but it left a very bad first impression.

Pretty cool space, but the “energy-level” was off. Indoor and outdoor seating was a plus. Decor was solid. Main thing...