T&T Tacos & Tequila Grill & Cantina — Restaurant in Poway

I had the pleasure this past week of visiting Poway’s two newest Mexican restaurants! A standout for me was T&T Tacos & Tequila on Scripps Poway Parkway. They’re in the space formerly occupied by Tio Leo’s which closed a few months ago. Although T&T has only been open for about a week, you wouldn't know it. The family seems well experienced in the restaurant industry. Service was warm, welcoming, thoughtful and friendly from everyone we encountered. The layout seemed reminiscent of Tio Leo’s but felt like a whole new different restaurant with all of their painting, redecorating and whatnot. It had a really nice upscale, yet laid back vibe. With “Tequila” in their name they of course feature a nice selection of craft cocktails and margaritas. The “T&T Cadi” was particulary good. There are about 10 or so beers on tap served in your choice of 16 or 23 ounce frosty glasses.

The menu was impressive. Seemed like elevated Mexican fare and that definitely manifest itself in the dishes that came out. I ordered the “Tampiquena” and it was outstanding. Among the finer versions of this dish I regularly order. The grilled skirt steak was nicely seasoned, tender and flavorful. It was accompanied by an excellent cheese enchilada blanketed with a delicious mole sauce that seemed like an old family recipe. I was truly impressed by a typically mundane enchilada. The plate was garnished with a nice portion of guacamole, or what they call “muddled avocado”. It had two taquito halves sticking out of it. I thought that was a nice touch. My wife enjoyed her “T&T Rolled Tacos” which had a generous portion of carne asada heaped on top. Chips & Salsa service was tasty. While the chips were fairly pedestrian it was a nice portion and the salsa was really good. Overall I was quite impressed and will be returning very soon. Highly...

I was here last week. the place looked great, some-what busy. so we decided to stop and eat here. We sat at the bar ( right away i could tell the bar tender wasnt a bar tender ) the bar tender seemed very new to the bartending scene which is fine the problem was with the food arrived ( the food taste was decent not super great but for the area and what it was... decent) my friend ordered a campechana tostada ( octopus and shrimp ). Myself i ordered a shrimp tostada, as im eating my tostada about half, maybe a bit more then half way thru it, i find a hair ( eyebrow or eyelash ). So i asked the bar tender if he could do something about it. He then goes to the kitchen and comes back with " the person who works the seafood station is blonde and has blonde eyebrows/eyelashes." And when i carry plates over to the table, i carry them far from my head ( he did this gesture 🤷‍♂️ this way but hands further apart from his head ). So i figured he'd give me a discount. Doesn't until i ask for it. When the check comes back, it's a whopping $3.60 off of the bill or 30% off of the tostada. So i asked for a manager, to which he replied, "i am the manager, im actually the owner." To make it shorter, i ended up accepting the 3.60, as to not continue to talk to this condescending bartender/owner by the way he gave me 30% off because its what i left of the tostada when he took the plate. Honestly, the owner sucks and should get better customer service skills and understand its not about how much one eats of the food but the experience of something like this happening when they eat at...

We went here for lunch to check out the new Mexican restaurant that has just moved into the old Tio Leo site. It's tucked in the corner and not very visible from the street. I hope it'll make it.

The decor inside looks similar to how it was when it was Tio Leo's, if not the same with small changes. Still comfortable booths and tables inside with a nice big outdoor patio.

Chips and salsa was brought out to the table once we were seated. The chips and salsa were ok. I wanted more salsa to go with my lunch and was asked if I wanted the same salsa or a hotter version. Hot please! That was better.

We ordered the 3 mini tacos plate ($14) and the T&T Rolled Tacos plate ($12). These are also carte and didn't come with rice and beans or any other sides. The food was pretty good with lots of toppings. Portions were a decent size as we were both stuffed afterwards.

Only downside was that my friend is sensitive to onions and asked for no onions but they forgot and added them so she was picking them...