Chido Taco Mercado Style Taqueria — Restaurant in Raleigh

As a certified taco fanatic, I'm probably being generous with two stars, but they're new so I'm hoping it's going to get better and not be another overpriced hipster taco joint that thinks it's gifting us with something amazing that only they can do... right now that's where they are. It's really missing the mark. Let me explain... Chido is a poorly designed restaurant. It's kind of like someone stuck a small bar and a food truck, that loosely work together, in a strip mall space with some patio furniture. Not much ambiance or character of any interest. The design flow is terrible. Luckily it wasn't busy when we were there on Saturday evening. You come in and funnel past the pick up window to the register and order from a simple but somehow still confusing menu, pay, and move on with a buzzer towards the bar. If you want a $5 Mexican beer or $10 margarita like cocktail of some sort you get that from the bar ,and pay separately, and sit down. You then have to circle back around to the front to pick up your food and access the little "salsa" bar(their words). I can only imagine what a cluster it is if there is a line of any substance. The food is at the pass waiting for you to figure out which plates are yours. I came up with a couple of other patrons at the same time and it took a few seconds to work out what was what. They don't have heatlamps or anything and service is on pizza trays that suck the heat out of the food and plastic take-out tubs for dips. Not a great idea or well presented. I grabbed my tray was told my chips were back at the register. Ok. Then proceeded to the salsa bar. A few nondescript sauces, onion and cilantro, peppers, limes, and pico. Nothing special. I grab a few to sample and make my way back through the place to my seat before returning to the register for the neglected chips. Apparently, the register beside the one I ordered from set them out and didn't mention it? IDK... Finally on to the food and the reason for the visit... The plastic tub of cheese was just ok. The paper bag of chips were stale. I'm not impressed with cheese dip normally but for $5 I expect fresh chips and a good product. They quickly replaced the bag when I said something and the new chips were better. The bag concept is fine for take-out but terrible for eat-in dining. It's odd for sharing and you find yourself feeling for chips instead of picking from a basket. Now to the star... The tacos... I ordered the pulpo(octopus) at the recommendation of the check out lady and added a lengua(tongue) taco for good measure. They were surprisingly small. Think $1 street tacos from a truck/trailer. Not an impressive amount of meat but not bad, and the tortillas looked to be grilled nicely. The tortillas were not bad, but nothing special. The lengua was sliced, not chopped or shredded, and was again, just ok. The shape of the meat made biting it difficult. The pulpo was very inconsistent. Don't know if it's cooked to order but some bits were very chewy and others not. The flavor of the chorizo on the pulpo taco was good, but the verde was the same as the salsa bar, and the "chicharrone" was just an afterthought of a pork rind laying on top of the meat. It was soggy by the time I sat down and not appetizing. All the tacos were cold before I could enjoy them. With a Negra Modelo and a Paloma-type drink it came to $40 with tip. That's an absurd amount of money for one person to have a few street tacos and two beverages. I felt a little ripped off when I left. All that said, the staff was VERY nice and on top of the service that they provide. Which, now that I think about it is just a bartender and check out person. You carry and clear everything yourself. Maybe it will get better. I have skeptical hippo eyes... Yeah 2 stars...

I saw the reviews and got excited about the fish tacos. However, was disappointed about many things. I ordered a carnitas (pork) burrito and the 2 fish tacos. Atmosphere was cool but I ordered Togo. Watched them prepare my food. No problem, I've worked in a showcase kitchen before. My problem was with how bland the food was. I understand we now live in a society where everyone's feelings are hurt over every little thing. And yes, you could say my feelings were hurt over bland food. The fish tacos were almost flavorless. And I couldn't even call them tacos, because even though the bag was kept upright, when I opened it, it looked like a fish taco salad, and I had to build the tacos myself. The burrito had some flavor, but the pork inside was almost as if they boiled it and was swimming in a pool of grease when I opened it. Too many restaurants these days are trying to hit the middle of the road. Because they don't want too upset someone with flavor. So they offer you a condiment bar with all sorts of additional flavors (sauces) so that you can't blame their bad food on them, for not making the right choice. (You didn't chose the right sauce for our bland food) Burrito was BLAND, but with my To go order they included 2 sauces. Both were tasty, one was to hot for me. However, while working in kitchens, one of the most important thing you need to stop is cross contamination. I ate the pork burrito with the not hot but tasty green sauce, and then the last two bites (after I ran out of the green sauce) slapped me in the face because of cross contamination. I don't know if it was the grill or the prep station, but those last two bites were super hot. First and last time. And before you jump all over this review, hot is not a flavor. It's a feeling. One That I don't want to feel the...

I’ve had the pleasure of dining at Chido Taco twice in the past two weeks, and both experiences were absolutely amazing! The first visit was for a friend's birthday celebration at the restaurant, and the second was for a catered lunch at my son's school. In both instances, the food was outstanding.

For my friend's birthday, we had a party of 12. Despite the restaurant's cozy size, they accommodated us wonderfully. The staff was relaxed and allowed us to rearrange tables to fit our group comfortably. Everyone enjoyed 2 to 3 cocktails and beers, and we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the drinks for such a casual taco spot.

We sampled a variety of dishes, from tacos to bowls, and every single person loved their meal. The queso and guacamole were particularly fantastic—I could honestly eat them every day! The restaurant was clean, and the bathrooms were well-maintained. The manager on duty was attentive and helped ensure the space remained tidy.

One of the highlights was seeing the chefs peeking out and cheering for our friend's birthday, which added a fun touch to our celebration. Overall, the atmosphere was fantastic, and the food was even better. Not only is the food top-notch, but the staff is genuinely kind and welcoming.

A huge thank you to Chido Taco for generously providing lunch for the teachers and staff at my son's school; it was just as delicious as dining in...