Taqueria Tsunami — Restaurant in Roswell

TL:DR

[Time & Date of visit]: Weekday lunch

[Location/Ambiance]: Nestled in the shopping center with other competing restaurants such as Aqua Blue, Foundation. It's easier entering through the light for the Home Depot and Zaxby's, but making the immediate left and going up the hill. Passing by Planet Fitness on your right.

Parking is spacious.

Inside: The decor reminds me of a kiwi - mix usage of brown and green for majority of the colors. I guess I would say modern would be the styling. For dining in, there are long running booths with two top tables, opposite with a chair as well as 4 top booths. I spotted a outside patio section and some chairs at the bar, but did not really inspect them closer.

Ambiance was regular for lunch, not too loud on the music or voice levels of other patrons. I believe the high ceilings help on the latter.

[Service]: Full service. Our server was spot on and very accommodating. Since we were the first table to try out the Roswell restaurant week pre fixe menu, the managers stopped by to check on us here and there as this was also our first time.

Food came out in a timely manner, even with replacing one of the entrees.

[Food Highlights]: For the pre fixe menu choices, there's a good amount of value here. Sadly, I feel that when a place is "fusion" the food quality takes a hit and you can't help but clench your teeth with a "ehhh" kind of response.

Drinks: Agave Rita - basic margarita, whether that's good or bad for you. Not much punch on the liquor, but we did request for a bit more agave to mix in to our liking.

Dragonberry Mojito - Sorry folks, I'm not a fan of mints in my drinks. Sweets yes. All I can say is, my friend enjoyed this... with a dash of agave.

Starters: Avocado spring rolls - It's definitely filled with avocado's for sure, but there's some flavors missing, like some zest. I think the sweet chili sauce is a better compliment for dipping. Though it's not a similar type of cuisine, I think Little Thai in Sandy Springs has a better version. It's not bad here, but could be taken up a notch.

Entrees- Tsunami Trio - For the choices available, I picked the Asada Zing taco. Which I would say is quite good, but a little too much shredded lettuce on the ratio. I did like the sauce, a hint of sweetness just to bring out everything. Next; the "BQ" Short rib taco, which was shredded meat in a thick glaze of sweet bbq like sauce. If you don't like your 'que wet, this might not be for you. But overall, I liked it even if it was more on the sweet end. Last, the side dish, was the cucumber salad. Our server was right on it being light, because flavor wise- I didn't taste anything from the oil it was sitting atop of. It's crisp and refreshing, but not much on taste.

The steak bowl - The steak was cooked pretty well and good on how it's seasoned. The rice itself seemed to have, what our server and a manager explained, absorb all the salsa and then in turn had a risotto like texture. Kinda of mushy. I think if they poured the salsa in a side ramekin or bowl and then added it as it was brought to the table, maybe that could help it. Unfortunately my friend requested this to be sent back and opted for two asada zing tacos with a side of the southwestern couscous. I feel that side had a bit more flavor than the cucumber salad.

Dessert - Empanada Pie - Best explanation would be a deep fried apple pie then dusted with some brown sugar. The filling amount was good. Not too sweet for my taste. With the shell cooked with a light crunchy texture. Pretty good paired with the vanilla ice cream on each bite.

[Total Bill w/ Tip & Tax]: $36 plus...

This was our third time coming here to this location over many years. I remembered it being pretty good, so we stopped by on our way back from the zoo. And unfortunately we won’t be coming back any time soon.

The service was good. The people were nice and attentive, so no knocks on them. But the food could be heavily improved on.

We started with the queso appetizer and it was pretty close to cold. It was just warm enough to be classified as a liquid (kind of). It came with these little slices of warm tortilla triangles which was cool but looked like it was made for toddlers? It was probably the equivalent of one mid size tortilla.

We have two kids and ordered them two quesadillas with fruit cups. Had no idea that the fruit cups would have actually been Dole fruit cups instead of fresh cut fruit. And the quesadilla itself looked pitiful. And the cheese was half melted. Most of the shreds were still there and formed.

My wife and I ordered the taco trio. Which was two tacos and a side (yuca fries and chips &salsa respectively). We got aloha tacos and Korean carnitas. They are pretty sweet overall. Kind of got the feeling they are over sweetened in the sauce to compensate for overall flavor and quality. The tortillas didn’t seem much better ones I would buy at the store unfortunately.

We also got two fruit drinks? Their version of mocktails? They are okay. Not a lot of thought in the drink. Mainly fruit drinks.

Overall I was underwhelmed. But I was pretty taken back that it was $65. I get prices are high right now but felt very high for the quality of food. I would have felt better at $40ish. Hope they turn things around and use better ingredients and put some care into...

I’ve came here before to dine in, but I have always came alone. I never had a problem with prompt service or just someone acknowledging that you are sitting at a table. This evening I came with my daughter and I am just so disappointed in the service. We were sitting outside and we waited over ten minutes for a server to even take a drink order. I’ve been a server before and I understand that things can get busy but you can atleast acknowledge the guest and say something like idk… “hey I’ll be right with you.” AND they weren’t even that busy. I was just so appalled that many servers walked past our table and to other tables and said nothing to us. One server even came to the table directly infront of us three times. Even if we weren’t necessarily her assigned table she could’ve let the assigned server know that we didn’t even have our drinks. I hate for my daughter to see that kind of service. I am hoping that the oversight was not intentional.

I am also disappointed in the feedback from the manager. As I was leaving I asked to speak with her. I told her what happened and she reluctantly said “Aw I’m sorry about that folks.” That was it. It was kind of like I’m sorry but oh well.

Your servers should remember to not judge someone by appearances. Good...