Taco Palenque Evans & 281 — Restaurant in San Antonio

I actually am writing this as an Uber Eats driver - not a paying customer. I've had it a couple of times but I haven't yet ordered from this particular location.

However, I am called to this restaurant 2-3 times a night, and that's on weeknights (and also usually at that time of night which is clearly anything but lol), so I figured I'd give my experience from a slightly different perspective than is usual.

Tonight was par for the course - in a good way. The staff here are always extremely friendly and tonight was no exception. In addition to being friendly as hell, they're also attentive and expedient. I was slightly surprised when I first pulled into the drive-thru lane because it was empty; I've been doing deliveries for somewhere over two years, and in that time I have never seen that drive-thru completely empty until tonight. I get to the window expecting to be handed the bag with my customer's order in it, but I am instead directed to wait in one of the to-go parking spots. Slightly perplexed, I do as asked, and it's while I'm sitting there watching this one guy fly back and forth between the vehicles and the front door that I take a second glance and realize what's up - they're just as busy as ever, only instead of having a trail of cars that reaches and extends all the way out onto the frontage road and continues as such for about 100 yards, they somehow managed to time things with the first few customers of the shift so that everyone could park without trouble and come/go at whatever pace they had set. What's even more impressive is that they either managed to keep that pace throughout pretty much the entire evening shift, or they recovered from whatever chaos they encountered very quickly. Both things are difficult as hell to achieve. Shortly after my epiphany, the flying dude was at my window with the order - without having encountered me at any point prior during the transaction, and despite the fact that I was parked in the wrong spot because someone else had parked in the spot where I had been instructed to wait. Well, color me impressed lol - yet another situation that could easily have gotten all kinds of difficult and made things just unpleasant for everyone, but he's rocking it like that was the plan all along. I know this wasn't the typical evaluation/ critique of a place of business, but I saw the restaurant literally smack-dab in the middle of my screen and just felt compelled to give credit where it's due. I saw half a dozen things that were the bane of my existence back when I was working in the restaurants, and these guys handle it just like it's just par for the course - they just sorta shrug and smile and keep on going, because for them, it...

My husband placed an online order yesterday through our Taco Palenque account that I then picked up at the Evans location at approximately 5PM yesterday - Check#526. I was unaware that there were items missing from the order until we got it home and compared what was missing to what we received. We have been attempting to contact the store directly to speak with someone to address the situation but that is where the major issues arise. When we called the number listed on the google homepage for this location (726.223.1123), it simply rings and then has a message come back that states the voicemail box has not been setup. We both tried calling this number multiple times from three different phones, same result. We then went back to the online order page for the Evans Taco Palenque and noticed there was a different phone number listed for this location (210.956.9891). We then attempted to contact someone at the Evans location via this number, it rings once, then immediately has a message that states, "the person you have dialed is not able to receive calls at this time." Again, we both made contact attempts from different phones yesterday evening and again today, same result. At this point, we have also attempted to contact someone at Taco Palenque main office and left feedback via Contact US on the main website. Considering we live roughly 17 miles from the Evans location, we'd originally planned to simply request some sort of store credit for the missing items that we could use next time we were in town near there. But, considering all of the effort that has gone into just getting in contact with someone to assist us, we would now request a credit back to our card for the items we did not receive. My phone number is included with the original order (Order# 526) - please let us know that this message has been received and that someone is going to be assisting us with this situation....

Subject: Tiny Taco Tragedy at Taco Palenque

My family and I have been loyal customers of Taco Palenque for many years. It’s one of our favorite places to eat, and we often roll in with 15 to 20 family members ready to demolish the salsa bar and make some memories. We’ve always loved the food, the chips, the salsa, the vibe — all of it.

But today… today was different. Today, my Pirata combo came with what I can only assume was a prank taco. When I opened it, I was greeted by three sad little pieces of meat — about the size of three Jolly Ranchers lined up. You could have fit all the meat into a shot glass with room left for the lime. The filling didn’t even make it halfway down the tortilla. It was basically a bean and cheese taco wearing a thin disguise of meat.

I politely walked up to who I believe was the manager, showed him the sad taco, and asked if he could add a little more meat to make it right. He assured me the portion was weighed and correct. I pointed out that my other taco, sitting untouched on the table, looked normal and had enough meat to actually fill the tortilla. Still, he stood firm.

I chuckled and asked again if maybe he could toss a little extra in there, but he doubled down and said no. At that point I figured I’d save both of us the awkwardness and just asked for a refund. Paying full price for what looked like a toddler’s practice taco just didn’t feel right.

I left hungry and pretty disappointed, not just at the portion but at how unwilling they were to fix something that was clearly off.

We’ve always loved Taco Palenque and introduced plenty of people to it over the years, but after today I think we’ll be taking a break from that location.

Thanks for reading. Hopefully next time the tacos show up dressed for the occasion instead of showing...