Velvet Taco — Restaurant in San Antonio

UPDATE 3: This place has made itself into the monthly conversation when discussing food options to pickup or dine out. Ugraded my review to a full 5 stars. Ive tried a lot of the menu now and the brisket nachos & chicken tikka 🤤🔥

UPDATE 2: Came back after some time for a new experience. We ate on the patio and shared nachos and guac. The pineapple guac is 🔥 🤤 Holy Crap! It's freaking good. The nachos were pretty solid too. Okok Velvet Taco, you're working your way into my heart slowly but surely. Best visit I've had by far! I've added a star to my review. Started at 2 and now we're up to a 4. Impressive!

UPDATE: We decided to give this place a second chance and eat inside. Still not blown away 😐 Initial impression is a very dirty parking lot. Paper plates and napkins littered throughout. The line was out the door was slow moving. The wait took about 25mins to reach the only register taking orders. After our order, we looked for seating. Seems like 50% of the restaurant was taken by people who saw the long line and half the party decided to "save a table". Luckily we found a spot to sit. The table was full of crumbs and sauce drippings. We wiped the table ourself before sitting. Also noticed that most other inside diners had to do the same thing and clean their own table after whoever sat there before them. I digress... The sides came out first (tots and corn) and it was nice and hot. Flavors were nice and well balanced. Shortly after, our tacos were ready. I have to carry over the complaint from my first visit; the tacos flavors are nice and unique, but the temperature is luke warm at best. I typically expect a pulled pork, or chicken taco to be nice and hot when I bite in. These tacos are more akin to a cold meat sandwich. Flavors are great but it's missing that final aspect to tie it all together. Idk if this place is entirely worth it still. It truly disappoints in cleanliness and consistency in temps. I was hoping for the best in this second visit but could only upgrade my previous review 1/5 to a 3/5. Grab a seat while someone else places your order, bring Lysol wipes to clean your own table, and perhaps your own microwave if you like hot tacos.

Original: I hate leaving bad reviews. I really do. Check my profile. I don't do this often. We ordered ahead here because we knew it was newly opened and packed. They took our order and said it'd be done in 15 mins. No problem. We left and got there in 10 mins. The drive-thru pickup lane was moving nicely. We only waited in line for roughly 5 mins. When it was our turn at the window, no one came to the window. Looked like the girl working drive thru was also helping inside to go orders. No problem. We waited at the window for about 10mins before getting greeted and asked for our order name. They confirmed the order and gave us the food. We got home (down the street) within 5 mins. Started taking our food out and immediately notice we're missing a cup of corn. That sucks but maybe honest mistake... We open our other appetizer, tots with an egg on top, and it's missing the egg. Things are going downhill fast now. We start digging into the tots anyways cause we're starving and they're colder than last night's leftovers. Okay forget the appetizer, on to main dish. We start digging into our tacos and they're all cold too. The tortillas are hard and standing on end. We call to complain about all these things and they say "Oh yeah we ran out of egg. Sorry about your order.." and dead silence for 20 seconds. So I respond "well can I at least get a credit for the missing corn?" And they say their manager will take care of it. It's been 3 days and still haven't seen anything on my bank. Not to be petty but everything adds up. The compounded-ness of seeming disregard to their customers and the food they make has me in disbelief. I've tried reasoning that maybe their new or short staffed or something, but there's no excuse when you check out the other 1 star reviews. I won't be back and I won't recommend this place to anyone. Better off going to Torchys...

After hearing about Velvet Taco we decided to give it a try. It was during lunch time so it was a bit busy. There was a lot of variety on the menu which we loved and after being undecided for 15mins we ordered the Fried Paneer Taco, the Nashville Hot Tofu Taco, the Grilled Salmon Taco, the Beer Battered Cauliflower Taco and Chips & Queso.

I will say, for the bill to have been $28 everything was just okay, not worth the price point. The food... The Fried Paneer was not good( in my opinion) there was barely a hard fry on it, it wasnt enough batter to be fried but again it was soft almost mushy and lacked flavor. Reading the description I was super excited about it but it missed the mark.. completely. However, The Nashville Hot Tofu was very good, it has the heat and it was full and flavorful. The Grilled Salmon was good! A lime wedge on the side would be a plus(my preference) but very tasty. It was a nice size portion of salmon for the tortilla it came in but this was good. Now, the Beer Battered Cauliflower... The batter was hardly there, very soft almost mushy and paired with mushy avocados it was a NO for me, a bit disappointing. Lastly, the Queso and Chips were good your basic chips and cheese.

Our cashier(Tianna) I think her name was, she was a bit discombobulated and not very knowledgeable of the menu so she wasn't a help when it came down to getting our questions answered. Also, when our order was called there were other orders to be picked up by customers so I had to guess which items belong to me and when I asked her which items were mine she was clueless.

The dining area was very dirty but where we sat was the only area that was clean so that was a bit cringy but nonetheless, everything was just interesting to say the least. But definitely give velvet taco a try for yourself and I hope you have a better experience...

Just got back to San Antonio for a couple of weeks and made our way to Velvet Taco. Despite all the nearby construction, getting into the parking lot wasn’t too bad. The place was a bit quieter than I remembered, and a few things had changed since I was last here a year and a half ago—but it still has that same cool, laid-back vibe.

We started with the blue corn chips and guacamole, and they nailed it. The chips were crisp and fresh, and the guac was well-prepared and flavorful.

My wife ordered the Rotisserie Chicken Bowl, loaded with queso blanco, roasted corn pico, black beans, guacamole, avocado crema, charred tomato poblano salsa, cilantro, and buttered cilantro basmati rice. It was fantastic—fresh, colorful, and bursting with flavor.

I went with two tacos: • The Grilled Steak Taco with portobello mushrooms, queso blanco, crispy red onion, and Mexican oregano on a corn tortilla. • The Mexi-Cali Shrimp Taco (a fan favorite), with blackened shrimp, napa slaw, sriracha aioli, avocado, roasted corn pico, and micro cilantro on a flour tortilla.

Both tacos were outstanding—easily some of the best I’ve had in San Antonio.

To drink, my wife had the Grand Kick Ass Margarita made with Lunazul blanco tequila, orange liqueur, lime juice, and agave nectar—spot on. I had a Modelo on tap, which was good, though the pour was heavy on foam. A small thing, but worth mentioning—maybe a quick refresher for the team on how to pour a proper draft.

All in all, Velvet Taco delivered—great food, good vibes, and definitely worth another visit. Looking forward to trying more from the menu next time. Great job,...