Birria El Gordo — Restaurant in Smyrna

I've been wanting to try authentic birria tacos for quite some time and finally decided to get over to Birria El Gordo this past weekend. After seeing great reviews online we went over on a Saturday around 4PM.

The restaurant is self-served. Meaning you come in, order at the counter and they give you a buzzer to let you know when your food is ready and you pickup from a separate pickup counter.

When we arrived, it was quite busy and there were 2 lines open and they were moving pretty steadily. We asked the cashier about the birria tacos and ended up ordering a few chicken & beef tacos (7 tacos total) - our total was $21.51. Unfortunately the cashier didn't mention that you have to order the consome separately and even though we asked her about it, she didn't think to mention that. After we received our food we had to go back and order it for an additional $5.

There was a 30+ minute wait. The buzzer went off after 15 minutes and supposedly that's just to get your drinks (wasn't explained to us beforehand) so we got those and waited another 15 minutes. By then we were wondering why it was taking such a while and ended up going to the pickup counter and our food was just sitting there but the buzzer had never gone off a second time. We still had to go back (as previously mentioned) to get the consome but luckily she grabbed one quickly for us.

Most importantly, after waiting 30+ minutes, the TACOS WERE MEDIOCRE at best! As tacos go, they were fine. But considering they hype for birria tacos we left wanting so much more. The birria de pollo was oily and had NO FLAVOR! I dipped the tacos and couldn't taste a difference from the taco with nothing on it. The most basic of a flavor profile, with barely any salt added or seasonings.

This was such a disappointing experience. I'll definitely try another location for birria but I would NEVER...

I'll travel 20+ minutes to TRY a restaurant, but it's hard for a restaurant to be good enough for me to go back, because usually there is someplace of comparable quality and taste near me since I live near downtown. But this is THE exception to that rule. It's a 30 minute drive that I've happily made 3x in 2 months. These tacos 🌮 are so simple (just meat, onions, cilantro, and cheese) but done SO well 🤤! We've tried the asada 🐄, goat 🐐, beef head 🐮, and lingua 👅 quesatacos and you can't go wrong with any of them. I've tried the chicken 🐓 too, and it's good, I just prefer the red meat options, 😉 with extra onion. You can order guac, but no pico de gallo or sour cream available. They also come with salsa verde and pepper sauce, and it's all you need. I've tried the consumé during my first visit and passed on it for my next couple. This place is VERY popular, so be ready for a 20+ minute wait just to order ⌚, and another 20+ minute wait for your order to be ready (my order is usually 10+ tacos, so it may be shorter for smaller orders) if you go after work on Taco Tuesday or a weekend. The mango 🥭 fresco and horchata 🥛 are also good, order one to sip on while you wait for your food. Check out their Instagram account for monthly, off-menu items 🤫 like sandwiches and nachos. I generally get my food to go. I will admit that the table tops usually need some attention ⚠️ But I'm happy to go home to stuff my face. Quesatacos are 2.75 each, and my crew gets full off of 3 tacos each 🌮🌮🌮, and we're being gluttonous if we eat more ☺️. The tacos travel well (still warm when I get home) and leftovers...

Drove almost an hour to get to the place because I follow it on Instagram and wanted to try the birria and Spiked Aguas Frescas since it looked so good on their reels. I feel like I would have given it a better rating but the girl at the counter was NOT nice, helpful, friendly, or welcoming. I let my sister do the talking because I wasn’t trying to ruin her day. From the moment we got there, she gave us the attitude of “hurry up and order.” Then we asked about the spiked aguas frescas and she said she had no clue what we were talking about. So we had to pull up Instagram to show her and she proceeds to say “I don’t follow the page and what they post” (which is poor training on the management part). I was shocked at the price $12 for a spiked agua fresca, but I didn’t care if it was good but it wasn’t. I feel like it has the makings of a good drink but clearly the “bartender” wasn’t trained on how to make a proper drink. The Horchata with Hennessy was good though. The Jamaica with Herradura tasted watered down. The Pina with animador was good, and the frozen margarita was nasty. We ordered Birria nachos, and to be honest it looked very good and did taste good but I think we were just so full on drinks that we couldn’t finish the food and it didn’t knock out socks off but I would try it again. I wasn’t a fan of the loud reggaeton music nonstop either, it just wasn’t the vibe but that’s just me and wouldn’t stop me from visiting a place I enjoy. Overall, I think it was the ambiance and customer service that earned the poor...