Taco Dirty — Restaurant in Tampa

I have to start by saying I was eagerly anticipating the opening of Taco Dirty. I am a huge fan of the other CRG concepts (especially Fresh Kitchen), so I have been driving by on a regular basis and checking out progress on this new spot. I visited for the first time this evening (day 2 since opening) and I have to say I was pretty disappointed...which shocked me. I went in expecting some chaos and confusion as the staff was ramping up (willing to overlook that this early on), but I didn't expect to be disappointed in the food choices. The individual food items were all "just okay" and were fairly bland (WHY ARE SO MANY OF THE VEGGIES ALL "CRISPY" OR FRIED??), but with a similar ordering model to Fresh Kitchen, it's just way too constrained.

It's impossible to order a salad or a bowl with lots of fresh ingredients like pico de gallo or black beans (those are all "Mexi things" and you only get 2 of them...I seriously have to choose between getting onions or a lime wedge on my bowl? That's nuts.), but you are forced to choose 2 bases (pretty much a carb overload with rice and noodle and sweet potato options), 2-3 veggies (all fried, as previously mentioned), and then 1 protein (these were decent, but I wish there was shrimp or fish). I walked in expecting a fresh and flavorful bowl like I could get at the other CRG concepts, but I was disappointed in what I could choose from before I ever even sat down. I seriously would have been happy with 1 protein and all the toppings, but you can't easily do that without spending $3-5 on just the extras and then skipping out on the elements you paid for.

I left feeling overly full and just wishing that there was a "clean" or "fresh" option among all the greasy-feeling food instead of feeling like I used my cheat meal at a place where every menu item is listed with dairy/gluten/sugar/vegan status. Sure, you get choices, but you can't walk away with something healthy. Why tout the vegan queso (which I admit was pretty good) and non-breaded crispy chicken when I can't even get a leaf of lettuce on my bowl? It just feels like a contrived health food masquerade that's not really healthy. I might consider another visit, but it's just so constrained with the current model that I can't ever see how this could give me the dish I'm looking for.

Oh, and I got charged a different price for my meal than what was posted on the menu board (off by like 65 cents). I couldn't even figure out why because I didn't get any extras.

Still hoping this turns around, but right now there are better options for fast casual and healthy Mexi-Cali style food at the ~$10...

As the rating says..."It's ok". Nothing spectacular. It seems a lot like a Fresh Kitchen, but more confusing. You pick your base(s), protein(s), veggie(s), and sauce(s), but also your "mexi(s)", which is a long list in itself. It took us a long time standing in line looking over everything trying to figure out what might be a good combination. There were no suggestions, or "signature" type bowls or anything...just choose from many lists, and many things on the lists were not easy to tell what they even tasted like so it was hard to choose not knowing if the "mexi" stuff I chose was going to go well with the somewhat obscurely named sauce I chose. Turned out it was a decent combination, although my wife and I had to keep asking at each stage, "what would go good with that?"

My suggestion is to have a few 'pre-designed' bowl suggestions and describe what they taste like (spicy and garlicky, or sweet and tangy...etc). I have a pretty good idea what I'm going to get with lemon fried shrimp, or sauteed pineapple pork, citrus brussels, or even pickled red onions, but I not so sure about "lime yogurt sriracha", "Warm Vegan Cauli Queso", or "charcoal infused jalapeno". I mean by themselves you can figure it out..jalapenos are spicy (normally), and charcoal tastes like....charcoal....but when you put them together, is it spicy charcoal, charred jalapeno, burnt pepper? The cauli queso I am guessing is a cauliflower based cheese (as it's vegan), but is it intended only for people who already know what it is and what it tastes like? If it was on a pre-designed bowl I might try it, and probably like it, but I don't know if I'm about to trash the whole bowl by putting some off flavored cheesy thing all over stuff it doesn't...

My friend and I were very excited to try this new place since we are huge fans of Fresh Kitchen and other CRG restaurants. I really wanted to give this place a 5 star review since I am biased based on Fresh Kitchen but since it's opening week, it's expected that things can get a little hectic and confusing.

During the food selection part there was massive confusion on what we could select and seems like the food is just everywhere and not labeled very well since its just written on the glass. Even though I came there looking to get tacos I was so confused I went into "Fresh Kitchen Mode" and ordered a bowl. My friend was confused also but he was able to get tacos since he had me go before him and during my menu selection confusion haze he was able to study the menu a bit more than I could. Since I felt rushed I just picked what looked good.

As usual the food tasted amazing with lots of flavor and reminded me a lot of Fresh Kitchen with a hint of Mexican but its basically a Fresh Kitchen copy. I did feel like they skimped on certain food items since the scoops are tiny and the server was very cautious on the portion size served. I noticed the same happened with the new Fresh Kitchen opened on Kennedy but they are doing better now. My friend liked his tacos but he felt they skimped on the ingredient portions also and left hungry. I'm glad I got a bowl since you get more food for the price and it tasted great as to be expected from CRG.

I'm sure my review will change to 5 stars once all the kinks are worked out and they figure everything out including the confusion of the staff. If you're a fan of CRG this is a great option for something a...