Señor Taps — Restaurant in Vancouver

This newer restaurant is pretty close to our home, so my wife and I were excited to give it a try. Our experience the other day was OK, but I'm not sure this is a place we need to visit again anytime soon.

I believe this restaurant is located in the old Mt. Tabor brewhouse, which I assume made it easy for Senor Taps to offer a decent size tap selection. On the day we visited I believe they had 15 beers on tap and a couple ciders. Selection is so-so, consisting of several Mexican macro lagers, the usual slew of American macro lagers and a few craft options (of which the Boneyard RPM was the most interesting). On the other hand prices were pretty good. A pint of RPM was $5.95.

Service was OK. The service staff were pleasant and fairly quick, though I thought it a bit odd that there were nothing but gringos working here. I'm sure you don't have to be Mexican to make decent Mexican food, but it just seemed odd to see nothing but young white Caucasians working at a place like this.

As for the food, it was also OK. I got the taco combination and my wife got the Sope combination. Neither dish was bad... just a bit bland. Senor taps does not provide complimentary chips, so we ordered the chip trio dish. It was fine (chips with small dishes of salsa, green sauce and bean dip) but I'm not sure why it cost $8. It really seemed like the kind of thing that should be complimentary. We also got the Cadillac margs, which were good. They were a bit sweet, but had plenty of Reposado grade tequila. I asked about the "top shelf" tequila marg, which turned out to be made with 1800 silver. So not very top shelf (I was expecting at least an Anejo or Reposado level tequila).

All in all we had an ok time here. The margs were good and the food was OK. Prices were good for the margs we thought ($15 for cadillac), and $43 for the food (pretty standard for Mexican restaurants in our area).

Senor taps wasn't particularly crowded on the Friday we visited, with most people coming by for their 4 to 5 pm happy hour and then leaving. I might come again for the margs and maybe their nacho plate (didn't try it, but it looked good), but probably not for the food. When it comes to Mexican food in the area, I think one can do better...

After an excellent experience during their soft opening, we decided to visit again, but unfortunately, this visit fell short of our expectations. We arrived around 5 p.m., and while it wasn’t too busy, things didn’t go as smoothly as before. We ordered a couple of drinks, which took longer than expected, not a huge issue but noticeable. However, there was a significant mix-up with our food. A bean and cheese burrito we ordered arrived with meat inside, and a California burrito meant to be served wet was mistakenly given to my dad. This confusion led to all our food being taken back. When my dad’s burrito was returned, it was lukewarm, likely due to an effort to quickly resolve the mistake. Despite these hiccups, we were patient, recognizing that the restaurant is still new. However, it was disappointing that our issues weren’t acknowledged or accommodated in any way, especially since every order had an error. Waiting an additional 15 minutes for the check after finishing our meal also added to the frustration. The food itself was fine, but the overall experience left us a bit let down compared to our first visit. While we understand the challenges of being in the early stages of service, a small gesture of goodwill, such as comping one item, would have gone a long way in maintaining goodwill and encouraging us to return. We hope these growing pains are resolved soon, as we know this restaurant has...

We've tried Senor Taps 4 times now this year, and every time there's been a little something wrong. There the last time was the final straw. This last visit started out o.k., but when they brought out the order, the brought my wife the wrong burrito, and when we pointed it out to the staff that brought it, she replied, "I don't know what was on your order, I didn't take it". It took another good ten minutes for them to bring out the correct burrito. As if that wasn't bad enough, the next day I had some pretty bad reactions that required frequent trips to the bathroom, which experience has taught is the result of food issues, and Senor Taps was the likely culprit. Before that on previous visits, there has always been something that was at issue. Their Gordita is terrible, not even close to being prepared correctly, instead of slicing into the bread, they just wedge 2 slices together, and the fillings had a serious lack of protein filling. Before that there was some other dish they brought out that turned out to be pretty unappealing, can't remember what that one was called. It's just always been something with this place. I'd like to like them, as their local to us, but I don't forgive food poisoning from any...