Rocket Taco — Restaurant in Washington

Rocket Taco called the police on me while having lunch there with my adult daughter.

Apparently, as I was at the counter taking in the overwhelming cognitive load that is their handwritten chalkboard menu, I apologized for having to slowly scan the menu offerings and explained that it was our first time.

"Our first time" -- Some sick person with an overactive imagination perceived me as having ill intentions and that my adult daughter accompanying me may be in a compromised position; a 49-year old man was there to make "our first time" special with salty tacos and a bland margarita. Eww.

Concern from this person(s) lead to the manager calling the police and an awkward and unwelcome visit by an Island County sheriff's deputy. The officer had my name, which could have only been provided by restaurant staff from the debit card transaction; providing this was a violation of my privacy.

The deputy was also rolling his eyes the entire time because the claim was ridiculous -- a total waste of county time and resources. He mentioned the basis of the call was someone hearing me say it was "our first time" and getting really uncomfy.

I live in Kitsap county and have been coming to Whidbey Island for decades, and yes, this was our first time to Rocket Taco. It is certainly our last.

I'm not sure whether I'm more disappointed in whomever took absolutely nothing and ran with it, or that the management did no due diligence to see if the concern was valid or baseless before calling the police.

We were an hour into our 6th annual Dadventure Week where my daughter and I do overnight kayak trips to islands, rock climb, camp, hit old haunts and all the dairy freezes we can find and this is how we start. What a warm welcome to Rocket Taco, welcome to Freeland, welcome to Whidbey Island!!

On the other hand, as the father of a daughter I do appreciate that someone was willing to say something if they saw something. What the person saw in this case was a ridiculous waste of everyone's time, has created bad will for Rocket Taco, and was a terrible start to this edition of Dadventure Week.

I also appreciate that Rocket Taco includes guacamole on their extra salty carnitas tacos. That's...

Over hyped mediocrity who's only saving grace from a one star is the tortillas and clever branding.

I'll start with the good, the tortillas are well made, flavorful and have a great toothsome texture. They make great burrito tortillas, using them for tacos however isn't doing them justice.

The beef tacos were beyond bland, it's as if the seasoned shredded beef was cooked with ZERO salt, there was no savory note to the beef other than the beef flavor, which felt watered down as the overcooked shredded beef relied too heavily on it's cooking water to retain moisture, indicating they use too lean and cheap cuts of beef.

The carnitas had a bit of a better flavor, though lacking salt and some other typical Mexican flavors like cumin and chiles. The picked onions they serve with the carnitas were over picked in a brine that favored vinegar over salt water, this process completely sapped the bite of the onion out and ruined their crispness. They were a soft pickled onion instead of a crunchy one with the spicy bite of a red onion. The onion flavor was also washed out by a sweet spice they added, I'm thinking it was cinnamon, it made the tacos nearly inedible.

The chips, pico, and guac all felt generic and store bought. We had to add pico to the guac just to get some good flavor out of it because their guac just tasted like avocados that they shook a lime wedge at and nothing else. The tortilla chips are just tortilla strips that you buy from costco, for a place that makes their own tortillas and makes them well I would figure they would take those same great tortillas and fry them to use for chips, especially for the price they charge for them.

Smoked beans were seasoned well, they didn't do those wrong at least.

Save your...

Went from 2 stars to 4. Read below:

This is a review for the Whidbey island location. Ordered deluxe carnitas and chicken tacos. Both meats were dry and cold. The tortillas were okay, but slightly doughy. Overall the tacos were bland. The beans that come with the meal were as flavorless as the tacos. We also ordered the tortilla soup with added chicken and a large mixed greens salad. The soup was meh. Again the temperature was too cold. The salad was the only positive highlight of the meal. The greens were fresh, the popitos added texture and the dressing was light and tasty. The expense of the meal is ridiculous for the portion sizes and overall mediocrity. To top it off, the staff were more interested in talking to each other than serving customers. Talk about having a rotten attitude and a negative vibe. I agree with the other review that commented on not being able to mix and match the taco choices. That's lame. My overall experience can be summed up in one word: disappointed.

Follow up: I need to say here that the owner reached out to me and apologized for the poor experience I had. She also was genuinely interested in more of the specifics and assured me that she would fine tune and make corrections where they were needed. I really appreciate the gesture and thus will write my experience off as an anomaly. Changing my rating from 2 stars to 4 stars to reflect the outstanding customer service from the owner. I will indeed have to try Rocket Taco again at the other location and look forward to adding...