Velvet Taco — Restaurant in Webster

We have been long-time Velvet Taco lovers, making special efforts to visit other Houston and San Antonio locations prior to this one opening. We have loved it because of the fun vibe and great food that even our severely allergic son could enjoy safely. We go so often the staff at this location remembers his allergies and are always friendly. The vibe when we walked in this morning was different and much more strained—after our experience with the general manager, Leslie, I fully believe her presence and influence was the ruining factor for customers and staff alike. We won’t be back because of her.

The store manager (NOT Leslie) kindly took our order of three combo meals and decided it was best to enter our son’s as two kids’ steak tacos for $9.90 + $2.99 for his fountain drink. This is the same we have ordered every time before and our total was $71.16 including $8.66 for tip—we appreciate the extra effort involved in prepping food allergy orders and always tip. We ordered it to go because we can never finish the combos in one setting, but we planned to eat on the patio. When our son’s cup of meat came off the line, general manager Leslie looked at it, asked the cook if it was for one taco or two, asked for a marker to label it two tacos, and then bagged it. When we pulled it out on the patio, it was about half what we normally get—a quarter a cup of meat instead of about half. Thinking it was a mistake, I took it inside and asked if we received both orders worth of meat. The staff looked so much more stressed and dismayed than normal and referred me to the general manager, Leslie, who firmly declared he received what we paid for. She said kids’ tacos get 1.5 oz of meat each so we received 3 oz. I explained my son has food allergies and cannot eat all of the other food that comes with the tacos, so we paid $9.90 for only 3 oz of food in a cup. She said that was correct and when I explained we have ordered this numerous times at multiple locations and always received more, she said we received what we should have been given—even though she wasn’t sure looking at it herself and had to ask if it was one taco or two when it came off the line. She referenced the tortillas, tater tots and toppings typically on the tacos but did not care that our son didn’t receive any of those because he cannot eat them. When she saw the look on my face and the reactions of nearby customers that I was charged $9.90 for 3 oz of food, she snarkily said she would give us a little more today but we didn’t pay for it. I declined because I am not one to take what someone says I haven’t paid for, but we will just not return to Velvet Taco if we have to pay $3.30/oz of food and then find something else our son can eat elsewhere. Toddlers eat more than 3 oz. in one serving, let alone when paying for two! We will no longer recommend Velvet Taco in our allergy community and will have to scratch this off the list as a place our son can eat, even though I feel badly for the staff who have always been so kind and reassuring and who now have to deal with someone like Leslie as a general manager. I get corporate needing to control costs and manage portion sides, but $3.30/oz of food is ridiculous for a counter-order establishment served on metal trays and what they are going to lose in business with that kind of attitude will cost much more. Maybe the store staff needs to train and manage Leslie instead of the...

I'd been noticing this little place for a while and finally decided to give it a try, the building looked interesting and inviting.

I went here whilst on break from my job down the street, through the drive-thru, and ordered a Birria Duo and the Beer battered fish taco. They came out quick and fresh (less than 5 minutes from ordering), even though they were very busy inside, and the birria duo even had the traditional birria dipping sauce to go along with it. Dude handing out the food was very nice and conversational without going overboard on the customer service voice, made my trip just a little bit better

Now let's talk about the food. The Birria tacos were great in every way. I had been seeing birria on my feed for a while, and these two tacos satisfied my craving very much (although after eating them i find myself craving them again arghh). They were a bit spicy though just an fyi, but it wasn't overbearing at all and made it taste all the better. The beer-battered fish taco was even better though. The first thing I noticed about it was the presentation. The sauce was drizzled on the fish in a neat wavy line, and the color pallet of all the different veggies and fish was super eye-catching. The fish was crunchy on the outside, juicy on the inside, and just as a whole very satisfying to eat. Not spicy at all, and the way to go if you're trying to eat healthy. Definitely order two things here though if you're hungry. I came with a big appetite and the total amount of food i got for what I paid ($12.95) was just right. Will definitely be back to try all of the...

The place itself was cool, fun, and interesting. When I first walked in, it seemed more impressive than I would've imagined with the purple accents and an industrial design. The outdoor seating was cute, and definitely a good way to enjoy fresh air while eating tacos. The menu had a good selection of items and choices to choose from, but the prices seemed just a tad steep for what you're getting.

The first one I started off with was the Sweet Chile Shrimp taco. Right off the bat, amazing mix of flavor, texture, and crunch. There was a pretty strong cilantro aftertaste that reminded me of a Vietnamese Banh-mi, but I thoroughly enjoyed the taco - 9/10

The second taco was the Korean Rice, which tasted quite bland overall. I could not tell if they forgot to add the gochujang, or the egg, or the red chili aioli sauce (most likely a combination of the three), but it felt very lackluster. The most flavor I noticed from this taco was a raw slice of jalapeno, definitely not impressed - 5/10

The third taco was the Chicken Tikka, which I wanted to try since it seemed like an interesting fusion. Right off the bat, the chicken was very chewy and texturally off. That threw the experience of the entire taco down the drain, but the chicken tikka sauce wasn't bad. But at the same time, it felt out of place with the flour tortilla, kike eating a poor mans version of Chicken Tikka over pita or rice - 7/10

Overall, besides the superb Sweet Chili Shrimp that saved my impressions of Velvet Taco, this place delivered an inconsistent taco experience paired with a great atmosphere and...