Taco House — Restaurant in West Okoboji

Living all over the country with different expectations than your typical Iowan, we were a little timid to try a place with so much hype. (we thought we'd be disappointed by geriatric food, frankly) Today we felt like taking on the challenge, expecting the worst, hoping for the best, and on a scale of 1-10, I'd give this place a national reading of a strong 6.5!

Pros: chimichangas (beef or chicken) have homemade, fried tortilla wrappings that are way above average, loved the rice (reminiscent of Davenport Iowa 's Rudy's Taco rice before they changed it for the worse, beans are good, I love their cheese! And their homemade salsa /sauces (especially the green one) pack some heat and GREAT FLAVOR! They seem to make their own tortilla chips! Excellent enchilada sauce.

Cons : we were spoiled in Casper Wyoming by Pancho's homemade flour tortillas. Lady at the window won't exactly get customer service reward of the year :) luckily, we were expecting rude service after reading reviews. No butt hurt customer here, thanks to others' warnings. Wait time was average. I'd rather wait a bit longer if it means fresher food. I can see how this place gets so packed, we will probably be ordering it "to go" in the future. Also, being greasier food, again, be ready to need emergency bathroom trips later.

P. S. By Iowa standards, this place gets a strong 9. It's hard finding really good places to eat around here. I cook better than most of them, so, at least I'm saving money. It's nice that Taco House is open now for days when we want to be out of the house having a fun day,...

Nope.

We’ve been to okoboji summer after summer the last 11 years and finally tried Taco House after reading reviews. A local said it was alright, but there are better Mexican places to try in the area. But, we wanted to try new things this time.

Regret.

It was like old school mall like atmosphere. Like, calling your name over an intercom to pick up your below sub-par meal.

Reminded me of school cafeteria booths and you stood in line to order off their menu. Nothing that is “kid” friendly for picky eaters.

Ordered the nachos (everything on it), a burrito, side of rice and chips.

Absolutely appalling, I’m glad it was $28 because it found the trash faster than it took them to call our names.

My husband hands me the rice after one bite. I smell it; smells like dog kibble. Taste it…same. Awful rice. Didn’t give it to my kid. The chips were like stale, out of the bag, tasted like dust. The nachos had so much lettuce on it, it was like a bag of whole bag dole shredded from the store. Just a whole let down for nachos. The burrito my husband said could have easily fooled him for a frozen burrito.

We don’t understand how people rave over this. It was...

Better than Taco Bell but nothing stands out. Items are small to average in portion size. Prices are as expected. Warning if cold outside, the dining room is small and if you hope to get a table, be prepared to wait. Our visit was late March, Easter weekend. Line for food went around inside dinning room. Tables where cleaned by people wanting them, not staff. Staff only came out to seating to pick up trays. Never to see how clean or check on guest. There does not appear to be anything special on menu although many people seem to like the homemade chips, cheese and hamburger nachos which are cooked in a small pie tin. Salsa is a harder variety, however very well done. Not overly hot. During warmer days, there is seating outside however it is not screened in. Be prepared for bugs. Locals seem to really like this place however there is a lot of things here that need to be improved to bring it to recomendation to visitors. Great start, just need to refine the dining experience. Perhaps introduce the super size nacho or taco and give it an...