Tacos del Cartel - West Palm Beach — Restaurant in West Palm Beach

Here’s my honest review. The environment at Tacos del Cartel is undeniably chic and elegant, but honestly, it’s way over-hyped. Make a reservation well in advance — without one, you’ll likely never get seated. They don’t have enough tables to handle walk-ins, and they won’t seat you until your entire party is present. Which is common for a lot of restaurants now an day do this. I respect that and understand. If you reserve a table for more than 5 you have to give a credit card to keep on file in case you don’t show. Which is also something restaurants do commonly specially in Miami.

A fun touch is the light-up menus, which give off a cool, futuristic vibe. Unfortunately, the service didn’t match the ambiance. We didn’t receive water until an hour after placing our order, even after our appetizers arrived. The water glasses are tiny, and they didn’t leave a pitcher on the table, which made it worse.

As for drinks, the presentation of the Rosanova was beautiful — it looked like the enchanted rose from Beauty and the Beast. But at $20, it wasn’t worth it: just a few sips and overly sweet, like the other cocktails we tried.

For starters, we ordered the ribeye guac. The balance was off — way more guacamole than ribeye — and I personally wouldn’t serve it with tortillas; chips would have been better. For my main dish, I tried the Tendero de Birria, and I’d give it 2/5. The tacos were very oily (which I expected with birria, but still) and the truffle fries were greasy. The elote also disappointed — the sauce was only on one side and extremely spicy, with no water to help.

Every 10 minutes there was a birthday celebration. Honestly, it felt excessive — even the staff seemed tired of it. My friends ordered the tomahawk, which was served very raw and had to be sent back to be cooked a bit more. And this course also brings a celebration from the staff to over hype this dish.

To top it off, I ended up with a stomach ache afterward, likely from all the grease in the tacos and fries. Then, at the end of the night, their payment system wouldn’t take Visa (even though my card worked before and after). After finally paying, we were “politely” asked to leave because another party had reserved our table. My friend hadn’t even finished her margarita. I’ve never been asked to vacate a table like that before.

Tables are also placed so close together that I kept accidentally bumping my elbow on the servers body, vice versa.

Our server himself was kind and tried his best, but overall, the experience was not what what we expected. This was our first — and last — visit to...

My wifes granddaughter was on leave before heading to her new duty station so we decided to have lunch downtown. She found this place and said it was "hyped" up and looked nice. So we find parking in the garage just east of the restaurant and head up the block. Go in and the hostess asked name and phone number, I believe because after our experience they try and do reservations. We didn't have one and it was 1pm on a Saturday, the place wasn't half full. She seats us and we wait on our waitress. Finally she shows and takes our drink order, 2 cokes and a corona. Nothing extravagant, more than 20 minutes later I finally see her coming out with drinks, all hand held stopping at the bar to get a tray and come over. Finally we get to order, appetizer, queso and chips, meals aside tacos, all three of us ordered the same. My wife asked how long this would take due to the drink wait time. She said not long. While waiting, my wife stepped out to smoke and it finally came. Small tin cup of chips, 4 inches high and 3 inches round maybe. Not enough for 3 people. We killed the chips and asked for more as our food showed up, didn't look appetizing at all. My wife asked for more chips and the waitress said that will be 3 dollars. She took the cup back and said no thanks. All three plates of tacos tasted horrible. The tortillas where hard and rubbery, the meat was the same. We complained to the waitress who had an attitude already from having to come to work I guess. My wifes granddaughter scrapped the roof of her mouth the food was so hard. My wife didn't eat hers, took two bits and was disgusted. I ate one taco and was like "this is bad". The waitress asked me how the food was, I told her nothing to write home about, I guess she didn't understand the statement because she asked "what?". My response was it sucks. Another couple came and sat next to us and we told them that the food was horrible as we payed our check. The waitress chimed in on the conversation saying it was a matter of opinion that the food was bad. No tip and we left to go to the Wine Cellar Bar and Grill. Night and day on service and food. Totally worth the walk and money over this place. What a waste of my...

Unfortunately, we visited Tacos Del Cartel in West Palm Beach and were very disappointed. We entered the restaurant anticipating a good evening. It's layout and decor are pleasing to the eye. Vibrant colors, lively bar and seating, and numerous patrons engaged in conversation. Our waiter was quick to welcome us and take our drink order. We started with two signature cocktails, Geisha and Ink-18. Very nice presentation and very delightful. Taco chips and 3 salsas were also presented, and I compliment the restaurant in not salting their chips. Our appetizer of choice was the rib eye guacamole. Interesting blend of flavors and quite satisfying as an appetizer. We ordered our main entrees, Tacos Ensenada and Roasted Chicken. Unfortunately, from this point on we waited an hour for our meals. The waiter apologized for the wait at 30 minutes, and we were still engaged with the ambience of the restaurant. Thereafter the mood rapidly subsided. I asked to speak to a manager at the 45-minute mark, but we watched as others who had sat and ordered well after our seating were being served entrees. Upon arrival of our entrees, one could tell this was quickly prepared. The roasted chicken was dry, lacking flavor, the black beans upon which the chicken was laid, truly lacked that Latin mole seasoning. The rice was without flavor, and as a Spanish establishment, they should be embarrassed to serve such a poor representation of one our main staples in cuisine. Another manager inquired of our satisfaction, and we related our disappointment, and offered constructive critique on the lack of flavors in the food. Issues related to kitchen performance were given as the excuse, and the manager did remove the entrees from our bill. She and our waiter both vehemently apologized for our unfortunate experience and commented the establishment is still working through performance issues within the kitchen. If this is truly their opening week, and they attempt to correct some serious deficiencies, perhaps we will consider revisiting in a few months. For now, I cannot recommend...