Taco Grande — Restaurant in Wilmington

Nice place to eat, well ventilated especially in age of covid. Few points, our waitress seemed a little confused. First she brought us glasses of water with no straws. We don't want our kids and us to catch any diseases from glasses not well washed or cleaned.. She brought us our hot tea cups with no spoons and didn't even ask if we needed sugar with it. I know some people may drink tea with no sugar but at least she could have asked.. We had to ask for these things which I thought were basic. My chock was when we asked for cranberry juices and she brought a small glass half filled for the price of $3 each !!! I have never seen that in any restaurants I dined in Delaware, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, Orlando and Pensacola Florida. In Pensacola, we got a full tall glass of pure freshly squeezed cranberry juices for about the same price. Hence my surprise because we always receivedfull tall glasses of cranberry juices in other restaurants. When I asked why we received such a small quantityin a small glass, she told us it came from a small can. You give such quantity to little kids so they don't drink more than they eat. So we canceled the drinks and instead opted for water and lemonade. Even though I asked not to put ice in our drinks we were served iced lemonade. So I removed all the ice from my drink and I only had half cup of lemonade. That experience spoiled my dinner. I want my drink not a glass full of ice.. Now the food, I had the wet burrito with chicken with sweet plantain. Ok my wife and I cook ethnic food and we are accustomed to Mexican/ Latin American food, this wet burrito didn't have enough flavor but was manageable and the sweet plantains were not fully cooked. So we didn't finish the plantains and took them home to cook them well. To close, I give 4 stars for the place and thebfood but 2.5 stars for the drink. I didn't get the "wow factor" I was hoping to get after reading the reviews. Will we come back to this restaurant, maybe. Time will tell. If we come back, I will remember to not order the cranberry juices and to remind the waitress to not put ice in our lemonade drinks and to ask her to cool well...

Located on the riverfront where Joe's once was they did an amazing job with the face lift. Many different seating options with tables, huge corner booths, an outside dining room, and a shipping container area possibly used for happy hours. The music was kind of in your face loud with some poppy music waking me up on a Friday afternoon. The service in this place was fabulous, anything I needed I had taken care of quickly.

I chose water to drink. It was cold and refreshing. Sissy tried the PRIMO Marg $15.00 Don Julio Blanco, Grand Marnier, Agave, Lime. It was fresh, smooth, and not tart at all. Def could feel the drink a bit.

Chips & Salsa!!! Chips were solid and could handle a good dunking. The salsa was solid with plenty of cilantro for my taste, just a bit salty.

I ordered: MEXICAN STREET CORN (2) $9.00 grilled then basted with chipotle mayo, topped with cotija cheese & Tajin spice. Street corn was flavorful and just outstanding! It came out warm to the touch and the lime just set it off. Def a must have next time I come back.

I ordered: CRISPY BRUSSELS $12.00 honey chipotle vinaigrette, avocado crema, Grande’s house spice, pickled onions & jalapeños. Wow!!! I'm not even a fan of brussels and these puppies were straight fire! I loved everything about them! The pickled onions and jalapenos are needed every bite for me. Brussels by themselves are meh, but this combo is great!

Sissy ordered: CHICKEN EMPANADILLAS $14.00 Served with Grande’s chili sauce, lettuce, queso fresco, pico de gallo & crema. She liked the idea, but the execution wasn't really there for her. The empanadillas came out served in the sauce, which changed the texture to soggy on the bottom. If we knew, we would probably have the chili sauce on the side in order to keep a crunchy texture. As far as the taste, by this point is was a so so.

I ordered: VEGETARIAN QUESADILLA $14.00 roasted mushrooms, poblanos & grilled scallions with pico de gallo. Theses came out crispy with that golden color that you love to see on a quesadilla. Veggies were delicious and cooked to perfection. I enjoyed this very much.

This place was a little pricey, but I did...

Vegan Fajitas with Steak. Do not eat here, especially if you are vegan, vegetarian, have allergies, or expect to receive what you've ordered. Found the steak after eating 2 fajitas. Ended up getting sick from the meal being contaminated. Vegetarian dining partner also got sick after identifying being vegetarian and ordering the black bean & corn quesadilla.

20 years as plant based, and what happened thas NEVER happened before. Vegan fajitas came with steak and a regular sour cream and cheese cold plate. The Vegan Fajitas were ordered, and the server was informed of being vegan. Don't offer a vegan menu item if you can't deliver every single time. Vegetarian dining partner also got sick after identifying being vegetarian and ordering the black bean & corn quesadilla.

The manager's solution was to offer gift cards and comp the meal while not wanting to have an actual conversation. Why would someone come back after this experience. Comping the meal is obvious. Why say on the menu, let your server know of dietary needs or allergins. Messing up a vegan dish so horrendously is total mistrust to ever want to return. Can't even imagine the dirty things happen in the kitchen with this catastrophe. This is a nightmare waiting to happen with an allergy.

The service was horrible. Was going to inform the manager of the service, not receiving hot sauce from the runner, our server disapperaring after our meal was ordered for nearly 20 minutes and not want to have a discussion. At that point, it wasn't worth the energy or time to attempt to get this manager to even listen.

This was the third time here. Visted back in the spring, the food and service were good. However, the same manager was going in and outside rearranging chairs, letting the door slam shut every 20 seconds about 20 times. The first time was soon after opening, and it was a...