The Taco Maker

 

6

9

Terri W.

Orlando, FL

This is a small place, where you walk up, place your order, then wait for it.  There are a few tables for dining in, but  my order was to go.  There is a basic menu, tacos, burritos, nachos, etc.  and combo meals are available.  The taco meat is pretty good, much better than Taco Bell, and the crispy beef burrito was very good, made fresh with a flour tortilla and it survived the ride home (stayed crispy til I got there).  I saw a guy behind the counter using fresh corn tortillas and frying them for the tacos.  So they are striving here for freshness.  The staff was very friendly.

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6

4

Michelle S.

Orlando, FL

I think my experience at this counter-service restaurant can be best summed up by something the cashier said to me as I was ordering...

"Would you like fries with those tacos?" At a Mexican restaurant? What?

Even though The Tacomaker is a national chain, I had never heard of it prior to getting a coupon in my mailbox to try this new location near the intersection of Sand Lake Rd and Turkey Lake Rd.  Since I was headed over to shop at the Walmart nearby with my roommate, we stopped in to check it out.

Normally a semi-full seating area is a sign of a good restaurant, but that wasn't the case here. It's not that the food was bad, it just wasn't good, either. In fact, it was pretty much bland and tasteless except for a few items.

I had the beef chimicanga platter which came covered in cheese with a small dollop of refried beans, rice with corn, sour cream, pico de gallo, chips and salsa and a large soda for $7.29. My roommate went with the $4.99 taco platter that included 2 tacos (she got one beef and one chicken), chips and salsa, and a medium soda. Both of our platters also included a bag of "crustos" - basically fried tortilla strips coated in a sugar-cinnamon mixture.

Best parts of the meal were the chicken used in the taco, the refried beans and the crustos. Mainly because they actually had some flavor to them. The beef tasted like it was seasoned more "south of Miami" rather than "south of the border" (think empanadas rather than tacos) and had a mushy texture that was a bit disconcerting.

I was also turned off by the fact that the employees had enough time to talk behind the registers but nobody had time to wipe down any of the empty tables or pick up the gum by the soda machine - even after I pointed it out to them.

Overall the meal was filling, but I'd rather spend my money on food that my taste buds can actually enjoy. Skip this place.

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