User Reviews

Rowdy Taco - Closed

Reviews (5)
mimi516by

★★★★★
Good food & service!
My daughter, son-in-law and two toddler grandsons visited Rowdy Taco for the first time last Monday for lunch. There weren't a lot of people for lunch so I was a little skeptical about it but we wanted to try something new! The interior is a modern industrial look with concrete floors and metal tables and stools. You order at the counter and then they bring your food to you. The adults ordered the two taco combo plates and the kids had a single taco each. We ordered the typical sides - beans, rice, chips and queso. Between us we ordered brisket, pork, chicken fajita and beef tacos. We all finished every bite and talked about what we will try the next time we go! The beef and chicken were all flavorful and very tender. We tried each of the three salsas- green mild, red and super hot orange. All were very good. The tortillas were fresh and soft. The chips were very crispy. We received a huge portion of chips with our meal and were given a huge refill upon request. The queso fresco was very good. The service was very fast and the manager came to our table to check on us several times. Overall we had an excellent experience. Please give this place a try again if you were disappointed in the past. Would really hate to see this new place not make it in Waco!
Ttu97by

★
So sad
I submit this review with a heavy heart. I wanted to love Rowdy Taco. The service was good and it was clean, but the food was terr.i.ble. And expensive. The fried chicken taco was cold and old, the shrimp taco had 3 shrimp the size of my pinky nail, and the mushroom taco was inedible. People say restaurants fail in Waco because no one supports them. Well, give us good food and we'll support you. When this one closes in 6 months, don't blame Waco. I won't be back unless I hear of big menu changes.
stephenby

★★★
Updated - After speaking to Manager
Updated from Last review -
I returned to Rowdy the next afternoon and had a good conversation with a managing partner. They are open to new ideas and want to make sure execution is done well. This was a case of the new staff not executing the food properly.
The brisket is also NOT smoked, only roasted. I did suggest possibly using a bit of smoke to provide some distinction between it and the pulled pork.
I tried a properly made Baja Shrimp taco that was having proper seasoning and a mildly spiced sauce and it was much better. I told him I'd still rather have larger shrimp that won't over cook and the input was welcomed. I think Rowdy has a good potential when they get the execution by the new staff in place.
queenby

★★★★★
pretty good!
I got the bbq brisket taco and the beef fajita. both were very good. i will say i liked the beef fajita much better. def. will be going back
stephenby

Rowdy Taco? Much disappoint.
Not really sure where to start with this review. I got a to-go order and it was done in a very short amount of time. like 90 seconds or so. I had just filled my drink and they called my name. Asked which salsas I wanted and since I had never been I asked for some of each. I got 3 tacos and expected to share with someone to try out rowdy's offering.

I got a Baja Shrimp Taco - Grilled.
It was all cold, not just the cabbage which would have been fine cold, but everything. It had 3 tiny cold salad shrimp on it and the cabbage and ingredients were under or even unseasoned and tasteless. It was on the smallest white corn tortillas you can BUY, they certainly were not custom made or store made. They had no character and were also cold. This taco was two large bits or 4 very small bites at the most. I flooded it with the habenero salsa after the first bite. The salsa was quite good and it is hot. Hotter than torchy's Diablo. Grade on scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being best. This would have to be a 1.

Next I got a Pulled Green Chile Pork Taco
Same sized as the shrimp, with pulled pork that was barely warm, and tasteless. I was expecting some green chili here! The pork seemed to be cooked ok but just had no seasoning, no green chili flavor at all, and was not hot. Grade 2/5

And the last taco I got was brisket (non BBQ one)
These brisket are supposed to be smoked for 16 hours, I think 'steamed' would be a better term than smoked. There was ZERO smoke flavor, not even chemical liquid smoke flavor. For the most part it is slightly darker than the pork but tasted the same, like nothing.
Grade 2/5


I got the Roasted Corn Queso, and it was just ok, nothing that great.

I also ordered ghost cheese which I did not get at all, but after the rest I fear it would have just been disappointment anyway.

General notes: They put onions and a lot of cilantro on everything, if you don't like that make sure you request it to not be on there. For me it was the only thing that made the tacos even edible.

Since I got this togo I have not yet spoken to the manager but I will likely do that soon.

The salsas were quite good, but nothing worth going to Rowdy to eat. The food overall was very costly for the amount you get $3 per taco, or over $1 a bite, and the bites are good.

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