Comments on: 30 Restaurants in 30 Days: The Original El Taco

By: Father AND Foodie

Father AND Foodie — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:54:58 +0000

First, to the child-hater, you are either in the service industry, or you’re not. Taqueria del sol is a good example of a business that is not. If people like the food (which to me clearly demonstrates a serious lack of taste buds and a bent towards masochism), more power to them. However, the owners are litteraly laughing all the way to the bank at the suckers who line up there every day.

Second, it is the service that separates El Taco. They actually care whether or not you have a good experience. They take equally as good care of the stroller set as they do the drinkers–I’ve been both in the same restaurant, and received service that matched the kind of experience I wanted. Kudos to them for this.

And third, food in restaurants is subject to human error. Sometimes it’s good, and sometimes it’s not. El Taco’s is consistently good to great. I would suggest to anyone that has bad food there (or anywhere else) to say something about it. I have, and they fixed the problem in under 2 minutes. Very impressive if you ask me. Tried the same thing at Taqueria once, and got nothing more than a grunt.

So if you want mediocre food served up with attitude, I encourage you to continue going to Bone Garden or Taqueria del Sol. But if you want a kick-ass fried chicken taco with a slap-your-momma-good margarita, served up by someone who actually cares whether you like it or not, I’d steer you towards El Taco. And who knows–you might even win the margarita for free if the Wheel of Taco lands on your number.

By: John Kessler

John Kessler — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:11:20 +0000

We just went to BLT Steak next to a family with a bunch of little kids. One extremely cute little boy kept coming up to our table and staring at us. That was fun for the first three times. But finally I leaned over and gave his mom a smile, and she got the hint. It was a tiny annoyance, but that’s life. He was certainly well behaved and curious. Much better a sweet child than a freind’s dog with a probing nose.

By: G

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:13:23 +0000

You children haters make me want to find you and sit next you with about 20 2-year olds. I hope you never breed. Your children will hate you.

By: Craigmack

Craigmack — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:56:32 +0000

This place ain’t half bad, and I don’t mind kids – it’s the parents who sit there while the child screams, whines and ruins everyone else’s dinner – all while they sit there and don’t do anything about it. I have been SO close to saying something to them – but what do you say?

This tops it – My fiance and I were on a flight to SF, this couple changed a DIAPER in the seat next to us. I mean really people.

By: esa

esa — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:32:18 +0000

No child is well behaved 100% of the time. I assume all the posters here have children that behave perfectly 80% of the time. If you have two children and each misbehaves 20% of the time that means that in five restaurant visits you are going to be the parent with the unruly child 2 out of 5 times. Or maybe their bad behavior will fall on the same day and one out of five times you will have two wretched children annoying others in the restaurant. Your children don’t need to go out and they don’t need to fly. Leave them home.

By: tasha

tasha — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:11:48 +0000

Esa- now that I understand. We have five children under the age of 12. We do not allow our children to go to the bar unattended, nor do we allow them to handle the serving utensils at the bar. We also mandate certain behavior from our children- ie no running, no loud talking, always use manners when addressing adults, napkin in lap, etc. We also don’t allow them to go to the bathroom alone. It irks me also when I see other children behaving badly!

I don’t believe in taking the family to places that have bars in them. Those kinds of places are for date nites for the hubby and I!

Place and time for everything.

By: tasha

tasha — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:06:55 +0000

Am I the only one who thinks that $20 a head is a bit much???
The Original El Taco is good…but not that good. Jeez :-/

To the Restaurnt Owner’s place sounds like the Vortex. That’s cool to not allow kids- my husband and I like going to 21+ w/o our brood. We also like to take them to family friendly places like Moe’s. Fortunately for Restaurant Owner and places like their’s- federal law does’nt mandate establishments to provide accomodations for children- like they have to for disabled citizens.

Kids’ behavior in restaurants doesn’t belong on this blog….that’s a whole ‘nother topic and blog within itself. I’d like to stick to the topic please. Some of the comments regarding children has racist overtones as well- and that sucks.

That lime mayo is kick a** though!!!

By: Cubanamama

Cubanamama — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:03:40 +0000

Wow, Esa– tell us how you REALLY feel!

For my part, I’m on board with most of the posters here: Children who are well-behaved in public are not the problem. Children who are ill-behaved are only part of the problem– it’s their willfully clueless/negligent/spineless/selfish (take your pick) parents who own the lion’s share of the responsibility for the disruption, because they’re the ones with the power to do something about it (e.g., removing the child, etc.) but don’t. There are some situations (like being in an airplane) where, if a child stars acting up, there’s little the parents can do other than try to calm him/her down– but restaurants do not fall into that category. So, parents, have a heart: Your little ones won’t be little forever, so it’s not like you’re forgoing dining out for the rest of your lives (read: it won’t kill you to go home).

Oh, and the food: it’s not bad, especially if TDS is closed & you have a jones for a fried chicken taco. Like the salsa bar, but even their spiciest selections aren’t very hot to me.

By: esa

esa — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:08:39 +0000

I got sick thinking about a taco bar where small children are serving themselves. You can’t reuse a plate at a self-service bar but a filthy snot nosed brat can serve itself. If I see a small child serving itself at a food bar, I leave or don’t use the bar.

We went to Europe with some friends and they took their three year-old. We went to dinner and it was a perfect angel. The next night we went out and it projectile vomited just as dinner was served.

Like your child, that one was perfect…until it wasn’t and that was attributed to a rare exception which it wasn’t.

There are 6.5 billion people on earth. We don’t need your spawn. If you feel a need to breed that obvously isn’t there, stay out of restaurants and planes for 12 years and leave the rest of us in peace.

By: kids or drunk wannabes?

kids or drunk wannabes? — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:54:13 +0000

I prefer the kids (who don’t know better) to the drunk wannabes (who should know better)