Because the pax have frequented each of the uptown Taco establishments 5+ times over (except for newer spot Trade Street Taco – we will get there sometime when Ramrod can make it, but not in a hurry given the poor reviews), for the first time, the pax decided to head to Qdoba on Tryon and 5th for this week's #TacoTuesday.
Why has it taken nearly 8 months to hit a taco place only 1 block from the city center? Perhaps because it is a chain, or because there are so many other better options, or because it is really more of a burrito joint…. or perhaps all of the above…. but nonetheless, we figured we would go ahead and finally check it off the list.
YHC found it to be predictably "meh." I went with the "3 tacos" option, and was able to get two chicken and one ground beef due to those two proteins being the same price (IMO, the chicken was the better of the two, although neither stood out). Qdoba has replaced its once very detailed menu with a simpler Chipotle-style menu that encourages patron customization.
YHC went with a bunch of the usual taco fillings, but decided to customize each taco further with some of Qdoba's more unusual toppings. I asked the employee assembling my taco if I could try the "habanero salsa" on one of the three tacos (she responded "yes"). I then had my sights on the "mexican caesar" dressing for the next taco, but before I could ask for that, I noticed that the employee had already dumped the habanero salsa on all three tacos. While that's not what I'd asked for, I decided I would still ask for some of the mexican caesar on top of one of the tacos. Unfortunately, the employee could not locate the mexican caesar after searching in several places for it. I gave up and went with the three habanero salsa-topped tacos.
The habanero salsa was pretty tame, not anything like the NCOD at Que Onda. Tacos were pretty bland overall, but this was not entirely unexpected. YHC is still glad we tried something different (for the uptown #TT crew), and 2nd F was solid, as usual. And, as noted, the location was pretty good for several of the pax. Overall score: 4.0/10.
Naked Taco Moleskin
- YHC arrived second, after Roadie, and we were a few minutes early, so we waited for other pax to arrive before getting in line. While waiting, Roadie observed that, for some reason, the right-hand door at the entrance to Qdoba was locked in place, and that every patron that arrived was trying, unsuccessfully, to open that door. We're not sure why that door was locked, but it was representative of the lack of attention to detail that would become apparent to us during the visit.
- Jaws observed, for instance, that Qdoba's health rating was 90.0 which, while not as bad as the Hville NY Bagel, is not good. The pax then saw some evidence of the kind of sloppy service that may have led to such a low score. As the employee was fixing YHC's tacos, she dropped portions of several of the toppings into the other topping containers. Some other pax noted that when the employees went to switch out the black beans, they lifted the empty container out and over the pax's still-being-assembled tacos, nearly dripping nasty water from the bottom of the container directly onto their tacos.
- The cashier rang up Twister's order incorrectly, overcharging him for his tacos. Realizing this, he gave Twister some complementary chips and drink. (But did he still overcharge, or did he fix that? Sound off below, Twister…..)
- The pax did end up with plenty of chips. I suppose that was one positive.
- Apparently Qdoba is a made up name. It is also the third name for the same chain/joint, after the previous two names, Zuma Fresh Mexican Grill and Z-Teca Mexican Grill, were both abandoned due to trademark lawsuits filed by other restaurants.
- Fenway was across the street, entertaining a client at a burger joint. He'd hoped to make it over afterwards, but it didn't work out. Would love for you to join us sometime, brother!
- On that note, we've missed some of the #TacoTuesday regulars lately. Hope to see some of you out next week!
Aye,
TC