Bull Horns Taco Bar

Fail. Can’t say that I’m surprised at this place closing. The theme, the layout, and the food just didn’t work. It wasn’t the staff, they were pretty good.
First time I went in (Sunday afternoon) they were out of guacamole (!!!), I guess it happens. Then they spill a drink all over our table and some on me, the owner offered to pay for dry cleaning (it happens no biggie). But then the food comes out, I know it is cheap but the taco were bland. The beans and rice were worse. Not sure the chef was in that day of if the staff had to make the food.
Second time I went in with a group. Things were better, they had appetizers and no drinks were spilled. Then the tacos came out. Again pretty bland, it’s like they are afraid to season them and some of the ingredients just don’t work together.
Sad to see another restaurant fail in this location, I hope they have better luck somewhere else.

Closed

Went in on a Saturday evening to use a Groupon. I had the nacho appetizer, carne asada taco, barbacoa taco, sloppy joe taco, and a lime margarita on the rocks.
Pros:
— The sloppy joe taco was tasty. Great flavor.
— The waiter was friendly and attentive.
Cons:
–The place was FREEZING inside. I understand that it is a large space, and we went on a cold night in February, but guests should not have to eat with their coats on.
–Since the place was freezing, they sat everyone near the back bar area. We felt cramped, even though there were tons of open tables in the front of the restaurant.
–The lighting was way too bright for a restaurant /​bar. Could have been dimmed a bit.
— The restaurant «manager», or the guy who seemed to be in «charge» was standing around texting on his phone the entire time we were there. He looked bored and did not seem to care about the restaurant customers of staff. My partner and I had a laugh because the waiter asked the manager to ring up an order and he tried to complete the task while still texting at the same time. Very unprofessional.
–Carne Asada taco had good flavor but was very dry. You could find a better taco at any taqueria in the city.
–Barbacoa taco was cold and did not have any flavor whatsoever. Again, you could find a better taco at any taqueria in the city.
–The lime margarita was horrible. It was like drinking lime flavored syrup. I could not bring myself to finish it.
Needless to say, we will not be back…

I have been here three times, and really had excellent (5 star) service and adequate (3 star) food. The fish tacos are pretty good, so I stick to those. I had a Margarita made with some Mezcal, and I love the smokey flavor. I had a chicken taco that seemed a bit dry, and the nachos were good but would have been better with real cheese instead of yellow nacho sauce. Overall I would go back, but I am hoping they continue to improve and stick around.
On a separate note, an employee mentioned to me that they are awaiting the proper permits to change the Marigold sign. If you’ve ever done business with the City of Chicago– then you would know that is a totally plausible explanation for the Marigold sign’s continued presence. I am a bit baffled why the signage seems to bother other reviewers so much.

Website says:
«Now Open for Lunch»
«Saturdays and Sundays»
«At 11:00»
Nope, not open after checking the site first, buying a groupon, walking down there to find yup, they are NOT open for lunch on weekends. Well that’s annoying. That will definitely not help their struggling business.

This is what happens when someone decides to open a restaurant and only use the following ingredients: El Paso taco kits and Mrs. T’s shitty margarita mix…
Skip it and go to any other Mexican joint you can find. Waste of money.

We had an outstanding time! The food was amazing, flavors were perfect, and everything was cooked to perfection! The waitress Barbara was so nice& helpful! She helped us choose the best tacos and appetizer! Nachos are so delish and even had a little kick! The tacos were very unique! They ranged from a sloppy joe to a fried chicken taco! I had to say my fav was the fish taco! So try that one!!! Mmm!
Now let’s get to the margaritas!!! They were exceptional and the green hornet was my fav! We had a mango and blueberry both were strong & awesome! You finished thinking ‘wow that went down easy wait I’m feeling great and my fingers may be numb!’ So drink up!!!
Prices are reasonable and service is awesome! For a good time defiantly dine here!!!

We were so excited to hear that an ‘upscale taco joint’ was opening in the neighborhood and was hoping that this might be Andersonville’s version of Big Star… lets just say we were very disappointed. I’m happy to overpay for tacos at Big Star as they are always fantastic in quality and flavor, however I feel robbed when paying over and above for tacos that I could easily assemble at home as most of the ingredients tasted store bought.
Also. Red Bull margaritas should never exist, we were served those by mistake when we’d ordered regular margaritas (which to be fair, they didn’t charge us for the Red Bull ones) however they were pretty disgusting.
In addition. no salsa at a taco joint is just plain wrong and believe me, those tacos needed salsa. Let’s hope for an improvement… and salsa please. The server actually looked confused as to why we were asking for salsa and then advised that they don’t have any.
From now on I’ll save my money if I’m craving tacos locally I’ll make them myself or order from Diamanté Azul.
The one star is for friendly (but slow) service. We waited around 20 minutes for drinks and an hour for the tacos. all whilst listening to Bön Jovi on replay. yikes.

We had the Groupon and decided to check it out. Had we not had the Groupon we would have felt ripped off.
We arrived on Thursday night and the place was half full. We were sat down and after about 15 minutes our flustered waiter showed up. We pretty much gave him our whole order and he freaked out because my wife is Glueten Free. He didn’t know what that meant. How you can be a waiter and not know what that means is beyond me.
We ordered chips and guac, maragartias, and some tacos.
The chips and guac were good but came in a scoop on a flat plate. The quantity you get for $ 7 is not $ 7 worth of guac, however it did taste pretty good. Also since its on a flat plate halfway through you need two chips just to scoop up the guac. Put it in a bowl!!!
The margaritas tasted OK but I think may have been weak, normally one decent sized margarita will give you somewhat of a buzz. Could they have skimped on the Tequila because of the Groupon?
The tacos being of a large variety were hit or miss.
— BBQ Chicken, these were excellent and very spicy
— Fajita tacos — the meat was tough, almost inedible
— Sloppy Joe Taco — This was actually pretty good, also spicy
— Barbacoa — Nothing special, you can get this better at a tradtional taco place
The service was all around bad, it took forever to get our taken and our waiter accidently brought out the wrong taco. He then took our groupon, we were almost out the door and he then gave us a bill for tax. Shouldn’t he have done this all at once?
Also the bar had a boxing match on with lots of blood, not exactly dinner friendly.
In summary:
Poor service, average food, below average drinks

I have wanted a place to grab Mexican and drinks with friend in Andersonville to replace Frida for sooo long! And I want this place to take it up a notch and make it. They are probably more like a two start spot at this point, but my second visit was better than my first so I am hoping they keep improving. Some basic things need to happen… give people chips and salsa without asking… we will drink more if you do! Don’t run out of guacamole… ever! Stop with the heavy metal music, it’s annoying.
Also, the second time I went they came over after we were done eating and said the credit card machine just broke and they could only take cash. it was pouring and we didn’t have cash… We told them it was a big pain. We had to say this a few time and they finally bought a drink, but something should be done for this inconvenience, especially when you are just starting out!
The tacos are actually pretty good and I like the whole order by the taco set up.
Fingers crossed and you better figure it cuz word is on the street that some other Mexican spots on on their way.

First time here w a groupon. Asado tacos outranked the barbacoa and pollo by a long shot. Would not reco the fried chicken taco despite other fellow Unilocalers’ reviews on it. It was basically, as my fiancé put it, a McDonalds premium chicken tender on a tortilla… with slaw.
Margaritas were gigantic but lacked in flavor… and tequila.
Service was awesome though!!! Will be back on another groupon lol

The boyfriend was in the mood for tacos and I wanted a nice night out (and a stiff drink). As such, we skipped our local taqueria and headed here.
It wasn’t busy on the Friday night that we stopped in (first red flag) and we were seated promptly. Our server was fine– a little weird, but okay service.
The second red flag was when we looked at the beer list. It’s very brief, and extraordinarily unimpressive. If their intent was to subtly encourage you to order one of their mediocre (yet overpriced) margaritas, they succeeded. I got a mango margarita, and my companion ordered a pineapple margarita. Mine was decent, but I could have achieved the same with a bottle of mango margarita mix and a bottle of tequila. The pineapple margarita was watery and bland.
We started with the guac, and I’ll be honest: we liked their guacamole. It was definitely the high point of our visit.
Tacos weren’t bad… just kind of overly sweet. In fact, they tasted an awful lot like Applebee’s tacos. And hey, maybe you’re into that. We’re not though, so while they were edible and not necessarily bad… in short, we see no reason to go back when we can hit a liquor store for some tequila and the corner taqueria.
Besides, it made us chuckle when they brought our bill and it still read «MARIGOLD» across the top and «curries. naan. chutneys.» across the bottom. I’d tell them to get their act together, but I’m not sure they’ll be around long enough for it to matter.

Too bad every time we try to go it’s closed… It even says «now open at 11 on Saturdays» and they are closed, I give up. Sorry… It’s just bad management? Or staff? Did someone just not show up? What is the problem exactly?
Old review:
Wow this place is great! People need to relax, what the hell !?
Leave a place alone while they are getting their ground…
The tacos were really delicious I had two fish tacos and one vegetarian that all had delicious seasoning and sauces!
The guacamole was very flavorful and the chips hot when we received them :)
The margaritas, (I had the house, my man had the blueberry) were delicious !!
Friendly staff!
Unilocal is such a difficult place for young businesses and it’s not fair (on this date 12÷4÷13) you have not-​so-​awesome reviews… IGNORE THEM good people of Andersonville and enjoy our new taco and margarita joint!!! NICE!

Decent tacos in the former Marigold spot in good old A’ville.
Me and my buddy showed up on a late Sunday afternoon and the place was pretty empty so we were able to grab just about any seat we wanted.
We wanted to start out with guar and chips as an appetizer, but they were out of it. @ 5PM on a Sunday afternoon and no one hardly there? Interesting.
Pretty decent taco selection as I went with Carne Asada and BBQ Pork along with a side of beans and rice. Taco were decent as the beans and rice were much better.
I for some reason was in the mood for a bloody mary (kinda nursing a hangover) and it was ok as I have had better, but this does not look like a place that would be known for their bloodys.
I would check t out again if I were in the area and in the mood for rice & beans

Sorry to say I have to agree with many of the negative comments here. The server was nice, but seemed stressed and mainly focused on a large table. We had to flag the server down a couple times. I don’t understand why each taco comes out on its own plate. At a small two top, we literally had 8 plates on our small table. The manager said people like to stack the plates as they go. Huh? Why do I want to eat off of a stack of plates in front of me? I asked for utensils (I am messy and wanted a fork for the stuff falling out of the tacos). The manager gave me utensils and delivered them with some comment under his breath followed by a «just kidding.» Huh? I am being criticized for requesting utensils?
Margarita was definitely some pre-​made mix and way too sour. One drink on our order was wrong and had to be sent back. A few of the tacos are very good — the fish, the steak fajita, the pollo. A few were just okay. Guacamole lacked everything and it wouldn’t hurt if they put some salsas on the table.
The space is nice, but they can’t take credit for that. That credit goes to the old Olé Olé people who built it out.
Hopefully they can work it all out, but it is a lot of work to be done.

I had high hopes for this place. On the good side, the space is cool – high ceilings and a mirrored wall. There was good service, and, of the five tacos we tried, one was tasty (pork bean bacon).
But if you like Big Star, you will be disappointed in Bull Horns. The «regular» (i.e., not «Bull Horns») tacos we tried were dry – really dry. They are garnished with cilantro and onion that have been chopped with safety scissors or something – huge chunks rather than a finer dice. The dryness of the tacos wouldn’t have been as big a deal if there were salsa available, but there was none (!) – not even a hot sauce on the table.
Bull Horns served me a $ 1 taco for $ 3 and a too-​sweet margarita for $ 13.

Utter disappointment.
We went on their second night open and I am more than willing to give some concessions to a new restaurant trying to work out the kinks. I get it, service isn’t going to be perfect and that is OK as long as your food is tasty.
Our waiter is less than warm and friendly but I’ll chalk it up to being extremely stressed and busy. It’s a pretty full house. We wait for easily 30 to 40 minutes for our drinks. 1 margarita and 1 bottle of beer. I have to hear from A DIFFERENT waitress at a table across from us that there is only 1 bartender on duty and the bar is backed up. So now I know why I’m waiting but not because our waiter was decent enough to apologize or explain about the wait. In fact he never once apologized for the obviously bad service and wait.
We get a super mediocre order of really overpriced guacamole that was devoid of salt and any good crunch like onion or tomato or jalapeño.
Some eons later our drinks arrive and my margarita must just be a pre-​made mix poured into a big cup. Totally worth $ 10, yeah …
Several more eons later our tacos arrive. This is where I officially cannot make anymore excuses for their opening night jitters. I ordered 3 tacos, boyfriend ordered 4. They each arrive on their own ridiculous plate for a table much much too small so we have 7 stupid plates with no space to put them. How hard can it be to put the tacos on 1 nice plate for that particular diner? Anyway … The plates are cold, the tacos are cold. The shells are rubbery, crunchy at the edges, did I mention cold? Cold. Don’t ask me what meat fillings we had anymore because they were all bad. Flavorless, under seasoned, tough, COLD. The tacos arrived haphazardly, several waiters and/​or cooks trying to deliver them to us, clearly having no idea what taco they were actually looking at and which table it went to. It was a nightmare.
Had those tacos been absolutely delicious then we would have no problem. I’ll totally get over slow service and a crummy waiter but the food was garbage. Sorry to through out that word, but it’s true. Boyfriend was PISSED. You can walk 1 more block north to Los Arcos for really good tacos at literally half the price ($ 1.50ish each). Or continue north down Clark to probably 50 other taquerias, all serving up hot, delicious, authentic, cheap tacos and other hispanic-​fare.
All in all total failure. We said we would consider going back in about 8 months once the shock has worn off, to see if this place has gotten their stuff together … IF this place is still in business.

It’s pretty generous to give two stars to Bull Horns, really. The waitress was nice, though due to opening kinks didn’t know the menu well (had to check to see if they had a certain beer after having taken menus away) and didn’t bring plates or utensils for our nacho appetizer. I’m willing to overlook that though since she was nice and trying hard and the issues should be easy to resolve.
My real complaint however, is that the food just isn’t good.
We ordered:
Nachos — mostly terrible. «Cheese» sauce, canned beans, and guac that, while tasting fine, also reminded me of Wholly Guacamole you can buy at Jewel.
House margarita– made with mix or fake lime. Too sweet and not very strong for $ 10 price tag.
Pineapple margarita– actually pretty good but also weak.
Asada tacos– dry and very boring.
Pulled pork tacos– better, meat was juicy, but still not especially flavorful.
Fish tacos– the best by far and worth eating, though it didn’t knock my socks off.
I expect interesting flavors in a taco that costs $ 3 – 4. I also expect fresh tortillas, preferably 2 per taco, that are warmed and absorb juices/​keep their structural integrity while I eat. If you’re going to give me down and dirty, minimalist tacos I also expect great meat, fresh lime and some fixings– like what you find in the mission district.
Atmosphere is loud with a lot of Bön Jovi playing.
This place is not really my jam, and I make way better tacos at home for half the price.

My boyfriend and I happen to love gourmet tacos. He loves Big Star which annoys me and I love Antique Taco. He also makes homemade tortillas. As you can imagine, we had high expectations.
This place was tragic.
Store bought tortillas, canned beans, the audacity to serve «bottom of the bag» broken chips, bland ingredients… totally didn’t match the Taco descriptions on the menu.
When you are making a Taco you have the privilege to use bold flavors and spices. They could benefit from understanding and using hot peppers, garlic, onions, fresh ingredients, etc. Nothing seemed professionally cooked or seasoned. Everything was dry and/​or bland.
I spent 70 dollars on Taco travesty and had to comfort my rightly angry boyfriend.
The drinks were nice. The waitress was cool.

Great food and a great addition to Andersonville! A group of us came here on their second night of being opened, and we were expecting to wait a bit since everybody knows a new business needs weeks to usually work out the ‘kinks.”
The waitress sat us, and sure enough notified us that food and drinks would take longer than usual because there was only one bartender on staff. Really? Your first Friday night with only ONE bartender? Anyway, the drinks tasted alright (margaritas and mojitos,) a little on the bland «Crystal Light» side, but after ½ a glass, they kind of snuck up on ya and their taste managed to improve. (Wink wink).
We waited awhile and after ordering nachos as a starter about 20 minutes prior, and the waitress admitted she forgot to put our order in. She was cute and nice, so it wasn’t a big deal. We finally got our nachos, but never any appetizer plates. Four ravenous dudes around a bowl of deep-​set nachos without plates to transfer the chips and dip can get a bit ugly, if you know what I mean.
We ordered the tacos, and being with three Latinos who KNOW Mexican, we can honestly say the meat seasoning spices and flavoring was amazingly awesome! We sampled the BBQ chicken, the asada (marinated in cerveza), the pollo, the sloppy joe (with pickles) and two others that I can’t remember. Good portions, great flavor and nice presentation! I’d comment on the BBQ Pork taco but the waitress forgot it, and even after notifying her that I never got it, she kind of laughed it off and didn’t really even offer to re-​put the order in. I was full anyway, so no big deal.
The tacos were great, definitely up there with Wicker Park’s Big Star and Antique Taco. They had a nice variety and creative flavor combinations. The service and speed however, not quite there-​hence the 2 star omission. But, I’m excited to go back in a couple weeks to update the review when they get into their grove and get acclimated with everything!
Ps — the owner and chef came to our table and also told us that they will be serving brunch in a couple weeks as well! Hopefully they’ll have some kick-​ass chilaquiles!