Tallboy Taco

My second experience here was definitely better than the first! Our server was so nice and accommodating and the food was great. We stuck with Corona Lights so I don’t have many comments on the drinks. I would definitely recommend coming in the summer to enjoy the outdoor patio.

I LOVE TALLBOY! Get the pork shoulder taco, it’s the best taco I’ve literally ever had. And their margaritas are perfect! Go during happy hour, you will not regret it! Very inexpensive as well, can’t say enough nice things about this place.

I really like tall boy and I think it was a truly great addition to Nacional 27 space. I have honestly not had a better fish taco anywhere. I love that the chips are fresh made and delicious and I could honestly drink the salsa, no joke just a great smokey flavor. The drinks are always nice and strong and really flavorful. Not sure where any of the negative comments are coming from, I haven’t had a less than great experience here yet!

I’v been here a few times in the past couple of months. I always get the fried avocado taco and one of the pork tacos. Always fresh and tasty. Service is good and bartenders are friendly. The salsa bar is a nice addition, as you can get what you want and mix hot and mild options.
I haven’t had the margaritas, as I always get the red sangria, which is good.

The 3* doesn’t do it any justice! Great food, great ambience and the strawberry margarita is to die for!

So good. Had the corn fundido, two of my fav things in the world together at last. Lamb, steak and al pastor tacos, all fantastic

I don’t write a lot of Unilocal reviews but I was very disappointed ordering pick up from tall boy tonight. I live one block from here and have lived here for four years so I held off because of bad reviews. Literally just picking up an over the phone easy three taco order and got the worst vibe. Hire a new bartender with some manners and set up a protocol for food pickup. No one in the bar, no welcome from bartender– just called over male server to «attend to me». It was very awkward and unpleasant. Will never come back and that’s super disappointing because it would be theeee most convenient place to take out food from.

Came here for lunch on a Tuesday. Empty, but I felt like food still took a while. Carne asada taco was fine, brisket was a bit better. We also had the taco salad. Extremely heavily dressed with a spicy mayo — much too heavy. The papas bravas were also dripping in sauce but would have been good otherwise.
Atmosphere is awesome and very well done, but the food needs to step up before I’ll return

Went to Tallboy Taco for restaurant week. Their deal was pretty phenomenal — 5 tacos with app and a dessert for $ 33! We were all excited… and then the drinks came … and then the food came… then we left wanting to redeem the night by getting drinks and dessert elsewhere.
Their drinks tasted like fake lime juice and too much of it as well (leaving a bitter taste in your mouth).
Their food: Let’s just say that there are better tacos in Chicago. (I don’t want to be too negative and start bashing everything).
The server brought out tacos before apps. We reminded her that we didn’t get our apps and we asked her to take the tacos away and bring the apps and then the tacos. When they brought the tacos out again… the ones previously brought to our table were definitely cold and very noticeably not freshly mades ones. They were the ones we were served before just kept on the side. They also only brought out half the tables tacos. When we, again, brought this to their attention the server said «oh do you want me to bring the others out now too?» We were all shocked as to why they thought it would be appropriate to only serve half the table. By the time they brought the other half of the table, we were ready to send back all the tacos we had already received. Either too much salt, no flavour, too much breading, cold, and just not tasty at all.
Sorry to say that none of us will be promoting Tallboy, nor will be be returning… ever.

Great for a quick lunch spot. Kale salad is great and I haven’t found a taco I didn’t like there. Decent price as well.

Atmosphere seemed to be very nice, however service is awful. They told us to sit anywhere in the bar area. After sitting at a dirty table for 25 minutes, waiters kept avoiding our table. Asked hostess if there were waiters working and she said it was a transition period and sorry, and still didn’t get us a table. For a city that has the best restaurants, tall boy should really look into managerial staffing issues that allow this to happen.

Loved the experience. Our server was super sweet and very helpful. The steak tacos were a little messy and the tortillas might have been cold, but they weren’t bad. Guacamole didn’t disappoint. But what really made the dining experience was the music. Old school Enrique, J. Lo, and JoJo had me feeling I was 15 again and I loved it!

I could sit at Tallboy Taco all day and eat their homemade tortilla chips. They are so great. Definitely not what I would normally ever recommend, but the kale salad is delicious! Just give it a try, you’ll see what I mean!

I recently visited Tallboy and was extremely impressed. I have also been to Big Star/​Velvet/​Antique/​Taco Joint and I would consider myself seasoned in the Chi Taco-​verse. I got the Pork, Shrimp and Brisket, all three were great but the he brisket really stood out. The meat was very flavorful and salsa was a great compliment. I enjoyed the pork and shrimp as well and thought the prices were very reasonable for the River North area.
The staff was very friendly and I did not have to wait long during lunch hour. I would recommend Tallboy to friends and will definitely be coming back for that brisket taco :)

Was here for lunch and was pleasantly surprised. Guac was good and chips and salsa was good as well. Really don’t need to order both as they have a salsa bar w pico de gallo available.
Had the 12-​hour Brisket (by far my fav), Fish and Pastor tacos. I liked them except for the Pastor one.
Bonus is the homemade tortillas! Very fresh.
For the area, it’s very good and much better than trixie infested Taco Joint on Ontario.

I’m honestly surprised to see all the poor ratings here. I work in the neighborhood and this is a pretty regular spot for my co-​workers and I. The service has been great and they don’t keep you waiting around very long.
As for food, I’d recommend sticking to tacos. I’ve tried a few other appetizers and they’re OK, but nothing too special. If you do want something to share for the table, I recommend the Corn Fundido. It’s a crowd pleaser.

I will give this place 1 star for the very nice young waiter who was trying to keep his head about the sangria. Otherwise, tough sledding here. I had read poor reviews prior to coming and I thought to myself, :“self, you’ll try anything once (twice really but I was talking to myself), so I gave it a whirl”. No bueno.
Ordered a ceviche platter that had no taste (in any of the three). Drank a $ 7 tallboy of some unremarkable beer.
It got bad when I couldnt find the waiter on the way out and had to speak to the manager to pay up. She was rude, bothered by my inquiries, and dismissive a triple-​whammy. Not good.
I would love to hear from the management here. Lots to work on. I hate to be firing them up but I tried to be nice.

Sub par food, and even worse service by «management.»
Just moved to the area — 2 blocks away — and was super pumped to try this place. The outdoor seating was great, however…
When checking out, I told what I thought was the manager that the tuna/​watermelon ceviche was ONLY watermelon. She corrected me on the pronunciation of «ceviche» and informed me that tuna and watermelon look alike… Umm, OK, little Miss. Illinois. Thanks for correcting my Spanish, while 1^st-​grade-​educating-​me on color discrepancies of food.
Saw the crappy ratings on Unilocal before going here tonight, but gave it a shot anyway. Unilocal — you were right. Skip this place and the attitude, you’re better than that.

Tall boy had their work cut out for them as there is already quite a few taco joints in the area. Sadly, they came up average.
Place wasn’t too busy on a Monday night. I went with the guacamole to start. The guac was solid.
For tacos I had the fish, chicken and pork carnitas. They were all pretty good with the fish being the best. However, my biggest issue was that they were cold.
Also, my server didn’t point out there was a salsa bar until I asked for pico. I love that they have a salsa bar but at 7:30 on Monday I don’t expect it to be empty which it was. There was a little bit of pico left, two slices of lime, a few prices of pickled onion and that was it. There wasn’t any cilantro which I consider a must if you are a taco joint. There was also a red & green salsa but I didn’t try.
Best part of the meal was the tres leche. Yum.
Overall can’t say I’d rush here again.

It seems that there are many taco places popping up in River North and Tall Boy is another one. We stopped there for lunch a few weeks back, but unfortunately we will not be back. We used to go to Nacional more often but our last couple of times there, our food /​service was not that great. We had a feeling that Tall Boy would just be an extension of Nacional but we thought we would give them a try anyways.
We ordered the Guacamole, Adobo Chicken Taco, Al Pastor Taco, and Chorizo tacos. We did not like the Chorizo tacos b/​c the chorizo just did not taste that great. The Al Pastor and Chicken was just average. The Guac and Chips were the highlight in our eyes — which should never really be the case. The place is known for their tacos and we just thought they were all average.
Unfortunately, we will not be back.