Pure Tacos

Don’t eat here. Seriously.
We went for a quick dinner tonight, and we will not be returning. Ever.
The food was wretched. Yes, wretched. In short, the tortilla chips were stale. The salsa verde should be renamed salt verde. They were out of numerous menu options (at 6PM on a Tuesday). The beef taco was, outside of pure salt itself, literally the saltiest thing I’ve ever tasted. And yes, I mean literally. I took two bites, and that was two bites too many.
I have no idea how this place managed to stay in business for more than 48 hours. It was some of the worst food I’ve had in this town.

SloWWWWWWWWWWW service for the lunch time rush i waited in line for almost 15 minutes and there were only 3 people in front of me. The Unilocal deal (1.00 for a black bean taco sort of made up for it, but barely).
I ordered the two black bean tacos which were pretty decent in size. The beans were standard but the mild salsa i chose revived them for sure. I opted for my guacamole on the side so i could dip my chips in. I really wanted to try the fish tacos next time im in a pinch for lunch ill keep this place in mind unless im in a rush …

Black bean tacos.
Godawful. Some soupy beans in chewy tortillas topped by a few condiments from bottles sprayed over the top like some backyard BBQ gone terribly awry. Any other mex place that has flat pricing ALWAYS includes guacamole free on veggie items, since charging the same price for some dried legumes as you do for pulled pork is ludicrous.
After choosing to spring $ 5 for the Dixie cup if guacamole, you find out it is some nasty avocado mash probably packaged months ago, which has the bonus of tasting like it was cut with some cheap safflower oil.
Then you think you can save it with some chips, because what doesn’t taste better on some deep fried corn? Nope. Greasy, over salted, and flimsy.
I should have read reviews before rolling the dice and wasting $ 15 at this place.

Decent service. Clean location. High prices. Awful food. 1.5 stars solely from good service and speed.
Missing half of the guacamole options at 12:15PM was a bit disappointing. Hangar steak fairly charred and drenched in indescribable green sauce and something spicy. I ate the first one and was sad enough to not want to eat the second. The jalapeño guacamole was not spicy and was a more liquid texture than I think appealing. I understand everything is gluten free and all but I have to assume gluten free doesn’t necessarily mean ‘tastes bad’. Didn’t feel too great after lunch but some of it might have been psychological. Oh well.
Major disappointment for a Friday lunchtime out of the office. I’m sad. Cheers.

Walked past this place and stopped in on a whim. I was hungry and tacos sounded good. Two tacos for 7 bucks sounds like a good deal, but what they really mean is two tacos EXCEPT fish, steak and mushroom. What’s left?! I settled for the bbq pork and braised beef, both of which were just… meh. The sauces on both tacos were bland, and even though I had asked for mild sauce, there wasn’t a hint of spiciness on either taco. If anything, Pure Taco is just a more expensive version of Q-​doba. Blech.

I wanted to like this place. It looks cool and hip from the outside. They advertise several vegetarian options. Seems like my kind of place! But it wasn’t. I got both the black bean and the seared mushroom tacos. The black bean one was super bland. it was literally black beans, like from a can, poured onto a tortilla. The seared mushroom was a bit better but just more spicy and otherwise tasteless. Both tacos were overloaded so they were messy and difficult to eat.
The «guacamole» came from a squirt container, as well as the other salsas. Salsa from a squirt container? I was confused by this concept. Also the containers lined up on the side for you to squirt salsa onto your nachos were SUPER DIRTY. I think they should clean them more often. I took one look at them and decided to eat my tortilla chips dry. At $ 8 for 2 tacos, that weren’t even good, I won’t be back. The guy at the counter was nice though.

Brown rice was cooked perfectly, very fluffy! Very difficult to cook that stuff, let alone to such perfection as was done at PT.
Black beans were absolutely delicious with ever a hint of cilantro.
Not feeling real good about not getting a receipt though. She said I would get one on my e-​mail. That was over two hours ago.

Don’t you wish you could go back in time, and read Unilocal reviews BEFORE you tried a place you’ve never been before? Well, this was one of those times…
Late night, I was in the mood for a falafel, Mamas had just closed. Started walking around the area, and happened upon «Pure Tacos» on Chestnut St. Looked clean inside, thought I’d be a good choice. $ 7 for 2 tacos??? Well, when you’re hungry, and I hadn’t had tacos in a while, it seemed ok. And that they make them when you order them, it should be pretty good, right? Right?
Ugggh, total of almost $ 15 for 4 tacos, with some über-​salty tortilla chips to go with them. Good thing I didn’t get any «extra» sauce, as all 4 tacos were dripping with some sort of mystery sauce (I won’t go so far as to call it guac).
The tortillas were somewhat fresh, and the beef inside was dry as a bone, I had to get some iced tea to get it down my throat. The flavor was ok, but seemed too much on the salty side. $ 17 later, I felt used… and kicked myself… Why, oh why, didn’t I check this place out beforehand on Unilocal?Lesson learned…

Not a fan of this at all.
I walk past this place all the time, and have been wanting to check it out for awhile now. I noticed there was a check-​in offer for a $ 1 taco, so I decided to finally stop in.
The place is small, and definitely not as trendy/​cool as it would suggest from the outside. Its’ about $ 7 for two tacos. Since I had the check-​in offer, I asked if I could just get one taco, and be charged $ 1 for the second. They said yes, but the dude working the register messed up, and charged me $ 8, and I received 3 tacos. Whatever, I wasn’t too mad cause it gave me the chance to try more stuff from here.
I watched them make my tacos — they didn’t have too much visual appeal to them. Looked mushy. And holy cilantro batman! Luckily I like it, but still. Jeez. I was pretty hungry and wanted to eat one of the tacos at the restaurant, but none of the tables were very clean. The only ones that were clean were awkwardly close to the one or two other patrons in there. I left and went to the office to eat these at my desk.
I bite into it and the taste matched how it looked visually. Awful. They put too much chicken/​guac/​salsa in it, and everything got all over my hands. I had to use about 6 or 7 napkins when eating. The guac tasted like miracle whip, the chicken tasted like nothing special. I had a bite of my black bean taco, and I couldn’t take a second bite. No just no.
I was hoping the chips would be good, but they were stale.
There wasn’t anything redeeming about this at all. I’m sorry. I wont be back.

R and I kept passing this joint and kept saying hey we have to try to go there. So on a dark and rainy. One of those bone chilling early november days right after the hurricane you know when it snowed? We went in. Well the place was freeeeeeeeeezing. The seats are made out of tinfoil and uncomfortable. I thought I might break them!
The food is lackluster and like everyone else has mentioned teeny tiny. So teeny tiny that we immediately left and went and had a second dinner.
The service is also strange. No reason to return. We tried it. End of story.

2 Stars for a good/​warm tortilla, chips and a well cooked steak.
Got the weekly special «Steak House» today for lunch. freshly cooked to order. but the pairings in this taco just did not work… the mushrooms were seasoned with some sort of raw spice that was just overpowering the entire taco. there was no saving it… even after i took the pieces of mushroom out, the seasoning on it was still there :(BLEH

Day 1
Walked-​in to get Fish Tacos [ so hard to do around here in CC] saw the price for 2, $ 7.sth –almost $ 8, and walked right out, mad disappointed.
Day 2
Went anyways because my heart wouldn’t listen to my wallet, ugh, ordered the fish tacos. The cook put the fish on the pan and seared it infront of us, Result, 2 massive tacos with a side of awsome tortilla chips. The crema on top, the salsa all fresh and amazing! I did not need 3 tacos and could could tell right away why they are $ 8. Id rather have some chips and salsa than another taco. The fish fresh, abundance of cilantro and onion on 2 tortillas just how it should be.
Must go and def recommend. Its very hard to get fish in a fast food form without it tasting awful and this location is killer ! Our cook was super polite and apologized to us for running out of Mushroom Tacos, and gave one of the entrees to us for free. What do u get anything delicious and under $ 10 bucks these days anyways, not to mention genuine customer service?
P.S: The salsas could be better, but ill take it. Just saying.

SERIOUS ATTITUDE!
WOW, is all i can say regarding the rudeness of a certain employee that works here. I walked in to check this place out after reading about in on Unilocal and happened to park close by. There was no sign for «order here» or «pay here» so I just stood behind a lady with her son/​daughter in their stroller. It took a couple minutes for her to finish her to-​go order, pay, and leave. After about 5 minutes or so I was told I was standing incorrectly and pointed me to where I should be standing to order. There was a another gentleman that arrived after I did and was standing on the opposite side. He even said along with the lady ahead of me that I was next in line. Mind you the lady with the stroller was standing in front of the iPad (pick up/​pay area) the whole time she ordered and waited for her food.
Anyway, I minded my own and moved the the left and ordered. The fish taco for 2 with some chips and A VERY TINY salsa container came to about $ 8+. It was so oily that there was a pool of oil on the bottom of my plate. The fish tasted dry and overcooked.
Sorry to say I will never come to this place. The workers are rude and unprofessional. They need to learn how to interact with customers and not use cell phones right in front of patrons.

I almost walked out because of the odor that slapped me in the face when I entered but I decided it was probably construction materials. Still it isn’t appetizing.
Two customers were at the counter, two people were working. I was puzzled about not being greeted for several minutes and nearly walked out. Three more people stepped in and left after a minute. I could not believe how long it takes the staff to fill a couple small soft taco shells with pre-​made ingredients sitting in bins. Does it take that long to toss a couple handfuls of chips into a box?
Finally they took my order and I watched the slow process unfold again. Then it happened with my sister and was repeated with her husband.
Confusing concept: you get two (tiny) tacos. You can mix and match the flavors. However, tacos in column 1 cost less than tacos in column 2. What are you charged if you get a taco from column 1 and one taco from column 2?
My two tiny tacos, handful chips, and a bottle of water added up to $ 10. I was still hungry after I ate and had to go buy more food (some place else).
Covered my food in Cholula because it didn’t have much flavor.

Blandness central. Teeny, tiny tacos in a oil bath. Ick. I don’t know if the staff is ill equipped to be cooking and creating these ‘pure’ tacos, but something is not right here.
The place and the menu was so inviting, the interior fresh and modern (very Maoz) — and then I went and ordered, so, very, very wrong. Stay away from the mushroom tacos whatever you do. They are ‘made to order’, which means, that they take barely two tablespoons worth of some kind of mushroom, douse and cook it in a oil lake and then spoon the poor shrivelled excuse for the contents into a taco. Flavors, spice, barely non-​existent. Their guacamole, which does not appear to be guacamole (not very green and probably more sour cream than avocado) is from a squeeze bottle and the remainder of the fixings, are the saddest fixings these eyes have ever seen.
Eating these tacos was again not an enjoyable experience, with the only moisture coming from the oil that the ‘shrooms were cooked in, and desperately dousing the remainder in the miniature salsa container I was given on the side. The tacos and its contents were so piss poor meager, that it took all of three or four small bites each to finish them off and even then it was a struggle. Not tasty. at all.

I debated giving Pure Tacos a 3, but then I was impressed with their customer service, so I felt it was only right to bump them up to 4.
A friend and I stopped in here for lunch today. I went with the black bean tacos, which were actually very well-​seasoned and flavorful. The corn tortillas were fresh and the order came with tortilla chips and a side of salsa (I went with the red salsa, but their peach salsa sounded fantastic).
As I made my way back to my table and sat down, though, I ended up dropping my ENTIRE order of tacos in my lap. Obviously, I made a huge mess of myself, the floor, the chair, and even the wall next to our table (and I was wearing white shorts — talk about a nightmare)! The staff helped me clean it up and they remade my order, free of charge. I know not every place would do this, so I really appreciated that they were able to look past my bonehead move and hook me up with another lunch.
I think they still have some kinks to work out behind the counter, but I did get my food quickly and it was decent. And like I said, they helped me clean up my mess and they remade my food for free. I will definitely visit Pure Tacos again.

It is adorable to see a taco place in its infancy before it crushes the competition. Sure, the employees haven’t yet learned how to coordinate and the credit card machine seems perpetually ineffective, but it’s kinda like seeing a puppy stumble about in that oh-​so endearing way (before it gets over-​excited and starts biting a couch leg for no reason at all). Q’Doba and Chipotle are laughing it up, as baffled customers praise the food but lament the service. They’ll stop laughing once Pure Tacos has settled in and built a fan base that can’t be lured back no matter how much queso dip you throw in a burrito.
Lemme tell you something — Pure Tacos is going to murder once it hits its stride. The brisket and pulled pork tacos are excellent. There is real quality to the meats here that I haven’t yet had at this price point. The black bean taco is also great.
Sadly, the guacamole is bland. Don’t get the guacamole.

If you’re looking for solid tacos in Center City, you’d better eat them pure… without all of wheat product to aggravate the cilia in your intestines. And even if you’re not gluten intolerant, lucky for you, the warm, smushed soft corn tortillas at Pure Tacos are as delicious as any wheat-​flour infused variety… perhaps even a bit more filling and a bit more tasty.
The fillings are plentiful. Vegetarians will not be disappointed in the black bean tacos, and meat lovers will surely be pleased with the pulled pork and braised beef varieties. The sauces on the tacos are scrumptious — and the option of pickled jalapenos offers taco mongers an extra zing of excitement.
Oh, and by the way, all you folks judging PT for it’s absurdly long wait times, I might just remind you that you don’t move into a house and have all of your things unpacked and in perfect order within a week of entering the doorway… if you do, then you’re a machine.

Day three of Pure Tacos. No wait. Also, no credit cards, as their system was down. No problem.
$ 7 gets you two tacos and some chips (Laura C., they’re giving you small containers of salsa now) for a total of 470 calories. I had the authentic chicken with a sprinkling of roasted corn.
I usually get black bean tacos at joints like these. I have to admit, I like to play it safe for fear of biting into an unsightly cube of chicken. However, I noticed the super juicy looking pulled chicken breast and decided to go for gold. They pack a lot of chicken into one taco, and not once did I pull out a grisly piece of fat or bone. The chicken, albeit moist, definitely needed a kick and I had to ask for hot sauce (Hey Pure Tacos, you should probably keep hot sauce on your tables).
«Citrus guacamole» comes from a bottle. I don’t know about you, but guacamole should never be so thin that you can make it squirt like ketchup. Keep it chunky, keep it funky.
Pure Tacos gets four stars because the quality of meat soars above Chipotle or Qdoba. Really, though. Guac in a bottle? Doesn’t seem that pure to me.

My boyfriend and I were eager to try Pure Tacos, since we live in the neighborhood and love mexican food. We went here on the first day and they have a few kinks to work out.
The value is not the best. For two orders of tacos and 2 drinks, the total came to $ 22. (one order consists of 2 medium-​sized tacos of your choice and a small handful of chips for $ 8.50, after tax)
Although the tacos come with chips, I wish they were accompanied with salsa. After I ate the 2 tacos, I was a bit confused about what to do with the chips. They seemed like an afterthought. If the chips came with a small side of salsa, their presence would have made more sense.
Half of the tacos on the menu are made with quick things that were on a steam table. The other half of the tacos on the menu are made with ingredients cooked to order on a stove. Since our order consisted of 1 quick taco and 3 tacos with stove-​cooked ingredients, the chicken taco was made as we ordered it, and we waited awkwardly at the register for about 5 minutes, until the tacos with stove-​cooked ingredients were prepared.
There was some ordering confusion also. After we placed our order, we were asked twice to verify (and subsequently repeat correctly) the order. There seemed to be a lack of communication between the person taking orders (who was also the cashier) and the chef. I’m sure this can be easily ironed out.
The «quick chicken taco» (which was made 5 minutes before the other tacos) was cold by the time we sat down to eat, and it was not very flavorful. The steak taco was delicious and the steak was juicy and cooked perfectly with good flavor. The 2 fish tacos we ordered were good, but not great. It would be nice to know what kind of fish they used.
Also, since the only option for drinks is to buy them in a plastic bottle, I was puzzled by the lack of recycling containers. Many of the Gluten-​free, health conscious crowd seem to be progressives who are interested in recycling, and a recycling bin would be a good addition.
Pure Tacos has tremendous potential, but I’m in no rush to return. Granted, this is their first day. They need to make ordering a quicker process and figure out an accompaniment for the chips.
Overall suggestions:
— Self-​serve salsa bar (for the chips that accompany the tacos)
— Recycling for the plastic bottles
— Table-​side delivery for eat-​in customers who order tacos with ingredients cooked on the stove
— specify type of fish in fish tacos