Gratefull Taco

People have got to get a grip. Who cares about 35 cents. Pay with a credit/​debit card then. Food — excellent. Viola taco — perfection. Brisket taco is mouth-​watering. Shrimp taco is super spicy and lovely! Queso is good, great selection of beers. You pay $ 9 for Chipotle/​Freebirds/​etc.
Owner and staff were friendly and helpful. Plan to spread the good word.

Very Sad. went there to have try more Tacos… and the sign on the door said CLOSED for 2 months… I can’t wait !!! Must have these tacos.
UPDATE:

Holy grateful tacos Batman! Although Houston is packed with a ton of alternatives for Tex-​Mex food, Greatfull Taco is sure to wake up the dead. Thinking about Greatfull Taco’s offerings has made me Arkham Asylum crazy. I’ve been here three times in a period of two weeks trying out various items on their menu.
My favorites are the Brisket taco and the Pulled Pork taco. The majority of taco places must have Sandman in their employ because all the moisture is usually sucked out of their meats. Not at Greatfull Taco, the juicy sustenance combined with a myriad of saucy toppings is a symphony in my mouth.
The Red Rooster has a nasty fiery claw so be careful if you can’t handle the heat. CC Sun beef taco as an Asian accent for those of you into yellow fever.
Everyone has that drunk-​sometimes-​friend that always wants some alcohol with his or her dinner. Greatfull Taco offers a plethora of beers and wine that would make an indecisive person faint. This eatery has a modern squeaky clean feel, which is a welcome change to the ancient shops on the shepherd curve. There are multiple televisions to catch your favorite sporting event and a outdoor porch for those people who love Houston humidity and sweat dripping down their backs.
So everyone rise up from your 100+ degree Houston graves and check out this taco-​ville and you will be eternally grateful to me.

We went there last night to get a quick bite for dinner. They have lots of flat screen TVs all over the place. It is a counter order service and they will bring your food to your table.
We liked their beef brisket and the beer battered fish taco. Red rooster jerk taco was a bit too spicy to my liking, however, I liked the jicama slaw that came with it though. We will go back again to try their other tacos on the menu like mystery meat and chicken mole. Some might complaint is pricy tacos but I guess they are gourmet tacos and not like the tacos that you get from a food truck at $ 2.50 each which is greasy and tasteless.

I visited Greatfull Taco on Tuesday & Thursday this week both times in the evening — because it really is that good. These are not your typical taqueria tacos — this reminds of taco I would eat my chilling at the beach in Southern California.
Both times I had the Dancing Shrimp and the Brisket. The Dancing shrimp was by far the best seafood taco I’ve ever had. With it’s tangy, spicy sauce, fresh jumbo grilled shrimp and topped with a nice slaw all served on a corn tortilla. This taco had me dancing in my seat it was so good!
Now on to the brisket taco, it was truly a flavor explosion from the first bite. The brisket was tender, juicy and well seasoned. Atop the meat was a surprising chipotle BBQ sauce. The taco also had fried jalapenos and fried onions-​delish!
Besides the great food, one of the other things that impressed me about Greatfull Taco was the extremely friendly staff. Every employee I’ve interacted with has been friendly and accommodating. You can tell their employees are happy to work there.
Again, this isn’t a typical taqueria or Taco Bell — this is a different experience all together.
Total bill for 2 tacos and a drink approx $ 8.50.
Somethin’ is shakin on shakedown street — Greatfull Taco.

The staff was extremely helpful and nice, the place was clean, but those are the only two compliments that I can give to Greatfull Taco.
I ordered the fish taco (I forgot what kind of kitchy name it had), and it was mediocre at best. I feel as if I shouldn’t have expected anything flavorful from a chain taco place, but I did, especially for the prices. We also had the queso and chips, which honestly looked like a very bland broccoli cheddar soup.
Clean restaurant, bad food. I wouldn’t go back if they offered free tacos.

Went there for lunch. Wasn’t packed at all. Food came within 10 min.(not Bad) Ordered Chicken Mole Taco and MexiCali bird taco. The sause of MexiCali taco was good. But the overall taste satisfaction was average. I paid $ 9 for 2 tacos and a soda which i think is a little outrageous !!!
Price is the reason im rating this place a 2-​star. Decent quantity but the taste quality is not worth $ 9 for 2 tacos. Maybe other tacos in the menu are better. I’ve had better tacos at a local taco vans !!
I guess its true when they say «Its not good mexican food if the staff speaks english» lol

If you haven’t had a chance to check this place out then you really should. They have quite a few different tacos and I was able to try a few but my favorites were the jerk chicken taco (I think it was actually named the Red Rooster) and the mMstery Meat taco which ended up being bison. Really good tacos that had very good flavor to them. Looking forward to going back and maybe trying a few different ones but will most likely at least get the Red Rooster. The Red Rooster did have a nice spicy kick to it but it wasn’t unbearable or anything.
Minor drawbacks would be that I wish that they put a more meat in their tacos but that’s just maybe because I like to eat big. I also asked about a margarita machine and they said that they would get one if enough people asked for it… so be sure to ask!

I was weak in the knees at the sight of the words «chicken mole.» Greatfull Taco is such a charmer!
The tacos were excellent. Put together with great care. Taco alchemy one might say.
What got me the most though, was that a bone was spotted in my chicken mole taco. It’s like an alarm was sounded. Two people came to check on me. «Yes, I’m fine. Everything’s fine.» Then the manager. Very worried they were.
You can’t say they don’t care about the customer here – and for that, I“m greatfull!

Definitely a fan, and definitely going to come back for more tacos!
The place reminds me of Austin a little, with the longhorn mirror in the corner and one of the guys wearing a longhorn shirt. That little observation put me in good spirits upon first arrival but I remembered to not let that bias my opinion of the food!
We tried the flying fish taco, the mystery meat taco, and the eggplant veggie taco. I forget their names because, yes, they are unusually named, but that might just make it all the more special.
The fish taco was amazing and juicy. I especially loved putting their honey chipotle salsa all over and devouring the thing. I almost didn’t want to share the other half with my promised foodie buddies. The mystery meat taco was AMAZING!!! It turned out to be bison with an interesting sauerkraut like topping with a crunchy inner shell. nomnomnom!!! The eggplant taco was also good but I’m not sure if I’ll get that one again because the other were just so tasty and delish. Why waste space?
The best part about it was the staff. They were sooo accomodating and friendly. The owner (I think.) even came by to ask if everything was okay, and gave us more guacamole on the house because he saw that we had eaten it all. That was the icing on the cake. :)

Second visit. A very busy Saturday afternoon (owner said their best day ever).
Good selection of tacos — not TexMex. Brisket, shrimp, etc.
Lots of large screen TVs tuned to sports, CNN, etc.
Friendly staff. Quick service.
Give it a try.

Breakfast tacos at 11am after a killer nite rocks… knowing i don’t have to count change from my immense hangover… *thumbs up* I wasn’t too tossed to appreciate the fact they have compostable plastic cups as well as a no tipping policy? I woulda tipped these guys twice for putting up with the picky eater i was with… now on to the tacos…
I like the chorizo and egg, but as cheap as they were, i scarfed down 4 jus cause they were that good… i know imma be back when im a lil more ready for lunch…

There are two tacos on the breakfast menu that have the word ‘double’ in them. As in double egg, double everything. For two bucks, its a great way to start the day.
Take cash, as they have a round up /​round down policy. They don’t give change, and don’t accept tips. Strange but true.

The menu is a great concept and different from most of the texmex/​taco joints around town. These guys are still in a «soft open» and have lousy hours (still close at 3) but according to the owner they are set to expand their hours within the next week or two.
The Bucky’s Taco is the one I’ll be coming back for. A soft tortilla wrapped around a crispy orange shell with «mystery meat» that seemed like ground beef to me, but whatever — the favor was awesome … topped with sauerkraut.
The brisket taco was also tasty and the avocado was a nice touch.
The girl at the cashier could learn to smile, but the rest of the employees were very friendly and the food was definitively such that I’ll be back.

Went here to try the tacos, as I wanted to try something new this weekend.
Ordered some queso & chips and a soda while I waited for the rest of my party to arrive. My total was 8.51 which was rounded to 9, so I was a little put off by their change game, but I blamed me for not playing properly.
They won on two fronts, one, Sonic ice. I am not sure if their is a proper name for the tiny hail sized ice used to cool your soda perfectly. It is referred to as Sonic ice because that is the first place me and my friends ever got to enjoy it. It cools your soda extra cold, so I love it.
The queso also had some spice in it, it was pretty tasty.
My friends arrived, and I ordered two tacos, the briscuit and the fried fish taco.
This time I was ready for their little change scam, I ordered each one individually so each one was rounded down to the nearest dollar, instead of ordering them together which would have cost me another dollar. A small victory :)
Both of the tacos were great. They were expensive, at $ 4 a piece though. I enjoyed my experience, but I will probably just hit my favorite taco truck next time.

A new taco joint you say? I am there.
Continuing my 3 year search for the best breakfast tacos in town I caught a look at a sign selling Tacos from 7 – 3. Seeing a sign like this got me pretty pumped as I was sure it included the aforementioned breakfast tacos.
My expectations were dampened as I read some of the Unilocal reviews, but of course I was gonna give it a shot.
First off I ordered the Brisket taco (with bbq sauce, crispy onions and avocado), an egg and cheese taco with steak and a Schlitz… cause you know when you run out of schlitz you run out of beer. The first problem I had was when my bill totaled 12 bucks. I am sorry, but tacos and beer SHOULD NOT COST THIS MUCH.
Brisket taco — way too small. corn tortilla. When I get a taco I want a big fluffy flour tortilla. Not 2 thin tiny corn ones. The tortillas were fine, just not what I wanted. Then the taco was just too small. It comes with jalapenos normally, but I was not interested in that. The taco was just okay and I will not be getting it. Mike agreed.
Breakfast taco — WAS AWESOME. Flour tortillas. TONS OF STEAK. LITERALLY TONS!!! Everything I was looking for. The red salsa I used was delicious and reminded me of the one from TacoDeli in Austin that I am a big fan of.
Chorizo Taco — Finally a correctly priced taco. Was plenty decent sized and tasty. Only $ 2 while the other ones I got were $ 4. The breakfast tacos are much more reasonably priced… aside from the steak one that is $ 4 cause of the steak add on.
They had us try 2 new tacos they havent put on the menu. They were both ground Bison meat. One was in a flour tortilla with a mango salsa on top. It was delicious with a little spice kick at the end that was a nice touch.
Now I cant recall a lot of the second taco. IT was in an orange taco shell with something on top of it that we couldnt decide if it was sauerkraut. But it was also delicious. Had kind of a sweet and sour-​y taste and was nice to see the crispy taco. I really enjoyed them both, so if you see a bison taco on the menu, get it.
Albert got the Viola Lee (fried green tomatoes) and was pretty turned on by it.
*They have awesome flat panel TVs all over the place.
**They have the good small cubed Ice that Sonic has.
All in all I cant get over their prices. Too much for too little. They could have maybe gone lighter on the TVs as its only open until 3pm anyways and cut costs a few more places. Or just make the tacos a little bigger. They have a patio out front which is nice. I will be back and maybe since they are new they will change things up a bit.
***My favorite part was their beer list, where you can buy a case of beer if youd like. I am talking a case of Schlitz for something like 36 bucks. I cant hate on them for trying. Hell, all they have to do is sell one to make some major money and they dont really lose anything since the
beer can be bought in singles. (Large beer list too.)
**Oh yeah almost forgot. This place doesnt like to handle change. So if your meal is less than 45 cents you pay down to the dollar amount and over 55 cents you pay the extra rounding up to the nearest dollar amount so that noone has to touch more money. Pretty interesting idea.

Welcome to the «No change zone»!
Is this some kind of hippie twilight zone?
Actually it’s Greatfull Taco’s pricing policy. So if it’s Over 44 cents round up and Under 45 cents round down. Strange…
Did they not pass elementary math class? I swore rounding happens at 51…
Anyways, I respect it after reading their sign outside the window that explains why they do it…
So apparently, it’s to cutdown on time. Since keeping change on hand takes time to give back to customers, so they feel if you eat there enough you get some breaks and they get some money back and it SHOULD even out.
Anyways, I didn’t have to deal with it since I went the Credit Card route. Also they do not believe in tipping. They even state that they feel their employees should be paid a fair wage and should always keep a good work ethic instead of trying extra hard for a small tip.
OK, enough about their business model. On to the restaurant, they are only open for breakfast and lunch. When you enter there are a bunch of tables, and a nice wall with 4 beautiful TVs, I was a bit confused. Looked kind of like a sports bar, but not at all.
I asked the guy at the register what’s the most popular and he suggested the Red rooster which is jerk chicken and the brisket taco, I knew 2 tacos would not fill me up so I added in a CC sun beef taco.
The tacos are about 4 bucks each, which is a bit pricey, but you pay for the specialty items. If you just want fajita meat, go somewhere else.
The red rooster was spectacular, I love jerk chicken. The brisket taco was just OK, the BBQ sauce that comes with the taco is actually pretty tasty. Finally the CC sun beef taco was Asian inspired and I enjoyed it.
Overall, this place would be a superb 5 stars, but the tortillas are just BLAH.

Greatfull Taco has a few things going for it, but our first visit wasn’t good enough. I’ll start with the positives. My brisket taco had a nice smoky flavor, and was topped with strips of deep-​fried jalapeño, a slice of avocado, and some slices of radish. Very pretty, and good to boot. My battered fish taco had a nice slaw on it and the fish was ok but not very generous. David liked his jerk chicken taco, but his fried shrimp taco, the most expensive of the bunch, was fishy. Guacamole was good but the chips served with it were nothing special, didn’t seem freshly made. The décor is very nice.
Now for some hopefully constructive criticism. First, no one seemed very greatfull to be working here. The person behind the counter greeted us with «do you want a beer?» and never got much friendlier. The person keeping the dining room tidy was diligent but to the extreme. One of my taco baskets was almost cleared mid-​taco. Our basket of chips was cleared while I was still crunching the last chip. For a place that just opened, everyone seemed kind of unhappy. Second, two tacos here don’t make a meal, they’re just too small. Rice and beans would be nice, but it would have cost $ 7.80 for both of us to get sides of rice and beans. Fortunately we did get the chips and guacamole. The bill for four tacos, chips and guac, a beer and a soda was $ 27. Not cheap. At this price point they need to be better. Hopefully they’ll get there because it does show some promise.

I work near this place so I was eagerly anticipating its opening on April 22 according to its website. When your walking taco options are Chipotle, Taco Bell, and Café Adobe, you’d be eager for an alternative too. Except it didn’t open on that date and then the website was taken down and the owner explained there would be a delay in its general opening.
Weeks later, it finally opened and I’ve been coming here every other day for breakfast or lunch. The tacos can be pricey mostly ranging from $ 3 – 4 for lunch and 2 dollars for breakfast but most have been done very well. I’ve had almost every type except the ones that kill me. The ones made with corn tortilla are small but the ones made with flour tortilla are larger (all breakfast tacos along with the fajita tacos). I’m not sure if there’s an option to go with flour on every taco.
My favourite lunch tacos are the beef fajitas tacos, the brisket, and the red rooster jerk chicken. I also like the Viola Lee (fried green tomatoes) but the tomatoes can be inconsistent in flavour. For the fried vegetable options like the Viola and the Emo-​topia, there’s a surcharge to have the vegetables grilled which discourages the healthy eaters in us.
The first day I came in there were some quirks that the staff had to work out which led to a delay in my to-​go order. The biggest and intentional quirk is that they don’t do coin change here if you pay in cash. It threw me off on the first visit when they rounded my bill up to an even 7 dollars when I was expecting 2 cents back. If you pay by credit, it would be the exact amount. They have signs pointing to the change policy but many people won’t notice it until money exchanges hand.
Another eccentricity is the beer list or menu. It’s not in alphabetical order and there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the prices although all bottles are under $ 4. I’m not going to quibble that Blue Moon is cheaper than MGD but the beer board is bizarre to take in.
The owner has been very friendly with his customers. One time someone in my group had tried to order a brownie and was told they were sold out. The owner said he had his own secret stash and had the chef bring out some more on the house for us. I failed to ask my friend whether the secret stash brownies were magical but she was happy as an evil beaver.

This place was inspired by Torchy’s in Austin. When I heard Houston would be getting a Torchy’s style restaurant in Houston I was very excited. Torchy’s is one of my favorite eats in all of Texas! Unfortunately, that made me come here with high expectations.
I finally came to Greatfull Taco today. It was Funky Friday so the employees were dressed in their 70s best. They have some good looking ladies working there. Anyways, the place is nice with some very nice TVs. The patio looks like a great place to kick back some beers.
The menu is creative but you have to pay attention to the ingredients (the smaller print) because the name of the tacos don’t always give you an idea of what you’ll be eating!
I ordered two vegetarian tacos (Viola Lee and EMP). The tacos are small for the price you pay ($ 2.75 minimum). They are basically the size of your standard corn tortillas. The Viola Lee had fried green tomatoes, shredded carrots, lettuce and some cream sauce. It was decent but a bit bland. If it were for the salsas, the taco would not be good. I really felt like they could have put more flavor in my taco. My other taco was the EMP which was a bit better on the flavor. This had fried eggplant, fried artichoke and some poblano chiles. It was better because the veggies were diverse but still the taco wouldn’t be good without lots of salsa.
There’s a variety of salsa available… I think 5? The habanero is decent but nothing special. I think my favorite was the hot red salsa.
The tortillas the tacos come with are disappointing. They taste like the tortillas you get at the grocery store. I guess that’s okay. They aren’t bad. they just don’t make the taco better.
The place has potential. It’s fairly new so hopefully they will tweak their menu and how they make the dishes because this place can be a solid choice.
It’s not Torchy’s and not close to it but it’s a unique taco option in Houston. Hopefully you’ll get more taco for your buck here because right now, $ 7 for two tacos that aren’t very filling is not a good deal. I’ll be back to try the breakfast tacos and will be back to put back some beers on the patio!

Delicious tacos.