Toucan Taco

Love it here ! They keep forgetting my sour cream or hot sauce but it’s only a 5 sec walk back inside to get one ! Lol :/​unless you drive off already .
They are closed on Sunday and Monday’s too so don’t forget as I have plenty of times :)
My cheat day is usually at this place and always 2 soft shell chicken tacos ! So good!

This is a great hole-​in-​the-​walk. The queso dip is amazing and so are their refried beans! The food is really good. Don’t judge a book by it’s cover. Great place to go for a quick bite to eat. My husband and I live it here. Feels nice and homey. It’s a part of Laurel’s history.

I had been here previously. Great food, quick meal. Well, I won’t be going back. Went tonight at 9:42 and the open sign was on. They advertised being open until 10pm, but when I walked in the gentleman at the counter said that he had already started the closing procedure, since no one had come in since 9:25. I was looking to get some food and go, but no luck. Sat in the parking lot writing this and open sign was illuminated the whole time.

Food was poor quality. It tasted like and and appeared to be pre packaged heat and serve slop.
We’ve lived in Laurel over 20 years, heard that this place was great. So we finally checked it out.
I don’t know who the reviewers are but they have got to be stoned out of their minds when they go here. Their «famous Nachos» were a can of Rotel and Velveeta cheese, no scratch that it would have been better if it was Rotel and Velveeta .
Dirty, cramped and NASTY
STAY AWAY

Tacos are the best !
That guy behind register is a little smart ass though over the phone and in person. He has been there forever. I try to order during early day when he usually isnt around.
The food is 4 stars — the service not so much…
They have amazing hot sauce !!

Food looks like Terrapin Taco. Taste-​way too spicy. No reason for it to be so spicy. Check your carry-​out order because they shorted me on my order. I was too far away to go back. No need to go back.

4 tacos and a Mayan. That’s how I get down here. Friendly staff and good food is a best recipe for my patronage. Been coming for years and never been let down. Food made fresh to order. Always hot and delicious. And that hot sauce is always on point. Love this spot.

Worst place ever. I would only eat here if I ordered takeout. Waitress was terrible. She never even introduced herself. Just asked what we wanted. Then, after ordering, we could here the staff in the back cursing and carrying on. Zero customer service.
I would give 0 stars if I could.

You know the saying of «don’t judge a book by its cover «? This place fits that. Toucan Taco has a long and storied history that includes its guacamole, queso, and sunken burritos. No, this place does not have a bunch of frills. What it does have is some really good comfort Mexican food, a wonderful staff, and beer on tap. Check them out!

Nostalgia at its best! I’ve been coming to this spot since I was a teenager. The sunken meat burrito hasn’t changed! It’s a local favorite! Do not let the exterior or interior aesthetics turn you away? Chili Con Queso is the best! Yum… Yum! Eat in or take out… Delish!

A holdover from the «Tippy’s Taco House» days, Toucan Taco in Laurel, MD, still slings enchiladas, tacos and other old-​school items almost exactly like the original chain’s unique Tex-​Mex fare. Not fancy, not ‘nouvelle’ but utterly satisfying, old-​style Mexican comfort food. Table service or takeout; parking is usually sufficient.
But, sadly, they seem to have acquired the objectionable habit of closing earlier than their posted hours. It’s a bummer to make a long drive to disappointment. No place, dive or not, should have their doors locked at 9:29 if they say they’re open until 10:00. I’m just sayin’…

You really need to have a good sense of humor when coming to a place like Toucan Taco. When you walk in you swear you’re going to need a tetanus shot in order to make it out alive; the tables and chairs are something straight out of the 1970s; and getting a waiter or waitress is quite frankly hit or miss. However, the food more than makes up for it.
While the queso is probably more expensive per ounce that crack (not that I would know), it is basically like crack. I can go get their largest size queso, a bag of chips, and just eat that. Along with their tacos, whenever I go there I feel like I’m having one of the best, greasiest meals I’ve had in awhile.
The people are genuinely nice, and genuinely want to get to know you. I have no idea how long they work there, but some of them seem like my first. You don’t come to this place for the ambiance — actually I recommend you to do take out. However, the food is good.

Someone once said «You Can Never Go Home Again». For me, that sadly seems to be true. I recall many happy visits to the «Tippy’s Taco House» in the 1970’s while I was a student at Maryland. So, the wife and I decided to re-​live our College days by a visit to the follow-​on to Tippy’s: Toucan Taco in Laurel.
We longed for the previously unforgettable «Cheese Enchiladas with Rice and Gravy». Also ordered a couple of Tacos and some chips with Chili-​Con-​Queso. While we waited, we ordered Corona beer. The beer was quick, and cold (no glass, we were presented with the bottles at the table).
In a little while the chips with Chili-​Con-​Queso arrived. At first I thought the queso was lacking bits of tomato and chile, but I found them at the bottom of the styrofoam serving container; the mixture was pretty salty to my taste. I will admit to scraping out every bit of the cheese from the bottom of the small styrofoam container.
The Tacos did fit my memory from years ago. The tacos were in pre-​formed, pre-​baked tortillas, some ground meat mixture in the bottom, with shredded lettuce and chopped tomatoes on the top. Pretty standard fare, BUT the sauce on the table was the greatest! This was a clearly recognizable flavor from forty years ago, I can’t characterize the flavor, but it is unlike any commercial sauce I have encountered on store shelves.
The well-​remembered love-​of-​our-​lives, the «Cheese Enchiladas with Rice and Gravy», showed up next. As in years past, it was still served in the soft-​aluminum foil container with plastic utensils. (A fork, but no spoon… I remember that spoon for scooping up all the delicious gravy.) Well, this is the part where you can never go home again: The gravy about which I had been reminiscing was not in this serving. The original gravy had been a cheese-​enhanced white sauce.
We purchased two servings of Cheese Enchiladas: The stand-​alone serving of enchiladas was covered with a thin-​red enchilada sauce. The order of Cheese Enchiladas with beans and rice was baked and seemed to have no liquid sauce or gravy.
So, I guess our expectations were a little too lofty… Or maybe the memory had grown to unrealistic proportions. In either case, we were not that impressed. I am glad we tried the place… Now we know.

The staff are really nice, but that’s about the best I can say about this place. My husband and I ordered the «famous» queso, which tasted like chips and queso dip from the grocery store. The enchiladas I had must have been a microwaved frozen dinner, and my husbands sunken «chicken» burrito had questionable mystery meat (we spent the dinner questioning what it was and decided pork). Probably one of the worst restaurants I’ve ever been to…

Have Loved Toucan since it was TIppy’s. Awesome queso, best ever but the «new“chips are not as good as the ones they used to carry as Tippys, tacos are great, burritos and the gravy are to die for! We no longer live in the area but occasionally will be nearby and make the detour to get great food. However, we do not eat in, definitely a take out place. Just close your eyes and order and leave, you will be happier that way :)

I’ve lived in Laurel for over 7 years and just had a friend tell me I had to try out this place. My wife and I talked about stopping in there every time we drove by, but never did. We were very happy with the food and have been twice in the past month. The first time we went they were out of guac for the day so we got the queso and burritos. All was very good. The second time we went they had guac and it was nothing like some of the pictures on here. It was bright and some of the best guac I’ve ever had.
Bonus is that they have good vegetarian options including a vegetarian gravy for their sunken burrito.

I had hopes this would be my new local spot. But very disappointed. All I ordered was Queso, Guacamole and 12 regular tacos (not just for me). They said they were running out of Guac so they could give me a cup of it. When I saw it, it was the size if a shot and the Guac was completely brown. All brown, no parts green or fresh. When I asked for Queso the guy on the phone said how much do you want. I asked shat my options were he said I could get a pint. I couldn’t imagine that would be expensive… They ended up charging me $ 10 for the Queso and $ 8 for the shot of Guac. What kind. of sense does that make? The tacos were no where near authentic. They were soggy and not much flavor.
Definitely not recommending this place nor am I going back. Very disappointed.

Heard their queso is really good on trip advisor. Drove all the way from manassas to this place.
Have had better queso than this one, queso was really salty and no spice in it, while chips were way more salty than queso. Server here looks at you, like you’re asking for FREE food.
Only leaving two stars because, hate to leave just one!

Going here is just like going into a time-​warp to the 1970s. The building inside and out has been surprisingly well-​preserved from its 1972 origins, when it was part of a chain called «Tippy’s Taco House» — even down to a 1970s «Master Charge» sticker on the outside of a window. The menu itself is probably exactly the same as then — all old-​style Americanized Tex-​Mex items with chili and American yellow cheese on top, served not on a plate but in a foil take-​out container. I get a craving for food like this from time to time, but the portion-​size didn’t warrant the high price, and instead of a bowl of chips one gets just two flat tostada shells. The irony goes even further when you realize that Laurel was once mostly Caucasian but now has a thriving authentic Mexican/​Central American cuisine scene — completely invalidating this kind of food.
If you want a true kitsch experience of how «Mexican» food was experienced by most small-​town Americans in the 1960s-​1970s, then this place is worth a visit. For real Mexican, there are probably a dozen more authentic places in the Laurel area.

When I was a kid and this was Tippy’s taco it was the bomb. It has gone way down hill. The taco’s and queso are still awesome, but everything else has gone downhill.
The prices are VERY HIGH for a being on the run down side. It has always been a dive, but now it is a dive in need of work.
The staff are always friendly and fast, but do tend to forget that you are present.
Get the taco’s and get out.