Taco House Original

Food sucks, way way overpriced. $ 11 – 12 for 1 enchilada. Got their, flavorless ‘heavenly tacos,’ which are extreemely gross. Tasted like canned chicken and came with no sauce or seasoning. Just canned chicken, a bit of cheese, heaps of iceberg lettuce, and a few floppy tomatos. I wanted to vom. WHO COMES TO THIS PLACE?

Came here with my brother because I have seen this place almost everyday when I go to work. He food was ok the staff were great but it just felt like a chain restaurant and nothing really authentic

One of my wife and my favorite places. A must stop when we come to Portland. Great food! The spicy beam dip is awesome! Love their Chili Colorado burrito and my wife is always happy with the Enchiladas. Deep fried ice cream is a perfect way to finish it all off. Service is always above average too.

First time for us to be there. Really relaxing atmosphere, staff is super friendly, waiting time is very short, chips and salsa at the beginning is for free and taste so good, food was amazing. Definitely want to come back again

I’m here right now, and the first thing that strikes me is the nice environment, and family friendly vibe. We ordered everything off the happy hour menu. The service isn’t lightening fast, but more than sufficient, and we had a very pleasant waitress. The margaritas (Blended) went great with the complimentary chips and salsa. We ordered the guacamole ($ 2)to go with our chipsalso very delicious. Then came our last two orders; the beef taquitos and the OTH (original taco house) wings. The wings were so so, but then again, most people don’t come to a Mexican restaurant and order wings, but I had to have them. The beef taquitos were excellent. Overall great experience, good food, and friendly service and environment.

I have been coming to this place since the early 70’s, even though I moved to Seattle in the 80’s. In the 70’s the owners also owned Waddles which I loved.
I have been watching the Unilocal scores go down, and hoping the Unilocalers were wrong.
We ordered 2 margaritas, and a large order of guacamole to start. The guacamole’ was great as it always has been. The margaritas had a strong flavor that I could only imagine was because it was cheap tequila. I drank a small amount of mine. My husband did not care of his, but finished it, and did not want the rest of my drink. I with the waitress would have asked why I hardly drank any. I think she knew why.
My go to dish is the taco salad. I asked for a small taco salad, I don’t think I got what I wanted. I got something in a fried shell. It was just OK, I only ate the part the was in the top. I love the salad dressing, and normally order some to go, but forgot to.
We ordered our go to desert which was the peppermint ice cream. If anyone can tell me where I can purchase that ice cream in Seattle… it’s the *BEST* This came with their cinnamon fried desert that was quite good.
In summary, I think the Original Taco House is cutting costs on food, and alcohol. Stop that! And start acting like you want people to return, and while you are at it, respond to the comments, like it matters, because it does. We spent over $ 46.00 + tip. The waitress was nice, it wasn’t her fault.
For me part of the review is how the scale behaves the next day. It wasn’t good for me or my husband. I think that is tied in with the cheap ingredients.
Unless things turn around, I will be going back to Saylor’s Old Country Kitchen when I pass through town.

Good service. Great drink. Tortilla soup was different, but tasty. Not your authentic Mexican food, so don’t expect that.

The staff just doesn’t care. Everything was sticky.
Haven’t been here in ten years and will never be back.
For the love of god, don’t try the beans
The rice is awful but don’t eat the beans

The name, curb appeal and initial take on the interior grabs me as somewhere I would definitely like to eat. I think if I was primarily going to the lounge/​bar, I probably would have gave it three stars. Service was good but food was sub-​par. I ordered the ‘Big Red’ burrito which is supposed to be a smothered burrito with chile colorado inside. It was smothered with an average flavored red sauce and filled with mostly beans… If there was chile colorado inside, it was tough to distinguish from the beans. I did find a few pieces of meat but overall disappointed. I would have probably been content if I went for a few beers/​margaritas and ate a few tacos along the way but solely for dinner, it was no bueno.

This Taco House has just priced itself out of me and my family’s business. The last time I was there which was not long ago a steak fajita was $ 12.95. Stopped in there tonight and that’ steak fajita was $ 17. Too big of a price increase for me and my family. Loved this place for years but… NO LONGER!
The food is as good as ever but just too pricey for me and my family.

Does The Original Taco House have the best Tacos in Portland? No. Does it have the best beer selection in Portland? No. But does the Original Taco House have an amazing vibe you get from a unique wood decorated bar and fairly nice staff? YES IT TODES. But why would you go to a place just for the décor and feel? Because the video poker and red lighting really are that good. Oh and I also recommend the El Picador.
I’ll admit my love for the Original Taco House is a bit strange, but so is the Taco House itself. You want to believe so go see it.

The food is bland and gross… especially the beans. Don’t go here. Drive a lil farther to LA careta or casa del matador

This is my favorite of all the locations. The food is better at this one and the service is more consistent. Been going here with family and friends for over 30 years. This place still makes my favorites the same way I have come to count on (snack burrito, el picador, and the mini tostada grande). I crave it and can’t be away from this place for longer than a month!

I have been going to the Original Taco House since 1967. I have always been a fan and appreciated the consistency in recipes and menu.
But my last two visits (the most recent Saturday ⁶⁄₃₁), left me believing change is in the wind and not for the better.
My Saturday visit for lunch included iced tea that tasted like water, salad with no dressing, refried beans that had a hard brown crust leading me to believe that it was «leftovers» from previous day and not a fresh batch.
My cheese enchilada was the most disappointing as it was only lukewarm and contained some kind cheese like curdled product (cojita?) Instead of the melted runny real cheese I have always experienced over the years. Ick!
Then to top it all off my friend did not get any ice cream which was supposed to come with her full meal.
Once a very large child’s bday party got seated directly next to us, we decided to call it quits, cut our losses and run.
Oh OTH what have you done???
My previous visit to pick up takeout (in June), was a weird event. No one seemed to know what was going on, it was confusing, no one sure who should help me and two servers arguing over something. I could not get out fast enough.
I hope this new store in Vancouver isn’t taking g all the energy or that it means new owners. The success of OTH has been its consistency, change it and it will suffer business wise.
I miss the way it was.

The tortilla soup was good they close kind of early but that’s cause it’s on 82^nd. The refried beans taste like they came out of a can. The rice tasted like rice o roni packaged rice. The enchilada sauce tastes like mole and canned as well. We came here as a last resort type of thing and wanted Mexican food. Will not come back here again. The spices weren’t blended to well. And the staff seemed stressed out and didn’t want to be here.

Took my mom her for dinner, she comes here more often than I do. I had the beef tostada and I was served a plate piled high with iceberg lettuce. I had to dig to find the actual tostada. It was OK, the beans were a little dry and pasty though. If you order anything, I recommend to ask for no lettuce. Seriously. I wish I had!

Always a favorite. I highly recommend the El Picador deluxe «Old Fashion Style» and an El Bravo to share with friends.

According to the waitress: Food is prepared in the building next door, frozen, and then reheated in the restaurant.
Great place to go out and have a microwaveable dinner, if you’re into that.

I’ve been here twice and mediocre is pretty much how i would sum it up. The food is alright and the prices are reasonable but nothing stands out as outrageously amazing.
I guess if i was going to pick the best quality i would say their portion sizes. They give you quite a bit for your money. I saw someone ordered the nachos and they looked quite impressive.
Overall though nothing wowed me. The service was very slow even for a Friday night. They forgot our soup (which was very sub par I might add). The rice, beans, and tamale I ordered had enchilada sauce everywhere in it. I suppose some people may like that but it is not my cup of tea.

I’ll start with the good. We were seated quickly, our waiter was really nice, the chips were warm and very fresh (contrary to some of the other comments I’ve read our chips didn’t seem bagged or stale), the salsa was delicious, and the waiter came back to take our order about 10 mins after we were seated.
My daughter and I both ordered steak fajitas. When the food arrived, the fajitas were sizzling and the tortillas were fresh, soft and warm. About half way through our meal, I flagged down the waiter and requested a few more tortillas and more water. After a bit of a wait, he brought the tortillas, but no water.
Now for the not-​so-​great part. My daughter ordered her steak «well done» and I ordered mine «medium rare» when the food arrived both of our meats were cooked exactly the same :(my daughter was unhappy that her meat had a little pink in the middle, I was very disappointed that mine was barely pink (overcooked, in my opinion) I want to see red and have it moist not dry and chewy. But, we both ate instead of sending it back.
The refried beans were awful. Very dry, no flavor, I took two bites and that was enough. Definitely the worst beans I’ve ever had at a restaurant.
The waiter never did bring the water that I asked for and never asked if we wanted «anything else» like our soda refilled or dessert… he didn’t even ask how our food was or if everything was okay. Nice guy, but he did the bare minimum of service. The most frustrating thing was that we waited… and waited… and waited for our check, but he never brought it. I had to go inside (we were seated outside) and asked one of the other waitresses if she could find our waiter and have him bring our check. And, I had to ask her for 2 to go boxes.
I would probably eat here again. The food was okay (except the beans) and the service would probably be better if we sat inside. But I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat here.