Hapa Taqueria

Terrible place and will not go back. I was excited to have found a new place, but the food was not good at all. The neat was dried. It was pricy for what you get. The taco stands are a million times better for the delicious taco and the low cost. We drove by today (Saturday at 8:30 PM) and all the lights were out. Out of business already?

I was excited to try this place after reading some of the reviews and picking up a killer deal on Living Social. With that said, the food failed to live up to my expectations. The chips were bad and the salsas were only marginally better. Although I thought the carnitas taco was great, the beans were not good and the rice was simply okay. And the potatoes in the Plato Vegetariano were very poorly done — soft on the inside but quite hard on the outside (think stale or old). With so many other fantastic Mexican joints nearby, why settle for one that is relatively pricey (as Mexican joints go) but so exceedingly average?!

Hapa Taqueria is a fairly new place in downtown Salt Lake City, but I would look elsewhere. The décor of the restaurant is «hip,» but the food suffers. I order the «Pork You» burrito and had some wings. It was part of the Dine O’Round special in SLC. The complimentary chips were very good, thick, and lightly salted. Hapa has a salsa bar, but I disliked many of the salsas. It is a good idea, but execution is needed regarding the taste. The burrito was okay, but Hapa has small portions for the price. Minus the chips, much of the food was overly salty.
On the upside, the staff was friendly and helpful regarding the menu. They have a full bar with specialty and mixed drinks. I think the bar seating would be fun with a crowd. At first I thought this was a grab and go kind of place, but it is mainly a sit down restaurant (they do to go orders).
Back to the downside. Although the bathrooms are fairly clean, they are also near the door to the trash which created quite the smell. Luckily this smell didn’t infest the dining area, but it was still an unpleasant experience. Overall, I would stick to taco trucks downtown or head to the Red Iguana or Taqueria El Rey De Oros.

Was hopeful for a good meal after reading the other reviews, but nobody in my party of four was impressed. We had the boneless wings, their mixture of thigh meat with a bland brown sauce didn’t work out. The waiter said it is their best selling appetizer in Park City, so I wonder if they would have tasted better after an evening of cocktails?
The pork burrito was 80% lettuce, 15% pork, and 5% cheese, and had little flavor. Plus it was small, only slightly larger than a wrap from McDonalds or KFC.
What raised this review from one star to two was the variety of salsas, and the chorizo queso. If you dump your salad wrap (e.g. «burrito») and «wings» in the queso, the meal will go down easier.

I was hopeful for Hapa but found that this taqueria fell short on flavor with a price line that was out of line with better taco stands.
SERVICE: GOOD!
The service was probably the best part of our experience. The waiter was very friendly, knowledgeable and timely. Present without being intrusive.
SALSA: NICE!
The salsa selection was well rounded and the labels provided an accurate measure of heat.
TACOS: NAH!
As a taco shop, I found the tacos were average and in fact over-​priced for what they were. The Fish Taco was actually nicely done. The Halibut was fresh, tender and perfectly cooked though the overall taco was scant on flavor. The Carne Asada Taco was the low point. The meat was a bit mealy and again, lacked the flavor it deserved. If they’re counting on the salsas to provide the flavor, they’ve missed the point.
SIDES: YUM!
On the side, I liked the sides more than the tacos. The pinto beans were very good. Great in fact with the dusting of Cotija to round them out. I have to give complement as well to their Spanish rice. Though I am not particularly fond myself, I found Hapa’s rice was nicely done with the occasional kernel of corn for added texture and get this… flavor. I just wish the tacos were equal party to the flavor quotient.
BAR: YES!
They’ve got a full bar with specialty drinks which is a plus. Though I opted out on this venture. On the plus, there are a few patio tables when the weather works.
~m

I love this place. They seemed to struggle initially with the menu, but I have never had a bad time or a bad meal here. The atmosphere is friendly and casual but with a modern SoCal twist. Servers are always friendly and attentive, and the PBR is dirt cheap!

Not impressed. I was excited to see a new restaurant in downtown Salt Lake — not impressess with the food. First serving of chips was served in a small to go container — I think that it had maybe 10 chips at most in it. Asked the server for another serving of chips and took the first container (still had 2 chips) and replaced with a larger serving.
Salsa bar was self-​serve (whatever). The food… oh my! Ordered the 2 taco’s — both for which the meat was cold, beans, cold, rice buried under the 2 cold taco’s.
Server — not tipped well — I can tell you that if you would like water — you might as well — go get your own pitcher of water — staff is too busy to watch the soccer game on the big screen.
As many have stated — I would stop and get a street taco ~ I’m sure better service ~ before I come back.
Good Luck!

At last count, there were no less than 1 million Mexican food establishments in the greater Salt Lake area.
Given that huge amount of competition, you really need to do something extraordinary to make a go of it in this market.
Unfortunately, Hapa Taqueria really doesn’t do enough to stand out in the crowd. I could go with 2 or 3 stars, but Lisa absolutely hated her experience here. And if my lovely wife ain’t happy… I ain’t happy. So 2 stars it is.
After careful deliberation, I chose the «Enchi-​Lotta.» Sadly, I was informed that they were OUT of mole so I had to choose something else (this same disappointment was unfurled upon at least two other diners while we were there).
In the absence of what I really wanted, I decided to try the street taco sampler. It had 4 tacos, each with a different meat, for $ 7.95. Not a bad deal. And NO I don’t compare the prices to the carts over at Sears. This place has a liquor license and a place to sit. I’ll pay extra for that, without a doubt or a complaint. The tacos were all very good, even though I found that I’m not a fan of lengua (beef tongue). I still finished every bite of all 4. Delicious!
Our server was very nice and helpful, although he seemed kind of new at the waiter gig.
The chips were mediocre at best. Kind of bland and seemed to be from a bag.
The much-​talked-​about salsa bar was cool, but not that great to me. I thought it had 3 great salsas, 3 good ones and 3 that were useless.
I also ordered a side of rice and beans. The rice is plain and boring, but salvageable with enough salsa. The pinto beans were completely flavorless and salsa didn’t help.
Hapa did have some great drink specials, including $ 2 PBR or Tecate.
The patio was very cool, with a picnic table for a large party and a couple of 2 and 4 seat tables for the rest of us.
This place could be phenomenal with a few tweaks. But they’d better start tweaking soon, or it’ll be too late. Just ask ACME Burger (the fomer inhabitant of this space).

i thought this place blew for a few reasons.
1. on a saturday night, they didn’t have mole. meaning they also weren’t serving enchiladas. don’t want to get over-​dramatic, but that seems unforgivable if you want to call yourself a taqueria
2. the food was very sub-​par. suffice to say, i don’t think the iguana franchise need worry about this challenger. for that matter, most of the street meat i’ve had around town beats hapa’s quality
3. service, typically, was also sub-​par. service is not slc’s strong suit
4. no salsa with chips? just lame. and, as pointed out in a previous review, the salsa bar containers are not big enough
i had high hopes. very disappointing. why oh why didn’t lonestar move in to this location instead?

Sigh… Seems like a place you want to love, but it was underwhelming. Street tacos? At $ 2.50+ for a mini-​taco, that’s unlike what you get on the street. The flavors weren’t bad, but after spending nearly $ 20 on tacos and an appetizer for two, it was hardly a decent snack.
Salsas were nice, the meats were well cooked, but the cost-​value just doesn’t work out. With so much competition in the Mexican food arena, I won’t be back.

Let me start by saying I wanted this to be a good meal… I really wanted it to be a place I could come to over and over again. The hours were great and the interior was lively looking so with a very forgiving eye I went here to eat dinner one night.
I don’t want to commit it to the «I’ll never eat here again» death sentence but its not going to be top of list. They seem to have a number of things on their menu… the problem is I didn’t exactly know what most of them were. Remember, there’s a bunch of gringos coming in to eat. I’m sure they sell a lot of burritos, enchiladas, tacos and nachos because I hadn’t the slightest clue what the rest of the stuff was. And to top it off, they gave many of them whimiscial names that made me really have to dive into the vague descriptions of the menu items to find out what I might be ordering.
Its tableservice and they bring chips out with the meal. What they don’t bring is salsa. Yes they have a «salsa bar» with 9 or so different types of salsas but what may you ask are you supposed to put the salsa in? Well its nothing other than what are essentially jello shot 2 oz plastic containers. Tell me how I’m supposed to dip a full size chip into such a container? I basically had to get 4 – 6 of these things and pour the salsa onto my chips to eat them. There’s no dipping at this restaurant. I think the salsa bar is neat but it would be great if there was a house salsa they served in a large container with the chips and then you could go hit the salsa bar up for the more specialty items.
Because I wanted something I would enjoy, I ordered the Enchilada platter which was named something like Whole lotta Enchiladas if I remember. It came with 4 chicken or beef enchiladas, rice and beans. How they plate the dish may look nice but its hell to eat it. They put the 4 enchiladas right on top of a plate that is half full of rice and half full of beans. Once you apply any pressure to cut or stab the enchiladas with a fork or knife you are immediately sending food sliding out the plate. I’m no scientist or engineer but if you place downward pressure on something on top of another thing its probably going to send the bottom item sliding out. I resorted to eatting part of the rice and beans and then pushing the enchiladas over so i could cut them with out my rice and beans trying to escape the plate. Ridiculous sounding maybe, but i was difficult to eat and needs to be said.
The flavor was good, the chicken was your average pulled chicken. Much like other Mex places in Utah they love their mole sauce here and only offered the enchiladas covered in that. I would have preferred a green chile sauce of some sort. They also might have put the plate under a broiler to melt cheese or keep it warm because the top half of the enchilada was more like a taquito as it was crispy.
The pricing for the dish may have offered the most expensive pulled chicken enchiladas in all of SLC. They were well over 10 or 11 dollars. I would have been great with just 2 but they only offered the plate with 4. I’m not sure if they’re coving for the rent, the salsa bar or their labor but the pricing doesn’t make sense. The food cost on the meal itself shouldn’t be high enough to justify that price.
Its a good concept, and I’m excited to see a restaurant downtown open late but honestly the execution is overthought and too deliberate. Don’t try to educate you customers, if its difficult for me to decide I’m ultimately not going to want to eat there again. Make your menu easier to interpret, use bigger plates on your platters, watch your prices because the food product isn’t different than cheaper places and offer a house salsa I can dip in.

I had the Shrimp Burrito, which tasted fine. But Hapa Taqueria’s portions are small and pricey. Also had a carne asada taco and it’s a street cart taco for twice the price. Very good beer specials though… so a great place to grab a few while eating if stuff’s on special.
Recommend if…
A) You’re looking for a place where the beer is cheaper than the food.
B) Your favorite taco cart is M.I.A. for the day.
C) You just like paying more for food you can get in 1,000 other places in Salt Lake.

I really wanted to like this place, but at $ 2.50 for very average street tacos and with mediocre service, don’t waste your time or money.
The only plus would be they are open late, but I am not going back there to pay for average food at those prices.

Great for grabbing some late night food up until 1am Thursday-​Saturday. When some friends and I were wandering the area looking for a place to eat around midnight, we thought that we’d check out the McDonald’s and Wendy’s down the street. Unfortunately, both places were open for their drive-​throughs only. After some Unilocal searching, we stumbled on hapa taqueria and arrived hopeful that food was still being served.
Luckily, food is served up until 1 pm. There’s a late night menu available consisting of tacos and a couple more items. There are unlimited tortilla chips, as well as a salsa bar with various salsas available, including some concoction called the «what the F» salsa.
Service was speedy, probably because there was only one other group table occupied.
The best items:
Honor Code Violator: Didn’t realize this was a burrito from looking at the menu. It come with french fries, cheese, guac, and pico de gallo.
Papas Locas: Basically Carne Asada fries. (fries, carne asada, cheese, sour cream, guac, pico de gallo).

The tacos here just aren’t that good. I tried an adovada, carne asada, and carnitas, and they were all bland. Prices are a bit out of whack ($ 2.50 for a small street taco). Service was a bit off as well. I’ll go back to give them another shot, but there are much better tacos to be found in the city.
A friend of mine ordered three tacos, and they charged him full price for all of them. I ordered three tacos, and was charged full price for one and $ 1 each for the other two. Not sure how that math is supposed to work out.
I’m all for paying higher prices for brick and mortar food, but when the taste and quality doesn’t even match up to the street carts, that’s’s no bueno.

Took 50 minutes to get lunch. Pork burrito was dry, apple creama almost non existent. And for 9 dollars ala carte it should be as big as my head, it was not! So after waiting 50 minutes for lunch we got a sorry and a comp. Note to restaurant managers: entice me to come back with a free app or a gift cert and when I show up the 2^nd time to give you another chance, fall all over me with service.

Stopped by today for a quick lunch before seeing Hangover 2 at Brewvies and everything was quite delicious. Wanted to mention that there is a limit of 5 items per guest on their $ 1 sale which doesn’t seem to be mentioned in the specials notice above.
The salsas are pretty good, I think we tried 5 different kinds. I didn’t find the mango habanero very spicy despite what another reviewer says but I guess it could have been that particular batch. Besides the specials we had the queso blanco which was pretty yummy. Their chips are the crispy, homemade-​style kink, yummy. Service was great — thanks Benji!
Will be back to try some of the more interesting things on the menu eventually — I find the names of some of the menu items awfully silly but then I’m sure some will be amused by them.

Holy shit! Can I say that? If not, holy cow! First off: dollar tacos for the summer! And they are delicious carne asada and carnitas street style tacos.
Next comes the salsa bar. I only tried to of the 12, I think. Mango habanero and chipotle pico de gallo. Both beyond delicious.
At first I was hesitant because it was all white folks working there. After ordering I saw what could only be described as Mexican Charlie Sheen, and the tacos were definitely #winning.

So delicious! Its about time SLC got some good mexican food! Try the torta ahogada sandwich or the pork you burrito you can’t go wrong! Oh, did I mention the 1 $ tacos, beers, and shots till the 26^th of june all day everyday!?!

Went in for a weekday lunch… I got the torta ahogada, along with a pork adobada taco = YUM!!! The torta was spicy, but it had an irresistable combination of soft/​chewy bread soaked in goodness with the sandwich fillings.
Add loads of yummy salsas to pick from, funny names for menu items (Honor Code Violator), a friendly, colorful, and welcoming ambiance… plus great prices! $ 2 for a taco?!? Trust me, it’s a new place so they are still working on signage and probably some other small kinks, but the food is right on: you will be satisfied with your experience, and stoked on your meal!