Taco Local

I heard good things about this place, so I thought I would check it out. I got a smokin bowl and it was just not good. Like a healthier version of a chipotle bowl. I’d much rather have eaten chipotle. I will say their chips and salsa were great and I especially liked the flour chips. However I will probably not go back again. I’d much rather go to coco locks or jalapeño loco.

We were actually excited to try out this restaurant. It had a cool vibe from the outside and we were curious to see what it had to offer.
We walked in and it had a nice atmosphere, but was greeted by a rude blonde server with «Dinning in or take out?» Not even a hello or hey. That should’ve been our first red flag. She basically just told us to grab a seat and we did. Since it was our first time there, we wanted to take our time to look at the menu and figure out what we wanted and she seemed flustered and we felt like we didn’t have enough time to decide on what we wanted to order. And throughout our entire time there, she gave off a bad attitude. Perhaps she was having a bad day, but she shouldn’t have taken it out on paying customers.
Long story short, the food was decent for what it was. The restaurant had a nice ambiance and the only thing I kinda had a problem with was the lack of customer service from that server. I would come back and try out different tacos if we were guaranteed to have someone else come serve us.

The food was pretty good. I got a bowl with tuna and green chili and ginger soy. I just wish the waitress would have explained their menu a bit more. And maybe I would have added more to my bowl. For the amount of money I paid I was expecting there to be more than 3 ingredients.
The nacho were awesome though. The chips were so yummy.
Also it’s not very family/​child friendly.
We were there on a weekday during the afternoon so the restaurant was fairly quiet. But there were no kid menus no crayons. I wasn’t even offered a high chair for my 1 year old.
I would come back and try it again. But with no kids this time. And I would hopefully order something a bit more substantial.

so bad :(I grew up in willoughby but live in nyc now, so when I was home visiting my mom we decided to try this out. ugh it was so terrible. maybe I’m just used to real tacos but even the chips and guac were awful. stale chips and brown guac. I told our waitress and she said «there’s no way they’re stale I just made them»… made them? as if I’m dumb enough to not tell the difference between a bagged and fresh tortilla chip. give me a break. inedible. our waitress continued to be rude and dismissive until I told her I had severe allergies and was having trouble finding something on the menu to eat. I’m sorry but I’m the patron, you’re the worker, and a terrible one at that. I ended up getting the saddest tacos I’ve ever seen omg. this is the LEAST authentic Mexican place I’ve ever been to. fried chicken taco? I know the owners of local tavern own this but it’s obvious they need menu help. the add ons to the tacos are asinine. how
do you have carnitas (which they just state as PORK because it’s that unauthentic) and don’t even have the option to add on pickled onions & red cabbage, they go hand and hand. the place was empty and it was lunchtime. the owners are clearly in over their heads. my moms tacos were awful too. we left and the waitress comped our bill. I wouldn’t eat this again if I was blacked out drunk. I cannot say enough about how bad this food was.

This place is a hit or miss. I’ve been here 4 times and twice the food was tasty (had a shrimp bowl & tuna taco). And twice the food was not so good (had a steak taco and a mahi bowl with queso dip). The service is ok. Not bad but not great. However, I do like the new concept in downtown Willoughby and I do recommend people to go here!

I love their bowls & nachos! TL adds to what Downtown Willoughby has to offer in the food world.

This is a tough call. So follow me.
First, the place is very So Cal in design. Great for the summer, a little cold for the winter. But has a pretty good vibe with the open kitchen. The service is so so. We were seated quickly but the server was probably stretched. She did not get refills unless we asked, which was when we could flag her down. That being said she was very friendly. This would be tough though during the supper if they were packed. As it was, they were about 50%.
On to the food:
App — Chips and caso. The chips were seasoned. Salt and lime I think. Had corn and flour. I would prefer just plan chips. The caso was home made and flavorless. Very bland. Not to mention after about 10 chips, it was gone leaving you with a basket of chips and nothing to dip them in. So not very well thought out. Not to mention the cost for the caso. So I will pass next time.
Kid Menu — They don’t have one. By daughter just like beans and rice on a corn tortilla. This should not be anything huge. But, they make you order from the sides. So, 3 corn tortillas a small dish of beans (maybe 2 Table spoons) and small dish of rice (2 table spoons), $ 8.25. They should really be ashamed of them selves. While the rice and beans were okay, they were not anything special and certainly not with that much. I almost called the manager over it was that disappointing. It was truly about $ 3.50 worth of a meal.
Maines — The good side. So, all of the stuff so far has been a bit on the negative. And to be honest, deserving of 2 stars. But…
— 3 Street Pork Tacos. Best tacos I have had in a long, long time. The flavor was there. Hot, fresh. Tortilla is done with cheese, so no need to add any. You can also mix it up with chicken or beef if you like. But I recommend the pork.
— Burrito. This thing is huge. Wife got the chicken which I think tends to suck the flavor out of things. That being said, it was really good. You can get dry or wet. It is good for 2 folks to share.
Biggest down side is you get no sides. So, 3 tacos (which are really good) $ 8.50. And that is on the low end. the prices only go up. If you want a little rice, $ 3.00. A little Beans $ 3.00. So now you are at almost $ 15.00 and I can tell you it isn’t that damn good.
So if it were not for all of the other negatives, and I think they are big, this would be a 4 — 5 star place. I think the things I mentioned are correctable, but if they will or not who knows. If you are going in, get your taco’ or burrito, skip the apps and drink water.

Not bad at all, but falls just short of being great!
Owned by the same people as the ambitious (but struggling) Local Tavern, and the new comer to downtown Willoughy, Local Sol.
Taco Local checks all the right boxes. Mexican/​Island vibe, check. Mexican (not Tex Mex!) food like street tacos and tortas, check! Over stuffed burritos to appeal to the Chipotle crowd, check! Mexican beers and slushy machine with «margaritas», check!
The problem is every box is checked but none of them are checked in such a way that things make me want to come back. The street tacos are good, but I want more out of my flour tortilla than being half heartedly steamed so that they’re kinda soggy and only slightly warmed. The tortas are good, the guacamole is good, the selection of salsas is good, but nothing is great.
The service is… there… The staff is there to get a paycheck, but no one has ever made me think they enjoyed working there.

I can see why some folks give this four stars. The food’s fresh and if you like the style, it’s great.
I had the chicken nachos. It was a large basket with a heaping mound of shredded chicken, chopped tomatoes, sour cream, black beans, cheese and «avocado sauce.»
You’ll note I said «chopped tomatoes.» That’s on the menu as pico, but my impression was that if it was not entirely tomatoes, it was close. It didn’t add a lot of flavor. And the avocado sauce — definitely not guacamole — was on the bland side, too.
That put a lot of pressure on the chicken to provide the flavor. It did all right, but overall this didn’t provide the heat I prefer.
The nachos — and, I gather, other chip-​based choices — come with a mix of corn and flour chips. In other words: actual chips and dry, tasteless crackers.
If you’re looking for a Cali-​Mex place and your definition of that is mild, fresh, light — this would be for you. If you’re looking for something more like Tex-​Mex or authentic Mexican, not so much.

I was visiting family in Cleveland and decided to give this place a try. My fiancée had the chicken street tacos (definitely add avocado) — they are dank and as good as any tacos I have had on the West Coast. I had the bomb burrito — dry — which was good — but not nearly as satisfying as the tacos.
Easily one of the best lunch/​dinners that I have had in the east side of Cleveland.

Let’s just say I really wasn’t feeling Taco Local.
While the atmosphere was very open and easy-​going, it just didn’t pair up with the experience. Our waitresses were super friendly, but that’s just about the only real compliment I have for this place. The first red flag probably should have been the lemonade my boyfriend received, it honestly tasted like someone squeezed a single lemon slice into a glass of water and called it a day. But as someone that isn’t big into Mexican cuisine, I inquired about a few items on the menu. After some thought, I decided to play it safe with the muchos nachos sans avocado sauce and sour cream — what could go wrong?
A lot, apparently.
When it arrived at our table, it just looked like a massive pile of ingredients thrown together layer by layer. My boyfriend and I both looked at each other in total disbelief. If the waitress would have told me the portion size was so huge, I probably would have ordered something else. The shredded chicken was incredibly bland making it difficult to enjoy the warm, crispy flour tortilla chips and pico. I found myself digging all the way through just to get a taste of everything which only added to the disappointment. But ultimately, I think the biggest let down is how there was hardly any queso or cotija/​cheddar jack included in the dish — like seriously, what kind of nachos aren’t smothered in cheese?
I guess I’m thankful that the tortillas didn’t get soggy and crumble too easily (probably since everything was so dry) because my boyfriend found them appetizing enough for leftovers later on in the afternoon. We will probably visit again sometime seeing as it wasn’t totally awful, but I will definitely be trying something different out.

Thank you Taco Local. Thank you for leaving my boyfriend and I waiting at the hostess stand for over 15 minutes with no acknowledgement at all, not even a glance our way from an employee, while 2 or 3 of your staff hung out at the front and chatted with some friends. Thank you for this, because instead of continuing to wait and be ignored, we simply left and went to Willoughby Brewing and had a wonderful meal with friendly staff. We were much happier there than we would have been at Taco Local ultimately, so we thank you for that. (I’m sure WBC appreciated the business too.)
This was our 4^th or 5^th visit to TL. Our first visit was OK. Some of the food is pretty tasty and the prices are reasonable, but the service left a little to be desired. Our server seemed genuinely annoyed to have to take our order and bring us drinks.
We chalked it up to «Hey, maybe she’s having a rough day,» even though the place wasn’t even close to being crowded and she wasn’t the only server working. Benefit of the doubt though.
A friend from out of town came to visit, and knowing she’d like the veggie options there, we took her to TL. The only notably bad thing was that we had to ask twice for the queso we ordered with the chips and salsa. It finally came with the meal, when the chips were mostly gone already (and they’re not complimentary, so no refills on chips). We did get an apology for that. No offer for credit or anything, but an apology. I’m not one to ask for things to be taken off my check, but I always appreciate when staff recognizes that an issue like not actually being able to eat the item ordered in the way it’s intended probably deserves some sort of credit or discount… but I digress.
Every other time we’d been there — not counting last weekend — the service was really just… bad. Every server we’ve had has either screwed up the order (and I don’t mean the kitchen — I mean forgetting to bring us something or bringing the wrong drink order) or has been so inattentive to the point that we had to flag her down for the check.
It’s sort of set up like a fast casual sort of thing, so I don’t expect that we’re going to get the most awesome service ever. But I don’t think asking that our order be correct or a server that doesn’t think it’s a complete waste of her time to be doing her job is really much to ask, even at a fast casual place.
The food is OK. The idea is great but the execution is inconsistent (have had the rice under cooked to a point of it being inedible, one time the pork was fantastic, and the next time it was bland) and most of it isn’t as good as the description makes it sound. But I like that there are lots of options, and it was good enough that despite crappy service, we kept going back.
No more though. Last weekend was that final straw… Sunday afternoon, about 1:30 or 2 PM. There were 4 or 5 tables seated, and a crowd of about 7 or 8 people hanging around at the counter. I thought at first they were ordering or waiting on to-​go orders, but they were chatting and laughing with the staff, so I don’t know if they were just visiting. The place was not busy… we stood at the front for at least 15 minutes by the hostess stand (there’s no sign that says seat yourself, and there had always been a hostess in the past) — we were there for a little longer than that because I didn’t start timing it until it felt like we’d been standing there for a while.
In that time, not one member of the staff even glanced our way. I don’t even think they knew we’d been there and left.
Since none of the staff appears to want our business, we’ve decided we won’t give it to them.
This is especially odd to me because this restaurant is related to Local Tavern — we have been to several of the Local Tavern locations and had nothing but good service and good food there. I guess we’re seeing the difference a bad manager can make.

A taco joint that’s trying to be something it is not. The idea is there, but the food tastes sub-​par, presented poorly and inconsistent. Many times the food is over sauced or spiced. They need to take a few tips from barrio and perfect a few of their proteins and designate a few specialty tacos.
The crew seems a bit lackadaisical. It’s much like the other «local» group restaurants. «Just not good». I feel that if they concentrate their efforts and make a few menu items great, rather than many items okay, they could have something special. I hope for Willoughby’s only mod-​mex taco joint to turn around!

Food is great when it’s consistent. Love the burritos– they are well worth the money! I like mine without sauce but that’s because the amount of sauce they put on the wet one isn’t worth it for $ 1.00-$ 1.50 more. I’d rather add a second salsa for $ 2.00 and use that instead.
At times, greens aren’t consistent texture within the burrito, and the last time we ordered the pineapple salsa, it was all juice, no substance… very weird. I love the flavors of everything but wish it was good every time. One other complaint is that the service is also a little off. Servers seem annoyed to be at work and wear their hair down while serving. The entrance is always weird too, should we seat ourselves? Or is there a hostess? Can’t ever tell. I stopped going in and only order out now, but bummed the food isn’t consistent. When it’s good – it’s one of the tastiest foods in the area!

Very fresh here! My husband and I came in for a quick bite and it was perfect in and out in 30 min and we were so full!
Ingredients are fresh. The only thing we weren’t crazy about is the cheese crust option for the tacos, both of ours were really overcooked and it could have ruined the whole meal. I would recommend not getting the cheese coated shells.

Awesome place!
What I tried:
To start — The flour chips are AMAZING. Do yourself a favor… just get your chips and salsa with all flour chips. These are great! They add some amazing flavor to them as well. The salsa is also top notch. I tried the pineapple and the pico. The pico is what you would expect, but the pineapple is definitely special. A little sweet to start then kick up a little spice at the end… great start to an amazing meal.
For the meal — 3 street tacos. I opted for 3 different «proteins,» Chicken, steak, and shrimp. All of them had just the right seasonings and cooked to perfection. The shrimp was probably my favorite and paired with the steak, it was a great mix. Closest to surf n’ turf tacos around!
Definitely not a 1 «$» place, closer to 2 «$» for sure!
Just would LOVE to see a «Taco Tuesday» special!

Somewhere between 3 and 4 stars.
This was my second trip to Taco Local. I remembered how good the chips and cotija cheese dip were, so I ordered them again. The chips are a cross between traditional tortilla chips as well as deep fried chips. They have a light seasoning on them, which adds to the taste. As a cheese connoisseur, you won’t be disappointed!
Last visit, I ordered the street tacos, which were just ok. This time I opted for the muchos nachos and the bomb burrito. The portions are massive! For $ 7.50, the muchos nachos are a great deal. They are even listed as an item option for 2 people. The portions are absolutely massive. I ordered it with extra cotija cheese.
The bomb burrito that I ordered was wet with the cotija cheese. Again, the portion is very very large. I was disappointed with the beans inside. Next visit, if I order this again, I would ask them to leave the beans off.
I would have to agree with other’s comments regarding the staff. Both visits, the service was dodgy, but this time at least my food was much more satisfying.

I wasn’t expecting much when I walked into Taco Local. I thought, maybe it’ll be better than Chipotle, and that’d be cool.
Not only was it better than Chipotle, it was better than any Mexican food I’ve had to date. The atmosphere was fun and hip. The space is smaller than I expected, and I was hesitant of the small seats (two top bench) that sat us at. It works out though because the music is loud enough to drown out others conversations, but still allow you to have your own.
The menu is straight forward, but full of variety. There’s street tacos (3 for $ 7.50!!!), especiale tacos (2 for $ 7.50), smokin’ bowls ($ 7.50), and the bomb burrito ($ 7.50). The street tacos, smokin’ bowls, and bomb burrito come with your choice of protein — and boy, do they have options (10 all together!).
The service was great; atmosphere is fairly «hipster-​cali», but fun. We ordered chips, guac, and cheesy queso for our app (chips and salsa are not served automatically like most Mexican restaurants). The app came within 10 minutes and was mind-​blowingly delicious. Not only do you have fresh made tortilla chips, but they also through in deep fried chips too! SO GOOD. Guac was fresh made and chunky — great flavor. Had to use two chips sometimes to get a good bite! Cheesy queso had just enough fire, and was delicious with the fried tortilla chips.
My husband ordered the mahi-​mahi street tacos, and I ordered the bomb burrito (no beans). She asked if I wanted to make it «sexi-​mexi» style (adding green and red chile, as well as queso sauces to it), and I declined. I did add the queso. What she did not tell me was how big the burrito would be.
When our food arrived, I was again– mind blown. The street tacos looked divine, but what really killed me was the burrito! It was, no joke, the size of a triple-​stuffed burrito you would get at Chipotle. You HAD to use a knife and fork to eat it. As you cut into the burrito, you senses are overwhelmed with amazing smells — cilantro, slow cooked chicken, tomatillo sauce… Did I mention that the burrito is wrapped in a cheese-​crusted tortilla? Seriously — the best burrito of my life. Crunchy, fresh, great mix of flavors — just. so. good.
My husbands mahi mahi street tacos were also delicious! I had one bite, but to be fair — I hate fish tacos and these were amazing! Only a little fishy on the end, but otherwise fresh and crunchy and good.
They offer a late night menu, take-​out, a small outdoor patio, and of course — in-​house seating. Super friendly pricing, fun atmosphere, oh, and frozen margaritas. What’s more to love? We will DEFINITELY be back!

This place is like a cross between a Chipotle and a Barrio.
Its small inside but I like the atmosphere, its fun.
The food is good. Very fflavorful.
We started with some chips and dip and everyone ordered something different on the menu and everyone liked their food.
I really liked the pineapple/​hot salsa. Very good. If they sold that in a jar, I’d pick some up to take home. Queso was good too.
Other than that, I had the sandwich that was on the menu. It was good, but based on the burritos, tacos and the bowl, I think I would have rather had one of those items which I tasted and I think were just a bit better than what I ordered.
I also had a frozen margarita. Although I am usually more a fan of a ‘rita on the rocks, the frozen one here was nice and refreshing.
I think this place is gonna do great in the summer and next time I am on the East Side, I would definitely go back.

Stopped in at Taco Local at ~8:00 on a Wednesday. There was a decent crowd — lots of families with kids and older couples. The majority of the tables were filled. The interesting thing about this restaurant is that a lot of the space is dedicated to take out. You can walk right up and order some tacos and walk right out if you want. I’m guessing this is meant to appeal to late night bar-​goers, but they could probably use a couple extra tables in that space.
I was immediately impressed to see an outlet at my table. You never know when you’re going to have a dead cell phone battery emergency. Then I was extra impressed by my server. She was super bubbly but not in an annoying way. She was able to answer all of my questions about veganizing the tacos and brought us drinks and guac with chips in a flash.
The guac was solid. Not the best I’ve ever had, but it was still good. The chips that came with it were a mix of corn and flour and were really fresh. You get more than enough chips so after we gobbled down our guac, we ordered some pico salsa. It was ok. Someone in the kitchen must have been a little heavy handed with the lime juice.
I ordered 3 tacos for $ 7.50. I got a beet and mushroom taco, a tofu taco, and an avocado taco. Veganized. (the taco shells normally have cheese on them and an aioli that isn’t vegan) Admittedly, my tacos were a smidge sad without the cheese and the aioli. Next time, I’d get some guac or salsa on the side to add to them. My favorite taco, hands down, was the beet and mushroom one. I thought it was going to be weird but it was really good. The tofu taco tasted like a Bahn Mi because it had an Asian marinade and cilantro. I was a fan of that. The avocado taco was… a slice of avocado. Weep womp. Not overly exciting, but I like avocadoes so it was all good.
My fiancé ordered two of the specialty tacos for $ 7.50. He got a beef taco (Pierre Sanchez) and liked it, but he really liked the Wicked Tuna taco. He especially liked the pineapple salsa that came on it.
I’m docking a star because the drink selection is a little limited. Right now they only have a handful of beers and some frozen margaritas in a slushee machine. I’m a margarita snob, and would have liked to have seen some other options, but… sometimes a cheap margarita is all you need when you’re eating tacos.
Overall, we had some of the best tacos that we’ve had in a really long time and would definitely go back.