Mission Taco Joint – I Wanted So Badly to Worship It

Date Dined: May 4, 2014

Rating: 3.5 Stars

We were on the way to the airport on a Sunday so we figured we’d stop by in the loop and try the Mission Taco Joint. Not only is there menu diverse and filled with delicious sounding items, but it was a favorite of ours at

the Iron Fork so we decided it was the place to be!

Decorations there are simple and nice. Tables are spaced an appropriate distance and there’s even an outside picnic bench area where you can eat with your animals. Nice little place to stop for a bite, at least décor wise. Service likewise was excellent. Our water glasses were never more than half empty and we were both greeted promptly and our orders taken right away.

Since the tacos were tiny enough to sample we decided to get a spread of six, but of course Jess wanted to start with some guacamole. I swear she’s addicted to the stuff. She enjoyed it, but then again she’s not as picky as I am. To me it was just a little too smooth and tasteless. Now the texture part is totally just my opinion, but it was just a little too bland for me. Some salt, some seasoning, a little more tomato and onion, anything would have made it just that much better. I think the biggest issue I had was that it came out in a tiny little molecajete and it was priced at $7.00, kind of pricy for so little.

The tacos themselves ranged from yummy to kind of meh. Each was served with a regular sized corn tortilla. I’ll list them in order of my favorite to least favorites, and there were some I will likely not be ordering again unfortunately:

1) Far and above my favorite was the cochinita pibil or pork shoulder, it was just the rights amount of moistness, flavor, and all the ingredients from the queso to the bbq sauce complemented the dish well. This will likely become a staple for me.

2) Second on the list was the baja fish tacos. There wasn’t anything fancy here, just some good fish and tasty chipotle baja sauce. A nice light taco.

3) The roasted duck was my third favorite although I think that if they had used just a strip of duck meat rather than shredding the duck it would have been better. It just made the dish taste like slightly drier pork. A few more pork belly chunks might help too.

4) The cactus was okay, we got it as more of a novelty item. Jess liked it a lot more than I did, to me it just tasted like they counted on the cactus to get people to order the dish (which in my case well done).

5) The brisket was disappointing, at least the batch I tasted was kind of dry and bland. This could have definitely used a higher infusion of sauce and maybe a little less smoking time.

6) The carne asada was extremely disappointing. The meat wasn’t tough, nor was it extremely tender. The larger problem was that it was extremely bland. The sauce did little to add any taste and the meat hadn’t been seasoned. It tasted like they sliced the steak first, stuck it onto a charcoal grill and then served it. Next time just cook a tiny chunk of steak whole, dash some salt on it, and then slice it up nice and tender.

By far the best part of the meal was the churros. Not the churros themselves, but the sauce was more delicious than anything I had had in a long time. The actual churros were fine, but the middles hadn’t been fried long enough. Instead of being light and airy they were just sort of uncooked, heavy, and doughy. Not bad, but if you don’t like uncooked dough you won’t like these. The sauce on the other hand I had to buy some to go. It just some sort of cinnamon, hazelnute deliciousness that I would much rather have had on some vanilla ice cream. Get the churros just for this sauce, trust me.

I will say you can get a very affordable meal here. Three tacos will cost you about $10.00 plus tax and tip and you’ll leave surprisingly full. I am a little disappointed you have to pay for chips and salsa. Even if they brought out just one serving it would be a nice gesture. I will definitely be going back, I just won’t be calling it my favorite taco joint. They do many things well, but very few things were outstanding.