Taco Fusion

9/26/2013

Food is good. Exactly what you would expect. Honestly when I had it last I was drunk and wanted tacos and Taco Fusion fit the bill perfectly. Not sure what all the bad reviews and fuss is about. If you live in/are just in Ybor, want some taco stuff that is better than taco bell and don't want to deal with all the gimmicky restaurant BS then this is your place.

The reason I really came here is to pass along a message to Taco Fusion itself: I tried calling to order some food and for some reason when I call the number it says its disconnected or not working in some way? just figured I'd give you guys a heads up.

Thanks for moving over to Ybor!

3/1/2013

• 1 check-in

• Listed in YELP 100 Challenge

New place. I wanted to try a bit of everything, so I got the combination platter with a burrito, 2 tacos, 2 enchiladas, rice&beans. I also ordered the chicken tortilla soup.

Here's the feedback on the food:
General Tso Burrito- YUM
Chicken Tacos (we tried both soft and hard)- bland
Enchiladas- Pork & Chicken were both quite good and tasty!
Rice & Beans- Standard
Chicken Tortilla Soup- Bland

The items that were yum, good, & tasty made the trip worthwhile & made me interested enough to want to go back & try some more.

Too many Indians behind the counter if you know what I mean. The inexperience of the staff showed, although most were very nice and helpful.
Also, the sampler/combo I chose was priced incorrectly on the menu by $3 dollars and didn't mention what burritos you could choose...I paid an additional $2 upgrade for the General Tso.

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  Chicken Tortilla Soup

  Chicken Tortilla Soup
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  Combination: Burrito, 2 tacos, 2 enchiladas

  Combination: Burrito, 2 tacos, 2 enchiladas
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2/28/2013

• 1 check-in

• Listed in Yelp 100

From the moment we walked in we were filled with excitement, great ambiance, colorful decorations and a collaboration of ingredients that I would haven't dreamed of integrating. The logo is a bit over done and seeing as how Tampa Bay doesn't actually have waves the surf boards seemed juvenile and overdone. Once the ordering began so did the fun, the 16+ order takers were more concerned with the ladies walking out of Starbucks than taking a simple order. I get it, you are 16+ silly jokes are fluid.

After reading previous reviews I ordered the Firecracker shrimp deal, and my friend ordered an assortment of tacos. I assume the boys behind the counter were so entrained by the attractive ladies they incorrectly placed my order, to this day I have no idea what I ate, I even snapped and posted a photo of enthusiasm. The burrito was good and I understood my buddies tacos were good but not Meg Ryan "When Harry met Sally" orgasmic. I left underwhelmed and sad because I wanted this to be my new favorite fast taco joint. It's new and they deserve a second shot... Check back for updates!

P.s.... they only offered one size drink, mammoth!

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  Shrimp burrito

  Shrimp burrito
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  Neat logo!

  Neat logo!

3/4/2013

• 1 check-in

I went purely for the "exotic meat" tacos... The kangaroo meat was cooked perfectly (I was worried about it getting overcooked). Will be back to try some of the others, too, even though the price is a bit too high for the amount of meat you get.

Oh, and I got the phad thai chimichanga. I highly recommend it. Good value and is tasty. It is large enough to give you leftovers and just the right amount of spice to it.

9/8/2013 Updated review

Just an update for you all.  More disgusting things being posted on their page and it seems like it's about me, although they were talking to a friend.

4/29/2013

Standing at the register ordering I got a bad feeling after taking in the dirty unorganized kitchen and confused staff.  I was waiting for the Restaurant Impossible guy to kick down the door and start yelling at people.  The kitchen is unsightly and open to the entire restaurant so while you're ordering you can feel the heat from the kitchen (and not in a cool wood fired pizza joint way) as the awful food is thrown together.

The chicken taco tasted weird, like it had been sitting around the kitchen in a bin at various temperatures the week before and then after I ordered thrown in a plastic bowl and microwaved before getting tossed with the generic Mexican cheese and cabbage.  I ordered two "filet mignon" tacos.  I bit into it and was unable to separate the piece of "filet" from the rest of the taco.  I regrouped, looked down in the taco and saw that part of the meat was not cooked at all, hence the rubbery texture and my inability to take a clean bite.   I spit it out.  

Long story short, my girlfriend and I honestly considered vomiting when we got home as we were quite certain we'd eventually get sick from what we didn't spit back into the baskets.

The best part about this place is its BYOB, but this is only temporary until they get their liquor license so if you have some beers you're probably better off just drinking them at home, alone, with a saltine cracker.

4/27/2013

• 1 check-in

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!!! Taco fusion I gave a generous 3 of 5 stars.
The concept of having game meat and unique proteins, with a mexican and asian fusion sounded intriguing, but based on my random sampling with friends of the numerous menu items last night execution of the food went downhill.

I started with Lobster nachos which was a fail from the start due to someone elses order made it to my table which only had half the lobster and half without. When dealing with this seafood dish, just topping it with some Velveeta cheese, garnish with green onions and $14 dollars later does not qualify as restaurant quality nachos. Grant it lobster meat may not be cheap but please highlight that glorious lobster meat with flavor build (i.e make a white wine and cheese sauce to top with, don't fear adding some onion or garlic in the mix and maybe make your own chips).

I did have the order ahead of mines tacos at my table (they got chicken and a vegetarian taco... mehhh), by the time we figured out it wasn't ours it was already touched. I ordered the asian duck taco just out of curiosity to note they are indeed serving what they claim. At $7 per duck taco one and done for me please. The duck had good asian flavor but a big commercial taco shell??? come on mannn!!! This can go a whole new direction with fresh Mex flavors, smaller and house made tortilla and shells and maybe some more asian fusion to the cabbage place on top at a cost of maybe $4 or $3.99 (looks like a better deal to the consumers eye) a smaller taco and bold flavors will make a more profitable product in the end.

I could go on and on about the other dishes my friends had but it would be the same common result of high hopes and big let down. At a walk up to a counter price of $50 dollars for 3 people with a large drink for fast casual dining I expected more. The manager seemed very nice and checked on us at our table, but in the end taco fusion was a fail for me. My advice again is to focus less on how many game meat you can make into a taco and focus on some staple dishes as well as the basic flavor build when we are trying to make a fusion masterpiece. They are open 24 hours on Friday and Saturday which make it a good destination for the SoHo after party crowd (hmmm..... I wonder if my rating would be higher after a hard night of partying ) and they are planning a breakfast menu. I do like the direction of the establishment and hopefully one day I can rewrite this review.

4/14/2013

• 1 check-in

No. Just no. And it's frustrating, because the concept is great! The wacky and wild-game ingredients remind me of Wurstküche in LA (they do wacky, wild-game sausages), but the concept has to be supported by great flavors. And this is where Taco Fusion has its biggest trouble. All of the items we ordered (we spent roughly $35 on two people so we could try the gamut) were unforgivably bland. We would have sent them back to the kitchen but didn't have any confidence they'd be replaced by anything better.

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  Chicken Poblano Enchiladas

  Chicken Poblano Enchiladas
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  Firecracker Shrimp Burrito

  Firecracker Shrimp Burrito

4/24/2013

I hate to give a two star review, because normally I would give a 3 star and leave it at that... but after reading all the other reviews, I don't feel as bad.

I wont get into too much detail, but I frequent two other, locally owned Mexican restaurants here in town and unfortunately, Taco Fusion didn't compare.

While the menu was expansive and their meat selection was great, that's about where the gimmick stopped. Tampa is known for having great tasting restaurants close due to not having the right 'gimmick'. TF's gimmick is wild game meat that most people didn't even know you could eat. While I didn't try any of them (I have elsewhere), that was the one 'thing' that popped out at us when we read their menu online... it's the reason we came.

TF is a typical walk up Mexican food stand, that happens to be in a retail spot. The food was 'ok' at best'. The décor was 'ok' at best. They had Lucha Libre masks on one side, then surfboards on the other and they were playing light electronic music (which was fine).

I realize this place is a 'fusion' restaurant, but not only did they try to mix the food, they tried to mix the décor - and failed.

I could honestly care less about the décor or music in a place like that, I care about the food and customer service. The food unfortunately was nothing to write home about. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't something I would brave again unfortunately. They got my order wrong, twice. My biggest gripe was the employees.

I waited a little bit to write this so no one would get in trouble, but there were five guys there working. I wont get into the other four, but the one that took my order was either just not on his A game, he was naturally slow, or he was stoned. I have no other explanation for having to repeat myself twice and then still get my order wrong.

Soft tacos are standard here. Not hard shells. I had no idea. I found out only when my food arrived and I had three soft shell tacos - that unfortunately, were sopping wet with grease (fine, I can deal). So my wife got 3 more shells for me to transplant my meat. At that point, it was s meat soup of sour cream and pico and wasn't very flavorful.

It was clean. Bathroom was clean. Kitchen was spotless and the guys working were typical of what you'd expect at a taco diner like that. I wouldn't proactively go back and that was with me using a Creative Loafing... I would wish them good luck and God speed and hope that some of the issues others have complained about would get addressed before they lose all their business and end up shuttering their doors like half the other restaurateurs without a clue.

3/11/2013 Updated review

• 2 check-ins

• Listed in The Yelp 100 Challenge

I love Mexican food. I even like the trashy cheap Mexican, if its got that big taste.

Thrill me, burn me with hot sauce, toss in some exotic flavor but don't bore me. This place bored me followed by pissing me off.

My previous review I wasn't able to eat since the big open at 5AM sign in the window wasn't true. So I could not visit Fusion for breakfast. The first questions was when are you open for breakfast, the guy at the counter was nice about it; when he asked the big guy who was the "manager" he only said "soon". I would have expected some excitement from a guy whose livelihood depends on steady business.

The first step to crap food is a manger that doesn't care. If I didn't have a groupon, I would have walked.

So on to the review of this visit. This would have been a meh two star. It was bland.

Since we had a coupon, we ordered some burritos, tacos, a quesadilla, and a lobster taco. The burrito had a lot more beans and rice than beef. The beef was only average, no real life but it was greasy and passable, The lobster taco was ok, and the quesadilla was ok by my daughters standard.

Atmosphere was not that great. When you have an open kitchen, it really should be spotless. It was a mess.

I bit into my chicken taco, the chicken was dry and bland. There was not much seasoning. It was bland even for non-mexican food. I would expect a lot more from a fusion place at this price.

Surprise, I had a bone stick in the roof of my mouth. I pulled it out, and I am glad I don't wolf my food down like I did when I was a kid.

When I told the waiter he was a little concerned but when he told the manager, he didn't seem to react. I went over and told him hey there was a bone in the chicken, all I got was "sorry about that". He gave me the look you give a guy who asks for gas money. SO manager made getting a bone in my food worse by going from not caring to caring about what my grift was in reporting getting a bone fragment.

I was expecting "let me check the meat" or "are you ok?" SO I get the message, "don't come back." I can handle that Che. I would recommend you never EVER order the bland chicken.

2/26/2013

I have finally found it: THE WORST RESTAURANT IN TAMPA BAY. Lucky for you, you get to save your money now that you have found this review! You get to avoid making the mistake that I made!

Dog food? That is much too generous of a description for this place.  

I just got back from here and as I am typing this my stomach is making those noises you get right before a MAJOR trip to the bathroom. But I digress.

We ordered a steak taco, a chicken taco, a lobster taco, a fish taco and a pork taco.

Their version of "steak" is ground up pieces of beef fat that are cold and taste very old.

Their version of "chicken" is ground up chicken full of salty watery juice, with some bones mixed in.

Their version of "lobster" is fishy tasting pink rubber.

Their version of "fish" (see lobster).

Their version of "pork" is more salty watery mystery meat.

Oh, but what about the chips? The chips must be good, you say? Yes, if you like brown (YES, BROWN) greasy pieces of flour tortilla that have spent too much time in rancid oil.

I cannot imagine that this place will survive.

By the way, I am not even going to address the fact that they serve politically incorrect tacos here. Because all you need to know is that this place blows first and foremost. So the fact that they serve zoo animals in a tortilla doesn't really matter. Because you will avoid this place now. They will close soon enough. Just based on this fact.

5/10/2013

You know that taste you have in your mouth after vomiting? Multiply that taste by 100 and you will have an idea of how disgusting the food here is and YES that taste will linger in your mouth all day like a million regrets all assaulting your taste buds.

The ABSOLUTE WORST Mexican food in Tampa and without a doubt the worst I've ever had.

3/4/2013

I am giving this place three stars, but it probably actually deserves one. I give it three, only because I strangely find myself craving their food. Kind of the way I crave mall food court Chinese food. There are a million things that are better. And there's no way I could reasonably say this is actually good or even worth your money, but it does seem to satisfy some craving.

I have tried a lot of dishes. Beef taco (don't order. I can make it better in like two minutes). Steak taco (it's meh at best - better to avoid). Lobster tacos (it's not great, but put lobster on it and I will probably get it). Nachos diablo (biggest bang for your buck. I got this take out and they gave us so much food with so many toppings my roommate and I were able to have it for three separate meals). Cajun burrito (not good, but I just love crawfish). General tso's burrito (this is my winner. It's exactly what it sounds like. And it's awesome).

2/20/2013

• 1 check-in

What a fun find this place was for us. Just opened up so they are still getting their legs under them but when they do look out. I had the General Tso burrito it was really tasty my wife had the fish taco she really liked the mango salsa they have on the taco. They have some unique tacos I can't wait to taste like the kangaroo taco. They will be having a ghost pepper chicken wing challenge so if you like it hot check back with them and see when it starts.

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  General Tso burrito loved it.

  General Tso burrito loved it.

2/12/2013

• First to Review

My husband and I were super excited to eat here and were not disappointed. We each got a taco - beef for me and chicken for him, and split the diablo nachos. WOW! The tacos are packed to the brim with incredible toppings and tasted extremely fresh.

The nachos come in a huge portion. There was queso on every chip--even the bottom layers. That's the way nachos should be done! We wished they were "saucier" like with salsa, so next time we'll get a couple of bowls to pour on top. The nachos aren't typical out-of-the-bag tortilla chips. They are thicker with more of a homemade taste.

Will we eat here again? Absolutely. And next time, we won't play it safe. We'll be trying some of their fusion!

3/11/2013

We purchased a gift certificate through Creative Loafing hoping to finally find a good, reasonably-priced Mexican food place in South Tampa, other than Chihuahua's.  Unfortunately, most of the reviews online are accurate such that this isn't that place.

The seating is somewhat problematic.  The ordering line waives through the seating area inside, which is pretty minimal.  As the kitchen is "open air" just behind the counter, the whole place was stuffy and hot, even with the door open and it being 70-degree weather outside.  I would hate to see this place in July.  They have a few tables outside on Bay-to-Bay, but share it with Louis Pappas.  Also the tanning salon is literally next to Taco Fusion so you have sweaty people weaving in-and-out if you sit outside.  

As to drinks, they offer a soda fountain with one-side.  They do not have beer and wine, but indicated it is coming.  

As to the food, the lobster nachos are very good.  Not stingy on any ingredient, including the lobster.  Well worth $13 if you want to share between 3-4 people.  We had no idea it was going to be that large for just two of us.

For the tacos, they offer hard, soft or wheat, none of which are fresh.  The hard tacos are literally the same stale Ortega ones you can get at any grocery store.  I simply cannot understand why there is not a single Mexican place in the area with fresh, corn tortillas at a reasonable price  

Overall, the tacos unfortunately were pretty disappointing even though we tried a variety, hoping that the reviews online would be wrong.  Unfortunately, the menu does not tell you what "fusion" items will be on any given taco so you just have to order and hope it is something you like.  

The best was the pork taco which had black beans and rice (Cuban style).  The garlic shrimp and white fish tacos had a yellow sweet sauce on top which really ruined them.  The ahi taco had a super spicy sauce, which we didn't expect.  The steak and bison tacos, which I was very excited about, were extremely bland.  No Mexican seasoning whatsoever and none had traditional Mexican cheese.

At the end of the day, before the gift certificate, the bill was $46 for the lobster nachos, 3 tacos each for my wife and I, and a shared drink.  Again, we wanted this place to be different, but won't go back.  I will be shocked if this place is still open in a year.

5/9/2013

After reading so many negative reviews about Taco Fusion, I feel obligated to throw in my opinion.

I'm writing this over an empty to go box of chicken tacos.

The food here is REALLY good. They have a great range of different meats to choose from. I'm stuck to the standard: fish, chicken, steak, pork. I haven't tried any of the exotic tacos yet, but a few friends have said they're good. My favorite are the soft chicken and pork tacos.

I understand some reviews about the inside, and the kitchen is a bit strange. Its located about 3 ft from the register and there is no separation between the kitchen, ordering area, dining area. Its all an open room. Kind of weird. But who cares, the food is great. I live up the street so I usually take mine to go but sitting in the outside seating is also enjoyable.

I'll continue to  be a fan of Taco Fusion and don't understand some reviews.

2/15/2013

• 1 check-in

I'm going to give this place another try after they get their kinks worked out. And I'll change my review after that if its better.

Since it was opening weekend, we did have to wait 30 minutes for our food, but they kindly let us know this before we ordered and offered us free beers while we waited. So that's always a bonus.

I got the shrimp taco and pork taco. I wasn't a huge fan of either. Especially the shrimp. The shrimp were very rubbery. My husband got the ahi tuna taco and the Cuban taco (a Cuban sandwich in a taco). He liked the Cuban the best, because the ahi taco was just way too spicy for him. And he really enjoys spicy food. The chips are more like pita chips, not your usual Mexican restaurant chips. No salt on them either. Nothing special.

I never write a place off in its beginning weeks, so I'll give it another shot. But I suggest if you are quick to judge, wait a couple weeks or months (if the place is still open) to try it again.

3/2/2013

• Listed in The Yelp 100 Challenge

DO NOT EAT THE GHOST PEPPER TACO HERE!!!!

I LOVE spicy food and have a pretty high spicy tolerance but ghost peppers are a whole different level. There is absolutely no warning about the effects and I figured if they sold this taco it could not be THAT bad. But it was THAT bad. I took ONE BITE and it was the most intense pain in my mouth that I've ever felt. I was trying to do anything I could to relieve the pain. My mouth was still burning after awhile and nothing I was trying could get the burning sensation to go away. Shortly after, I broke out in tons of sweats and my entire body started to tingle and went numb. Maybe after 20 minutes of consuming the single bite of the taco, I started also feeling an intense pain in my stomach. Thank GOD I got this for take out because I ended up writhing in pain naked on my friend's bathroom floor. This lasted for about an hour. This was one of the most unpleasant experiences of my life and I cannot believe that they would sell something like this at a store without any sort of warning.

4/30/2013

• 1 check-in

Very over hyped. I got 2 tacos, but they had no flavor. Very very bland. Their guacamole was good, but that's about it. Poor service and nothing special.