My favorite type of food is Mexican. Any combination of tortilla chips or shells, lettuce, sour cream, cheese, and salsa with some meat or chicken will do. It doesn’t matter to me if it’s authentic or not. Unfortunately for me, my husband isn’t real fond of it, but I recently drug him to Taco John’s.


A little background info

I haven’t seen many of these restaurants around, so I though I’d add a little background information. There was a sign posted at this Taco John’s restaurant that claimed to be, “The Story of Taco John‘s.” Basically, the restaurant began as a trailer parked on a corner in Wyoming. Some guy by the name of Juan cooked Mexican food for cowboys. Why he did this, I don’t know. Juan’s food was so good, that cowboys and other people convinced him to start a restaurant. People far and wide heard of Juan’s great food, and asked him to build more restaurants. He did, and now there are Taco John’s restaurants all over the country. However, I did notice that the restaurants are located primarily in the western, and mid-western states. We don’t have many of them here in the south.


The setting

Taco John’s is a fast-food restaurant, and is located in a small, nearby town. Inside there were wooden partitions to divide the entry and dining area. There was another wooden partition separating many of the tables. It looked as though it may have separated the smoking from the non-smoking sections at one time, but there was not a smoking section now. The restaurant setup reminded me of Taco Bell. There was a menu board to view if you were waiting in line to order. The drink machine was located at the end of the counter, so we were able to go ahead and fill our drinks before our order was ready. The condiment stand was across from the drink machine. There weren’t any packs of sauce available. We had to pour it into little cups.

At this location, they were giving away a free trip or something along with a bike that was located in the corner of the restaurant. I had much fun pulling my almost-2-year-old son off the bike, and keeping him out of the entry box.


The FOOD

I was really pleased with the food. They serve the basic crispy and soft tacos with beef or chicken, nachos, taco salads, and burritos. It was a nice break from Taco Bell, but there were many similarities. The menus are slightly different, but the only thing I really noticed that Taco John’s offered that Taco Bell didn’t was something called potato oles. If you’ve ever had breakfast at Hardee’s, you probably know what this is. They are the same hash-rounds that are served during breakfast hours at Hardee’s, only they add seasoned salt to them. I recommend these with a side of nacho cheese, but you can order them on your tacos and burritos. I thought the tacos were better than those of Taco Bell, but maybe I’m just tired of Taco Bell, even though I haven’t eaten there in quite some time. I was real happy with the sauce at Taco John’s. They had mild and hot sauce available. This wasn’t like the sauce at Taco Bell. It was more like the pico sauce that comes with Mexican dishes at nicer dine-in restaurants.

For dessert, they have choco tacos, which is a nutty buddy Klondike bar that is shaped like a taco. If you like nutty buddy ice cream cones, you’ll like the choco taco. They also have churros, which I have seen at the local authentic Mexican restaurants. These are long sticks of dough that are fried, and covered in cinnamon and sugar.


Last Words

I would highly recommend Taco John’s if there’s one in your area, and especially if you are tired of Taco Bell. There isn‘t a separate kids‘ menu here, but if the kids like Taco Bell-type food, then they will probably like Taco John’s. My son had already eaten at his grandmother’s house when we went, but he couldn’t resist the potato oles! The food is good and inexpensive. Try it today!

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Recommended: Yes