TACO CAT: New tacos on the block
Every month there is a new restaurant opening in Karachi and Taco Cat was up next!
Being a hardcore foodie, I love reading reviews of new restaurants in Karachi, that’s when I came across TacoCat – a Mexican cuisine restaurant. Tired of the usual fine dining and being a huge Mexican food fan I had to try Tacocat, which is currently rated at 4.5 stars on Facebook.
Taco cat is located at Nishat، Lane 3, Phase 6 Defence Housing Authority.
The minute I entered the restaurant, I noticed that the place had a hip and refreshing vibe – something that a lot of restaurants lack. The brick green wall gave a trendy and casual feel to the place. The eatery seemed to be very popular among the youth. Instead of having formal menu cards, this place has the menu written out in chalk on a board above the cashier. The menu was definitely limited when we went for the first time. Our stomachs were growling for loaded helping of delicious Taco-laden food and we decided to order their loaded tortilla chips and two tacos.
Tortilla chips 2/5
A disappointment, to say the least. The loaded tortilla chips were served in a plastic food basket with salsa and guacamole. The nachos were not at all crunchy and lacked flavour. The loaded tortilla chips did not meet up to my expectations and it’s something that I wouldn’t order again. The nachos cost around Rs 400 and they were certainly not worth the price.
SOFT TACOS 4.5/5
The first time we ordered the tacos, we were surprised to see the size of the taco – our ravenous appetites craved more than just one taco. But like every good thing, don’t judge the book by its cover. The size of the taco did not vouch for the awesome flavour hidden inside. These were by far the most delicious tacos I have had in Karachi. The fried chicken taco did not deliver an unpleasant greasy after taste, thank goodness! The guac and the cheese added added loads of flavour to the final product.
Another soft taco that I tried was the beef one, even though I am not a huge beef fan, the beef taco hit all the right flavour spots to make you crave another taco.
One thing that really disappointed me was the price. A single taco cost between Rs. 200 to Rs. 250 but if you add guac and cheese that’s around 400 to 450. And nobody wants to have the taco without the guac cause ‘guac is life’. The size of the tacos are so small that one needs to have at least two or three tacos to satisfy their hunger – Ended up being that a casual fast food place costs you the price of a fine dining experience?
Visit Tacocat here to find out what’s cooking.
RECENT REVIEW: Taco Cat BURRITO BOWL 3.5/5
Since I become a fan of their tacos (despite the heavy prices), I had to make another visit and that’s when I noticed they are not scared to experiment with the menu at all. Their new dish which is the Burrito bowl gave us serious ‘chipotle’ vibes and we instantly had to try it out. The Burrito bowl was decent enough and won our vote as a new concept to try out in Karachi.
Though the Burrito bowl was not a replica of the Chipotle burrito bowl, Tacocat had nailed the concept. The best part of the visit was that the owner, Ali Aksari, made sure that we tried the Burrito bowl and instantly came to sought our feedback. We loved how he was open to criticism, amidst the conversation I mentioned that though Tacocat has good food and the concept is unique, the place is not at all pocket-friendly. To that he mentioned that the restaurant makes guacamole with fresh avocados rather than just using the paste. According to him, avocados at whole sale cost the restaurant around 300 hence they charge extra for the guac.
Like every hyped restuarant we hope taco cat doesn’t loose its consistency and continues to experiment with new stuff. We would love to see this restaurant grow and continue to experiment with its offerings. We wish them good luck for this venture.
With tacos as good as Tacocat, there should be taco Tuesdays everyday. We are also hoping the restaurant does their math and somehow tries to be balance price with quality, especially for people like me who crave tacos at least twice a week.
FUN fact: Tacocat spelled backwards is also taco cat FOOD QUALITY 4/5 (besides the nachos).
- AMBIENCE : 4/5
- PRICE : 2.5/5
- SERVICE: 5/5
