a hundred degrees

TC118 01/11/05 12:05

Ck Flauta Dinner - 4.19
Travel Mug Refill - 0.79

Everything spot on today. Lots of guacomole, a little lettuce, a dab of pico, flautas crispy on the outside and juicy and meaty on the inside, separate grains of rice which were neither soggy nor crunchy, refried beans that were neither soupy nor caked. So tasty that I could forgive them for playing the Miami Sound Machine on the loudspeakers.

I've honestly been avoiding the place a bit lately. Partly because of the Travel Mug Refill price hike and partly because I know that if I eat there I'll have to write about it. The synergy between my life and this site gets a little goofy sometimes.

TC118 01/05/05 09:25

Breakfast Taco Combo Bacon/Egg - 2.69
Add Cheese - 0.35
Add Cheese - 0.35

I found out today why Taco Cabana increased the price of my travel mug refill. They have started selling new travel mugs emblazoned with the Spurs logo and player images. The San Antonio Spurs basketball team is doing very well at this point in their season (26-7) and perhaps that will sell a lot of mugs. The in-store sign says something about proceeds going to Spurs youth charities. I'm not sure if that's just the $3.59 they want for the mug or the 79¢ refills as well. Maybe I'll ask a manager. By the way, the payback on that travel mug will take you seven visits to Taco Cabana (regular drink is $1.19, check my math).

I am alone in my office in enjoying Taco Cabana breakfast tacos. Everybody else seems to prefer Bill Miller's. I have said before how much I like the tortillas at 118 and that's a big part of it. They also are pretty generous with their toppings which I can't always say for Bill's. I will admit that Bill Miller's has the better bacon, hands down. And if you want sausage (country or Polish) in your taco (and chorizo won't do) then TC's has nothing for you.

TC103 12/20/04 11:37

Chicken Flauta Dinner - 4.19
Travel Mug Refill - 0.79

Less for more. That summarizes today's pretty crummy experience.

A few weeks ago, just before I started these reports I could get a flauta dinner and a refill plus tax for $4.93. Then they bumped the dinner price from $3.99 to $4.19. And I could no longer pay with just a fiver. I was a little bummed out, but I understand the need to raise prices occasionally.

Now, however, they've gotten ugly. They pushed the price of the travel mug refill from 59¢ to 79¢ an increase of over a third. Taco Cabana has not made a travel mug available for sale for several years. The only people who have travel mugs are the seriously devoted customers. The pricing committee decided that loyalty should be rewarded with insults. How many transactions include a travel mug refill? I'd be surprised if this price increase yields twenty dollars a day for the entire company, but every day this helps us mug-holders choose to eat somewhere else they lose a lot more. Particularly when we bring our friends along.

My order was entered correctly, but the gal on the line didn't pay attention and so I got both guacamole and sour cream. I pushed the tray back and after the manager/order-taker came over, she fixed it.

Paul ordered a fajita dinner and asked for more sour cream in place of guacamole. He received a tiny dollop of sour cream and when he pointed out this deficiency was told that only one side came with the dinner. He griped a bit and they put some more sour cream on his bed of lettuce.

The refried beans were exceptionally runny. The rice was more than a little crunchy. The guacamole was full of tomatoes and lettuce and onions and a little lacking on the avocado so that it was difficult to spread. The flautas themselves were acceptable.

TC118 12/14/04 11:57

Chicken Flauta Dinner - 4.19
Travel Mug Refill - 0.59

"Substitute guacamole for sour cream" correctly entered and rendered. Refried beans were pretty runny today. The rice was a little on the wet side with bits of unidentifiable green and red former vegetables mixed in liberally. The flautas and guacamole were fine.

There's an old lady that spends her days at this location. She's there nearly every time I go. When I came in today she muttered something about "all the darned school kids." Alamo Heights High School has an open lunch and so I run into these rich kids at most of my regular lunch haunts (another good reason to take the extra few minutes to get to 103). I ran into her again as I was squeezing limes into my mug at the salsa bar. She asked me, "Are you still at that Lutheran church up the road?"

"No," I replied cautiously.

"You're not there anymore?"

"No, Ma'am, I never was."

"No? I thought you were that pastor from the Lutheran church. Well, you have a twin up there, I'll tell you that. I'll have to tell him next time I see him..."

Mistaken for a pastor.

Maybe it's the big books I'm always reading when she sees me.

Chris tells me that this woman is always cautioning and reproving Anna (six months Kevin's senior) when they eat there. Apparently, in her world kids are messes waiting to happen.

TC103 12/06/04 11:25

Chicken Flauta Dinner - 4.19
Travel Mug Refill - 0.59

Cashier correctly parsed "No sour cream, double guacamole."

Folks on the line made the dinner with sour cream and guacamole. As I arrived to pick it up they realized their mistake, "are you totally against sour cream," they asked.

"No, just give me extra guacamole." They did, but it turned out that I am against sour cream. It made a portion of my plate untouchable which was disappointing.

The tortillas were surprisingly bad today. Heavy and overdone. Bleah.

This is the sort of middle of the road performance I've come to expect from this location.

TC258 12/03/04 17:42

Chicken Quesadilla w/o Pico - 5.99
Soft Drink 20oz - 1.19
Kid's Meal Quesadilla, Rice & Beans - 2.99
2 Chicken Fajita Tacos Combo add letuce - 4.99

258 is the fairly new location on I-35 at O'Connor. If I remember correctly they opened this year. It's taken them a while to hit their stride. Like a lot of the newer locations they tended toward skimpier portions. They still do, but it's down to barely noticeable.

The layout at this location is somewhat annoying. The outline is a long rectangle. You enter at one corner and walk the length of the short side to the ordering station. Having paid and received your cup, you must now walk the full length of the long side past the pickup window to reach the soda fountain. The salsa bar is smack dab in the middle of the restaraunt. This isn't a department store. There's no reason to direct traffic to every corner of your establishment. Maybe they figured that if they had to air condition the whole place then, by gum, people were going to use it. The location on 281 near Encino Road is built similarly, but they at least put the salsa bar near the soda fountain on the long side between the pick-up window and the corner.

Tonight, Lexie had the quesadilla and I had the taco combo. It has been a while since I had that old favorite. My standard method of dressing the tacos includes using a chip to dribble some queso (the combo includes a drink, chips and queso) in them and some salsa del fuego.

I had a chip with the queso before I opened the tacos. The queso was of remarkably good consistency -- not runny, even hot but not so thick that it would break chips when cooler. It also had a noticeably spicy flavor. A lot of the time TC's queso is just melted cheese. Apparently the folks who made this batch remembered that it should have some peppers in it.

I didn't try the salsa separately, but my first bite of taco was a bit of a shock for my mouth. Between the salsa, queso, and whatever seasonings were on the fajita meat itself I had one live (in McDonaldese) flatbread sandwich. I went a little easier on the salsa for the second one.

No comments gathered from the family. Except that Kevin noted that they've been giving tops in the Kid's meal for what feels like quite a while. Taco Cabana, like Whataburger and other regional restaraunts does not tend to hook up with the latest hit movie/tv/collectible merchandise. Instead they have cheesy toys with their homegrown characters on them (TC's has an anthropomorphized chili pepper and Whataburger has Whataguy and Addaboy). A year or two ago, the toy from TC's was a three inch plastic skateboard. Whee.

TC118 12/01/04 10:50

Chicken Flauta Dinner - 4.19
Coffee Refill - 0.49

I had meetings today from noon to two, so I took my lunch a little early. The fellow who took my order on Monday was there again.

"Flauta Dinner," says I.

"What kind of dinner?" he asks, leaning over the register and cupping his ear. I remember he did the same thing on Monday.

This phenomenon of fast food order takers who require you to shout at them doesn't seem limited to Taco Cabana. I don't believe this is entirely due to popular music delivery channels and the associated hearing loss. The architects of these restaraunts don't appear to understand the volume of noise generated by the food prep and kitchen areas behind the counter. It always causes me to marvel at what can be plainly heard on the customer side being recieved two or three feet away only as murmurs and mumbles.

"Flaut --"

"Oh, flauta dinner. Yes sir."

Here it comes. "No sour cream. Double guacamole."

"Gotcha."

Wait for it.

"Condiments menu... no sour cream... no guacamole."

Amazing.

On the plus side, he saved me a dime on my refill since he charged me for the coffee refill instead of the travel mug. It was not yet eleven, so he was probably still in the breakfast mode.

Food was fine. The refried beans on Monday seemed to have a little more cheese tossed on them, giving the classic bean-and-cheese-taco flavor.

TC103 11/30/04 11:15

Chicken Quesadilla - 5.99
Travel Mug Refil - 0.59

Paul got back from his trip to Virginia and we went to our usual hangout. 103 is the location on Perrin Beitel just north of North Loop 410. I had long been in the habit of using this location even prior to my going to work for the bank. I used it then for a reason that continues to be valid at my new place of business. Namely that it is the second nearest Taco Cabana to the office. This keeps me from running into people from the office on my lunch hour, since, if they want to eat at TC's they'll likely go to the nearest one.

I used to be a regular "chicken fajita combo add lettuce" guy. The folks at 103 all knew me and would start making my food before I got to the front of the order line. One manager there even started giving me the employee discount since I was there so much. Probably not a coincidence that he disappeared shortly after commencing this practice.

Nothing major to report today. Gaby took my order correctly ("Chicken quesadilla with pico no sour cream double guacamole"). I did run out of guacamole before I ran out of quesadilla slices though: the big bed of lettuce issue.

TC118 11/29/04 11:43

Flauta Dinner - 4.19
Travel Mug Refill - 0.59

No big issues today, the food was all good: In the expected layout, good proportions, lettuce and plenty of guac. Maria and Araceli were on the line. I didn't linger by the window, so I don't know exactly who put it together.

During my initial order the previous customer returned unexpectedly and talked over me as I said, "Double guacamole." Since I knew that Edward (one of a seemingly endless supply of people who sport some flavor of Manager title) did not hear me I pointedly told him to "Substitute guac' for sour cream."

He narrated the entries as he pushed the buttons on his order screen, "Condiments menu... Sub... guac... for... sour cream."

The salsa bar had lots of limes today. In fact, in addition to the usual bin of limes and lemons, there was a whole bin with just limes. I'm not sure what got bumped out since none of the bins were under the correct labels posted on the sneeze guard. I think perhaps one of the salsas rojas.

TC118 11/26/04 11:32

118 is the location at Nacogdoches and NE Loop 410. This is the location nearest my office. As far as I can tell it is also the location nearest corporate headquarters and thus probably recieves a bit more regular scrutiny. I can report the most consistency from this location, though they find ways...

Chicken Flauta Dinner - 4.19
Travel Mug Refill - 0.59

Cashier: 7964 Castillo M

I'm not a big fan of sour cream so I have them give me more guacamole instead. This regularly presents an ordering challenge.

I have tried,
"No sour cream, extra guacamole."
"No sour cream, lots of guacamole."
"I don't want any sour cream, give me more guacamole instead."

No matter what they often repeat the opposite back or mangle it in some creative way. I even learned the way that they enter it into the cash register, "Substitute guacamole for sour cream," only to have them second guess my intentions.

Today I used, "No sour cream, double guacamole."

She replied, "No sour cream, no guacamole."

Business was slow enough that they were going to be assembling my plate immediately, so she verbally corrected my order rather than re-entering it.

The gal on the serving line was new. Nobody was wearing nametags today or I'd tell you her name. Normally beans and rice appear on opposite ends of the plate with the flautas in between. She did flautas - beans - rice. The guacamole was appropriately on one end of the flautas, but did not appear on its usual bed of lettuce. I don't mind the lettuce since it is one of the few vegetables I get at lunch, but sometimes there is a lot of green lettuce to masquerade the comparatively small dollop of guacamole. I had plenty of guacamole today.

The rice portion was plentiful and cooked just right, having just started to hint at stickiness while remaining mostly separate. Not watery. There were no tomatoes or chilis which sometimes appear in Taco Cabana rice. I'm not against such additions on principle, but they often accompany overly wet or sticky rice and must be added carefully.

The bean portion was a little squeezed. I'm sure that my co-workers won't complain and it was sufficient, just a little less than usual, probably due to the odd placement.

At the salsa bar the lemon and lime bin had lemons only, no limes. I alerted the folks behind the counter and once someone with enough english overheard me they assured me that they were not out of limes. Shortly after I sat down, the new gal from the serving/food-assembly line actually arrived at my table with a container of lime slices. Wow, a side-dish of customer service! Perhaps there is just a little bit of shared sympathy between folks who have to work on the day after Thanksgiving.

Taco Cabana Reporter

If you live in or have lived in San Antonio you probably have some knowledge of Taco Cabana. Most folks would agree that the one thing you can count on from Taco Cabana is inconsistency. After many years of eating at TC's I have come to believe that the quality of the food is linked to the quality and mood of the crew.

It is not enough to say that this location is better than that location. You must be aware of the shift and the day. To this end I'd like to start keeping a log of my Taco Cabana experiences. In truth I rarely eat at locations outside of my main three, but I have eaten at about thirteen or more locations around the city.

If the TC executives were smart they'd put a feedback forum online, but perhaps they're happy with the air of surprise (apprehension?) that accompanies every customer order. I'm going to make a start of it here. I'm going to make a point of reporting my experiences. If you'd like to contribute, then just comment on any Taco Cabana post. If it's a popular enough idea, perhaps I'll port it over to something like The Schwab Blog.

 Pink  Letter Day

Lexie had a meeting at school today, so the kids went to daycare. She waited until I got home before picking them up. We all went to Target to get a new shower curtain to decorate for the kids bathroom. On the way home, while we were not yet in sight of the place, Kevin pipes up, "I'm thinking about eating at Taco Cabana for dinner." We had to go home to get Madeline fed, but we went back and ate at TC's. It's the first time he's suggested the place: we had to positively reinforce the behavior.