Empellon Taqueria Waterline Square

"TLDR: It's not the best or most traditional Mexican food you will find but prepare to be surprised. It's definitely a must-go for the fun, the vibe, the drinks, and the good food. The restaurant is perfect to treat yourself, for a special occasion or to bring friends. For all this don't expect the regular prices of hole-in-the-wall or delivery, it's not that kind of place or food. It's nice to see a Mexican restaurant make a difference targeting the more upscale, cool, and elegant vibe. It has a modern restaurant feel; forget the stereotypes because you wouldn’t know you were in a Mexican restaurant at all. The menu is very limited but has different items from what you'll find at your regular Mexican place and that's a great thing, I hope they expand with more options soon. Empellon is a perfect place for drinks and small plates. The staff was consistently super friendly and very efficient. FOOD: The guacamole is one of the very few I've tried that nailed the acidity perfectly and the small bits of onion and cilantro give it the perfect balance of texture and freshness. The tortillas that come with it have an amazing flavor and crispness, you really feel they put an effort into this dish and not the usual afterthought to "go with drinks". The Hamachi Crudo is found in many places and most of the time just boring raw fish but this version with lime sticky rice brought it to a different place with nice acidity and some starch as a base. The popcorn chicken is a nice dish, crunchy and with well-seasoned meat, although it would do better with a little more sauce to round it out. The carnitas is quite a nice portion, can feed 2. The tortillas are as fresh as they can be, you can eat them plain and still taste the flavor though I wish they were a little bit thicker to hold the weight of the fillings. My only problem is that since the pieces of pork are so small they got extremely dry and slightly burnt but the delicious salsas and jelly that come with it are amazing and can make up for it."

"I got a ticket to Empellon at Waterline Square's 4th taco tasting event where you get to eat and vote on 4 different tacos. The taco with the most votes makes it to their main menu. The event gave you a $60 pre-fix menu and you get to start with their house made guacamole. Real quick, shouldn't all restaurant guacamole be house made? Anyway, it was phenomenal. The chips have a perfect texture and crispness and just the right level of spice. I rate it a 9.5/10 and it's already on their regular menu so I recommend it. Taco #1 was a shrimp po' boy with a remolade and pasilla mixe. I feel the shrimp could have been cooked to a deeper firmness. I gave that taco a 7/10 Taco #2 was a Cochinita Pibil with pickled red onions and a habenero salsa. The spice level on this taco had me sweating and it was very flavorful. I gave it an 8.4/10 Taco #3 was the Chicken Fried Steak taco with queso-chorizo gravy. I really like the flavor of this taco and it was my waitress' favorite of the 4. I had to cut it in half to eat it as a taco because the piece of meat was pretty big. This to me was an 8.8/10 Taco #4 was a Galbi taco (aka beef short ribs) with green chile kimchi. This was a massive taco and my personal favorite. I gave this a 9.3/10 and voted for this to hit the regular menu. They ended you with a Corn Ice Cream Taco that I thought was decent and had a really good texture. If you've ever had a corn based dessert this will remind of that taste. I gave it an 8.2. Shout out to Empellon for letting its customer's be part of their process and I highly recommend checking out any of their locations for amazing tacos."

"I absolutely love the fish tacos here, and they make a mean margarita. We live in the neighborhood and eat-in or takeaway every other week or so. I was excited to try the brunch but left rather disappointed. The chorizo sandwich was mostly hash brown, which itself was cold and undercooked. Also, the churro French toast was too sweet for our taste. The Chilaquiles was the best of if the dishes we tried. Strongly recommend their tacos, but I don’t think we’ll be back for brunch"

"I’ve visited a few times for drinks and small plates. Staff has consistently been friendly and very efficient. Margarita flavor seems to vary significantly depending on the bartender, however, most drinks have been good. My go-to is the ¿Por Qué No? margarita. I also love their authentic guacamole and 7 salsas."

"Nice vibe, has potential to be great, food took forever (about 1h for our 3 tacos to arrive), taste was okay (arrived cold). Tacos are $8-12 each and drinks $15-25.. guacamole seemed good, we had the seven salsas and it was a cool experience mixing them. Overall I’d recommend if you are looking for something low key… good option around the area since there are not many restaurants around…"