The Taco Depot 4 Iowa City 119 East Washington Street, Iowa City, IA 52240

"I really like the tacos here. I was not crazy about the house margaritas but my wife loved the spicy tamarind drink. I am surprised by some of the negative reviews but then again who comes to a Mexican restaurant and complains about the chicken wings and onion rings, lol. I tried this place back when it first opened in the summer and loved the tacos. Came back to campus 6 months later and the negative reviews almost scared my wife away. But I told her to try it and she was happy she did. Form your own opinion."

"The sidewalk sign advertised “House Margaritas-$5”. Okay, Great. So my daughter and I rack got two house margaritas and we shared some gauc and chips. Th bill came and the margaritas were not $5 each. When I questioned it, I was told “the $5 house margaritas are the Lime only. Well… that is NOT what the sidewalk sign advertised! If this allowed me to upload pics I would offer proof."

"I came to eat a bit after lunch at about 1pm, the restaurant was empty and but it only took a few minutes to get seated. Server spoke English and Spanish but the servers need more training, when I asked about the prices on some drinks because they’re not listed on the menu she pulled out her phone due to the server not knowing so she could show some list they have in the back somewhere with the prices which is customers don’t get the luxury I guess. Although the food prices were semi competitive, the alcohol prices were not so much, here a Don Julio shot is $13-35 (blanco-1942) which in comparison to cactus downtown right down the street at $7 is a bit much. I decided to not get a drink. This being my first time here I decided to get some variety that being an Al Pastor Torta and two of their tacos Ramirez(which go for $1 on Tuesday) which I ordered steak. I wash my hands before my meals and to my surprise, ROACHES, all of them running to a corner which when I investigated further as shown in my included photos there was very live roaches as well as roach excrement and even roach corpses, really shows the cleanliness of their bathroom when not even dry cadavers are cleaned off the floor. After that my appetite was gone considering if they can’t keep roaches out of the bathroom I can’t imagine the kitchen especially at night after closing. I still pushed through and when my food arrived it look ok, I went for the taco first and the tortillas were cold and pale and sad, that being said I didn’t realize the food didn’t come with any salsa and the limes were very clearly not cut fresh so they were dry with no juice to get out of them so that led to the taco being dry as well. At this point my server was in the back nowhere to be seen and when I opened the midsection to my torta, it was the wrong meat. A completely empty restaurant yet too much in a rush to even read the instructions on the meal, this i do not blame on my server but rather the cooks because 15 minutes after my meal arrived I stood up at the bar from my booth so that my server would eventually come out and when I asked them, they knew what meat I had asked for and I let them take it back so it could be prepared correctly and I also asked for some salsa, going forward the salsa was not very good, the normal red and green salsa were very very watery to the point only water came out of the bottles so they weren’t even properly consumable and the darker salsa which I assume was some sort of Chile de Árbol salsa had too large of seeds to even get it through the bottle and onto then food which led to the bottle popping getting the salsa all over myself, thank goodness it was mostly water as well or else it might have actually stuck to my clothes but I guess that might just be a skill issue. They had a good secondary green salsa which I couldn’t pinpoint off visuals but that’s the one the server specified to me that was made that same day I came in, which goes to show that the others werent which one would assume but not something one would like to be told. At this point with the cold tortillas, the torta mistakes, and worst of all the PESTILENCE OF ROACHES. This place ruined my appetite and in comparison to other local Mexican such as the Cactus Downtown locations which are literally around the corner and another one a block away where the drinks are actually competitive and cactus 1 having at least decent food this is not a place I would eat again even on taco Tuesday, overheard they pay their servers about $4.50/hr as well through conversation at the restaurant as the place was so damn empty and barren."

"Honestly. I didn’t like this place. New place came to IC and I wanted to see if it was better than the other Mexican place (cactus 1, downtown) IT WAS NOT. The service wasn’t good, I waited forever for my food and drinks. And my onion rings looks SUPER UNDERCOOKED there was no flavor, and im pretty sure the wings the used are the banquet wings, look and tasted exactly like them, for $18 not worth is. And the best part THERE WAS ROACHES IN THE BATHROOM. I couldn’t even poop in peace without having the kill the roaches crawling around the floor. I’d be better off getting better service and food at my regular place. I recommend the same as well."

"Service was great and very quick! The horchata I had was amazing and one of the best I've had. Papas Chigonas were well dressed and a hefty portion to boot. They were on point as far as taste goes. The torta was very large and was quite delicious! I will definitely be returning!"