Taco Boy!

NOTE:  (20 July 2008) This restaurant is closed, and has been replaced by a Mexican buffet we haven't tried yet.  -- Joe

In the past few months there has been an explosion in Mexican and Central American restaurants in the Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti area, and we'll eventually cover them all. (The good ones, anyway.) One of our newest favorites is the oddly-named Taco Boy, which is tucked away in a little strip mall near Golfside and Clark in Ypsilanti.

Four Tacos and a Gordita (clockwise from the gordita at top right: carnitas, inalambricos, al pastor, and chorizo)

Taco Boy has an extensive menu of Mexican dishes, though to be truthful we've barely gotten past the taco and soup sections. They have a selection of the more commonly found tacos: al pastor, carnitas, asada, tongue, chorizo, chicken. Fans of the al pastor style should definitely give Taco Boy's version a try. They also have tacos inalambricos, the delicious but oddly-named -- "inalambrico" literally means "wireless" in Spanish -- variety we've only seen at Taqueria Jalisco before.  They're filled with a bizarre but very tasty assortment of ingredients including steak, bacon, poblano peppers, and plantains. (Taqueria Jalisco and Taco Boy are apparently related in some way.) Their Gordita has fillings that are similar to a taco but served between two halves of a thick patty of masa. (We both prefer the tacos over the gorditas.)

Your server will also bring you a complementary bowl of beans to go with the chips and salsa. Add a few tacos, and you have a full meal already. Vegetarians be aware:  these beans have bacon in them.

With Taco Boy on the scene, La Loma now has some serious competition in the tortilla soup category. Taco Boy's tortilla soup is absolutely delicious and comes with large pieces of avocado. The tortilla strips are added to the broth just before serving, ensuring that they're still firm. I have a hard time not ordering it everytime. One bowl can make a full meal.

Sopa de tortilla

If you're really hungry, try the daily lunch buffet at $8.95 a person. Or try one of the full entrees. I ordered the chilaquiles from the breakfast menu, and it was a huge platter with generous side portions of rice and beans. I could barely eat half.

Flan
I adore flan in all its variants. If you are a flan connoisseur, you'll want to try Taco Boy's flan as it's different from all the other flans served in the area. We found it it sort of "brownie-like" in texture, a bit dry perhaps, with a nice cinnamon coating on top. The serving is large enough to share between two.

Taco Boy Mexican Restaurant
(734) 528-9844
2071 Golfside Dr
Ypsilanti, MI 481

Comments

[Kate]

Thanks for the review. I tried Taqueria Fiesta today for the first time and was underwhelmed; the photos of your food from Taco Boy look way better.

[Scott T.]

Damn, wish I'd read this before I went out to AA this weekend, and I might have skipped Frank's for something new... Nice review!

[Sara]

Those tacos look great! I think you mean it's near Golfide and *Clark*, correct?

[Kitchen Chick]

Thanks for spotting that. I'm not sure how that got in there. Cross St. is nowhere near there.

[Gustad Mody]

wow. thos eare real tacos. hard to find here even in nyc

[jules]

I love your blog but I have to tell you that on your recommendation, my son and I went to Taco Boy for lunch yesterday and it wasn't so great. La Loma has nothing to fear, as far as I'm concerned. Loved the avocado in the tortilla soup but the broth itself was almost flavorless. There wasn't even any cilantro in it. My high hopes were dashed right from the beginning, when we dug into the salsa and chips. Bland salsa, greasy flavorless chips. Not a good sign. The bowl of beans was tasty, but really, are you supposed to eat soupy beans with tortilla chips? It made a mess and the it's temperature scared me a bit. It seemed to be held at a lukewarm temperture before it was brought to the table, not the most comforting thought. I won't go on and on, other than to say that not one thing was what I would call great and very little was even good. I would also say that Taquiera La Loma is much cleaner. The grubbiness of Taco Boy, inside and out, really turned me off. I found out later in the day that a friend of mine also went there on your recommendation and had a similar experience. Maybe we hit it on a bad day, but I really wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I hate to be a party pooper, I really do like your blog, but will take a pass on Taco Boy in the future.

[Joe, Husband of Kitchen Chick]

Based on your comments and some others we've received, Taco Boy may be having problems maintaining consistent quality. We've had good experiences with them -- and we've been there several times -- but others have not. Also, while we really liked the tacos and the tortilla soup, we haven't tried other parts of the menu, and others have reported that some of the non-taco items are not very good.

My advice to anyone planning to visit at this point is (1) stick with the tacos, and (2) be aware that they may be having some problems. We're interested to hear about others' experiences, and we'll try to get there soon and see whether they've changed cooks or something.

Thanks for the feedback!

[Kitchen Chick]

Jules: I'm sure you could have asked for some cilantro to garnish the soup. As much as I love La Loma's tortilla soup, my thought is always "where's the avocado?" If I could take the avocado and tortillas from Taco Boy and combine it with the broth from La Loma, that would be ideal for me. (Sometimes, not always, La Loma puts the tortilla bits in too soon as I've had bowls where the tortillas have become mush by the time the soup is served to me.) Ask for a spoon for the beans. It helps a lot. I've not noticed a difference in cleanliness between the two -- that is to say, I've seen both grubbier and cleaner times at both restaurants. I try to not hold the general down feeling of the strip mall and the oldness of the restaurant facilities that Taco Boy has to work with against them, but it's definitely true that La Loma is prettier and more pleasant with its windows and brightly painted walls.

Like Joe said, of the other people we know who've been there, there has been some general dissatisfaction with the non-taco items but most have liked the tacos.

[Kitchen Chick]

Jules: I just have to add... I was at Taco Boy today and the food wasn't nearly as good as I've had in the past. I also talked to a friend who goes there frequently, and she was also unimpressed with her most recent trips. Ah well.

[Joe]

I posted a note on KC's behalf.

[Tricia]

Have you all tried the Taqueria on Packard? I thought I'd seen a review here, but can't find it via search. I'm not sure of the exact name. It's in that little corner shop where (I think) Bev's Caribbean Kitchen used to be. Really really great green sauce on the tacos. The beef was just a ground beef mixture, nothing to rave about - the chicken was better. The sauce was fabuloso.

[Joe]

It's called Taqueria La Tica, and we haven't made it there yet. We will, though! (Hey, if we don't spread out the taqueria reviews, she'll get renamed Taco Chick...)

[Tricia]

Or Cocina Chica :^)

[dan]

I just got back from taco boy and my experience was as it has always been. Great food and smiling service. My friends fajitas(not exactly mexican but...) were perfect, the guacamole was fresh, the beans and rice were fresh, and my steak ranchero was full of flavor and prepared just right. I think that most people are just too used to eating at americanized mexican dives and expect too much of the "Texas Touch" in their mexican dining experience. In addition, I can say that there is much more to Taco Boy than just soups and tacos. It seems that everyone is focusing on the more common items on the menu and less concerned with some of the traditional mexican cuisine that they have to choose from.

[Joe]

The tacos and soups are actually VERY traditional -- and I can't speak for others, but Kitchen Chick and I aren't coming from an Americanized perspective. (I lived in Mexico City for several months, and have spent time in Merida and a few other places in Mexico as well.)

It is, however, time for us to go back and check them out. So we will. Thanks for the update.

[laura]

I have had the tacos and they are delicious. I never seem to get past those to try other dishes!

[laura]

I have had the tacos and they are delicious. I never seem to get past those to try other dishes!

[Kitchen Chick]

Update: I've had tacos from Taco Boy recently. The al pastor, barbacoa, and asada tacos were okay, but the inalambricos were rather salty both times and had some large chunks of unpleasantly grizzly meat. Summary: better than my worst experience, but not as great as my earliest meals there.

[Tricia]

We went tonight, despite the mixed reviews here. I was intrigued by the inalambrico tacos, but the menu says they include pineapple and pineapple wipes out my tastebuds for hours, so that combined with your latest comment made me skip 'em. Maybe I should have stuck to tacos, but I wanted to be adventurous so I tried the vegetarian plate. It was supposed to come with a 'sweet tamale' - but instead had a chicken tamale. Good thing I'm not actually a vegetarian! I wouldn't have minded, but the masa-to-meat ratio was too heavy on masa so I didn't enjoy it. (I'm used to tamales as cooked in New Mexico and El Paso.) The vegetable enchilada was probably the best item on the platter. But overall, not a great experience.

One reason we went is because we needed to get a long-dormant uPromise account over the 'pay-out' point, and uPromise lists Taco Boy as a participating restaurant. However, they don't actually take credit cards, so we won't get our uPromise kickback after all! Harumph.

[Rich]

Ill start this by saying I grew up in Mexican Town in SW Detroit and I am used to havig great Mexican resturants at my disposal. I came to EMU 3 years ago and have been in search for a good Mexican resturant. I was told about Taco Boy 2 weeks ago and have visited it just once so far. The food was great. They had a special, I got 4 tacos, shredded beef, and two sides of beans. It comes with beans and rice, but im not a fan of Mexican rice, so i get the double beans. To be honest, they were some of the best tacos I've ever had, and believe me, i hve a ton. The only problem I had is that a couple hours afterword I had some stomache problems that lasted about a day and a half. Now I know what your thinking, duh, its Mexican food, well I've never actually had with my stomache afterwards. The one thing I did not like is that the gentleman putting the food together was not wearing any kind of gloves. It didnt bother me, but I would have preffered if he was wearing some gloves. All in all it has some good food, and I will definately be going back very soon.

[Rich]

Ive been back to Taco Boy many times since I wrote my last entry. Since then I have turned on many of my friends to Taco Boy, we now frequent multiple times a week.

[Mary]

I've been to Taco Boy several times (I don't know why), since I live right around the corner. Here are my complaints practically every time I go there:
*It is kind of grubby
*I went there once on a hot summer day and they had no air conditioning. They had a large floor fan running and the door open, which let in flies that I kept shooing away from my food.
*Their complimentary salsa is served warm and chunky (which I personally don't like), and it's mild (I like it hot). The only hot sauce they have is that icky bottled kind (which I also don't like), and the chips tasted stale. I thought serving a bowl of beans with the chips and salsa was unusual, but they were actually pretty good on the chips.
*The overall quality of the food was just ok to me.
*They always have their tv on playing Spanish soap operas/shows.
*I think the waitresses come around too often asking how everything is.

Just so everone knows, the restaurant is temporarily closed for remodeling (expansion, too?), so maybe everything else will improve once they open up again.