My interesting relationship with Taco Mazama began by trying to order from them via Just Eat. Just as my deal was about due, the phone rang and the restaurant explained that their delivery driver had been in a crash. There would be no dinner. The manager would contact me the next day to organise a refund.
Two days later I had to ring up to ask about the refund and check whether the delivery driver was okay. The manager knew nothing about the situation (I wasn’t even sure he knew about the driver) but he was pleasant and got me sorted in no time at all. As it happens, I said rather than refund me could they just deliver the original order instead as once again I was turning to Just Eat for food.
Taco Mazama’s food was delicious. It turned up via delivery cycle, a panting youth who had peddled hard to bring me my food, handed over Mexican food that would give Illegal Jacks a serious challenge. I had gone for barbacoa shredded beef fajitas with diablo salsa and padded the order with drinks and dips to make their minimum delivery amount.
My next two attempts met with failure. On each occasion after entering my order into Just Eat I received an email from the system saying that there had been a problem, there would be no food and that Taco Mazama’s profile was being taken offline for now. I assumed the restaurant was too busy for my little order, rather than keep me waiting they’d just pulled the plug.
As I said; the food was lovely. I kept on trying and I soon got into the habit of timing my Taco Mazama orders to avoid busy times. I got several “It’s in the bag” emails in a row.
The time came that I wanted to travel Hanover Street and enjoy the eat in experience. The website said the restaurant opened until 8pm Sunday to Wednesday an “late” Thursday to Saturday. We turned up at about 8.30 on Saturday.
The restaurant wasn’t what I was expecting. It was much smaller than I had imaged. There were a few tables still covered with the remains of other people’s meals.
The chap behind the counter explained that they’d run out of shredded beef. While juggling his mobile phone, talking to a manager who had gone to Amsterdam and run out of money, our waiter noted that they weren’t allowed to store beef for very long and therefore didn’t make much. We compromised on our order and dug in.
Once again the food was lovely. My burrito was smaller than I hoped but it was tasty.
Halfway through our meal, as a Japanese couple came in, it was announced that the restaurant was closing shortly. It was okay for us, we’d finish by 9 but I wondered if the others did.
I must admit to not quite enjoying eating in at Taco Mazama as much as I hoped I would. Perhaps I had set my expectations too high. Perhaps this was just a small Tex-Mex specialist punching above its weight with some very tasty food. That might be the case but they already manage a number of locations in Glasgow. I’m sure staff wouldn’t take phone calls while serving customers at those locations.
For now, I think, I’ll stick to order from Taco Mazama online. That said; they’re opening a shop at Ocean Terminal and I think that will be a very different proposition to the Hanover Street location. That’s something to look forward to.
Tasty food that’s not always very easy to get to. It’s worth wrestling with hit or miss delivery offers but perhaps not risking a late evening visit to the shop.