Tacos, Nachos and Beer

Delicious queso, very nice chicken and steak tacos. Tacos are small, but inexpensive — a man probably needs 3 tacos or 2 tacos and a side of chips and salsa. Salsa bar was well-​stocked and salsas taste good, but not very hot.

NOPE! I was totally, totally wrong about this place. I’ll admit it. The last time I saw this place open was several months ago. There is a hand-​written sign on the door that basically says «It’s cold! We will open when it’s warm again.» They weren’t open during the Winter Festival which was a bummer. Although, they weren’t open during a big festival this summer either… perhaps it was too hot out?
Bad business decisions, increased prices, and fewer options (last time I was there, they didn’t even have pineapple). This place is as good as giving up. I won’t be back (assuming they ever open again).

Officially closed per the response we got from GroupOn on our note trying to get our money back.
Five stars to Group On though as they gave us the same amount toward another purchase with something else.
One Star to the shysters who can’t change the note in their window or their vm.

This place is a let down.
They wouldn’t take my Groupon deal I purchased and there are rumors that they increased the prices without adding value to the coupon deal. I came downtown two different nights to use my deal and the place was closed both days because of the cold; a headsup would have been nice! My Groupon expired, I don’t even want to go back to use my store credit.
Booooooooooo :(

Went there today with a Groupon, only to find it was closed due to the cold. It’s Minnesota it gets cold. It’s a restaurant it is not like you have to work outside. Sounds like really bad management to me. I’ll try to refund my Groupon, and will not be returning.

I used to frequent this place for the groupon special. It was fantastic deal for the value of the groupon and I enjoyed the food. After a few months of opening they increased the cost of their nachos by over $ 2 and didn’t change the menu pricing on the groupon! Now the value wasn’t so great but we still had 2 groupons to use up there so we went anyway. The last time we tried to go which was today, it was a Saturday in St. Paul MN and it was 18 degrees out, we parked at the meter and put in $ 3 for parking, once we walked down the block to TN&B there was a handwritten sign up that read «BRRR it’s cold we’ll return when it warms up» umm, this is MN in January… So I am out the parking cost, and my groupon expires soon and I am so upset about the scenario I do not wish to return and I am going to contact groupon and ask if they will refund my TN&B groupon. After this happened this afternoon I left a post on TN&B facebook’s wall about what happened, they deleted it and didn’t even message me to apologize for the inconveince. My final word to you, if you are going to try this place, call ahead and make sure they are open.

What a waste of money … Wanted to try this place because of a groupon… Stale food was served to us … I would not go back again…
What a disappointment …

If your looking for a quick meal during your lunch break this isn’t the place. If your looking for fantastic food made fresh in front of your eyes then this could be your new favorite place.
The Tacos are not huge so you will probably need 2 or 3 but for about $ 2.5 a piece you can try a few of the over 10 different tacos and be filled up without having an empty wallet.
The nachos are fantastic with your choice of toppings and meat. The homemade chips hold together perfectly for the tasty toppings they put on top. Add some salsa from the salsa bar and you will have one of the best nachos in the cities for a very affordable price.

It’s frustrating that I’ve tried to stop into this place 3 times and the hours keep changing!
Pick hours and please stick to them or don’t be surprised when people stop trying.

This is a little deli-​style Mexican restaurant with a limited, yet extensive, menu. There are 12 different types of tacos, 4 types of nachos, and chips/​salsa available. That’s it. And boy oh boy is that enough. The fish taco is the best that I’ve found anywhere. The nachos are cheap and provide more than enough food for two people to share. Or one very hungry exam taker…
If you are in the area, this is definitely worth a stop. I may even make a special visit to St Paul just to introduce my boyfriend to this lovely little place.
They also serve breakfast (even though I was did not try it)! In other words, this place is DA BOMB.

I came here with a Groupon last night that I had been hoarding for a lazy, «I don’t want to cook tonight» date idea.
I love the premise. Its simple, to the point. 3 good food/​drink groups: Tacos. Nachos. Beer.
The cashier was not chatty or particularly nice at all. Boo. :-/​
Here’s what I got and my thoughts on it all:
Tacos: chicken and pastor. Meat was tasty, but nothing crazy. Tortilla was sort of soft and delicious, but fragile. The tacos come with nothing but meat on them, so you add the lettuce, pico, salsas, cilantro/​onion mixture. I love a good taco topping bar and this one was pretty good.
Nachos: I think this is their big selling point. They were like $ 4 and HUGE. A meal for one. We got the chicken. It was pretty stingy with the chicken, I think. But it was soooo tasty.
Beer: Nothing on tap, all bottled. $ 4? Not really worth it.
BUT, they do have a happy hour that runs until 7: $ 6 for 2 beers and chips/​salsa.
I think I’ll be back, but probably not too often.

A welcome addition to the downtown St. Paul lunch scene! My coworkers and I made a big delivery order to try out the new place. We were all pleased with our meals. We got two orders of nachos to share, and both orders were covered generously with toppings. The Pastor nachos definitely won out over the Chicken Breast nachos, but both orders were happily consumed.
I got two tacos – the Iker and the Camarón. I was really excited about the chicharrones in the Iker, but was disappointed to discover that they are very tiny crucnhed up crumbs mixed in with the meat. I was hoping for bigger, more discernible chunks of crunch – kind of like the joy that comes with putting potato chips on a sandwich. I thought the meat was kind of dry, too, so I will not be ordering this taco again.
But the Camarón – OH, THE CAMARON! This really exceeded my expectations. I wouldn’t think to expect much when ordering seafood at a fast casual restaurant, but I was wowed by this taco. First of all, the shrimp were HUGE, and there were several in the taco. These were no sad little shrimp, these were plump and meaty and delicious. Not only were they big, but they were cooked just right. They had great flavor – not fishy, just yummy.
There was a yummy kind of slaw topping the shrimp taco. Whatever sauce was on it was wonderful, with just a hint of a spicy zing to it.
I will definitely be walking across downtown to get this again (or talking my coworkers into ordering delivery again soon), and I’ll order two Camarón tacos next time.
I hope this place sticks around! I like it.

Ate here soon after opening for lunch with a coworker. Girl at the register was friendly, but after ordering it went downhill. Tacos are Rusty Taco-​sized, and by that I mean SMALL for what you pay for them. The amount of filling placed within the taco shell is insufficient. Salsa bar is a neat idea, but when I was there I had to scrape the bottom of the containers to get even a sampling of the ones I wanted to try, and it was filthy. Ate at a dirty table. Food taste was blah. The whole thing seemed slap dash and poorly executed. I may give it a try again in a few months, no plans to though in the immediate future.

Service still needs to figured out:
Went for lunch with three coworkers when the Chipotle line was too long. Lots of kinks in ordering and getting food to be worked out. I ordered first and my last coworker didn’t complete his order until over five minutes had gone by. Two ordered nachos and received those fairly quickly. Tacos took about 10 more minutes.
All three steak tacos are the same:
I ordered all of the steak tacos (#1 Steak — grilled seasoned sirloin, #2 Leo — thin sliced steak uncut, and #3 — grilled seasoned prime rib). I couldn’t really differentiate the tacos from each other by taste. Either #1 or #3 has twice as much meat as the other (it was probably the #3 that was bigger). Cost was $ 2.50 for #1 and #2 and $ 2.75 for #3.
Tacos are no frills:
Tacos are very small and consist of only meat and small thick corn tortilla (I don’t think cheese or rice is an option). There is a free salsa bar with some tasty salsas (especially the avocado salsa), onions, and lettuce. All three of my tortillas cracked and generally fell apart while eating, but as there wasn’t much filling it didn’t really create that big of a mess.
Nachos are a better deal:
My meal cost me $ 7.75 before tax. My two coworkers who had nachos paid $ 4.50 each before tax. It looked like they received more food than either of the two of us who ordered tacos. The nachos looked good, but were drowning in a little too much sour cream.
Probably won’t return:
Overall there isn’t much reason for me to return. With nearby La Loma Tamales for authentic Mexican, Chipotle for tasty fresh value Mexican, and Zantigo for Americanized Mexican, I don’t see any reason to ever return to Tacos, Nachos and Beer.

This place will literally never succeed if they keep charging $ 2.50 for a fucking little taco. I ate there one time and granted it was good, i have to spend 10 $ on 4 tacos just to get full. I said screw that and haven’t been back since. It’s a shame because i really liked their Chorizo tacos alot… However, i will walk a block over to chipotle and get the fattest burritto ever, that i can eat for two meals, all for like $ 7. Fail…

As a huge taco fan and resident of St. Paul, I really want this place to succeed. I’ve been anticipating this restaurant for at least several months. Naturally, I’ve been there three times within a week of their opening. As one who could care less about the nachos and quesadillas, here’s my taco-​centric review:
Tacos are traditionally sized, most served with just the protein wrapped in a freshly-​made tortilla (more on that later). If you’re a hungry person with a big appetite, it’ll probably take three or four to fill you up. (In contrast, the nachos are enormous.) The grill is behind the counter so you can watch them make your order fresh.
Unless you specifically ordered extra toppings (which apparently you can do), the next stop after grabbing your tacos is the salsa bar, where they have about a half-​dozen salsas, a container of limes, and cilantro and onions. (C&O should be obligatory, or at least standard, in my opinion. If you’re going to tout being authentic, embrace it.)
It’s set up to be fast-​casual dining. There are probably five or six tables inside and a couple outside. Each time I’ve been there I haven’t had trouble finding a seat, but if it were even a little crowded I can imagine table real estate becoming quite precious. Apparently they have wine by the bottle here. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say this would be a really strange environment to split a bottle of wine on, say, a date.
From my three visits, a breakdown of what worked and what didn’t–
Tortillas:
My first trip these were fresh, pliable, and divinely pillowy. Obviously just-​made and seriously some of the best tortillas I’ve ever had. My second visit it seemed like they ran out and, in a pinch, made a quick stop at Cub. They were thin, sort of rubbery and chewy, and (tellingly) perfectly uniform. Had me thinking I just imagined it the first time. This last time they were back to homemade (a bowl of masa was visible), however, they weren’t as fresh as the first time, like they had been sitting around for a while. I experienced the dreaded tortilla-​tearing and filling-​flop. Luckily they’ve got forks…
Meats:
The Iker (Real Madrid?) and the tacos al pastor are the best things on the menu. The Iker comes with steak, chorizo (Mexican hot sausage), and chicharrón (pork rinds). The chicharrón gives a great crisp and the fattiness balances the spice of the chorizo. I was a little disappointed in the chicharrón; it seemed more like the puffed pork rinds you find in a bag than the crazy delicious homemade stuff. Tacos al pastor are seasoned pork served with cilantro, onion, and pineapple (from the ones I ordered, the only ones that come standard with something else). The level of seasoning was somewhat inconsistent– my first couple visits the tacos were bland, however, on my most recent visit they were near perfect. Steak tacos are generally pretty good (Leo is my favorite), however, be warned, American Consumer: they are seasoned simply and cooked at least well-​done.
Salsas:
The worst thing about the salsa bar is the salsa bar. That is, the salsas are delicious, taste fresh, and are consistently refilled, but you’ve going to have a heckuva time getting that salsa onto your taco. The salsa bins are stacked two-​deep are equipped with tiny ladles, meaning you will inevitably drip or spill into an adjacent bin as you bring it to your plate. Thinking of how many others have tried and failed might make you want to avoid the nearer salsa selections. Also, the ladles are just the wrong tool for applying salsa to these tacos. Generally they’re tightly packed, two to a paper boat, so, there isn’t a lot of room to maneuver. Because it’s bad form to shove the ladle directly onto your food, you end up with a lot of salsa on and around your taco. Squirt bottles, though they might be less elegant, would be far more effective for a targeted punch of spice.
Menu:
There’s too much going on. Each taco has an individual price even though they differ by, at most, fifty cents. Some names are strange and confusing, for example, one of the steak tacos is called «Steak,» while the others two (still steak!) are called «Leo» and «Prime Rib.» Just some of the meats say they are grilled, (even though it appears they all are) and several words are left untranslated (e.g., chicharron). It’s unclear why only four of the taco meats are available as nachos.
Other:
Staff seemed friendly enough but not terribly excited about the food and somewhat unfamiliar with the menu (I had to clarify what a «Pacifico» was & was asked «what number is that?» when I ordered a taco al pastor).
Two phone numbers for some reason on the to-​go menu?
They’ve been out of some stuff (chorizo especially) each time, though I’m sure (read: I hope) it’s just because they’re still figuring out demand.
Like I said, I’m really pulling for this place; I think it can be really successful. To get there, though, consistency is going to be key.

Tacos, Nachos and Beer open on Monday, April 22, 2013. It is currently the morning of Wednesday, April 24, 2013 and I am seriously considering having lunch there for the third day in a row out of three available days!
On Monday I had a steak taco and a quesadilla con pollo, and Tuesday I had a quesadilla con pastor. Everything I ordered was hot, fresh and fast (given that the place *just* opened and both times I visited it was really busy). The corn tortillas are made in-​house and so tasty and thick, and the avocado salsa? YUM.
Service is friendly and they are working out the opening week kinks. I’m so happy for this new addition to downtown!

What a great place! They just opened yesterday and already were packed all during the lunch rush…
I split the chicken nachos with a friend and got 3 tacos: Steak, Pescado (fish) & Hongos (mushroom). They were great! Unlike lots of tacos that come double wrapped in flimsy corn tortillas, these only had one, but it was nice and thick and not falling apart. I liked the portions, and the seasonings on all the meats. The fish taco randomly came on a larger flour tortilla that I wasn’t a fan of, but the taco itself was still delicious!
As far as Nachos go, we all know it’s a bummer when chips are soggy and ingredients are distributed unevenly. TN&B countered this by sticking all the fixings in the middle and lining the exterior with chips. Some still got soggy, and a fork was definitely still necessary, but it was good!
I was bummed to see that the beer was $ 4.00 (I had prepped by looking at their website where the menu lists beer as around $ 2), so I just got water. The staff was so helpful and you could tell that even though they were overwhelmed and swamped with second-​day jitters, they were committed to giving customers a good experience.
I’ll be happy to go back, and enjoy trying some of the other interesting tacos I didn’t get around to this time.
BONUS: they have BREAKFAST TACOS. Enough said.

CHIDO.
Love the food and friendly service. This place just opened up so service is a bit shaky but they are aware and addressing the issues. They have a fresh condiment/​salsa bar, a view of delicious meats grilling and corn tortillas that are just the perfect thickness. My only complaint is that it’s a bit cramped for space, but that only means more people are eating tacos and I’m all about that. This place has promise to be my new Taco Tuesday hot spot!
Highlights:
Steak and Leo Tacos
NACHOS
Taquera Salsa
Tacos, Nachos and Beer = Mas Por Favor