Founded in 2010, Bartaco hosts upscale, street-style Mexican food for 31 locations across 13 states. In contrast to the average sit-down experience, Bartaco utilizes an ordering system in which guests mark small-plate orders on a menu slip and signal staff with a table card as opposed to continuous service. The menu and restaurant’s style emphasizes small tacos and sides to be grazed on, focusing on flavor rather than fullness. Through the use of garage-style doors, the restaurant gains a sense of community to its location with the authenticity of a bar.
With two friends, I ventured to the Pike and Rose location, which had opened two months prior to our visit. Just passing the restaurant, it is evident that Bartaco has accumulated a vast crowd of taco enthusiasts. Given that we chose to go on a Saturday night, there was a 30-minute wait before being seated. Being sat directly next to the open wall, the first 15 minutes of our experience was disrupted by harsh winds blowing away napkins and menus. Luckily, staff quickly noticed and adjusted, closing the doors.
We started strong with house-made aguas frescas and the trio of dips. The limeades, pomegranate and regular, were the perfect mix of sweet and sour. I would advise against the berry colada as it was awkwardly sour and ended up getting worse throughout drinking it. The creamy guac and smokey salsa roja were fantastic, but if you have the soap-tasting cilantro gene, I recommend skipping out on the salsa verde. The swap of a usual tortilla chip for an entire, crispy tortilla to break apart yourself was surprisingly enjoyable as well.
As for the star of the show, we tried five different tacos. Our favorites were carne asada due to its rich flavor, and baja fish with the perfect crunch and addition of spicy mayo. The chicken tinga was satisfactory, but simple enough where we were able to customize with our own sauces. Though the extravagant fillings caught our eyes, the cauliflower taco overbearingly tasted of hummus, and the brussel sprout taco had an odd flavor owed to the carrot puree included.
To complement our tacos, we indulged in three sides, two of which were corn. As an elote fanatic, we tried the on-the-cob street corn and off-the-cob equistes. Shockingly, the street corn was far better owing to the presence of more elote mayonnaise and cotija cheese than the equistes. We excitedly ordered the cucumber salad but were disappointed in the lack of flavor, tasting of straight-up lemon juice and red pepper. To make up for the cucumber, we decided to end with the churros. They were crisp on the outside while soft on the inside. Having no clue what it was at first, the vanilla sauce was luscious.
Not only did the food itself drive my favorable opinion, but the service was exquisite. From experience, when going out to eat with a group of teenagers, wait staff are either easily agitated or extra accommodating. Our waitress, who we learned went to this school, understandingly explained the menu and ordering process and was genuinely interested in conversation with us. We spoke for over 10 minutes about shared friends and similar plans abroad for the upcoming summer. She hands-down enhanced our experience and raised the bar for restaurant service.
