best of the best. tacoville is a legend. simply put, it is the best traditional americantacojoint you can find anywhere. and that's exactly what you get, a taste of the authentictacojoints that used to be everywhere. don't go looking for sopes, tortas, or the traditional mexican tacos packed with onion, cillantro, and some al pastor or lengua (that's a totally different category unto itself), because it's strictly american style tacos, burritos and nachos at the restaurant that the gods of the south side must have constructed.
tacoville has been around for a while, as i remember walking from my parents bakery at grant square shopping center down to "ron's tacoville" back around 1978-1980. that place went out of business long ago, and i was denied the tacoville experience until i re-discovered them at the location at airline shopping center around 1991. don't let the neighborhood or the characters around there un-nerve you, this place is worth it. there are nostalgic places such as los tacos which are similar to tacoville and can boast that they've been around since 1972 and have a similar menu, but they just don't stack up to the god-like powers of tacoville. when you first walk in, the smell is the first thing that greets you, and it still puts a smile on my face and fills my head with nostalgia. there hang antique gas station signs and memoriabilia on the walls that one could get confused and think that they had just walked into a museum built to house beer distributor advertising over the years. no doubt, these are the trophies that tacoville has accumulated for selling more domestic beer than most stop & rob convenience stores over the years . it's no wonder, because their "ice-cold beer-to-go" case stretches pretty much the entire length of the eating area. they sell the cheapest domestic beer around and even cigarettes (i miss the smell of smoke-filled diners and cafes around the city). you can even order the tacoville special which comes with a longneck of your choice. you get the feeling of walking into a revered establishment the likes of chuck yeager or john wayne might have stepped into out in the mojave desert with their buddies fifty years ago.
what gives tacoville their a-number one top place among traditionaltacofare has to start with their blend oftacomeat which is a basic component of nearly everything on the menu. there's nothing like it anywhere. it has such a fresh, full and meaty flavor about it, that the smell is un-mistakable and gives the entire restaurant it's trademark smell. you can discern tiny pieces of onion within the strata of meat, and that's about it. there's some kind of binder that makes the meat really stick together that i've never been able to figure out. it allows thetacomeat to be sculpted into any form the good ladies behind the counter wish. never dry, it can leave its signature orange, greasy trail on most anything it touches and force you to smell it for the remainder of the day (not unlike the effect of some primal pheremone). i can figure out most spices and secrets with most of the food i consume and reproduce it at home, but i cannot for the life of me figure out the secret of the tacoville recipe. combinations of this meat are found inside their burritos, tacos, nachos, and enchiladas making it fun to order, as if trying to pick and arrange your favorite saturday morning cartoon lineup of all time. my standy is the meat burrito, straightforward with loads of meat and fresh cheddar cheese rolled in their yellow egg-flour tortillas. add refried beans to that basic burrito and you have the combo burrito. the tops for most has to be the sancho with beef, cheese, sour cream and lettuce (that's never bitter and never wilted). my favorite is thetacoburger or thetacochili burger. these have become an endangered species at most big chains or are just sub-par at most. tacoville's buns are better than most any hamburger stand as they are the freshest i've ever sampled and really complement their meat and cheese along with lettuce and a splash of their hot sauce. nachos also, are straightforward with a round and flat wonderfully crisp cornmeal tortilla with combinations of meat, cheese, beans. and jalapenos topped with sometacosauce. tacos, the trademark in the name, have the same fresh & tasty cornmeal in the form of atacoshell that cradles the succulenttacomeat waiting for your mouth along with crisp lettuce and more of that wonderfully fresh cheddar. i've had the enchilada dinners and they are equally on the same ground as the rest of the fare on the menu. the thing that completely surprised me by far was their hot dog, which just shouldn't be on the menu of atacoplace, but seems to be a staple of the old guard of okctacoplaces. it is on par with the best chili dog i know of which belongs to coit's and del rancho, perhaps due to schwab's meat?
any way you stack tacoville up, they are simply the best at what they do, which is to make the best food they possibly can and sell it to whoever wants it. what you're left with, is long lunch lines and very happy patrons that come back to the same great food year after year.