Fine Dining - Torchy's Tacos: The Next Great Mexican Chain?

Episode Date: April 1, 2026

🌮🔥 Torchy's Tacos: From Trailer Park to Taco Empire (Damn Good Origins!) 🔥🌮 This week, I'm joined by my mom, Sue Ornelas, to dig into the history of Torchy's Tacos. From humble trailer beginnings to an expanding national chain, Torchy's built its reputation on pork tacos, the devil, and tacos named after political affiliations. We talk about its early days, the wild marketing stunts, and whether this Austin-born taco spot has what it takes to become one of the next dominant Mexican chains in America (eagle sound). 🌮 Founder Hustle: Free Tacos from a Red Vespa to Build the Brand 🏕️ Trailer Park Origins and Eating at the Original Location 📣 The "Damn Good" Slogan Came Straight from Customers 🎉 SXSW Parachute Drop Is Badass 📈 Expansion Across 15+ States and Growing Fast 🔮 Could Torchy's Become the Next Big National Mexican Chain? 🎡 Sue's Dream Restaurant: A Game Show Wheel That Builds Your Meal 🕵️ Yelp Drama: Staff Steals Your Purse and Still 3 Stars?! 💬 COMMENT BELOW: Is Torchy's actually "Damn Good," or just great marketing? 📢 SUPPORT THE SHOW & JOIN THE COMMUNITY: 🎉 Patreon (Bonus episodes, extended Yelp segments & more): patreon.com/finediningpodcast 💬 Discord (Food talk, memes, cursed Yelp): discord.gg/6a2YqrtWV4 🎥 Watch full episodes: youtube.com/channel/UCLbraNhL6KhDPkdSWt2yiuw 🔗 All links: linktree.com/finediningpodcast 🎤 Guest: Sue Ornelas (my mom!) Patreon Producers:Sue Ornelas & Joyce Van Patreon Subscribers:David Ornelas, Kellie Baldwin, Jeremy Horwitz, Herbert Amaya, Simone Davalos, Scott Bennett, Amy Reinhart, Josef Castaneda-Liles, & Travis Langley Free Patreon Followers:Joe Warszalek, Lauren Cummings, Grace Krainak, Keri Estes, Robert Duran, Patrick Elliott, Michelle Elmer, Dave Plummer, Nicholas Volney, Michael Gerard, Tracy Molino, Phuong Duong, Tyler Robinson, Brandon Gully, Mason Cruz, Michael Milito, Mez, Aaron Hubbard, Steff, Robert McLaughlin, Jewell Hermann, Renae Michael, Crystal C. 👉 NEXT WEEK: We're back w/my mom to put Torchy's Tacos to the Chili's Test.

Is Torchie's Tacos the next fully national fast casual taco powerhouse? A taco chain that has been delivered every way imaginable from Vespa deliveries to parachute drops, Torchie's Tacos is celebrating its 20th anniversary with rapid expansion. What started in my hometown of Austin, Texas, can now be found in many more states, and it has the opportunity to become a household name if its momentum keeps up. And unlike competitors like Chipotle or Taco Bell, Torchies has a tongue-eastern, cheek satanic theming that's honestly surprising coming from such a red steak. And speaking of politics, two of their most popular tacos are the Democrat and the Republican, which a certain

former president once dropped into sample. This week on the show, I'll dip my churro of knowledge directly into your cinnamon sugar of curiosity so that you two may know everything I've learned about Torchies tacos. Then we'll direct our attention to the people of Yelp to see what they're saying about the very Torchies we dined at. Stay tuned. This, this. is the fine dining podcast. Your table is ready. Take your seat. The flavor of the day is mediocrity to try.

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I don't know if I ate at that Torchies. The one that I would go to was on the U.T. campus. Yeah. Not for me. I do remember you're going to that trailer park for those donuts and you're saying Torchie was there at the time. Yes.

Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Hello and welcome to the Fine Dining podcast, the quest to compare all restaurants to Chili's. I'm your host, Michael Ornellis. And in this podcast, we learn the history of our favorite restaurant chains one week before seeing how they can.

compared to chilies in week two. This week on the show, I'll be going through the history of the rising Mexican food empire Torchie's Tacos and joining me to discuss it is a woman who made me into the man I am today by literally making me. It's my own mom, Sue Warnellis. Hi. Michael, I'm excited to be back. It's been a while. And to pick one of our hometown treasures, if you will. Well, I know you said that you have memorabilized. of eating at the first food truck for Torchies. Do you have any specific Torchies memories? There were a couple locations that opened up after the trailer, and one happened to be between me and my hairdresser.

So I would drive through. Drive-through? Yeah. Yes. Really? Uh-huh. I didn't know any locations had a drive-thru. Okay.

And I would always allow enough time because those tacos are cooked fresh and that line was not like McDonald's moving you through. I guess that's why I'm surprised to hear drive-through because like I did an episode on Lubbies several years ago, which is a cafeteria you go in, you know, grab a tray, go down the line. And they had a drive-through. Yeah. I think I've only really seen this in Texas. there are places that are not really focused on speed that will still put in a drive-through. And we're like, yeah, sure, we'll give you food through a window. Uh-huh.

But it's not going to be quick. And it was truly just a window, a very tight little drive to get through there. It was next to the fire station. So a very busy area. But I would allow the time to drive through. You think it's that worth it? It is. Yeah.

It's a tree for sure. I like torches. Yeah. My journey with Torchis honestly coincided with me becoming a less picky eater. Torchis was one of the places where I first tried a bunch of things. Carnitas. They have like a Carnitas taco. I believe the first one I ever had was the green hatch, chili pork taco, whatever the official name, the nomenclature is on that taco.

Salsa Verde. I tried for the first time there. I was like, nope, only red sauce. I mean, you know the development of my eating habits. I do. Like through high school, it was kind of the same like nine things. Pretty limited. It's pretty limited.

And then I really started branching out. Mostly, I think I've realized if I understand all the ingredients in something, I'll be like, oh, okay, I can I can try that because I would eat all those things separately. or if there's only one thing in it that I hadn't had before. That's why it's taken me a really long time to be comfortable trying sauces. Oh, because there's so much that make up sauces. There's so many things in a sauce, whereas like, you know, a burger or an entree dish, a food versus a liquid, you can usually customize it. I don't like cheese. Give me that burger.

No cheese. Getting vegetables on my burger has been a very gradual like, okay, I'm comfortable. with lettuce. Okay, I like onion. Let's put onion on a, and now, you know, tomato is still hit or missed with me just because sometimes, well, it's oftentimes way too juicy. Yeah, well, tomato can textually ruin a burger, even if I like the taste fine enough. Okay. Okay. So getting all the veggies on a burger has been a very gradual thing for me and then trying sauces that weren't ketchup. Now I like a mustard, but I do prefer like a ground mustard as opposed to yellow mustard, but like all these things that you know from me growing up where it was like

nothing but meat bun and ketchup, which I'm not going to lie, I still love a burger that's meat bun and ketchup. I think it's very pure and it means that you can't skate by on not having quality meat. Yeah. And you've been very good about that in being, I'd say, a purist when it comes to your burgers and your burger competitions. Sure. But I'm very proud of you. One for branching out. For really branching up. But I really do. I have distinct memories of trying stuff for the first time at Torchies.

Interesting. So that's kind of my history with Torchies. That's your history with Torchies. Do you want to hear the history of Torchies? I would love to. All right. We're going to jump into this week's Eat Deets. Eatery Details.

Torchies Tacos was founded in Austin, Texas in 2006 by Mike Ripka, who launched the business from a single food trailer. Ripko would zip around on a red Vespah handing out his scratch-made tacos emblazoned with what would become the brand's slogan damn good. The slogan was actually born from enthusiastic customers, shouting praise outside the first trailer. Those early days were a grind. Ripka logged a hundred-hour workweeks to build his taco concept, but a local, loyal following began to form around the little trailer on South First Street. Well, I was hoping that along the way I would have seen a red Vespa. I guess I didn't realize they went back that far.

20 years. Wow. Been around a while. I never saw the thing going around, but it was a trailer first. Then he would deliver stuff by VESPA and just, I think, hand out samples that sounded like to people just for brand discoverability, which is brilliant. Good idea. It's a good idea. So, and clearly they had the product to build that following.

Apparently. Yeah. Getting discovered is a miracle. Getting discovered in your product sucks would be awful. Yeah. You know. Grinding it out. That's how you grow, I think.

I don't know. We'll find out. I know. Oh, you're talking about Torchis. Torchis cultivated a fun, irreverent brand image that set it apart. Its official mascot is a cherubic baby devil, an icon Ripka dreamed up in a flash of inspiration. The edgy, playful vibe carries through to Torchie's. colorful restaurant decor and their not-so-secret menu of experimental taco creations for their fans that they call taco junkies.

I did not realize that. Taco junkies is though they would like, you know, prostitute themselves under a bridge for tacos. Yeah. Okay. Well, now there's a name to, you know, all of those that sneak out in the middle of night. Well, I don't know the hours for. What? Oh. I don't think.

I'm just remembering someone. knew that used to sneak out for food occasionally. Me? Look, of all the things I could have done as a kid, sneaking out to go to Magnolia Cafe at midnight is not the worst offense. We'll talk later. Will we? Look, I didn't get up to a lot of trouble.

Oh, you were a good kid. So I'm okay with that, Michael. Yeah. Dang. Put me on blast. The Torchie's menu helped propel its cult status, offering inventive tacos with cheeky names and unexpected ingredient mashups. Fan favorites include the trailer park taco, a fried chicken creation famously ordered trashy,

aka topped with queso, the pulled pork-filled hogfather and the exotic swinger, among other boldly named options. The chain is also renowned for its sides like green chili queso, an award-winning casso dip that has become nearly as famous as the tacos themselves. This playful culinary approach, mixing Tex-Mex, classics with Austin Flair has been key to Torchie's reputation. Torchie's has done a great job of with the slogan, with the mascot of something that, oh, yeah, that's cool. I want to have a hat or a t-shirt or something that's familiar.

It's very distinct branding. It is. Yeah, I mean, brand identity is also just so important to stand out. And I feel like nowadays in particular, there are so many established. Burger chains, pizza chains, taco chains, like stuff like that, where if you're just kind of another one, it's going to be real hard to stand out. And I think Torchies with their branding, I mean, I'll talk about it next week, but one of my favorite details of the Torchies we went to is the handle to the front door was a pitchfork. Yes, it was. That was cool. And so it's like

they're really digging in on making their theming immersive and, and, and, they're really committed to it. And not intentionally to use a pun, the devil is in the details. And they're very detailed oriented. Over the years, Torchies has generated buzz with clever promotions and high-profile shoutouts. In 2016, it garnered national attention when President Barack Obama made a surprise stop at an Austin location and ordered a tongue-in-cheek trio of tacos, one Democrat, one Republican,

and one independent. The Democrat is Barbacoa. the Republican is jalapeno sausage, the independent is fried portobello. And during South by Southwest 2019, Torchies literally made it rain tacos. The company attached hundreds of tacos to mini parachutes and dropped them from the sky onto downtown festivalgoers in an attention-grabbing stunt. Wow. Yeah. I do not remember that.

Well, unless you were downtown, there's so many products integrations in South by Southwest. Yeah. So many brands looking for operational. opportunities to promote in unique ways that they only really try there, that unless you're at the festival that year, to even make the news. Yeah, like to even hear about it is rare, I guess. Raining tacos. I think it's a great idea.

There's actually a video that exists from the ground of little, little parachutes coming down. Yeah, that's cute. I think it's brilliant. I think it's such a fun little marketing stunt. You know, feed a hungry crowd. Yeah. You're not throwing something. You're literally air dropping it.

So it has this cute little attention grabbing parachute for presentation. Yeah. Like the novelty of getting your food. A food drop. Like air dropped to you is so much. It's literally the same thing as, hey, you on that balcony, toss me a taco. Yeah. But something about attaching it to a parachute really makes.

it pop. That would have been a lot of fun to be there. Yeah, for sure. What began as a lone trailer evolved into a fast casual empire. Torchies opened its first brick and mortar restaurant in 2010 and quickly spread to major Texas cities like Dallas and Houston. By 2016, the brand

ventured beyond Texas for the first time opening a location in Colorado and marking the start of its interstate expansion. Notably, Torchies has kept growth in-house owning and operating all its stores rather than franchising. By 2020, the company boasted over 110 locations across 14 states,

expanding from the southwest into the southeast, and bringing a taste of Austin to a widening swath of the country. I'm shocked. I truly don't think I've seen or run into a torches outside of Texas. Yeah. So until we started to prepare for this episode, I had no idea how many. The breadth of its spread? Unbelievable, actually.

To supercharge its growth, Torchies attracted significant private investment and experienced leadership. In 2017, private equity firm General Atlantic acquired a stake in Torchies and later increased its investment, bringing its total commitment to roughly $400 million by 2020. That same funding round also welcomed major institutional investors, signaling strong confidence in the chain's potential. Around this time, industry buzz suggested Torchies was exploring an IPO, with reports in 2021 claiming that the company hired banks to examine going public at a valuation around $1 billion. While an IPO has not materialized as of 2025, the influx of capital helped Torchies rapidly scale while remaining privately held. That would be an awfully fun investment if we got a couple tacos included.

I think that their investors can probably eat complementarily. I am just actually very excited to explore torches more now, knowing that I can travel and seek it out. Well, I was going to say, explore in what capacity in trying to seek out locations in other states? I think so. And, you know, not just waiting to do my little drive-through, but when I'm out and about, I can, you know, have torches. It'd be nice to see it in the airport. What I do find interesting about their growth is the fact that they're keeping it precious to them. Like, by not franchising, they are the quality control.

Is that true? No franchises. No franchises. So their quality control themselves, which I think is the challenge of going national on such a scale is when will the quality dip? It almost feels like an inevitability. because just to scale it to so many restaurants, you want to kind of thin the margins a little. Or you want to thicken. The margins are thin.

And yeah, you want to increase them. So thicken the margins. And, you know, I will bring it to Dave's again. They sold to the company that owns Subway. Subway is not known for high quality meat. I don't like Subway. I don't have a lot of respect for what Subway offers. Are we up there?

It's down there. Okay. I went to Dave's or ordered from Dave's like a week or two ago, and it was the first time where I tasted it where I was like, this doesn't seem the same. And it may have been a bad batch. Yeah. But like the fries tasted less flavor, like they were emptier. The chicken itself just from a texture standpoint seemed a little off. So I don't know.

Yeah. But it would certainly make me. sad, but like, that's, that is what happens when you scale at that, at that level. Right. So I hope Torchies will keep, uh, their quality, which I like Torchies. I'm not out here saying like Torchies is this like, like, incredible. You're not going to have the best tacos of your life at Torchies, but for a chain, for a chain, it is very, very solid.

Yep. So that's, that's kind of my view on it is like, of course, a mom and a pop or even a taco truck that doesn't even have a name is probably going to be where you get the best tacos of your life. Yeah, but I will say that my memory of the trailer park, torches, and modern torches. And modern torches when we visited are comparable. Yeah. Yeah.

I will say that some of those tacos were as good as my original bite, I should say. Yeah. And I think that's my observation as well. I don't think I've ever felt Torchies dip in quality. Yeah. I think anything that has made me think less of Torchies isn't even less of Torchies so much as, oh, I've had better now. Yeah. So it's like a comparative thing, but comparative to itself, it's staying consistent.

Yeah. And that's so important for a chain. Alongside its rise, Torchies has faced legal disputes and operational hurdles. The company has aggressively protected its brand, exemplified. in 2017 when it sued a Colorado taco shop called Damn Good Tacos over its infringement of its trademarked damn good tacos slogan. In late 2021, the chain faced a food safety scare when a salmonella outbreak linked to contaminated onions at a San Antonio location sickened a child, leading to a lawsuit against Torchies and its suppliers. Like many restaurant brands, Torchies was also hit hard

by the COVID-19 pandemic, with sales reportedly dropping by about 50% in spritory. spring 2020, forcing temporary closures and furloughs before a PPP loan allowed the company to stabilize and rehire staff. Despite these challenges, Torchies continued expanding after addressing the issues. Unless you have a great delivery service during COVID, it's just one of those you go, they're cooking it fresh. Right. And I think that is part of what we love about Torchies. Yeah, and it's just a harder business model when you have something where people do need to stay at home. Yeah.

But what's interesting and what I've noticed in the wake of the pandemic is a lot of places that offered delivery as a result of the pandemic now still kind of have that as an option. So I do like the way that the pandemic affected availability of traditionally sit down restaurant food. And I know you mentioned that you know of a Torchies that has a drive-through. That is not their standard. I guess I didn't realize that. Obviously, I walked up to a trailer and then, you know, this one has, and it's a tiny, you know, narrow drive-through. Right. But I was not aware that that wasn't a thing.

Yeah. Most of them are like brick and mortar. It's like a Chipotle. Yeah. In terms of what level of restaurant it's on in terms of its process. Yeah. But also to comment on how COVID-19 changed availability. Mm-hmm.

of food with the grocery stores. For instance, you know, curbside. Curbside forever is a huge thing. And a lot of restaurants are happy to run it out to your car. Right. So yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a positive. No, I mean, I do think that there are a lot of quality of life changes that came in the wake of the pandemic that I think are net positives. It was just the process getting there was so devastating. Yeah. So as of 2025, Torchise Tacos has grown into a regional powerhouse with more than 130 locations across 16 states. While Austin remains its home base, the brand's footprint now stretches from Arizona and Texas to Florida, Tennessee, and Virginia. In early 2025, founder Mike Ripka transitioned from CEO into a quote unquote chief innovation role, handing leadership duties to incoming CEO Paul McAluso,

an industry veteran tasked with guiding the brand's next phase. Under this new leadership, Torchie's aims to open roughly 75 additional restaurants by 2030, potentially bringing the chain close to 200 locations nationwide, an ambitious evolution for a company that started as a single trailer with a devil logo and a simple promise to be damn good. That's damn good. Growth-wise. Yeah, but we'll see.

There's a lot of empty promises when it comes. comes to like, oh, we want to open this many restaurants by this year. Let's talk about Bojangles for a second. Bojangles in April of 2024 announced that by quarter one, 2025, they would open locations in Los Angeles. It's now 2026. There's not one yet. And their goal was to have 30 locations in L.A. by 2028, I think, or 2029? Bojangles, the chicken. Yeah.

But like, do you know about when Bojangles originated? I haven't done an episode on them yet. Yeah. So I don't know. Yeah. I'd be curious to see how long, you know, what is the trajectory of the growth. Of their growth. Yeah.

I think the closest one to me, there's one in Las Vegas. Okay. But even then that's much further west than I think the next furthest west one. Yeah. So, yeah, they're very much like a Southern Carolina chain, right? I was just going to say the airport. We change planes in Charlotte. Hasbo jangles in the airport.

Look, you know which airports have which fast food restaurants. And that'll do it. For this week's Eat Deeps. Mom, I hope hearing about a brand that has a devil for a mascot has got you itching to sell your soul to launch a restaurant concept of your very own. We have to sing a theme song for this segment. Give me a style of song you want us to sing. Not me. Us to sing.

Us to sing. Yeah. Do you know how risky that is to ask me to sing? Look, I grew up with you around. In the car? Yeah. With the radio. Game show theme.

Okay. Great. This is the restaurant of your dreams. Spin the wheel and make it real. It's where every angel gets its way. This is the restaurant of your dreams. We killed it. Mom, I want to know what your brain has concocted

when tasked with the responsibility of opening your very own dream restaurant. Something so good that Ryan Seacrest would threaten to leave his Wheel of Fortune hosting duties if the executives didn't let him put your restaurant's name in the game. It must be practical, delicious, memorable, Three, two, one, the floor is yours. Well, I love to watch game shows. Yeah. That goes back to my mom.

You know, oh, it's six o'clock. I'm watching Will of Fortune. You know, like, at least I knew where to find her at six o'clock every night. But there is a food on the Food Network. Yeah. Guys grocery games. Have you ever seen that, Michael? Never seen it.

I know it exists. Okay. So some of the competition. there are different wheels they spin. And one might be a piece of cooking equipment you need to use to make this dish. And the next one is the theme. It could be either picnic, black tie. So there's different wheels.

So it would be a lot of fun to have a place that you didn't walk. in knowing exactly what you're going to have, but you have your favorite ingredients. That sounds so risky to me as someone who doesn't like cheese. I know. But if you could request, you know, you love pasta. Right. You love, let's pick a different sauce than a red sauce that would normally go with it. Barbecue sauce.

You know, and, you know, a protein. Yeah. And you're, you know, you have. have all these options on these wheels of things that you love. So you spin the wheel and then we find out how they work together. A meal that really has the things you love. So cheese would not be on your wheel. Yeah.

Cheese would be on every wheel for me. Unfortunately. Yeah. I love cheese. You would have a wheel of cheese do the cooking. Wheel of cheese. He's throwing some fresh bread. You know, I know you'd enjoy that.

But I just think it would be fun if there was the opportunity to have a place where it's not like I'm going to go in and have shrimp scampy. I'm going to go and I want shrimp. I want something no one's ever tried before. I want to be the creator of my menu in a way. This sounds truly crazy from a logistical standpoint. It does. In that like no chef will. ever be comfortable working there.

Every single dish, they're like, I have to do what now? On the fly. That would be actually a great name of the restaurant. On the fly? On the fly. Great. Right. I like that.

But it would be fun. I love game shows. And so to have an element of fun and not knowing the, you know, the outcome. You know, when I wrote that little blurb about Ryan Seacrest leaving Wheel of Fortune if your restaurant isn't featured on it, that. I had no knowledge of what you were doing for your restaurant. I just so heavily associate game shows with you. I know.

That's what I wrote. So this is so on brand for you. Well, when you said Wheel of Fortune, I'm like, I know I never mentioned this to you. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, anyway, game show themed. So on the fly. On the fly.

And yeah, we're spinning wheels to get dish combinations. Yeah. But everything. thing is my wheelhouse, if you will. Yeah. You know, for what I love. What's the decor like? I don't know.

It's on the fly. Lots of flies. We got stinky trash. You know, there are those restaurants that have these little different dining rooms. Yeah. So, you know, there can be one that is a little more casual. And maybe that's where you're going to be seated based on the menu that is presented, you know, versus something with a white tablecloth.

So you mean like there's like for rooms for different types of cuisines? For different. Like a Mexican cuisine. Oh, okay. Theme. Cool. All right. Look, I'd try it.

There was a restaurant in Colorado that you went to. Costa Bonita? Yes. Yeah. Were those rooms themed? Yeah. So maybe in the back of my. It wasn't really themed rooms so much as they have a bunch of like hodgepodge things.

But like a lot of the rooms dining areas are through like a cave system. Okay. And then there's cliff divers if you want like the cliffside dining. But yeah, there's not like a room that's like a gala and another room that's like mine shafts. It's kind of all still kind of cohesive but still very heavy on the theme. But maybe that experience. you had, you know, inspired this in the back of my head to be able to go to the same restaurant, but have multiple experiences. Do you spin a wheel at the beginning to determine which room you're seated in?

Well, that whole idea is spinning multiple wheels to kind of lead you to where you're going to end up that evening. Well, thanks for going over all of that with me, Mom. I now have a better insight into what you dream about one last time. Yep. This is the restaurant of your dreams. All right. We did it.

Let's now bring things back to reality to see what other people think of the torches that we went to in this week's Yelp from strangers. We need a little yelp, a little yelp from strangers. A little yelp. Star 2 star 3 star 4 or bye

Y'i So get a little Yelp Rangers A little Yelp, a little Yelp, give us those complaints while you literally white All right, this is Yelp from Strangers Our segment where we turn to Yelp and read out

our favorite One, two, three, four and five star Yelp your view Veroos reviews of the very Torches that we went to. Do you mind if I start us with the first review?

You go right ahead. Three star review. This is a three star review from Charlotte M from Austin, Texas, July 4th, 2018. Torchies bus boy stole my best friend's purse. Oh, no. Watch your bags at this torches slash any torches. I think it's crazy to assume that other torches are stealing from you as though it's like company policy. Oh, my goodness. That's a little scary.

It's a bold accusation. It sure is. Obviously, they hired delinquents who steal the customer's belongings. We called twice and asked for the purse, and they said they couldn't. We drove all the way back to the torches and went looking ourselves and got the manager to give us the regional manager's number so we could check the cameras. We went home. Then she realized her GPS Apple Watch was in the bag, and we tracked it and saw it was still there.

We went back and the bus boy was ducking away from us, and the manager came back and made the bus boy get it out of a cabinet that he hit in. Oh, caught red-handed. Anyway, got the purse and good tacos. For life. That was a three-star review. Not a one star, not a two star. I know. That's pretty scary.

But wow. To give it three stars after an experience so. Yeah. Scary. Well, I don't know if scaries. I'm not afraid. I'm just like, what is happening? I'd feel angry.

Yeah, I would be angry. You're right. But to then have the level-headedness to be like, but the tacos are still good. Yeah, the tacos are good. Well, it'll be interesting to see what a one-star review is. involves. Yeah. Let's find out right now. Okay. One star review. This is a one star review from Brett H. Houston, Texas, January 12th of 2022. This place is absolute, unrepentant garbage. That's what a one star review is like. I got two tacos, some chips and caseo, and a couple cookies, and everything is sold.

than a salt lick. That's another conversation. And another restaurant. It is. The salt lick barbecue place. One of the best atmospheres you'll ever dine in for barbecue. That'll be fun. Yeah. The chips are absolutely crusted in salt. The salsa is just spicy salt. No. Everything is disgusting and inedible. Wrong. It's like trying to drink seawater. A lot of experience with that. I know. I had to drink a gallon of water before my kidney stopped hurting and I didn't even eat half my order. This sounds like he has a health issue and he's attributing it to torches. Allergic to salt.

I don't know. I can't comment on their cookies because they weren't included even though I paid for them. I wish they'd just forgot my whole order. I would have. I wish they had forgotten everything. Everything. I would absolutely have paid to not eat this garbage. I'm trying to think if there's any meal in my life that I ate them.

Like, I would have rather paid to skip out on. I mean, I guess hometown buffet. Like, Subway, I would just avoid. I wouldn't pay to avoid. White Castle and hometown buffet, I think I would pay to not eat. Okay. Yeah. I also need to point out that each of my $5 tacos would fit in an 8-ounce measuring cup.

It's like that joke about the two people eating at a restaurant. One complains that the food is awful and the other agrees and add that the portions are also too small. Is that a joke? This is one of those Lakeway hotspots that is perfect for all the alcoholics around here who have blown out their taste buds with stowly and cheap wine. I can't think of a single good thing about this place from their faux extreme hot topic image to the cutesy menu names to their trash food, everything about the place, This is the type of place for people who think margaritas are supposed to be lime slurpees with whatever cheap booze. They're the same people who don't think mixed drinks don't count as drinking. I will never eat here again, even if someone else is paying.

In fact, I have a new rule to cut anyone who eats here out of my life because they obviously trash people. Got to love a Yelp typo. F, this repugnant place in every way. You said that so cheery. F, this repugnant place. He obviously didn't like it. Yeah. I think this is one of those things where you kind of,

you take your first bite and you're not impressed and then you just kind of use it to like feed your negativity. Like this person by the end of it had such a bias. There was no way they were going to enjoy any act. aspect of it. That's true. I don't know what you want them to do. Salt is a thing that restaurants put in stuff. I don't think that they go too overboard with it. But I mean, Mexican food in general, like tacos, chips, does tend to just use salt. Yeah. And I think it, it, I, chips need the salt. Yeah. Because you want to cool it down with the delicious salsas. But apparently, the salsas are also, yeah. I don't know.

And the drinks. Everything is salty. Hey there, it's me, Michael. And now that we're in season four, I'm adding more content to my Patreon. Not only can you hear the extended Yelp from Stranger segment with three more reviews, and not only can you get an exclusive full episode covering an extra chain restaurant on the last day of each month, but I've added an extra chat with my guests where we discussed their go-to fast food and chain restaurants and talk about why they love them so much.

I hope you'll come check it out, and you can get your first week, completely free of charge. That's patreon.com slash fine dining podcast. I appreciate and love you all. Back to the episode. And that is part one of our Torchies episode. Tune in next week as we tell you what we thought about our meal at Torchies. Mom, it's an absolute delight to have you do these episodes with me.

Will you come back next week? Of course I will. I enjoy spending time here. Yeah. You can follow the podcast on Instagram and TikTok at Fine Dining Podcast, or Blue Sky Fine Dining Podcast.byskye. Social. Join my Discord and come chat with me,

come post food pictures, pet pictures, your own Yelp reviews that you've either written that you think are funny or that you've stumbled across that you find entertaining. I love to engage with all of you and love seeing that community grow. I also have a Patreon

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And I appreciate every one of you for listening to this podcast. We're just going to be sitting here for one week waiting on our table. I'll see you all next time. Have a fine day. Waiting on our table, waiting on our table. The step is done and we have some fun. Now we're waiting on our table, waiting on our table. Join us next time we're stuck in line.

Waiting out of day, but we're so hungry. You are searched for mediocrity.