Amaya's Taco Village

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Amaya's Taco Village
Capital Plaza Shopping Center
5405 N. IH 35
Austin, Texas 78723
512.458.2531

Wow! A friend and I went to Amaya's for lunch the other day; what a great find. He told me this place was popular and he was right. We arrived shortly after 11:00 and the parking lot was nearly full.

Though the taco meat could have been drained a bit longer, they were great! The shell was actually homemade, which is nearly unheard of these days; not very crispy, but thick and full of flavor. I have never had a taco shell that good before. And I almost couldn't find the tacos for all the lettuce and tomato. With a generous portion of meat, these two tacos were a great deal.

The atmosphere was casual, and the service was prompt and friendly. Alas, it was a work day so I can't comment on how cold their beer would have been.

Definitely a great place to visit, but if you're going at lunch go early. We finish eating shortly before noon and the line of folks waiting was already out the door.

Vivo

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Vivo
12233 RR620
Suite 105
Austin TX 78750

Vivo is right around the corner from the house, but we never went as it looks more like a night club than a restaurant; until a Groupon offer we couldn't refuse. When we were waiting for our food (which wasn't long) Cecelia and I were betting who the Groupon customers were; everyone over 50 and the couple with their kids, who kept pointing to the pictures on the walls (parental guidance advised).

Vivo is a bit hard to describe; the food was delicious, the service was outstanding, and the decor, well, don't take you 10 year old. With a list of more different kinds of tequila shots on the menu than food items, it is kind of a might club; but did I say the food was delicious?

Anyway, no plain corn tortilla tacos...just puffy ones, so I diverted from my usual ala-carte of two tacos and went with the puffy taco plate which included rice and beans (hence the price). The tacos were perfectly flavored and stuffed with more meat than I've seen in tacos their size and generous portions of cheese and lettuce....and not a drop of grease on the plate. The chips were fried crispy (yum!) and the salsa had a perfect burn to it. Even the rice and beans were good.

With $7.00 left on out Groupon we ordered the flan; I've had some of the best flan made and some of the worse, this definitely falls into the best category.....it was fabulous! Big enough to share and with a great caramel sauce, it was served with a sliced strawberry and a spattering of blueberries.

Very romantic atmosphere; Cecelia got a red rose....I got the check. I imagine the night club we thought it was comes alive Friday and Saturday nights. Dubbed as better than sex Tex Mex, they are close to right; great food, great service, and for the quality of the food served reasonable prices. Might have to go back on our anniversary.

Camino Real Restaurant

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Camino Real Restaurant
202 Walton Way
Ste 100
Cedar Park, TX 78613

Just not nearly as good as Camino Real #1, which I reviewed last April. The service was friendly, but not real promt and I had to remind our wait person to bring my beer. Alas, the food was a disappointment

I was hungry so I ordered a plate with beans and rice with my tacos. It came with cold rice and barley warm beans; it had to be sent back. The tacos were so soggy, the shell just fell apart; this may be because I had to send the plate back (another good reason to order just tacos), but they could have checked it better before sending back. Not much meat on the tacos and not worth the $2.00 Al a Carte price.

The salsa was plenty hot, but the queso wasn't much more than melted cheese.

A major disappointment was they had Dos XX on tap, but they were out!

My daughter and her family go here often and like it, so for that I will give them another shot, but reluctantly

Don Pablo's Mexican Restaurant

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Don Pablo's Mexican Restaurant
444 West I-20
Grand Prairie, TX 75052
972-642-9595


I'm not one for chain restaurants, but Don Pablos has some good tacos! Time was short and once the chips and salsa were delivered, our wait person disappeared. But the manager took our order (he didn't write it down and got it all right!). We told him we were in a hurry and our food was on the table in less than five minutes. The tacos were good size and delicious. The unique thing was they had them standing on a couple large chips...this kept the tacos standing up and out of any meat drippings, but there weren't any. Well stuffed with a touch of cumin in the meat, these tacos were really good. Aside from the slow start of service and the too sweet salsa....and dispite being a chain, I would go back.

Tuesday night is all the tacos you can eat for $6.99. Too bad they are up in the DFW area and not Austin.