Tacombi NYC Visited 2/25/2011 3.75 Forks

Tacombi 267 Elizabeth St., New York, NY 10012

 My initial impression of Tacombi was a bit rough.  Aarti and I walked in around 8:30pm on a Friday and they had the entire back section blocked off for a reserved party.  The manager told us that we could eat and stand or wait for a table.  When we saw a couple get up from a table, we immediately sat down only to have the waitress tell us that she needed it for a group of 21 who wasn't there yet.  I gave her this look and she immediately asked the manager who said it was ok to sit but to let them know when we were done so that they could squeeze it into the 21 top. 


The next part that was kind of weird was that you need to purchase tokens in advance of ordering.  But we didn't know that and tried to order and they asked for our tokens and we were a bit confused.  Apparently you order your tokens at another counter, it's $4 per token and 1 token buys you 1 dish at any of the trucks.  There are 2 trucks in the open space: 1 is a VW bus that has beef, chicken, pork, cactus, corn and other tacos and tamales.  The other truck in the back of the room and had breakfast and fish tacos, chicken soupa and taco ceviche.  I originally thought that 1 dish was 1 taco but it was actually 2 tacos per order.  So I originally got 4 tokens which turned out to be 1 too many tokens.  Luckily Aarti took one from me otherwise I would have ended up having 8 tacos.  I ordered the ground beef taco, chicken mole taco and fish taco (6 tacos total).  Aarti got the corn taco and an avocado tamale.  The tacos are on the small side but the ingredients are fresh and simply put together.  The mole sauce on the chicken was pretty smoky and the ground beef taco was flavored well.  The fish was a white fish and it was topped with a red salsa and avocado.  The fish was a bit over cooked and it was a bit dry but the salsa helped with it.  While I did like the simplicity of the food, it would have been nice if they came with a touch of sour cream and other toppings, although I know it's not how it's actually done in Mexico.  I thought it wasn't enough food at first, but I was definitely full by the time I left.  

It would have been great if we could have mixed and matched the tacos instead of getting 2 per order.  There were a lot of big groups there and I could see how it was a fun place for groups.  Although the groups that were there were definitely not my scene. Lots of tall, models with fur vests and their fabulous type of friends.  The place doesn't have a liquor license although it looks like you can bring your own booze.  While I liked the food I had, it would be great to see them expand their menu with more variety in types of food.