7/11/2013 - Las Salsitas

The food: 1 chicken, 1 steak, 1 pork soft taco

Las Salsitas is a little Mexican restaurant across from campus on College Ave.  This restaurant is definitely lacking in atmosphere and seems almost borderline run down.  The menu hung above the counter was fairly hard to decipher, and I was almost certain that they did not actually offer tacos until I asked the exceedingly friendly gentlemen that took our order and served us.  I order three different soft tacos and we (John, ChrisM and myself) had a seat on some patio furniture outside (which was very loud and unpleasant due to its proximity to College Ave.).  When the tacos arrived, we were all excited to see they were made on delicious hand made tortillas.  The tacos had beans and rice on them (a little different), meat, lettuce, sour cream, salsa and some light white cheese on top.  I got the feeling that these tacos would be called burritos in a different tortilla.  The tacos were tasty, with the carnitas tasting the best to me, and three tacos ended up being a fair amount of food with the beans and rice in them.  Apparently the have a 0.99 taco day on Tuesdays, which would make this meal quite a deal (and popular with college students, I imagine).  I'm giving these tacos an overall rating of 7/10.

6/27/2013 - Taco Bell

The food:  1 grilled steak taco (fresco), 1 chicken soft taco (fresco), 1 volcano taco

As you can see, we are being very scientific and objective in our taco search.  Even Taco Bell is under consideration for Best Taco in Fort Collins honors.  I had the grilled steak soft taco, the chicken soft taco and the volcano taco.  I made the steak and chicken tacos "fresco", which means they add a little pico on top of the taco.  It actually does make a difference, and I have to say I thought those two tasted pretty good.  They were more 'natural' tasting with the fresh pico and the chicken/steak is an upgrade from the ground "beef" in their other tacos.  The volcano taco is the normal Taco Bell taco you are imagining with a little more heat, but not really hot at all.  The taco bell we visited did not have a patio, so we sat at a very bright table on some bright chairs, and John and I had ourselves a very typical Taco Bell dining experience.  ChrisM skipped the trip to Taco Bell in fear of crapping his pants during a run later on, but I think those fears were unfounded.  Overall, these tacos were not too bad and they were inexpensive.  Dining ambiance leaves a little to be desired, but I give tacos an overall rating of 6/10. 

6/20/2013 - Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant

Taco Restaurant #3 - Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant

The food:  A la carte "open-faced" tacos - 1 steak, 1 braised pork,  1 pan-seared mahi

ChrisW: John and I enjoyed our tacos on the back patio and were joined by our wonderful ladies.  The rio back patio is pretty nice with a huge concrete fountain in the middle of a patio surrounded by plants and ornate metal gates.  The rio always has lots of patrons, so it is always a fun atmosphere.  I will note that we all found it difficult to go to the Rio without ordering margaritas.  We ordered tacos a la carte so that we could mix and match, even though it ended up being fairly expensive that way.  I'll start by saying the warm, stretchy, doughy, handmade tortillas were awesome.  The inside of the tacos left a bit to be desired, though.  The steak taco was literally just a few chunks of steak (which were tasty) and some red sauce.  The pork taco came with grilled pineapple and salsa and the mahi taco was served with a mango salsa.  While these tacos and their ingredients looked great on the menu, the actual food (tortilla aside) fell flat.  Like most Rio food, I got the impression of Mexican food that I might have made in my college dorm by throwing unseasoned, sauted meat and generic grocery salsas and such into a tortilla. 

ChrisW overall rating: 5/10