Look out Oklahoma Joe's there is a new kid on the block.... but you may not have to pay too close attention. Taco Republic, a well known food truck in the KC metro area, recently opened a permanent location right across the street from the original Ok Joe's location, 47th and Mission Road. This new hip restaurant has been creating a bit of a stir in the neighborhood surrounding it and not always in a positive way. The location selection may be ideal considering that it is directly in eyesight of an established BBQ joint that rarely has a slow night. There is the potential to draw away potential customers that are stuck in a long line of fellow BBQ hounds.... but it will likely only happen once. The restaurant is brightly painted and has fold away exterior walls allowing for an open air dining experience- too bad winter in Kansas is coming on fast, heat bills will likely be high.
All that aside- it is really the food that matters. Granted the restaurant has only been open a few weeks. The benefits of that fact is they have more wait staff than they will actually need, so service is pretty prompt and generally friendly. Down side is the food has likely not yet hit a consistency and the over populated wait staff want to turn over tables quickly so they can make more money. Stopped for a late lunch around 1:00 pm but there was still a pretty good crowd (fighting for a "legal" parking space).
A standard in many Mexican or even Tex-Mex restaurants are the Chips and Salsa that come with your meals. This is available but must be requested and is actually a menu item at $2. This is not that odd considering they are going for a higher end feel. The rojo sauce (their salsa) is a finely pureed version that had a decent spice to it. The chips were a bit on the greasy side and were a mix of flat tortilla and puffed tortilla chips (there were also a few pork rind crumbles in the bottom of the basket).
There are several menu options to select from but of course it is the tacos that the restaurant wants to be known for. A positive aspect of the menu selection is that there are many gluten free tacos available for those with this particular dietary restriction. So the tacos that were sampled were the "Old School" ground beef taco (both baskets), the "Mole" chicken taco (left) and the "Feliz" chicken taco (right).
The "Old School" taco had a nice flavor to it. There was no strong overwhelming spice or pepper taste, just a blend of the ingredients that worked nicely with each other. The "Mole" was disappointing as a taco. The combination of chipolte slaw, grilled chicken and mole sauce seemed like a good pick for a slightly spicy kick. However, this was very bland and the flavors did not work very well together. The "Feliz" however did have a nice kick to it that was not overpowering in spice. If you like really spicy food then opt for some different selections and none of these were, what most would consider, "spicy".
Again, its the hip NEW restaurant to check out and hopefully the balance of a strong consistent dining experience will set in- but it is not there yet. Service was good, parking was a pain, food was ok. Tacos are priced out individually so if you are hungry, take that into consideration. Can have two tacos, chips and salsa for abut $10 per person.
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