Gluten-free at El Taco in Atlanta

A few months ago, Tiffany Janes wrote a post about Atlanta’s Fifth Group and their awareness about gluten-free eating and that they offer gluten-free menus at all of their restaurants.  I decided to give their Mexican restaurant El Taco a try.  As I am always looking for good, gluten-free food, at reasonable prices, this place seemed to fit the bill.

El Taco is located in the leafy, trendy neighborhood of Virginia Highlands.  There is a parking lot, however it is limited but parking can also be found on the street.  We went on a Wednesday night at about 7:30, and it was packed.  There was plenty of seating inside and out and I did not notice any empty tables.  There were also plenty of kids, yet it was also very noisy and gave the impression of a bar that happens to serve food.

When we were seated I asked the server for a gluten-free menu, and if the chips were gluten-free, and they were not.  Immediately, I was disappointed, especially since it was my birthday.  I just tried to tell myself that it would save more room for the meal.  The server did say I could have corn tortillas and that all of their salsas and cheese dip were safe.  It was just not the same as chips, but I went ahead and ordered cheese dip to have with warmed corn tortillas.  I must say, I was pretty envious watching the rest of the table dip into the salsa with their chips, but when the corn tortillas arrived, they were actually very good, and I dipped them into my own serving of salsa from a salsa bar that offers several different varieties of salsa.  When the cheese dip arrived we all spooned it onto our plates so there was no worry of cross-contamination with the chips.

The gluten-free menu offered many of the same items from the regular menu.  I have always been a huge fan of tacos, so I ordered a vegetable taco and a pork taco.  I very rarely eat meat, but pork tacos are a weakness of mine.  I also ordered a side of black beans.  The tacos arrived quickly, and I took one bite of my pork taco and immediately believed it was one of the best tacos I have ever tasted.  I then tasted the vegetable taco and my mouth was on fire.  It was a delayed spiciness and until then, I thought it was great with a nice flavor, but the fire was too spicy for me, and I passed the taco to my husband, and ordered myself another pork one.  He really enjoyed the vegetable taco and didn’t mind the spiciness. He also had a couple of shrimp tacos, which are also gluten-free and said they were delicious.

For dessert there were two options on the gluten-free menu, a Mexican Coke float and a vanilla poached pineapple flan.  I went with the flan, and it was delicious, yet it was an extremely small portion that made it impossible to share with the table.

My final verdict is that they have great food, I loved all of it, and especially the pork tacos, I will definitely come back. Our server was patient and so helpful with all of my gluten-free questions, and running and back and forth to get the answers if he was not 100% sure.    However, it is not a place to go if you want to concentrate on conversation or want a romantic night out, it is noisy, even on the patio.  But it is a nice relaxed atmosphere, and if you have kids no one will hear them.  Please remember, do not eat the chips.  Once you eat a pork taco, you will forget about the noise.