D.S. Tequila Company
WHAT: D.S. Tequila Company
WHERE: 3352 N. Halsted St.
OUR RATING: Skip It!
(dstequila.com)
Tacos. Tequila. Outdoor patio. This all sounds quite dandy, especially when D.S. Tequila Company serves up half-priced food on Mondays and All-you-can-eat tacos on Thursdays for ten bucks. But don’t let the specials fool you – this Lakeview taco/burger/tequila joint is not so special.
(dstequila.com)
Adam: I understand, I’m spoiled. I like my food hot and good, my drinks cold and interesting and my ambiance beautiful and intoxicating. I’ve been to taco joints all over the city, and whereas Bullhead Cantina and Antique Taco stand out as highlights, D.S. Tequila Company might as well start with a different set of letters. Unfathomably small portions, and a taste that’s not much to write home about, you can certainly boycott this place to your heart’s content.
Chicken Fajita Taco and Coffee Steak Taco
I started out with a chicken fajita taco. Simple is best, right? In this case, completely wrong. This grilled chicken was as dry as a bone, accompanied by a smattering of refried beans and queso fresco that was almost undetectable. I slathered on hot sauce because I would rather have my mouth burning like the Savannah than consigned to the dry depths of Death Valley. Next, sampling the steak taco with trepidation, I was slightly surprised. This taco is decent, but that may have more to do with the coffee spice rub than the steak. And at $3.89 for one measly sample size, you might as well go to a more upscale place and enjoy yourself a little.
Jalapeno Slaw & Elote Corn Hash
As for sides, they are wildly disappointing. Jalapeno Slaw sounds really great, but when the mayonnaise overpowers even the slightest hint of jalapeno, I wonder why I am going to a Mexican restaurant at all, and not just buying slaw and dumping giardiniera on it at home. Trust me, the homemade recipe would be hotter.
Tangibly dreadful fare at shockingly inflated prices, D.S. Tequila needs to move over for more reputable competitors. Seriously, it’s like they’re trying to cheat you here.
Tequila Shrimp Taco & Grilled Fish Taco
Alicia: Being big into seafood, I was super excited to try some fish and shrimp tacos here. D.S. Tequila’s grilled fish taco served me alright, with jalapeno cole slaw and spicy aioli. There was plenty of sauce and a good amount of bite, but the mayonnaise in the coleslaw kind of drowned out the rest of the taco. Actually, coleslaw was most of the taco, with a frighteningly-small serving of grilled fish hidden somewhere in there.
(dstequila.com)
With these lukewarm feelings I then attempted the tequila shrimp taco with red cabbage, pineapple salsa and spicy aioli. Sounds amazing, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, this taco was basically three pieces of shrimp in a corn tortilla with some raw red cabbage. Pineapple salsa? Spicy aioli? Pretty non-existent, and really just some diced pineapple. Tequila? Yeah…not sure that was in there either.
(dstequila.com)
Ultimately, I found each of these tacos pretty underwhelming, with little to no love given to the food inside the tortillas, let alone the dry and boring tortillas themselves. I was even more disappointed with elote corn hash. The name sounds fun, but really I was just served a bowl of corn and some type of light cream with some crumbled queso fresco. It tasted like cream corn, but even less flavorful. It was pretty horrific, and gives elote a bad name.
(dstequila.com)
Final Thoughts: If we hadn’t been lucky enough to get in on this food on a Monday (i.e. we paid half-price), I think we would have been in an uproar to pay full price for what we got. With mediocre food, sub-par service, and a forgettable ambience, D.S. Tequila Company is definitely a place you can skip over if you want some good Mexican food. Sure, the outdoor patio is alright when the weather is nice, but a park bench will do you just as good.