Cilantro Taco Grill

No Star for this place. Ordered the flautas (rolled taquitos) realized they were the rolled frozen taquitos from a box. Never again will I go there or recommend friends. Should had gone to Saultan’s Grill, they do have fresh food, plus it’s delicious.

Crapy food! Rice was horrid and hard. They didnt’t have tortillas for a quesadilla and only enough for one corn quesadilla. The sour cream was watered down the the salsa was plain…

Went here for lunch today. It was their grand opening. Quite busy as it was the lunch hour and right across the street from the Court house so a lot of county employees. Plus they offered a free taco for their grand opening which was an additional draw. The location is shared with the future Sultan’s Grill, in a food court like open space. The tables appeared were mismatched and at least a few of them appeared to be purchased used, possibly from a shut down Italian café, as they had Italian pictures painted on them and the chairs had paint chipping off which again indicates, used furniture, neither here nor there just making observations. They were not completely ready as they are still painting the logo on the wall and making other adjustments including not having all the menu items there for purchase yet.
So as to the rating, I went back and forth on what to rate them — I know I have high standards and am critical and I know I am especially critical of taco places. Just having eaten at Taco y Taco last week and being a fan of Tacos El Gordo and Los Antojos, I just expect or prefer a authentic experience. Cilantro (which does not appear to be affiilated with the Cilantro on Rainbow/​Smoke Ranch) appears to be a chain, or at least have three other locations, in the Chicago area — and they state «A Taste of Chicago». Now, maybe I don’t know much about Chicago but tacos are not the first thing that comes to mind when I think Chicago food.
I ordered three tacos, barbacoa, al pastor and asada. The tacos were on corn tortillas and street taco style and size. I thought it was a bit pricey at $ 2 a pop. The meat did not have a lot of flavor and the barbacoa was quite fatty, and yes I know it is pork which is fatty but I bit into chunks of fat. That being sad the barbacoa was probably my favorite of the group — fat = flavor. Also ordered a tamale, I asked and they said it was house made. I ordered the pork, it was really really dry — so I doused it with hot sauce. The tamale was $ 2. I tried to order the chile relleno taco but they don’t have chile relleno’s yet.
As to the service, maybe they are still working out the kinks as they just opened today but it was painfully, and I mean painfully slow — and 7 people working behind the counter. Plus, they need a microphone or a different way of calling out the numbers because they call the orders by number and it was really hard to hear them and in fact the customers were talking and relaying the numbers called amongst themselves.
Also, I think that It would benefit them to provide a salsa bar to their patrons. They only provided salsa in bottles, likely house made but there was a green (tomatillo) salsa which was salty and did not have a lot of flavor, at least to me, and then a red spicier salsa. But the number of bottles were limited, I was lucky enough to snag a red one, but there were not enough for every table. Maybe they expect patrons to use the salsa bottles and leave them up there for others but I like to have ample salsa while I am dining.
After all this — I really do wish them well as they are a new business, and I am sure there is a segment of the population that will love and adore their food. Like I said before I am critical but wanted to not let the fact that this is their first review change how I would normally review things, and I would have given them three stars but for the service.