Taco Dawg

Bleh!
Greasy and unimpressive. Food trucks have a certain cache that buys them a star or two right out of the gate, and that’s where this review ends. Give it a miss

The first time I ordered something from this truck it was pretty fraking good. It was some sort of taco.
However, I can’t say the same for the second time. I order a dog this time, I think it was one of their signature one’s. Boy was it a major let down. I can’t really remember but i think they use hotdogs you can buy at the grocery store. At lease that’s what it tasted like.
I probably won’t venture back to this truck any time soon. Unless they do a major menu overhaul.

«Good Food isn’t complicated» is their motto. Which I think it’s more of a matter of a daily affirmation for themselves to tell themselves that. Because really, if this truck is any indication, good food is pretty complicated for them.
They really should invest in some more material as they are always out of stuff. Which really shows that either they’re really popular and perhaps they should be better prepared for the food rush, or perhaps they are just simply not trying hard enough.
Oh yeah, Dawg… while it’s cute to toss in a secret little code of «What up, dawg» to get some goodies, just seems like a really cheesy promo to work with. Focus on that whole notion of cranking out some good food, please.
In saying that, the chili cheese fries were decent, and you really can’t go wrong when you pour cheese on chili and pour it on fries. The truck has some misses, but it also has some decent bites in their dogs. The taco was not my taste, but it’s there.
A truck worth trying once to see if it’s your style. But don’t be surprised if you end up on either side of the fence of it.

I’m a sucker for a decent Hot Dog!
To the tune of the Flintstones Theme
Food truck, it’s a food truck!
Not a fancy gourmet eat-​a-​rie!
They sell tasty hot dogs,
From their little kitchen on the street.
Start with, just a Taco Dawg (or two),
Then add tasty Nacho Tot’s for you!
When you, see their food truck,
Stop and say «whaddup dawg», to them
«whaddup dawg» to them
And have a Taco Daaawwwwwggggg!

So this is the second time I have tried Taco Dawg. The first time was a disappointment, but I decided to give it another shot.
The second time around was a much better experience and I’m glad I gave them another chance. The wait for my food was way way shorter and the quality was much better. Additionally the service has improved as well. I had one of each of the four tacos they offered and liked all four, my favorite being the Beach Comber. I will have to get more of those next time. I also want to try some of those naughty looking dogs they got oh yea! (light just went off) Hey Taco Dawg you need to come up the Naughty Dog and give me some props =)
It seems that they are making some changes. That’s great because it shows me some one really cares about their business and I love to support small local businesses.
Zach

Terrible food at unreasonable prices! You are a food truck, not 5-​star fine-​dining!!! Your marketing ploy by giving fancy names to crappy items totally doesn’t work! Please spend more money improving your food quality and not on marketing!
Gag!

So Taco Dawg should be super glad that Albert E and Suhkraj B told me to give them another try because I’ve been avoiding them since I tried their hotdogs a while back and thought they were just meh.
So tonight, on the word of my friends, I tried the tacos instead and my mind has changed from the meh to the hell yeah!
I had the Cuban, the Mama with pork and the Samurai which was the salmon with furikake, all were good especially the furikake!
I think furikake is kinda like bacon — it makes everything taste goooood and I don’t even like cooked salmon nor do I like teriyaki sauce, but this was an awesome taco!
I’ll eat the Samurai from now on! I liked the Cuban since I am a fan of black beans and I love the Cubano sandwich, so essentially this is all the ingredients in a taco plus the black bean purée.
YUMS

The Taco Dawg — it’s like the New Kid on the Block. No wait. It was the New Kid on the Block way back when until it went on hiatus. Now it’s Justin Timberlake reinventing itself after that whole N*SYNC episode (that’s more like a bad dream) and without the nappy hair.
I was invited to the exclusive Critics Dinner 2010 somewhere between Fountain Valley and Santa Ana in an industrial area. It was a cool vibe complete with video clips, music, all you can eat «dawgs,» and beer. What’s not to love?
So what can you expect at the Taco Dawg? If you’re thinking of the usual taco with some ground beef and a grab bag of veggies and shredded cheese you’re in for a surprise and a serious shock to your taste buds. For the likes of you and your bland sense of taste, we’ll start with the Taco Papa — flaky dough, juicy ground beef, brought together with gooey cheddar cheese and topped with crisp romaine lettuce, pico de gallo and fresh crème. Now tell me that isn’t mouth watering? But wait it gets better…
The Reuben — another all beef dawg topped with sauerkraut, swiss cheese, and Russian dressing. Yeah, sounds pretty out there, right? Didn’t I tell you this was beyond your realm of taste? Yeah, just wait…
The Samurai — sweet and salty miso carmelized glaze all piled high on a bed of tender salmon and crunchy cabbage. Yum! Now you’ve got your shoes on, your mouth is watering and you’re heading out the door, right? I’m sorry hun. Your misery is far from over.
Don’t forget to sample the Big City Dawg — an all beef dawg that’s a bit like the Reuben and adds mustard and grilled onions
Now that you’re in line for your Taco Dawg experience, let me tell you about the Cuban — it’s a combination of ham, pickles, swiss cheese and sounds pretty crazy but hey, don’t knock it till you try it.
Continue your journey with the dirty dawg — this hot mess is all beef, homemade chili, nacho cheese, and crumbled potato cheese. Make sure you grab some extra napkins too.
Cleanse your palette with the Hipster — it’s grilled portobello mushrooms in a chipotle sauce and topped with grilled onions, jack cheese, and romaine lettuce.
I hope you saved room for dessert! After this savory feast, the Taco Dawg has a special treat just for you and it’s the Apple Taco. You can’t miss this fried crispy delight with powdered sugar and stuffed with cinnamon apples. Topped with whipped cream and caramel. Yum!
If that wasn’t enough to motivate you to get up off your butt and go food truckin’ your taste buds must be stuck in the 80’s. :P

This is for one item I tried, the Cowboy Dawg. It was pretty much a sad excuse for a hot dog. It was so sad-​looking, that I think my dogs would’ve looked it, sniffed it, then walk away in digust. Okay maybe that’s too far fetched, but you get my drift. In reality, it takes about 0.5 seconds after food accidentally drops on the floor, before my dogs snap it up without a thought.
The hot dog was poorly constructed, had not-​so-​fresh tiny ingredients, and just tasted weird. The bun was stale, dry, and not toasted. The bacon was so tiny and paper thin that it was practically invisible. The hot dog weiner itself was a bit tough to chew and dry. It did have a slight «snap» when biting into the casing, but what good is it when there’s no juicy or flavorful meat inside. As far as the shredded cheese, well… you know how when you buy a bag of shredded cheese and you leave it in the fridge for a long time, rendering it stale and pasty-​tasting? Well, it tasted like that.
The last sad-​looking topping on top of the sad-​looking hot dog, were the onion rings. Or should I say «dry onion strings.» It was obviously not fresh. It looked like as if the onion rings were leftovers from a previous day, then re-​fried again. What is left is chewy onion strands, with not much crispy batter around it (see picture). Overall, everything was just pretty bad. Maybe I’ll try a taco or fries at another time. Only when I’m desperate and there’s no other food trucks around.

I was invited to the Taco Dawg — Critics Dinner 2010 hidden away in an Industrial Park in Santa Ana. The owners of the Taco Dawg food truck invited a few peeps to a few tastes of a few items on their menu and a choice of beer or wine.
I tried some taste sizes of the following…
«Reuben Dawg» which is an all-​beef dog, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and a tasty dressing… it a lot of kraut and a tasty dog.
«Taco Papa»…it ROCKED! The tasty taco shaped dough shell was made very tasty good. The dough’s taste was well complimented with the beef, cheese, lettuce, and I am sure some secret tasty sauce.
«Samurai»…it was the BEST tasting taco sample of the night! It is a taco with a sweet and salty taste of a generous cut of salmon and topped with cabbage.
«Dirty Dawgs»…my least favorite of the tastes that Taco Dawgs gave us. It is basically chile cheese hot dog topped off with potato chips. It is really nothing that special that I cannot create at my local 7-​Eleven.
«Cuban»…it was a NEW concoction the Taco Dawg owners were testing out with us. It was a sandwich with ham, pulled pork, cheese, and pickles. I personally did not care much for the pickles, but the pulled pork made this a tasty treat.
«Apple Taco» for dessert… it was a sweet crispy cinnamon apple treat taco with whipped cream and caramel. It was a very nice way to end the evening.
The Taco Dawg Food Truck is just another food truck I can check off of the ones I have tried.
When I return, it will be for the «Taco Papa» and the «Samurai». Although they did not serve it during our tasting session, I have been told to try their Cowboy Dawg!!!
Thanks Taco Dawg… I will definitely want to find you at the next food truck round up… Four Unilocal Stars! ;-p

Taco Dawg is back in action! I have tried them before when they first use to come around to the Huddle in costa mesa. And liked there infamous Taco Dawg.
But at the Lake Forest Lanes on Tuesday, for the first time I tried their chili cheese dog and there chili cheese fries. The fries were the best. They double fry there french fries and make there own chili. Hot dog was good too had a nice snap.
Lines were quick the owner is a super cool guy. I would go back for the french fries.
Stars 3 ¹⁄₂

Dearest Taco Dawg — your Cowboy Dog is AMAAAZING.
It’s a Western Bacon cheeseburger (TM Carl’s) on a hot dog, minus the flame grilled patty. Onion rings were crispy and nicely sized, the dog itself had a hearty snap and juicy bite to it, and the ‘Tex Mex’ sauce or whatever it was on there was fantastic. However, the limp little piece of fattified bacon ‘wrapped’ around part of the dog? Not cutting it. I also agree with a few other reviewers in saying that the bottom part of the hot dog bun totally fell apart underneath the weight of all that goodness. Oops. It then became a challenge and a half to hold up a topping-​filled dog in a kind of sideways sandwich grip — but you don’t want to eat too fast since you basically spent like half your night waiting for this ish.
Yes, you saw that right. Half the night. Seriously, it’s freaking hot dogs and ‘gourmet’ toppings (which you partially ran out of… how does that even happen?). Take a cue from the boys at Top Dog in good ol’ Berkeley… it doesn’t take 30+ minutes to get all the goodness together. Thank goodness TD was the last stop of the night for me (before dessert, of course), because if I had been starving and dealing with that wait, uhhhh, NO EFFING WAY, thank you very much.
Aside from the ridic wait time, NO FRIED MAC & CHEESE? Atrocious. Hot girl taking orders with no sense of humor or people skills? Unconscionable. Server dude in the pick-​up window moving foodstuffs with his ungloved hands? No thank you. (Hey man, I know it happens, we’re all human. Actually you fab human beings called food truck workers, you’re really demi-​gods. But how about taking the show awaaay from the window where everyone sees ya?) In addition to the TIIIIINY menu that’s BLACK writing on DARK BLUE background??? Which genius came up with that color scheme? Meh. I’ve experienced better.

OC Foodie Fest:
This is an OC truck called Taco Dawg, which serves a fusion of hot dogs and tacos keeping it simply, but tasty. We spoke with the owner of Taco Dawg, James Foxall who happens to have co produced the OC Foodie Fest event, which is the1st foodie event conceptualized by a food truck owner with a sold out attendance of 8500 Foodies.
The Beach Comber, Chicken with a chipotle cream sauce, Taco Dawg’s own cheese blend, citrus blend slaw, served with Mandarin Oranges for a sweet taco with a hint of heat. A hit at the fest amongst the crowd at OC Foodie Fest.
A great first attempt with an end result of success for the charities, the attendees and the food trucks. Stay tuned for a bigger and better events.

I gave TD another try, as I really wanted to taste their Fried Mac & Cheese. As anticipated, it was similar to eating the crusty outside layer from a tray of mac & cheese; which is my favorite part! The «fried» outside layer is made of seasoned bread crumbs. The three small blocks of fried mac & cheese provided were really good, but not overwhelmingly flavorful. I do give TD credit for having a unique menu item, and I say it’s worth trying at least once.
That being said, I must deduct a star for TD’s slow service. To date, I’ve eaten at around 15 gourmet food trucks, and TD has by far had the slowest turnaround. Even more frustrating was that although a huge crowd was already waiting for their orders, TD started doubling their new incoming orders by taking them from the order AND pick up windows. I understand you don’t want «too many cooks in the kitchen», and I get that they want to make the line move quickly, but it would have been so much better if the second order taker could have somehow helped get the existing orders out, rather than pull more in. I always expect to wait when ordering food from a truck (especially a busy/​popular one like TD), but this wait was substantially longer than expected, two for two.
TD’s items are undoubtedly tasty, but to be frank are simple enough that they should be coming out quite a bit quicker.

Tried this at OC Foodie Fest. Really good steak soft tacos. Slightly spicy, really cheesy, flour tortillas.
BF eats lunch here sometimes and he raves about it. I would definitely have their food again.

I really wanted to like taco dawg because I really love hot dogs. Taco Dawg has a great staff working the truck, really friendly and cool so they have that going for them. Also, their prices are pretty great for a high-​end food truck, at about $ 3.50 a hot dog it’s pretty cheap.
I got the tacodawg cause well, it’s like their namesake dish i guess which was a hot dog with taco fillings on top. It tasted like well, a hot dog with taco filling on top: beef, lettuce, sour cream. Taco dawg’s main problem is not their toppings, which are not that bad but the hot dog itself. For an all-​beef hot dog, it really lacks any good flavor and juiciness that a great hot dog should have.

WOW. JUST WOW. I think I finally found a good hot dog in Orange County. Taco Dawg was definately something that I expected to disapoint me, after seeing some negative reviews, I was skeptical of checking them out. But boy was I wrong!
Not knowing what was good, I started talking to their staff who recommended that I try the Cowboy. I hopped on board. It was a great hot dog. An all beef frank, cooked to perfection with a nice snap, wrapped in bacon, topped off with onion rings, TexMex sauce and BBQ sauce. It was great, the best hot dog I ever had. I came back for another one 20 minutes later, it was THAT good.
So for $ 7, I’d say it’s also a pretty cheap meal. On Tuesdays when you buy two, you get free fries too! Pretty cool!

Warning! As the name might imply, Taco Dawg DOES NOT make some sort of hybrid taco/​hot dog. Rather, they just sell regular tacos and regular hot dogs which are creatively named to reflect the type of toppings they have on them (read: the «Texan» taco has tex-​mex sauce, etc. etc.). I was a little confused when reading the menu…
And because I was confused on what to order, I tried the eponymous «Taco Dawg» (essentially just romaine lettuce, diced tomatoes, ground beef, cheddar cheese and sour cream on top of a regular hot dog), which also came with a handful of store bought, semi-​stale, round corn tortilla chips. I thought it was «just ok», meaning, I would never voluntarily seek it out ever again, but would eat it if it was convenient to do so.
Overall, for something called a «Taco Dawg», I was expecting it to have some type of hot sauce or a spicy salsa, which would’ve made it a hell of a lot more interesting, especially since it bears the same name as the truck, for crying out loud. I think they might’ve been aiming the «taco» part of the «dawg» more towards gringos. *shrug*
Note: My friend let me try the «Cowboy Dawg» she ordered — guess what toppings are on it? Bacon, fried onion rings, cheese, and, tex-​mex sauce. I thought it was better than the «Taco Dawg», but the bacon was kind of gristly.

Here is a food truck I can support.
Hot dogs had surprisingly good snap to them.$ 3 and $ 4 for everything like a food truck should be. Fries were really good also.
Might pass on dirty dog next time, taco dog was good but messy.

Run don’t walk to have some amazing tacos at 3 bucks each w/​great customer service! RUN!
Try the Korean Taco! The sauce is delish.
The lines will get long. oh and they are in Costa Mesa, right now.