Bandidas Taqueria

Those of you who either know me personally or read this blog regularly will be quite aware that we are about as far from vegetarians as you can get (don’t get me wrong, we eat plenty of vegetables, it’s just that we think pretty highly of meat), so the restaurant in this review may surprise you.

Yesterday, quite by accident, we happened into Bandidas Taqeria (http://bandidastaqueria.com/) on Commercial. We were driving around the neighborhood when Chris spotted it, and in the haze of hunger I thought I remembered reading something about it on another food blog recently, where it was proclaimed to have the best tacos in the city. I was incorrect. Very incorrect. We walked in, very clearly in the middle of a brunch rush (first clue I was wrong) and it took a few minutes before anyone acknowledged us. Eventually someone came over and added us to the acceptably short waiting list. But when we moved to the bar to peruse the menu, we made a shocking discovery. IT WAS A VEGETARIAN ‘taqueria’. That was the second and damning clue that this was not the place I was thinking of. How can one have a vegetarian taqueria? No carnitas, no al pastor, no pretty much anything I would have wanted to order. But it was too late: we had a good parking spot, a baby and all his gear, and it was too much work to go elsewhere. To his credit, Chris grumbled much less than I would have expected about the unhappy discovery.

The food came quickly, and it was hot. Both good things. Maybe it’s because we had low expectations, or maybe because we were starving, but the food was actually very tasty. I ordered the Dani’s enchiladas (filled with cheese and roasted squash) with the enchilada sauce, and Chris had the heuvas rancheras (sic). (Thankfully it isn’t a vegan restaurant! I never would have heard the end of it. Although they do offer vegan options for those of you who are interested.) The tortillas were the real star of my meal, and that is a compliment. I lived in the Yucatan, and I know good corn tortillas. The enchilada sauce was quite mild, but still quite flavorful, and there was just the perfect amount of cheese inside the enchiladas. I opted for the beans and rice as a side. The rice was a little dry, but the beans were as good as they can be without lard. I would have liked a little cilantro on top, but all in all I was pleasantly surprised and quite happy with my meal. Chris didn’t care for the roasted yams that came as a side with his meal, but liked the rest of plate well enough. Like me, he found the sauce (in his case the ranchera sauce) quite tasty, if a little mild.

Coffee refills were plentiful, overall service decent, and the clientele what you would expect on the drive, a wonderfully eclectic mix of all kinds of people. It was quite child friendly, although there was no real spot for diaper changes in the washrooms. I’m not sure we would go back: it’s not in our neighborhood, and given the baby, when we go out we like to maximize our restaurant experience. But I can happily recommend it as a great casual vegetarian option in the city, where even meat eaters might be happy they joined you for a meal.

2 thumbs.