COMMUNITY
A Restaurant Review : Taqueria del Sol
The Power of Small Steps to Implement Big Change .
JENA EMORY Copeland Stair Kingma & Lovell JEmory @ cskl . law
If you have not heard of Taqueria del Sol , then you may be the only person in Atlanta who has not . I have yet to mention Taqueria del Sol to someone who did not know what that was . If , however you are one of the clueless few , Taqueria del Sol is a fast-casual Mexican restaurant with a location not too far from you . All you have to do is drive there , eat and enjoy yourself .
Locations Taqueria del Sol has seven locations in Georgia and Tennessee . The Georgia restaurants are located at : Westside , Cheshire Bridge , Decatur , Chamblee , and Athens . While I was in law school at the University of Georgia , I visited the Taqueria del Sol in Athens a few times , but I didn ’ t grow to love Taqueria until I visited Chamblee location .
While I am sure the other locations have wonderful staff , the Chamblee location staff is the best . I know this because I almost never visit the Chamblee location without seeing a friend . The restaurant staff are so welcoming that you can ’ t help but consider them your friends . I rarely visit this location without someone at the register greeting me with “ Hey Jena !” This is an impressive feat for a restaurant with an astronomical amount of customers . Even with the high volume , the restaurant manages to individualize the service .
Atmosphere Taqueria del Sol is known for its queue . Pre- COVID , instead of a wait list , the restaurant always had a line out the door . When no tables were available , the line simply stopped moving , the restaurant would stop taking orders , and everyone would wait until a table opened up . I think this always added to the anticipation of the great meal awaiting me .
During COVID , the layout has changed , but the restaurant has retained the same great customer service . Now there is still often a line out the door . Customers , however , no longer wait in line until a table opens . Instead , they move directly to order . For the regular Taqueria del Sol customer , this change is jarring at first , but manageable , when you realize that you now get to sit down while you wait for your food . There are ample benched in the parking lot and there is usually chatter among the masked patrons awaiting their food .
Please be aware that when you arrive at the restaurant they will ask you whether you called ahead or you are “ placing .” I was completely caught off guard by this question on one of my first visits during COVID . I could not figure out what “ placing ” meant . They mean to ask you whether you are “ placing an order in person .” Now you know ! There is no need to have a five minute awkward conversation with the staff person asking you if you are “ placing ,” like I did .
If you want to attempt to skip the wait time completely , you can call ahead to place an order . I have attempted this process before , but because the phone line is always busy , I have never been able to place an order over the phone . There is a fantastic voice message , if you are not able to get through .
To be honest , I have not tried very hard to place by phone because I like talking to the staff . If you are not as emotionally connected to the restaurant as I am , the call ahead option may be for you . I will say , though ,
34 August / September 2020