Mediocre Tacos

Place: Taco John's
Lunch: Four tacos, small Super Ole (no tomato, no guacamole), Pepsi

I don't go to Taco John's much, especially since I discovered Abelardo's.  But I did the Taco Tuesday thing last week just because I hadn't in awhile, and the tacos were REALLY good.  They had a good amount of meat in them, they actually had a reasonable amount of cheese in them (which for Taco John's is unheard of), and they weren't watery.  The meat was meaty and well seasoned.  So I came back this week.

Me: "Four hard shells (which is Taco John's speak for crispy tacos), small Super Ole (which is Taco John's speak for Potato Ole's covered in cheese, beef, beans, sour cream, olives, and other stuff), no tomato, no guac, medium Pepsi."

New Counter Girl inputs the tacos and a Super Ole with EXTRA tomatoes and guac, and no olives.

I point out the errors.

New Counter Girl: "Oh, the button did the wrong thing."  She removes the "extras" and adds "no tomato" and "no guac".  But also leaves out the olives.

"Actually, I DO want the olives."

She fixes the olives.

I give her my money and matching change.  She pulls the paper bills out from under the change and just ignores the coins.

So I point that out too.

You're picturing New Counter Girl as being a teen who doesn't care.  But she actually appears to be the age of somebody who's had a few kids and she's really nice.

Miraculously, the food arrives as ordered, but it's more like standard Taco John's fare than the awesomeness I experienced last week.  The beef is watery and not very flavorful.  The cheese is back to its near non-existent levels.

**sigh**

Nothing much going on.  Weather's been cool this week.

Still humid, though.

Changing Deli

Place: Jason's Deli

Lunch: Pastrami on French bread (w/Russian dressing, provolone), Texas chili, oily garlic toast thingies you get free off the end of the salad bar, Coke, free ice cream cone

I haven't eaten here in forever. Naturally, everything has changed.

Me: "manager's special with pastrami po-boy and Texas chili."

Smiling Counter Girl: "What kind of bread?"

Okay, they didn't used to ask that. "The Po-boy bread?"

Smiling Counter Girl: "The French bread?"

Me: "Uh, sure."

Smiling Counter Girl; "Did you want anything on it?"

Me: "Do you still have the Russian dressing they used to put on it?"

Smiling Counter Girl: Well, it's a build-your-own sandwich now. The only sandwich we automatically put the Russian dressing on is the Reuben now."

Me: "So if it's a build-your-own sandwich, would one of my options be the Russian dressing?"

Smiling Counter Girl: "Um...Oh!  Sure."

She inputs into the register, which is also new.  They used to write down the order on paper, put it on a clip, and send it down a zip line.  Then you'd pay at a different station.  But they're all computerized now.  The old pay station is now a self-serve touch screen for people ordering the salad bar.  They can do the whole order themselves with no human interaction.  Lucky bastards.

Smiling Counter Girl: "Anything else on the sandwich?"

Me: "Provolone."

Smiling Counter Girl: "Anything else?"

I review the register screen and see only a sandwich. "I asked for the Manager's Special, with Texas chili."

Smiling Counter Girl: "Oh! You wanted the Manager's special?"

Me "Yes."

She now has to re-input the entire order, which she does cheerfully.

"What kind of soup did you want?"

The sandwich that eventually arrives is amazingly basically the same sandwich I used to get by simply saying "Pastrami Po-Boy". The plate includes chips, but no longer includes the pickle spear.

I miss the pickle spear.

And the zip line.

Zip lines are cool.