It’s been an empty storefront (sometimes euphemistically called a “test kitchen”) since August 2008, but no more. Chow Foods is back in action and has throw open the doors on the old Loki / Jitterbug Cafe spot with a new Mexican restaurant: TnT Taqueria.
Chow Foods has opened its fourth restaurant, TNT Taqueria in Seattle’s picturesque Wallingford neighborhood at 2114 North 45th Street. In the space formerly occupied by the Jitterbug; TNT Taqueria opened Thursday evening, on July 26th. The Taqueria is a quick service walkup joint offering Mexican delights for dining in or take away. TNT is open Wednesday-Monday, 8am-10pm and closed Tuesdays. We’re serving our entire menu of breakfast, lunch, and dinner items from open to close daily, except Tuesday of course.
TNT Taqueria offers full flavored dishes, always cooked from scratch using ing
redients of the highest integrity. Our locally sourced proteins include Northwest Grass Fed Beef, Oregon’s Carleton Farms Pork and Northwest raised Draper Farms Chicken. These natural and sustainable proteins from our own back yard coupled with five daily made salsas are the foundation for our menu that offers South of the border Taqueria standards all day long! We offer a full roster of tacos, burritos, tortas & tazones with vegetarian options along with a handful of breakfast items, hamburguesas and hotdogueros. And you can’t have a Mexican street food stand without fresh churros or cerveza so we’ve added those to the menu also.
TNT Taqueria joins Endolyne Joe’s, the 5 Spot and The Hi Life in Chow Food’s stable. There used to be more before the owners split up the empire some years back.
We welcome reviews, and would not refuse sample sent to our editorial offices.
We went there last Friday night and the food was good but they put very little meat in the tacos. We ordered 6 tacos, 1 burrito, and 6 churros. For $2.50 a taco, they should put way more meat in it. The burrito was also not that full when you compare it with Chipotle and other good taco places. The churros were really good. I told the manager about needing to put more meat in the tacos when he asked us how was the meal. I am willing to pay more like $3.00 if they double the meat. Hopefully they will make some changes since we would love to eat there a lot since it is only 2 blocks from our house.
More meat please!
3 of us visited yesterday afternoon, and were impressed by the cleanliness of the restaurant (we ate inside) and of the friendliness of the staff.
The quality of the ingredients was definitely noticed in the food. Good amount of seasoning, sauces, etc. The ONLY negative thing we all thought was that the portion size was very small. At $33 for 3 items (plus 2 sodas) we assumed the items would be a bit bigger. We left a bit hungry, but enjoyed the quality of the food very much. Will probably go back for snacks when we’re on the go!
I had high hopes….there is no good burrito place in nearly all of Seattle.
With that said, they did a decent job. I do agree the portions felt light….even carrying the bag home I thought…this feels light.
but, the quality was good and the taste was good even if the burrito was half-assed rolled.
so there is hope. I’ll be back for sure.
and I think the chips were home made which is pretty important…
I went on Sunday and had an al pastor burrito. The meat was juicy but had no flavor. The beans needed some serious seasoning. Basically it was a very bland burrito. Stick to Rancho Bravo down the street.
Has anyone tried the breakfast options yet? It sounds like the lunch/dinner food needs some work.
Thanks for the candid reviews guys. Sounds like I’ll be giving this a miss.
They just need to make some small tweaks and this can be a great place at a great location. I really want them to do well since we need another good place to eat in our hood. Does anyone know what will go into Joule?
1. TNT: haven’t tried it yet. We need to try and give them constructive feedback; don’t give up yet. On the other hand, I am from NYC and the chance to get a tongue taco–at Rancho Bravo Truck– will keep me loyal to them. Sure TNT won’t have that.
2. Joule: Not sure, but a man I met in front of the restaurant said a Japanese, non-sushi restaurant was going in. Does that make 4? 5? on the block. Of course we lost one to fire.
General request: even if we disagree, can we have compassion on others’ opinions? Not related to this topic, but some development issues brought out so much vituperation that I stopped commenting.
I’m with some of the posters above, stick with Rancho Bravo… way, way better. And cheaper!
I agree with others about the small portion size. Good flavors but just not enough of the goods. I ordered the salad bowl and the lettuce was more like a garnish. I had to go home and add the salad part! I hope the owners read these comments and make some changes cuz I was really excited to see this kind of place in Wallingford!
The tacos were delicious and the people were very nice. Excellent addition to Wallyhood!!! THANK YOU!
I’ve had a chorizo taco and chorizo salad and they both tasted great!
Always excited when I see a new resturant open up in the neighborhood. I love Mexican food, so I went on Friday. Chinsy on the ingredients, but still tasty. Then I went again on Sunday, I felt really cheated, seriously why are you using 2 tortillas when there was so little meat. What was supposed to be a chorizo verde taco tasted a lot like corn tortlla taco. Shame on you! If you want to be a neighborhood eatery that gets repeat customers, at least give people their moneys worth. I went rancho bravo today, much happier.
Got a chorizo something or other. Breakfast style, with eggs. Came with some nice potatoes. I think the place is pretty bad ass. I love Rancho Bravo and won’t be abandoning them, but the thing I love about TnT is that they’re doing their best to source from local farmers who raise their animals in a more humane and clean way. There’s no denying that the food at other taco places is cheaper, but there’s a hidden cost in there beyond money.
I was excited to try TnT, and will still go. However, I may wait to see if they take some of this feedback into account and make changes.
By the way… It’s not in the ‘hood, but El Camion in Ballard (behind Mud Bay) is MUCH better than Rancho Bravo. Their gorditas are delicious and the fish tacos are fresh and fantastic! Easily as good as the ones I had in Mexico. (Gigantic burritos too. Like TdM used to be.)
Alas, I was hoping for more. The *very* soft beef doesn’t give as much texture as say carne asada so the whole burrito felt very mushy. Also, it wasn’t very spicy. I ordered black beans and mine actually came with pinto beans and no cheese, so maybe I got someone else’s but if there hadn’t been some salsa verde at my house I would have been pretty disappointed. The beans and meat were pretty bland.
Burrito size was fine, but $2.50 for a taco is ridiculous. If you want authentic, the taco truck in White Center is heck of legit, and tacos are $1.25. It’s a haul but…
I hope to see improvements. I don’t understand why Seattle restaurateurs feel this insatiable need to screw with recipes — why use braised short rib when you can just use Carne Asada like all the burrito places in California and end up with a way better tasting product with better mouth feel? You may be being progressive chefs, but you’re not actually making the food taste better, which is sort of the point.
Anyway I’ll be back, but dang TNT, there’s something called “spice” maybe you should try it.
Oh sorry one last thing — this is still way better than Rancho Bravo. Although, I’ve been boycotting it for a while due to the Winchell’s blight.
i would love an update on winchells blight
Dunno if they’ve made some tweaks or my tastes are just a bit different from others’ on here, but I quite enjoyed the burrito I just had at TNT. Ancho braised brisket was tender and juicy, and the burrito overall was sizable and had a great balance of flavors. Would have liked a bit more heat, but overall it was a tasty burrito – definitely not lacking flavor. I’ll certainly be back – can’t wait to try breakfast.
We are glad to finally have a good breakfast taco place nearby, after being spoiled in our previous state of tx. Both the chorizo taco and the bacon torta were very tasty. Too much bread with the torta for my taste, but very satisfying. Pricy, but worth the locally sourced organic meats.
Due to the positive later reviews of breakfast, I just tried the al pastor breakfast burrito. It was pretty good. And it definitely wasn’t small. I had a fair amount of trouble eating it despite being a pretty big eater.