Taco Bamba Taqueria, Falls Church, VA

2190 Pimmit Drive

Falls Church, VA 22043
(703) 639-0505

The best part of the Taco Bamba experience was its location.  You know you’re in America when you park in a strip mall with a host of international variety.  Nestled between a Karate Studio, a Latin Market, a Persian Bakery (run by Armenians), a Neo-classic French restaurant, and a dive bar with a host of smokers chatting it up outside, you’ll find Taco Bamba.   That’s pretty much where the intrigue ends.  

We seek out restaurants through a wide variety of means—word of mouth, just passing by, Groupon and Specialicious ads, Restaurant Week promotions, and other reviewers.  This visit to Taco Bamba was a result of the latter.  Tom Sietsema of the Washington Post reviewed Taco Bamba a few weeks ago and gave it a good rating (2 out of 4 stars).  We think that’s a bit of a stretch.  1½ at best. 

The menu is pretty much a la carte.  Mr. Sietsema does a great job of explaining the menu, so we wount venture too far from our experience here.  We ordered 5 tacos total:  Chorizo, 2 chicken, shrimp, fish.  The authentic nature of a dual-shelled corn taco made them reminiscent of a visit to Mexico.  We tried the guacamole based on the Post suggestion and yes, the grilled avocado does make a difference.  For desert we tried the rice pudding. 

There seemed to be a disconnect between the order taker at the register and the chef.  Our orders came out in separate plates at separate times and thank goodness it was not crowded at the time or everything would have been difficult to track.  There are two patio-style metal tables with a few chairs each outside the restaurant.  A small dining “bar” can accommodate dining singles, but perhaps the best bet here is to take your tacos to go.  Even though the tables are around the corner from the bar and its host of smokers yapping it up, it was close enough to smell/hear their rambunctious conversations.

On the bright side, there is a salsa to address the full array of flavors and spices found in Latino culture.

It was pretty cool to have some tacos, stop off at the Latino market, pass kids in their karate garb as we walk by the Dojo, and stop to chat with the nice Armenian Iranian bakers all made an interesting international experience in Falls Church.  Bottom line:  skip past Taco Bamba, say hi to the bakers, and pick up your chorizo at the Latino market and make your tacos yourself.

Curry Mantra 2, Falls Chuch, VA

*** CLOSED AS OF OCTOBER 2014 ***

1077 W Broad St
Falls Church, VA 22046

(703) 992-0077

I love Indian food and I can honestly say that this is not only the worst Indian food that I have ever had, but also the weirdest restaurant I’ve ever eaten in.   On top of it, the service is also so weirdly bad that I just can’t understand why Tom Sietsema, or anyone else for that matter, would like it.  But what do I know?  And by the way, just for the record, Bill, who is not a big fan of Indian food, but supports me whenever I have a craving (which is all the time), didn’t hate this restaurant as much as I did.  So, there you go.  Lovers of Indian food – AVOID. 

The strangest thing about this restaurant is that they serve dishes on top of dishes.  I don’t know how to explain this because not only is it extremely inconvenient to eat the food, it is also highly likely to be unsanitary.  I am not implying that Curry Mantra 2 practices poor hygiene, but what I am saying is that I don’t want dishes touched by people’s hands, no matter how clean, to touch my food directly on the plate.  There is just no reason for it.  Nonetheless, this is oddly how Curry Mantra 2 (never been to Curry Mantra 1) chooses to serve its food.  I’m sure they think that it is a cool nouveau culinary presentation, but it is just disgusting.  You can see in the photo what I am talking about.  If that doesn’t gross you out, more power to you, this is the place for you.

Secondly.  Forget any concept of feng shui here.  All the dishes and the tables are square.  There is nothing wrong with that per se, except for the fact that half of the tables are arranged askew, while half are perfectly straight.  The plates are also arranged askew on the table.  I am not going to describe to you the shape of everything else in the restaurant, e.g. the dining hall itself, which is rectangular, the rectangular open kitchen, the rectangular eating booths along the wall, etc.  Suffice it to say that being cramped in a rather small dining hall with sharp corners randomly-selected askewly-positioned square tables with the additional odd placing of square dishes at strange angles on top of one another is enough to make one seasick. 

Once your chi has been sufficiently disturbed, and the clueless waiters finally bring the food to the table, you may realize that this is the blandest, least tasteful food, mind you INDIAN food that you have ever had.  Bland and boring.  We got 3 appetizers and each of them had a green sauce on one side and a red sauce on the other.  Exactly the same for all three appetizers.  Not very creative or interesting on the variety front.  The couple times that we ate here, there were other patrons in the restaurant, so clearly there are people out there that eat this food and somehow tolerate the restaurant layout.  I have no idea how many of these are there for the first time or, like us, giving the place a second chance with the hope that we just had a bad experience once.  But apparently, they are opening a Curry Mantra 3 somewhere nearby, so seems that I am in the minority. 

Nonetheless, here’s another whammer -- the price for this “wonderful” experience is pretty high and definitely not worth it.  You’d think that paying almost $20 for a chicken biryani would at least motivate the otherwise useless wait staff to help you out by putting the leftovers into the Styrofoam container as a nice service for the customer.  Think again.  Even in restaurants where entrees cost half as much as here and are twice as tasty, the waiters do that for you.  But not here.  You’re on your own baby.

 

All in all, you may have surmised from this write-up that there is no way in hell we’re ever coming back to this restaurant.  For really good Indian food with excellent service and pleasant ambiance, our choice will continue to be Haandi, which is right across the street from Curry Mantra 2 in the Giant shopping mall on West Broad Street in Falls Church.