last thursday on my way to divaville i stopped at los portales for dinner, and got my standard order of to-go tacos. it had been a while since i'd been there... i had a 3-month-long craving for subway that i had to surrender to.
anyway, last week i ordered my three chicken tacos. when the lady in the drive-thru speaker asked if i wanted them "with everything" i said "yes! and with cilantro, too!"
when i got to XDU and opened up my to-go box i saw that there was no cilantro. i was sad.
this kind of thing happens, though. i understand. there seems to be a great amount of turnover at this little drive-thru restaurant. i never know who is going to greet me and how much english they're going to speak.
today i once again stopped by for tacos and had a funny exchange with a different woman-in-the-speaker. she barely spoke any english, and we went back and forth a couple of times. "three chicken tacos," i said.
"taco? chicken??"
"yes... chicken tacos. THREE."
"three?"
"yes... three chicken tacos."
long pause.
"with onions and cilantro??"
i'd never been asked that before. they usually just ask if i want "everything".
"yes, please!" i answered, slightly confused.
when i pulled up to the window i saw that the woman i had been speaking to was, in fact, the cook. she was all alone in the little building... taking orders, cooking and ringing people up. she was frazzled.
so it took a while to get my food. i sat in my car and contemplated the ways in which i could order more simply next time. "tacos. pollo. tres. por favor." that's about all i can manage, i think.
when she handed the bag through the window and said, "gracias!" i said "gracias" back. and when i got to the XDU i opened up the box and saw that the tacos had everything... except cheese.
she forgot the cheese. that's never happened before, either.
i feel like every time i go to this place i get some variation of what i actually ordered. i'm never angry about it. in fact, it's become a sort of game with me. when i sit down and open the box i'm always anticipating what my food is going to look like. what will it be missing today? what will it have that it's never had before?
you don't get this kind of fun at taco bell. no, siree.
Posted by xta at February 24, 2005 5:49 PM | TrackBackIs Los Portales drive-through only? If not, perhaps you could get a laminated card with your order in both words (Spanish) and pictures (like they have at McDonald's to show the staff how to stack a hamburger, and how to squirt the ketchup in three overlapping circles).
Have I mentioned how Calvin Trillin supposedly had a card printed in Chinese to say, "I'll have what the gentleman at that table is having."
p.s. I have some extra cilantro in my refrigerator if you'd like it ;-)
p.p.s. can you believe that Indonesians eat the seeds but not the leaves? I think they send the leaves to Thailand.
Posted by: Phil at February 25, 2005 1:33 AMp.p.s. "taco saga" makes me think that the cheese you were missing was blue.
Posted by: Phil at February 25, 2005 1:34 AMit's drive-thru and walk-up only. because i am an american, i hate to get out of my car to order food. but i like the idea of pictures! those mexican ladies would probably think i was loco, though.
cilantro seeds are called coriander. it's used in a lot of asian cooking, and it's totally YUM!
Posted by: christa at February 25, 2005 12:09 PMI gave up getting upset at not getting what I wanted at fast food restaurants. The people working there are largely being paid probably minimum wage, and largely can't get jobs elsewhere. So long as I get approximately the right number of items and close to the correct change, I'm ok.
On the other hand, a few months ago I went in the Arby's at Hillsborough and LaSalle. I had something like 96 cents. I asked someone behind the counter if it was possible to get a small iced tea or the like for 96 cents. It turned out I really needed, say, $1.02, but the woman gave me the drink anyway, saying she didn't like turning down someone who wanted something to drink I think I later went back and gave then the six cents: it seemed like they deserved much more than that. :)
Posted by: Joseph H. Vilas at February 26, 2005 1:28 PM