Taqueria San Francisco Bar & Grill (Plainwell)
618 W. Allegan StreetWe almost waited too long to get a Christmas tree this year.
Yeah, I had seen all the news stories about shortages but we were busy most weekends and I still prefer going to a farm over one of the lots set up around town.
We’ve been hoping around Christmas tree farms the last couple of years. We went to Tunier’s in Scotts one year. We went to Wahmoff in Gobles one year. Last year we went to Badger Country outside of Otsego. We enjoyed the experience last year so we decided to go to Badger Country again.
We always eat breakfast/lunch before we get a Christmas tree. When we went to Tunier’s, we went to Scotts Corner Cafe. When we went to Wahomff, we went to Robin’s Nest. This year, we went for Mexican food.
We chose Taqueria San Francisco Bar and Grill in Plainwell as our pre-Christmas tree hunt lunch spot.
Taqueria San Francisco is a Battle Creek based restaurant with three stores (and maybe more on the way? There’s been a sign for one on Portage Street for quite a while but no restaurant.) We ate at the Capital Avenue location in Battle Creek back in 2014.
The Plainwell location of Taqueria San Francisco is on West Allegan Street (M-89) right off the US-131 interchange across from Borgess Pipp Hospital. The building has been a couple of chain restaurants. It was originally a Big Boy then an Aubree’s Pizzeria and Grill. It became Taqueria San Francisco in early summer of 2021.
We walked in to the restaurant pretty close to their opening time. There was one other table in the dining room at the time. Like I said, this used to be a Big Boy so the restaurant is divided in to two distinct sections (remember when places had smoking and non-smoking sections?! How barbaric). One side has the bar while the other has a more traditional dining room.
The dining room doesn’t scream “Mexican restaurant” like a lot of similar places do. They use a muted red and yellow colors on the wall above a black chair rail with a dark grey carpet floor. There are a few “Mexican” decorations on the wall but there are also TV’s that give this place a kind of sports bar feel.
The menu is pretty large. There are a lot of combination platters as well as a pretty hefty a la carte option. The kids and I all ordered soft drinks while J just wasn’t able to pass up the frozen margarita. If you like those kind of things, the margaritas at Mexican restaurants are always big and delicious.
Even before the drinks came out, a server came over with a basket of chips and some salsa. I was the only one interested in the salsa because it was “too spicy” for everyone else. I disagreed. It’s a thin, fresh, somewhat spicy salsa and it was delicious. I had to force myself to stop eating so I wouldn’t spoil my lunch. The kids did share the chips with me though and the server brought a second basket out just before our meals came out.
I’m so basic when it comes to Mexican food. Just give me tacos.
I ordered four Mexican tacos. I picked the corn tortillas (always pick corn with this style of tacos), Asada (steak) and aske to leave the onions off. I really like tacos with just steak and cilantro plus whatever hot sauce they put on my plate.
These tacos were huge. There was so much meat in each of the double layered corn tortillas…like so much meat I couldn’t keep it all in. The hot sauce that was served on the side was perfect. It was a little bit spicy but not too overpowering. A lot of times I order five tacos but there is no way I would have finished five with the amount of meat on these. Finishing four was kind of tough but I powered through.
J is more of a combination plate person but she likes the rice and beans that come with them. I do not.
She picked a veggie combo platter with a Chalupa and cheese enchilada. The combo platters come with rice, beans, lettuce, sour cream, and tomatoes. There’s a lot of food on the plate and she made it through maybe half.
The kids were being…well, our kids. We didn’t eat out for a year and a half during the pandemic. We’ve got them vaccinated now so we’re a little more comfortable..well, were a little more comfortable until Omicron…and I can tell you, one thing we did not miss was fighting with the kids over meals.
We ordered B a cheese quesadilla and French fries. Apparently the cheese was the wrong kind of cheese and it was too hot. He took a couple bites then just fought us the rest of the time. He doesn’t really like French fries anyway but we were hopeful he would eat them because he was hungry. I ended up finishing his quesadilla and I really don’t get his complaint. The cheese was that delicious white quesadilla cheese that’s melty and stringy.
L got a taco. L loves tacos. Unfortunately, this taco is in a homemade shell and came with tomatoes. We tried to pick the tomatoes out but she threw her typical fit and refused to eat more than a few bites because it had tomatoes on it. She did eat about half of her fries so at least she ate something.
Our bill for lunch was a little under $50 before tip.
J and I both really enjoyed our lunch. So many Mexican places seem to all serve the exact same menu and there’s just not enough difference in what they bring out to distinguish them from each other. Taqueria San Francisco has a little bit of variety and some damn good tacos.
SW Michigan Dining 