TacoMadre opens new spot in St. Charles
TacoMadre St. Charles opened a few weeks ago at 902 S. Randall Road, and already is serving up loyal customers out of its new location.
While it is new to the area, there are six other TacoMadre locations customers might be familiar with. One is south along Randall Road in North Aurora, and another opened about two months ago in downtown Geneva.
Building on the success of the other locations, Sean Arteaga and his cousin Israel Garcia decided to open the St. Charles spot.
"We're super excited to be in this area and the community and we hope to bring some good food and atmosphere to the area," Arteaga said. "We're really excited. We really feel like it's an awesome spot in St. Charles and Geneva both. We are happy to have our business here."
Though the newly opened Geneva location is close by the newest St. Charles location, Arteaga said he doesn't see the proximity as a problem.
The Geneva spot is downtown, he said, and has a lot of foot traffic. This Randall Road location, he said, is a different customer base. A lot of its customers will be people driving along Randall Road, and people going to and from work, and stopping in for a quick bite to eat or for food to go.
"So far we've been getting heavy traffic at both locations," he said.
The St. Charles location fills the spot formerly occupied by Taco Fresca.
Inside you will find a unique TacoMadre look complete with a giant mural on the wall.
Arteaga described the new TacoMadre as a fast casual restaurant with gourmet food.
"We're kind of like modern Mexican gourmet," he said. "We are somewhere you can go a couple of times a week and enjoy a great meal. Even though we're not super fancy, our tacos are gourmet and we dress them nicely. We will get great food in a great atmosphere."
Customers walk in and order off a screen in front of them from the menu. They then get their cups and their drinks and can be seated, or take their food to go.
Each customer dining in gets free chips and salsa, Arteaga said. The restaurant has a salsa bar inside to dress up your tacos or to pair with your chips.
If you are dining in, the waitress brings the food and can fill your drinks or help with your chips and salsa, he said.
If you're short on time, you can call ahead and pick up your order or have it delivered.
Other TacoMadres are in Niles, Chicago's South Loop, Naperville and Montgomery. The restaurant first opened at the Montgomery location four years ago, Arteaga said.
Arteaga said the other locations, and their reputation for quality food and great customer service, has brought a steady string of customers to the new locations.
"We do have the six other locations and that helps us attract more people, and through word-of-mouth it's going well," Arteaga said.
"We take pride in what we do," he added. "We always want to make sure the customer has a great experience. The way we train our staff to have such great customer service, is what sets us apart compared to our competitions. We lead by example."
TacoMadre serves fountain drinks, real Coca-Cola from Mexico, and bottled drinks. Arteaga said they soon hope to obtain a liquor license.
Call (630) 549-6161 or visit tacomadrechicago.com.
• Amy Williams' column covers business news along Randall Road from Batavia to Crystal Lake. Contact her at randallbiz@comcast.net or (847) 894-5036.