Taco Mac

Taco Mac
423 Market Street
Chattanooga, TN 37402
(423) 267-8226

If you told Past Me that Present Me would one day patronize Taco Mac, Past Me would laaaaugh and laaaaugh because Past Me is such an elitist snob. Present Me is keeping it real, however, because Taco Mac has the largest beer list in town.

Taco Mac tries very hard to be everything I hate, which is to say they try very hard to be a dirty sports bar with blaring televisions, a young and mildly impatient wait staff, and horrifically mediocre food. There are people that apparently go there just for the food, or that go there to have the food and drink Bud Light, and these people are intricate puzzle boxes to me--puzzle boxes that will never be solved.

Basically, the only reason you should be go to Taco Mac is for a beer. And not a big-name domestic either, but something weird like Delirium Tremens that your friends have never heard of and that costs a little more than it should. Present Me, in the spirit of continuing to keep it real, will tell you that the food is mostly southwestern/tex-mex, is edible, and is about on par with Chili's or the lovely Applebee's we now feature down the street. I do enjoy a few wings, and their middle-level ("hot") has a nice little zing to it. Order a 6 or a 10 pack with blue cheese and celery and you could be doing worse.

And to be fair, you're not going to Taco Mac for the culinary tour. Either you're into bar food or you're into beer, and if you're into bar food you're probably not reading this blog and if you're into beer you're probably drunk right now. The beer list is notable for its sheer size--they say they have 60 on draught and 200 bottles. I didn't count them, but that sounds about right to me. There is a good mixture of domestics and imports, a good variety of high-gravity beers, and most of them are usually in stock.

The atmosphere leaves a little to be desired, but these are the trade-offs we sometimes make for a good beer. The wait staff is a mixed bag: they are always competent and timely, but after about 30 minutes they are usually ready for me to stop warming my seat. I once had a server who was very familiar with beer and was able to make very solid recommendations, but the others had never (allegedly) tried beer, being underage, which is unfortunate when patrons are faced with a list of 200 sometimes-whimsical-sometimes-indecipherable names.

Contrast this with the nearby Hair of the Dog, where the staff is usually very knowledgeable about beer and the atmosphere is excellent, but the service is mind-bogglingly slow, the beer list is significantly shorter, and they are often out of at least one of the things I want to drink. Taco Mac is definitely not an every-week type place, but it's the place to go if you're in the mood for a little variety.