When you enter Garage Taco Bar, you are throwing yourself into a cool spot with a laidback style that sets it apart from other Binghamton restaurants. The inside consists of multiple high and low tables, tire rim lights and a car sculpture built into the wall. The car sculpture lies behind the bar, which is the centerpiece of the room. The bar also has multiple outdoor tables with overhead lights, fire pits and patio umbrellas. Rock music was playing at reasonable volumes on the speakers while service was readily available to quickly seat my photographer and I.

Garage Taco Bar offers a variety of quesadillas, burritos, tacos and more Mexican-inspired food. This spring, they are offering a $12 lunch and a $20 dinner menu for Restaurant Week. Both menus are identical except that dinners offer three tacos instead of two in the entree section of the menu. Lunch is served from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and then dinner lasts from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. My photographer, Michael, and I picked from the Restaurant Week three-course lunch.

The first course offered four choices. The first was a lime citrus salad containing fresh mixed greens, pico de gallo, queso fresco and house dressing. The next two were refried beans and rice, and chips and pico de gallo. Last but not least was the gazpacho, which is a cold veggie soup. My choice was the gazpacho, which melted in my mouth due to its beautiful blending of fresh tomatoes, red onions and cucumbers. Any soup lover will savor this dish. Michael ordered the chips and pico de gallo, which he appreciated for the tasty chips and fresh pico de gallo. As a person who doesn’t love tomatoes, Michael said the pico de gallo changed his mind.

The second course offered four different types of tacos. For a meatless option, there were two roja cauliflower tacos including salsa roja, lime crema, onions, pineapple and crushed red pepper salsa and cilantro. The barbacoa tacos featured two Dr Pepper-marinated shredded tacos, cilantro, lime crema, salsa verde and pickled onion. I picked the chicken tacos, which consisted of shredded chicken, salsa verde, lime crema, cheese, pickled onion and cilantro. The chicken here was expertly cooked with the lime crema and pickled onions doing a good job as a flavorful contrast for a satisfying entree. Michael ordered the Sticky Icky Tacos, which had in-house smoked beef, sweet chipotle sauce, pickled onions, cilantro and lime crema. Michael appreciated the flavor the beef brought to the table and also enjoyed the bitter counteracting taste of the pickled onions.

Sticky Icky Tacos.

The third course had three choices to choose from: sopapilla, a margarita or a Modelo beer. I decided to go for the only food option on the third course which was the sopapilla. The sopapilla consisted of fried flour tortilla triangles drizzled in honey and tossed in cinnamon sugar. They were extremely tasty and addicting to eat, especially the ones with lots of honey on them. Michael ordered the margarita, which he liked for the sour taste, despite having an issue with the salted rim.

One of the best parts of the experience was that all three courses of food were brought out at once, so you could taste everything in different orders and combinations. The service was always available and accommodating too by providing the table with different hot sauces. Garage Taco Bar has the magical quality of being an amazing spot for lunch and dinner because of its varied food, seating arrangements and open spaces. In the words of the restaurant’s Facebook page, Garage Taco Bar has been providing “tacos, tequila, and good vibes” since 2016. It is sufficient to say they are still doing that very well for this spring’s Restaurant Week.