restrictions. (Photo by Katie Jude)
I was anything but surprised when Tacos Rudos, a vendor at Budd Dairy Food Hall, was packed with excited customers ready to decide which delicious item to choose off the menu.
The first thing I noticed about Budd Dairy is that it created a welcoming atmosphere right from the start. As soon as I entered the food hall, I was greeted at the door by two employees who were eager to help me.
Budd Dairy is self-serve, meaning the hall allows the customer to choose from a variety of restaurants and seat themselves. However, the employees aided me in finding the restaurant that was the best fit for me as someone who is vegan and has many dietary restrictions.
I gravitated right toward Tacos Rudos, a restaurant that specializes in street tacos and handmade tortillas. The line was pretty long, but it moved quickly. I ordered the Tortas sandwich, which contained gold potatoes, shiitake mushrooms, cabbage, pico de gallo and guacamole, which worked well for my dietary restrictions. Additionally, I ordered a side of chips and guacamole. For such a small order, the meal was relatively expensive. My total came to about $21 for a sandwich and chips. This surprised me because Budd Dairy’s largest demographic is college students, who usually don’t have a lot of extra spending money.
I waited 11 minutes for my food to come out, but I didn’t mind it since the food definitely made up for the wait time. The Tortas sandwich was so flavorful and fresh that I almost ordered another. I was skeptical at first whether I would like the shiitake mushrooms, but they exceeded my expectations. They were perfectly spicy and flavorful. I would have never known it was a mushroom. The guacamole and the mushrooms were definitely the best ingredients. The guacamole was salted just right and had a little bit of lime. The only aspect I didn’t enjoy was the odd bread-to-ingredients ratio. There was so much bread with not enough filling, and I wish they would have taken that into consideration.
The same employees who had greeted me and aided my way through the food court approached me to ask what I got and how it was. I was impressed and satisfied with how involved and caring each employee was and how they wanted to help me as best as they could.
My experience at Budd Dairy Food Hall was overall positive. The food and staff were fantastic, yet I can only see myself returning on a less busy day. If you don’t like big crowds or a little bit of chaos, Budd Dairy might not be for you. However, the chaos and crowd fade as you find your seat in the food hall and sit down to enjoy your meal.
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