A taco tour? You know it! But first, let’s talk about expectations. Throughout my life I have always created a vision in my head of how certain things will play out and nine times out of ten, my vision is completely wrong.

For example, I have yet to go shopping for summer clothes and not try on a romper. When flipping through magazines and scrolling through Pinterest I see so many cute and trendy outfits on tall, skinny, small-chested women and I think, “Wow, that looks great, I need an outfit like that!” So, as I’m sorting through the racks at TJ Maxx and Forever 21 (I’m a recent grad, money isn’t flowing freely, give me a break) I will pick up a trendy outfit and think about how amazing it’s going to look on my tall, skinny, flat-chested body. The only problem is, I am none of those things. I am fairly short, stumpy (or curvy or whatever word you prefer for not-skinny) and on the larger side of chest sizes. Shopping expectations go something like this: Into the dressing room with 10+ items, out of the store with 0–1 item.

This past week I had a lot of unmet expectations, starting with this photo. My way too cool for school friend (and designer of this here site) Melissa came to visit me in Arizona. We had been looking forward to this trip for weeks, plotting out our plans, one of which was to take a large number of balloons up a mountain, hand them out to strangers and take some fun pictures. Well it was 108 degrees, so there would be no walking up a mountain. That’s okay, we will drive to the top! Well the top of mountains happen to be quite windy, and by windy I mean I’m totally convinced that the house in UP! wouldn’t have needed that many balloons to take off. So there we are at the top of a people-less mountain struggling to keep hold of 24 helium balloons without blowing away in the hot, hot heat of Phoenix. Needless to say, the photos are not Pinterest-perfect, but it still made for a good time, many good laughs and a good story to tell.

The next unmet expectation happened right here on If You Give a Girl a Degree, and even though I know it didn’t really affect anyone except for maybe my three readers (hi, family!), I still feel bad. When I started this blog a couple months ago I set out to post every Tuesday and Thursday and this week that just didn’t happen. There was a lot going on, the tail end of a vacation, and then having to make that time up from the work I had missed. Regardless, it’s kind of like my shopping expectations. My life isn’t a tall, skinny, small-chested girl. One size does not fit all, and some weeks are going to be more hectic than others, which means sometimes a blog post is going to get  skipped, and that’s okay. I guess what I’m saying is having expectations is silly. Wouldn’t life be more enjoyable if we just appreciate what’s happening now rather than comparing it to what we wanted to have happen? I think so.

Regardless of missed blog posts and major balloon struggles, Melissa and I had a great weekend and I’m so, so glad she came down! One expectation we did meet was our Phoenix Taco Tour. We had a ginormous, unrealistically long list of taco joints we wanted to try and then judge, but we did get to six different establishments, which for just a few days, is pretty impressive. If you were following either of us on Instagram, you know we were pretty much just eating the whole entire time. It was glorious. So, I present to you Part One of the If You Give a Girl a Degree/Design Eat Repeat Taco Tour. Melissa designed us judging cards that we took to each place to rate its taste, presentation, ambiance and overall score (you can get the free printable for that card over at Design Eat Repeat tomorrow, then do a taco tour in your city and share it with us—we would love to see what you find!), here are the results:

Tacos La Hacienda

Taste: 4.5
Presentation: 2
Ambiance: 1
Price: $
Overall: 4

This taco truck nestled into an industrial park south of downtown Phoenix doesn’t look like anything special from the outside. Considering there are no other businesses around, it’s not somewhere I would go at night. But where it’s lacking in ambiance, it makes up for in flavor. The tacos here are authentic street tacos. The meat was cooked well, juicy and not dried out, you can tell it’s made fresh. Each taco is also topped with fresh garnishes—the chicken with pico de gallo and the carne asada with shredded cabbage. A squeeze of lime and the truck’s green salsa make the perfect finishing touches, but beware of the red salsa. I doused a bit too much on my taco before taking a bite, and honestly, I wasn’t sure if my mouth would ever recover from that pain.

La Frontera

Taste: 3
Presentation: 1
Ambiance: 1.5
Price: $
Overall: 2.5

Another taco truck, La Frontera also doesn’t have the ambiance of your average restaurant. It’s just behind a Jack in the Box, with a seating area covered with a blue tarp. It’s not the classiest place, but I did feel safer there than at Tacos La Hacienda. However, when it comes to the food, it’s lacking just a bit. I’m not saying I wouldn’t eat it again, but the meat was overcooked, dry and a little hard, as were the tortillas. We were also promised pico de gallo on our chicken tacos, which didn’t happen. They were all served with shredded cabbage. It’s definitely not my first choice, but don’t write it off just yet.

La Santisima Gourmet Taco Shop

Taste: 4.5
Presentation: 3.5
Ambiance: 3.5
Price: $
Overall: 4.5

This vibrant little shop is stands out in a strip mall on 16th street. The inviting storefront leads you into a small shop covered in Mexican flair, there’s a lot of character here. The tacos have the authentic taste of a street stand or truck, with the ambiance of a casual sit-down restaurant—it’s the best of both worlds. It’s a bit pricier than what we found at the taco trucks, but you get a lot more for your money—$7–$8 on dinner is still a great deal! The meat was cooked perfectly, it was plenty juicy and perfectly seasoned, topped with simple garnishes for a nice finishing touch like onion, cilantro and shredded cabbage. What makes this joint stand out from the others is it’s long salsa bar. The meal starts off with a basket of fresh tortilla chips, which gives you the chance to try each salsa before choosing which ones to splash on your tacos. My favorite was the Salsa Mexicana, but their green salsa and guacamole is also excellent.

…And that’s just part one! Be sure to stop by next week for the next three taco joint reviews and don’t forget to hit up Design Eat Repeat for judging cards to take a Taco Tour in any city!