A new restaurant offering fresh Tex-Mex and fresh vibes opened this month in Greenwood.
Humble Taco is a full service Tex-Mex restaurant and margarita bar at 172 Melody Avenue, off State Road 135 and Main Street on the city’s west side. Since opening earlier this month, the restaurant has been serving up its unique menu of tacos, chimichangas, enchiladas, appetizers, margaritas and other tequila cocktails.
Owners John and Laura Gladish are Greenwood locals, and already work in the restaurant industry as owners of Tried and True Alehouse, also on State Road 135 in Greenwood.
John Gladish got his start working in restaurants at a Tex-Mex restaurant — Chi-Chi’s Mexican restaurant chain, which ceased operations starting in 2004.
After owning his own restaurant for awhile, he wanted to bring a Chi-Chi’s- style place to the Greenwood area, and so Humble Taco was born, said Johnny Humphrey, operating partner at Humble Taco.
“For us, we’re very fortunate there is nothing around us like it. There are a lot of traditional Mexican restaurants, but nothing quite like the feel we have here when you want into Humble Taco,” Humphrey said.
Located in what was previously the Stacked Pickle, the design of the building has been updated to fit a chic Southwestern vibe, and a modern pop rock playlist is always on inside.
The owners and their team wanted to create a menu that stood out, and also showcase hand-crafted cuisine. Humble Taco’s brightly-colored menu features a number of unique dishes with fun names, including the “Crazy Hot Chick,” a taco with spicy crispy chicken, and “Ship Happens,” a taco with fried cod.
Guests can pick from a variety of tacos and dishes either from the regular menu, or the Weekly Taco Feature — abbreviated as W.T.F on the menu — that features taco creations not on the regular menu each week. Options range from breakfast tacos and biscuits and gravy, to pulled pork and fish tacos.
“We like it to have a certain type of flair,” Humphrey said about creating the menu.
As an operating partner, Humphrey specialized in creating the drink menu at Humble Taco. The featured drink is the Humble Margarita, which is made with Lunazul Blanco tequila, Hotel Tango Orangecello, fresh lime and agave, and it comes in several different flavors including strawberry, watermelon, blood orange and spicy jalapeno.
Additionally, the bar menu features tequila cocktails and beer selections from Mexico, Texas and local breweries.
“What we really wanted to do with that was recreate a lot of classic cocktails using a lot of tequila and Mezcal to take a different spin on those, and so far, everything has been a hit,” Humphrey said.
And since it opened, Humble Taco has stayed busy, Humphrey said.
“Everybody so far has loved it," he said. "Right as soon as we opened the doors, we had people outside waiting to come in, and we haven’t slowed down since.”