Twice a year my family gets together to go on vacation. In the Winter we normally head to North Myrtle Beach, SC and in the Summer we typically head to one of the various NC beaches, and this year we headed to Oak Island, NC. Oak Island is a short 3.5 hr drive from Charlotte, NC, and is a quick hour drive to North Myrtle Beach, SC. We were lucky enough to be able to stay at a friend of the family's beach home, and we knew that we would have to take extra precautions while on vacation due to Covid-19. With many of our normal spots closed in North Carolina, we looked to North Myrtle Beach to spend a fun-filled day.


North Myrtle Beach is near and dear to us, as we normally spend a week after Christmas there. We have many local favorites including Barefoot Landing and Broadway at the Beach, and over the year we have come to love the local restaurants in that area, and are always looking for a new one to add to our list, especially a family-friendly restaurant to appease my niece and nephew!  So after our day of outlet shopping and walking around shops, we were hot, tired, and very hungry and we headed over to our final destination for the evening, dinner at Taco Mundo Kitchen Y Cantina. We had a reservation for 6:00pm and ended our shopping a bit earlier than we thought we would, so at 5:45pm we headed over to the restaurant.

Taco Mundo is technically part of Barefoot Landing in North Myrtle Beach, but it is set a bit off from the main shopping areas, which makes it feel more secluded and private. Upon first arrival, I immediately noticed the grandeur of the building, which has a large open courtyard area in front of the restaurant, and large welcoming glass doors. When you walk inside, you'll notice how large and open the restaurant is and how Hispanic culture seeps from every corner of the space. We were promptly greeted by the hostess who was more than happy to seat us, even though we were 15 minutes early. As we were being led to our table, we walked by a glassed window area and to my delight, it was the kitchen and directly across from the kitchen was seating so you could watch the chef's cook while you wait to be seated. The kitchen is bright, clean and I honestly could have stayed there the whole time to watch them cook. I love cooking, so to be able to watch the chef's in their element, it was so neat, and such a fun thing for kids to be able to watch, too!
Something else that captivated me as we walked through the restaurant is their large, indoor/outdoor bar. Everyone seated in the bar area seemed to be having a fantastic time, and the bartenders all had smiles on their faces and genuinely seemed to enjoy their interactions with their patrons. The restaurant has a lot of seating inside and large, beautiful folding doors to bring the outside in. The tables inside and out were spaced out for social distancing, which seemed to be appreciated by all the guests. We were seated outdoors, underneath a large sun umbrella, overlooking the water. We had eight in our party, including my four-year-old niece, and nine-year-old nephew, and we were seated at a large, high-top table with plenty of room for all of us to spread out. This would prove to be even more of a blessing later on in the meal, as my Mother accidentally knocked a drink over and we were able to get it cleaned up without anyone getting wet!

Our waitress, Catherine G, was incredibly bubbly, happy and an overall joy of a waitress to be around. She quickly got our drink order and our Queso appetizer in, and in no time we were chowing down on some of the best queso I have had in a long time. We all loved how the chips were presented in brown bags, making it easy to pass around take what you want, and enjoy that salsa and queso! It also made it easy at the end of the meal to grab the chips to go, no need to ask for a bag! When it came time to order our food, everything sounded so good, that we were all having a tough time deciding what we'd like to order. Catherine offered some suggestions and helped us narrow down our choices!


Now, I am a huge nacho fan and if it's on a menu, I am most likely going to order it. My husband also decided on the Nachos and as I looked around the restaurant I noticed that a table near us had ordered the nachos, which is technically an appetizer on their menu. The plate was HUGE, so we decided that we should definitely split it since there was no way that either of us could eat an entire one by ourselves! We also decided that we needed a side of Mexican rice because honestly, no meal is complete without several types of carbs, am I right?! My Dad settled on the "ACP" Chicken and Queso bowl, which is one of his favorite meals. My Mom, who has severe heartburn issues, settled on the Taco Americano and our lovely waitress, Catherine, let her know that she would have the kitchen cook it as mild as they possibly could, it was no problem at all. Ondria had an Al Pastor taco and a Tempura Avacado taco and Sacha had the Carne Asada tacos. B, my nephew, had a Cheese Quesadilla and S, my niece, had Chicken Bites with potato wedges.


When our food arrived, we were all taken aback at how wonderfully plated our meals were. Our nachos were piled high with ground beef, queso, crema, and pico de gallo on the side. I couldn't wait to dig into ours. The Taco Americano was filled with beef, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, crema, and I really wanted to go sneak a bite before my Mom realized what was going on! The Al Pastor taco had juicy pork, fresh pineapple, onion relish salsa verde and cilantro to top it off, if my mouth wasn't watering before, it definitely was at this point! And the Tempura Avacado taco had tempura avocado, a sweet Thai chile glaze, chipotle slaw, and cilantro, yum! Next, on the Carne Asada tacos, there was tender, grilled flank steak, pico de gallo, green chili sauce, cilantro, and they looked incredible. The ACP, I wanted to dive face-first into that delicious looking bowl! It was filled with rice, grilled chicken topped with queso and crispy tortilla strips and it everything you could ever want in a meal, lol!

As we all took our first bites there was silence, followed by Oh Wow, Holy Moly, This is Incredible, You HAVE to try this! We were all floored at the freshness of the ingredients and the bold flavors of our meals. Nachos, as simple as they might sound, were so full of flavor and crunch, and that pico de gallo, I could have eaten a whole bowl on that on its own! If your meal doesn't come with it, ask for some on the side, you won't be disappointed! No one was disappointed with their meal, we all stuffed our faces with some of the best food we have had in a long time.  Once we were done with our meals, our lovely waitress, Catherine G, talked us into a bag of warm, cream-filled churros. I can not tell you how even though we were all stuffed to the gills, we scarfed down those churros, and still had some to take home with us to enjoy later! They were crispy and light, covered in cinnamon sugar, filled with cream and served with the most delicious chocolate sauce. We enjoyed those down to the last one that was fought over at home!

Something that we really enjoyed about Taco Mundo and their outdoor seating area is the cornhole they had over in the corner and the gorgeous view in which to enjoy your meal. While Covid-19 is definitely still going on, we couldn't pass up an opportunity to play with the kids, who has been eyeballing it since the moment we sat down. Drinks in hand, we headed over to the boards, taught S to play, and had a blast, laughing, dancing to the music and watching the sun start to set over the water. Once we were done playing, we all headed over to the hand sanitizer stands they had set up throughout the restaurant and made sure we all sanitized our hands. We greatly appreciated those being there and the kids loved being able to get their own sanitizer as opposed to it always being given to them. The kids were able to run around outside, while minding social distancing guidelines, each table was marked by blue lines, and we made sure to let the kids know they couldn't go by the lines, and get some energy out. No one cared that they were being kids and having fun, it was more than welcomed and made us all feel good about bringing the kids there to eat.

Our meal was coming to an end, and we really didn't want to leave. We had such an amazing time at Taco Mundo and it was the only restaurant that we chose to eat at while we were on vacation, and it was worth it! Taco Mundo is a great, family-friendly restaurant with family-friendly prices as well. All eight of us were able to eat for under $100, and for a beach restaurant in a very busy, well-known area, that is such a deal! Taco Mundo has now been added to our list of must-eats when we're in town, and I know we'll be back soon! If you are in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina you have to eat at Taco Mundo and make sure that you ask for Catherine G, you won't be disappointed! Thank you so much to Taco Mundo Kitchen Y Cantina for hosting our large family and being so kind and gracious to us, and for the lovely shirts for the kids, they love them!