Update Dec. 20 at 10:51 a.m.: Guaco Taco opened a second location Nov. 21. The new restaurant is located at 1840 Crystal Falls Parkway, Leander.

Original story posted Mar. 23 at 8 a.m.

Guaco Taco is more than a business for owner Mardy Harp—it showcases her creativity, brings friends together for an afternoon and adds something to Cedar Park.

“This is my baby, it’s like giving birth,” Harp said.

That baby became a toddler this month as Guaco Taco begins its second year of operation in March.
Guaco Taco opened last year, but it was three decades in the making for Harp. She said her motivation to open came from her passion for cooking.

“I wanted to bring a restaurant that served the kind of food I liked,” Harp said. “I wanted it fast, but I also wanted it really fresh and that was the key.”

She said her love of cooking comes from experimenting with different recipes. She has lived in Cedar Park since the mid-1980s and she said that with Guaco Taco she managed to find a niche.

“It was either fast food or chain [restaurants],” Harp said about the area when she first moved in. “There wasn’t a place to get a home-cooked meal that was fresh, so you were kind of limited. I wanted to fill that void.”

Harp said Cedar Park has an abundance of Mexican and Tex-Mex spots to grab a taco or quesadilla, but what sets Guaco Taco apart is that the food is not only fresh, but fast. She said the key is cooking in small batches.

“Everything is made fresh every day,” Harp said. “Our tortillas, our shells are made and cooked every day. Every single morning we’re making things fresh.”

Guest can enjoy tacos that are naturally gluten free, Harp’s made-from-scratch green guacamole or Mexican Gumbo, a convergence of two distinct culinary cultures.

Guaco Taco also offers a sauce club, where customers pay $7.50 for a bottle of sauce and return and refill that bottle with more sauce at a discounted price.

Quality affordable food and great service is a time-tested recipe for success, Harp said, but she is also incorporating technology to help grow her business. She said she is working on offering delivery service through GrubHub and DoorDash, and she is proud of the restaurant’s online reviews.

“Our Facebook, our Yelp, our Trip Advisor, we’ve had tremendous support from the local community,” she said. “There’s just a lot of local people coming and even people travel from Georgetown or Round Rock because they heard about us.”

Guaco Taco
2011 Little Elm Trail, Ste. 106, Cedar Park
512-584-8508
www.guaco-taco.com
Hours: Mon.-Sun. 10:30 a.m.-8 p.m.