The collab was meant to bring delicious tacos from Mexico City to North Texas diners — it ended up leaving a bad taste in their mouths.
DALLAS — A pop-up collaboration between a Michelin-starred taqueria and a travel app ended up being more brief than expected after customers reported long lines and wait times.
El Califa de León, the world’s only taqueria to hold a Michelin Star, hosted a pop-up experience in University Park in collaboration with GrinGO LLC., a Phoenix-based company known for a Mexico travel app of the same name. The collab was meant to promote tourism to Mexico City, where El Califa de León is based, and give North Texas diners a taste of the world-class tacos — but it ended up leaving a bad taste in their mouths.
On Tuesday, less than a week after the pop-up’s opening date, El Califa de León announced it was terminating its contract with GrinGO after “a series of operational shortcomings.” According to the announcement, the app company “failed to meet the standards required to represent the restaurant’s renowned Mexico City brand.”
The Michelin-starred restaurant clarified that GrinGO operated the event independently and that it had “no operational control” over the pop-up.
“Our brand is built on authenticity, quality, and respect for Mexican culinary heritage,” said José Andrés Hernández, CEO of Authentic Taco Holdings. “To protect the reputation and integrity of El Califa de León, we have chosen to discontinue our participation.”
“Yeah, we have had some infrastructure issues here at the pop-up,” said GrinGO spokesperson Brian Krupski.
Krupski said those issues included a “couple gas leaks” and a water leak in the kitchen. Despite the flurry of issues, he says the taco pop-up will continue — without the El Califa de León’s branding, chef or walk-up service. According to Krupski, they will remain open through Oct. 28, as planned.
One Texas food influencer detailed her “horrible experience” attempting to spend her birthday dinner at the pop-up in a video. She claims she had a reservation for 4 p.m., arrived at 3:30 p.m., and was not seated until 7:45 p.m.
After being seated, the influencer said her food arrived “not the warmest,” and described the pop-up as understaffed and underprepared.
Krupski told WFAA GrinGO has offered refunds and no-wait passes to some diners who had bad experiences. He also said GrinGO plans to find another date and a more suitable location to bring the Michelin Star tacos back to Dallas.
“We have a plan moving forward to find another date for Dallas and continue our tour here, providing El Califa tacos in the state of Texas,” Krupski said.
El Califa de León’s parent company, Authentic Taco Holdings, which also operates Mexican restaurant Sueño in Richardson, plans to open locations of the taqueria in the United States.
Later this month, the Texas Michelin Awards will be held at the Wortham Theater Center in Houston, honoring the top restaurants in the state.
The WFAA+ livestream of the event will take place on Tuesday, October 28, starting at 7 p.m. Here’s how you can watch it for free.