The staff at Tinga Kim Taqueria are so pleasant that they make the experience. They’re welcoming and flexible on seating arrangements, offering their cute patio out back, which we were contemplating until we saw a table coming back complaining about bugs.

Being in the dingier indoor area has its benefit: such as the ease of getting their attention and placing our order in three stages to control the pace of the meal.

We started with “appetizers” including the K-Wings or Korean style wings in both flavours. I preferred the Oro K-wings ($20 for 6) the crispy chicken left neutral but having been marinated in arbol (type of chili pepper), soy, and oyster sauce was very flavourful. Juicy and crunchy this is what makes Korean fried chicken so good.

The Rojo K-wings ($20 for 6) were too strong for me: the gochujang, ginger, soju, and oyster sauce base tasty on the first bite but overwhelming by the last. Rest assured, Tinga Kim doesn’t baby their diners and makes these spicy.

I’m glad we got the quesabirria ($18) for the table as the shredded beef saturated in consommé was so rich and salty that one is sufficient. They don’t skimp of the cheese so it’s nice and gooey but could use more raw onion and herbs to counteract the heaviness. Strangely this arrives with chili oil and a sour cream aioli instead of the beef consommé you’d expect to dip it in. It seemed more quesadilla than quesabirria.

Their single order tacos are great for building your own main. Ideally, the chef should have left the shrimp in the pingo Coreano ($12) neutral rather than saturating it in soju, soy and oyster sauce. By this point, I was getting tired of this flavour combo and was looking forward to what the menu describes as shrimp, soju-based salsa, guacamole, cotija & Oaxaca cheese, and cilantro. No where did it mention soy and oyster sauce, which completely covered the sparse guacamole and cheese but did help soften the tostada, so it was foldable and easier to eat. I’m really reaching for the silver lining here.

The maapo libre ($10) tasted the same since the main protein was Korean marinated galbi. Except this was topped with an overly salted citrusy red cabbage slaw. Quite frankly, by this time I’m not sure what on their menu doesn’t contain soy sauce.

After all that salt I was craving something sweet. The Mexican flan ($10) was calling and while it wasn’t terrible, if the recipe includes white chocolate in the custard they really should have left the syrup thin rather than dousing it in a thick caramel that brought this to cloying sweet level. Moreover, the custard became too dense. The silver lining? At least each order contained two mini flans that makes it perfect for sharing.

My perception is that the chefs at Tinga Kim create one sauce then use it on everything. That same caramel was drizzled onto the already sweet tres leches cake ($17), which means yes this is tooth achingly sweet as well. At least the cake was nice and moist.

Even the cinnamon sugar dusted churros ($10) didn’t escape the sauce, which needs to be served on the side. The actual pastry was a bit dense but at least freshly deep fried and hot.

Writing this post really has me going back to the practice of gratitude journaling – amongst everything that goes wrong, what is the positive thing? Tinga Kim is lucky their staff are so sweet… much like all their desserts.