Fire It Up

I have to be honest, I really wanted to like this place, but I can’t think of one thing I’d go back for. Chips were stale, guacamole portion was tiny and the flavor was boring, margarita was terrible (too sour and too sweet at the same time. Confused? So was I). I ordered the shrimp taco and the gringo. The gringo was literally dripping from being so soggy. For two lunch specials, a margarita, a soft drink and a guacamole appetizer, we paid $ 50. Pros: our server was delightful, the tomatillo salsa was good and I love the location. Unfortunately, none of those things will bring me back. Didn’t understand the hype.

As expected, a big win for me. I’m a regular of their Naperville location and I’ve never been disappointed, I was in the area and thought I’d stop in this one to see what it was like. It’s obviously bigger than the Naperville location, but not overwhelming. With ample outdoor seating which will be nice when that season comes! I ordered the gringo, cheeseburger and BLT tacos the gringo and cheeseburger I get every time because they are amazing but my third I like to switch up. Everything tasted freaking great! My boyfriend always gets the truck with the hot sauce and just raves about that too. My one and only complaint here is they make super weak margaritas and taste like I’m just drinking the syrup. Not good, and at 8 bucks a pop I expect more, think about it, if you make them decent, meaning I can actually taste the tequila then I will most definitely order another one. But I left drink only about half. Don’t come here for those unless they decided to be better at it. I decided to not let that effect my 5 star rating because it’s not like I went there for the booze. So just a heads up on that, hit up a bar after for booze. All in all great job guys your still my favorite taco joint!

Seriously, best tacos I have ever eaten in my entire life!!! If you are in the area, this is a must! I Try the shrimp and Gringo tacos and guacamole and Parmesan chips. Totally out of this world!!!
The waitstaff are very friendly and will talk through the menu with you. This was very helpful as we wanted to order one of everything,
Love the ambiance and décor. Very clean and cozy.

The food is excellent and the staff is friendly. Guac and Parmesan chips were the best!

I do not get all these 5-​star reviews AT ALL. I would have rated this place 1-​star if it weren’t for the waitress who seemed flustered but very sweet.
I came here last week with a few people & we were very, very disappointed in this place.
I live nearby so I’ve been wanting to check it out for awhile. We came around 7pm on a Wednesday & weren’t greeted promptly. When we were greeted, about 5 minutes later. we were told it would be a half hour wait even though there were open tables & no one else waiting. After about 15 minutes I asked if we could at least sit down & order drinks. The hostess then informs us the reason she didn’t seat us is because «the kitchen is backed up». OK… but can we sit down?! (we won’t order food for awhile if the chefs need a little more time)… She then seats us.
We order a few drinks, some sangria & a couple on-​tap beers. (nothing wrong here, the drinks were good).
Then, about 15 mins later we each order about 3 tacos each. Which, as I’d like to mention. none of them really appealed to us. It seems all of the tacos on the menu have mayo. or aioli or some other sauce they are drenched in. I understand this is a ‘fusion’ restaurant but the menu lacks restraint. That’s already a red flag.
Fast forward 50 minutes… YES 50… We finally get our tacos.
I can handle a long wait on food if it’s worth it but these tacos… were AWFUL. The flour tortilla’s they serve are not homemade & pretty bad quality to start. They really skimp on the actual meats– and add a lot of fillers like lettuce & sauces. I could make better tacos at home.
If you go to this place… walk right back out and head down the street to ‘a toda madre’ where your money will be well spent. Won’t be returning here unless it’s solely for drinks.

When traveling, I always like to try local places. Today, I chose Fire It Up.
The service was great and tacos were good.
This is a quaint little place that locally sources, including their beer. I ordered the following:
Half Acre Pony Pilsner — this was a nice local beer, lighter, yummy.
Chips and Guac — the Guac was fresh and tasty. The chips were Parmesan dusted. They were ok, kind of bland.
2 tacos– Taco Tuesday! I order one with Bbq pork. Good flavor, sweet & crispy from the cabbage. The second, steak & mushroom with a little bite. Both had a nice mix of taste and texture, filling.
Lastly, the music was spot on with my taste. Started with 311 (love them!), Incubus, Weezer, the Gorillaz, Beck, RHCP, etc. good music is always a win for me.
Try them out! Worth it!

Went in on a Saturday @11:45am and were sat right away. We had a great waitress. After ordering, we had an appetizer of parmesan chips and guacamole — very average and chips were not warm and had very little flavor.
It took nearly 45 min to get our burrito and 2 tacos… the tortillas were cool to touch. Hard to believe they have/​had food trucks with turn-​around times like that.
Average meal. I hope they just a had a bad day and are better than our visit, especially with so many other great options out there.

This place is great! To begin, our table ordered two appetizers –guacamole and shrimp wontons. Although the guacamole was good, the wontons were so much better.
Most everyone ordered tacos and were happy. Some tacos were better than others but all were good. People were happy.
I ordered the shrimp quinoa salad and that rocked! It had a blend of flavors i would not have known to put together and it was amazing. So good i actually thought about going back today (the day after eating there).
We also ordered the brownie chimichanga bites which were the perfect size for each person to end the evening with a last bite of yumminess. Just so good.
Of course all this great food was served by a great waitress (thanks Emily) and came out fast at the proper temp. Really enjoyed the meal :)

Fire it Up is really a fun and delicious meal! I had multiple tacos, but my favorite was the Cheeseburger Taco. It was so tasty and flavorful! In addition, I tried the Parmesan chips and guacamole which were the best chips and guacamole I have ever had! I highly suggest you try out this restaurant because you will not be disappointed.

Came in just as they opened on a Friday and was seated right away. The Parmesan chips were really good and I ordered the chicken taco and the bbq port taco. The chicken taco is very mild but flavorful, while the bbq pork has a lot of flavor, not the hot kind, just the good kind. Very impressed with the food integrity and local sourcing. The presentation is good and the staff is friendly. I will definitely be back here.

I’m starting to think that Fire It Up puts some sort of highly addicting drug in their hot sauce, because I find myself dreaming about their tacos (drowning in their amazing and tongue searing sauce) all the time.
Both the Naperville and Wheaton locations are virtually identical, except that the Wheaton locale is a bit snazzier inside, is located steps away from Wheaton College, and has a bar at which you can sit while you eat your delicious tacos.
Highly recommended to those who are in love with tacos, hot sauce, and/​or local beer. I mean seriously, how can you go wrong with that combination?

Wide selection of Tacos. Very good taste profiles. Salsa’s are fresh and tasty. Sangria is well made. Service is very good. Margarita needs serious work and draft beer is $ 7 which is laughable. They have a chance to do really well, but I detect a bit of arrogance coming from the owners after a few meals here. They obviously know nothing about the better taco place down the street or they would serve a drinkable margarita.

My advice: Try this place in summer! We went on a pretty cold winter’s evening and it was almost as cold inside as it was outside. Most of the diners were wearing their coats. They have a big old fireplace that was not working. I asked our server about this and he said they tried to light it a week before and it was blowing smoke into the room. Don’t you think they might try and get it working in a week?
I’m not used to not getting complimentary chips and salsa in a Mexican restaurant, but that was okay. The chips and guac we ordered were interesting. The tacos were tasty and the waiter was very nice. The biggest problem, it is hard to enjoy a dinner when you are freezing! The waiter even told us he went and stood by the heat exchange when he had a free minute. Hmmm…
If they are still around in summer, we would certainly give them another try!

This place is a gem! Unique and delicious tacos and fab lunch specials. Recommending it to everyone that asks and looking forward to our next visit.

Got takeout from here tonight, as we were so excited to find out there was a Fire It Up in Wheaton. The Naperville location is 5-​star amazing and I was pumped to find a location closer to home. I ordered my usual order from the Naperville location: chips and guac, a gringo taco, a cheeseburger taco, and a BLT taco. The chips, the amazing incredible delicious Parmesan dusted chips I am OBSESSED with at the Naperville location, were… Off. They were so greasy that they weren’t crunchy, but almost chewy. They were bendable. They were still parm dusted, but there was a ton of parm at the bottom of the dish, too. The guac was brownish at the edges of the container. The gringo taco was just so greasy it was almost inedible. Even the BLT taco was greasy from the single strip of bacon on it.
Typically I would say this is my own fault for getting takeout, but I get takeout at the other location, further from my house, and it arrives perfect, consistently. I guess this is what i get for choosing convenience over reliability. I may check this place out again if I’m right in Wheaton, but otherwise, the schlep out to the edges of Naperville for perfect chips and fresh guac is well worth it.

Love this place!
Came here for lunch and loved every bite I took!
As an appetizer started off with the Cuban rolls. These are spicy… So if you don’t like spicy these aren’t for you. If you like spice. you won’t regret it!
For tacos. Gringo taco is the best! It truly melts in your mouth!
Lastly. Parmesan chips r amazing!
If you are in the Wheaton area or Naperville check this place out!
All fresh ingredients too! That’s a plus

«I want the cheeseburger taco and the gringo taco to get married and have babies together.»
I mentioned this to the dude (one of the cooks, I think?) who brought us our tacos and he was in complete agreement and said he needed to give that a try. I hope that someday that makes it onto the menu because DAMN that would be good. Those are totally my two favorite tacos here and you know what they say about two great tastes that taste great together… no, wait, that was peanut butter and chocolate or something muddled in my 80s-​brain.
Here’s what’s great about the new Wheaton Fire It Up location. I mean, in addition to the already awesome food. There’s more space than the Naperville location so you don’t have as long of a wait.
Last night, my wife and I stopped by for some pre-​Thanksgiving Taco Tuesday grubbin’ and left full and happy after indulging in a couple of cocktails, the parmesan chips and guac, and a round of tacos.
Our waiter was super friendly, and tho I don’t often use the phrase «chill» he was super chill. We had a slight speed bump in the fact that our chips were stale when they arrived. We were so hungry that we ate almost all of them anyway before I had a chance to mention they were stale, but when I did he brought us an entire fresh order complete with more guac. After that, you know we were feelin’ guacy. (I need you guys to embrace that as a phrase. K thnx).
The tacos were just as awesome as Naperthrill, and we stuffed ourselves on shrimp, pork, cheeseburger and gringo. All delicious. All prepared fresh and done extremely well.
I’m not sure if we’ll return to this location based on distance from our house, but the size of the place definitely has something going for it and it’s absolutely just as great as their other location. I hope FIU continues expanding and perhaps will open a location in my backyard someday.
No wait… that might be bad.

Sooooo… can you just cut and paste my review from the other Fire It Up location to right here? No, I can’t be a big old lazy? Okay.
I’ve been to this new location twice and it’s completely consistent in quality and FLAVORS. Flavors are in all caps because they are that good. My go-​to favorites are the Big Truck and the BBQ pork tacos, but guess what? Everything is ridiculously good. The hot sauce is incredible. The staff is friendly and the place looks real nice.
What’s great about this specific location is the new space — it has a really cute enclosed outdoor patio. It’s practically snowing now, but I can easily see myself drinking margaritas in the sunshine before taking a train home (College Ave train station is steps away). Unfortunately I don’t think that train line goes anywhere near my house, so I will need to move.

Everything was fantastic! Service, cleanliness, ambience, value, and quality were all fabulous. I know it is a reach to compare Wheaton/​Naperville to Detroit but the whole experience reminded me of the restaurants of the downtown Detroit revitalization. A little bit on the hipster side but warm and welcoming with just outstanding food. The Spicy Cuban rolls, parmesan herb’d chips, and steak tacos were top of my list! Definitely a destination restaurant.

Several years ago, I was lucky enough to dine at Fire It Up in Naperville as part of a Unilocal event. Fast forward to now, and I have since been to the Naperville location multiple times, with a variety of friends, and recommended it more times than I can remember!
Now, enter: Wheaton! What a great location! I was so happy to hear that what was once a food truck now has a second restaurant in a downtown location, again next to the train!
Fire It Up in Wheaton does not disappoint! The décor and ambiance is the same if not improved — it’s a beautiful location, and Julie and Rick did a fantastic job of decorating the new spot to match it’s Naperville locale. The outdoor patio dining is a great addition! There is a full bar complete with seating here, which is a great add as well!
The food and service is fantastic, as I would expect! The menu is the same — why mess with perfection? Head over to my review of the Naperville location for food-​specific reviews but in short: don’t miss the shrimp won ton appetizer!