A festive dining experience at Santa's Sleigh Station
It’s the best time of the year when all the festivities are happening after Thanksgiving through December. From Santa’s arrival on the tug boat, the lighted boat parade, supporting local businesses for Small Business Saturday and the Downtown holiday stroll. I have a NEW suggestion to add to your holiday festivities in Mystic!
For the first time this year, Taquerio converted to a Winter Wonderland! Taquerio is the restaurant located in a vintage gas station offering tacos, margaritas and more. This winter wonderland has been renamed SANTA’S SLEIGH STATION. I went there this past week to check it out and I LOVED IT! It definitely got me in the spirits so much that I came home to watch a Christmas movie.
The restaurant space is decked out in Christmas — like those fancy restaurants in New York City with ornaments on the ceiling, Christmas dishes, etc that you have seen across Instagram. I’ve always had the FOMO (fear of missing out) when I see those social media posts but now we can see it right here in Mystic!
Outside of Santa’s Sleigh Station is decked out with many inflatables, Christmas decor, a curling game you can play and a couple photo stations. Once you go inside, there’s a wall plastered with wish lists to Santa from kids (a bit of nostalgia!). Also more of nostalgia inside the restaurant where there’s several classic Christmas movies playing. There are multiple screens — I saw Home Alone, Grinch, It’s A Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street to name a few. The back room is Frozen-themed with icicles hanging from the ceiling and dimmed blue lighting. The bar is decked out with many Christmas ornaments or decor. It was a great conversation piece as my companion and I enjoyed spotting some familiar objects. The bar had the infamous leg lamp from A Christmas Story, there was a Battle Plan map from Home Alone, even something from the Die Hard movie.
The menu was Christmas themed — many dishes or drinks were named after the classics. I spotted ‘Buddy’s Spaghetti’ which is the very same recipe from Elf movie. Spaghetti with maple syrup, candy, chocolate syrup, marshmallows, sprinkles and pop tart. I asked the server about it if anyone else had been brave to try it. Since the opening (which was 3 days prior to my dining there), they served 15 of them so far! I was hoping to see one in person but no luck!
The night I dined there, I spotted the appetizer — Santa Salsa and Chips, red and green chips on every single table all around me. They have their regular menu (Taquerio) items, which is very gluten free friendly. The menu is marked well with items that can be made GF or items that already are GF. It is one of the most GF friendly restaurants in Mystic area. I ordered a few tacos and the nachos appetizer. My companion (who is not GF) ordered the chicken and waffles off the Christmas menu. I also had the delicious frozen hot chocolate! We enjoyed everything as it all tasted wonderful!
I absolutely love this addition to the holiday festivities in Mystic. It was such a fun dining experience. They really went all in for Christmas! It took them 3 1/2 days to convert this into Santa’s Sleigh Station. It’s well worth the stop there. I know it won’t be my only visit there.
Visit their website here.