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Two plates of tacos from Tacos el Caballo food truck set on a chrome surface in southwest Detroit, Michigan. Rosa Maria Zamarrón

23 Top-Notch Spots for Tacos in Metro Detroit

Where to find quesabirria dipped in consomé, puffy tacos, and more

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Metro Detroit’s taco culture is spreading out in unexpected places lately. In the suburban community of Berkley, a humble taqueria made the ranks of the 2023 James Beard Awards long list of semifinalists of emerging chefs. A liquor store just west of downtown bolsters a fun play on birria. Meanwhile, the taco truck game continues to gain steam and a Black-owned pop-up taqueria, Shell Shock’d, will soon be heading into a brick and mortar. In Southwest Detroit and throughout the greater metro area, restaurants and trucks are creating their own takes on this affordable and satisfying meal. From food trucks slinging al pastor tacos to restaurants suburban spots delivering chef-driven interpretations of the ubiquitous handheld, below find 23 excellent taco spots in metro Detroit to try right now.

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Carnival Market

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This popular Mexican grocery store is also one of Pontiac’s favorite spots for tacos. Customers can choose from several proteins including barbacoa, al pastor, and grilled chicken and customize their tacos with the market’s fresh salsas. The beloved mercado expanded in 2021 with a stand-alone restaurant at 23019 W Outer Dr. in Allen Park, offering many of the spot’s favorites for the Downriver crowd.

Tienda Mexicana

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One of Oakland County’s finest taquerias is located inside a Mexican market off John R. Road. Tacos here are served on corn tortillas with standard cilantro, onion, and lime accoutrements. The restaurant’s enormous tortas are also worth the trip. Dine-in or carry out.

This 24/7 Royal Oak diner puts a creative spin on Mexican American comfort food. On top of its popular breakfast menu featuring chilaquiles made with green tomatillo salsa, chorizo and egg sandwiches, and choco flan, O.W.L. features a taco of the day, including chicken, chorizo and potato, steak, carnitas, and beef barbacoa.

Casa Amado Taqueria

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Residents of Berkley can rejoice because they’ve got access to award-winning tacos in an unexpected space. Chef Amado Lopez was named a semifinalist in the Emerging Chef category for the 2023 James Beard Awards for his work during the pandemic to transform the community’s Atomic Dog hot dog restaurant from fledgling diner to a pop-up operation, and eventually a full-time taqueria. The specialty here is braised meats, such as the pork braised in red chiles, as well as vegetarian and vegan options, like the mushroom taco or vegan beans and rice. Guests still thinking about those Atomic Dogs can reminisce while enjoying Amado’s Sonoran hot dogs topped with bacon, green chiles, and garnishes of pickled onion, jalapeño, and roasted chile sauce.

The Taco Stand Taqueria

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Downriver’s Taco Stand serves five types of tacos with either corn or flour tortillas. Don’t miss the extra spicy chorizo or the campechano — a blend of griddled chorizo and steak. The tacos are filled generously and topped with onions and cilantro.

M Cantina

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M Cantina’s chef-owner Junior Merino’s Nuevo Latino street food restaurant dishes up halal trios of enticing tacos such as mole braised short rib, duck carnitas, and chile relleno. Each tortilla receives a generous amount of filling and customers can dress them up even more with the restaurant’s extensive selection of salsas. Meals can be paired with Merino’s signature cocktails and non-alcoholic libations.

soft tacos loaded with meat, lime and guacamole M Cantina [Official photo]

Imperial

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Diners and bar hoppers swear by this Ferndale restaurant's tacos. Imperial keeps its menu fresh with a selection of fillings that rotate weekly. Specials have included roasted cauliflower masala, blackened shrimp, and roasted butternut squash, complementing the menu’s standby carnitas, adobada de pollo (chicken marinated in a chile-based mixture), and beef barbacoa. Vegan options are also available, as are the California-style bacon wrapped Sonoran hot dogs and quality margaritas.

Mezcal Mexican Bar & Kitchen

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Mezcal Mexican Bar & Kitchen is Ferndale’s newest option for tacos, ushering in a much-needed boost to Oakland County’s Mexican food world. While the bar emphasizes 30 different types of agave spirits, the spot also features an impressive lineup of tacos, including birria, fish, campechano (a blend of chorizo and carne asada), and alambre — with bacon, chorizo, melted cheese, and choice of chicken or steak.

El Charro St. Clair Shores

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The cult of the Tex-Mex puffy taco is alive and well in metro Detroit thanks to local chain El Charro. This San Antonio-style taco features a hefty, deep fried corn tortilla with a choice of filling, plus plenty of shredded cheese, lettuce, and chopped tomatoes.

A puffy taco on a white plate. El Charro [Official photo]

Dos Locos Tacos

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This Hamtramck shop inside the former Campau Tower offers carne asada and shredded chicken tacos as well as halal beef chorizo, ground lamb, and marinated mushroom tacos. As an added perk, Dos Locos stays open until midnight for the neighborhood bar crowds.

El Taco Veloz

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This Southwest Detroit taco spot located on Toledo Street has a serious following that only grew after it expanded to a counter inside Midtown’s Marcus Market. The restaurant’s menu features steak, chicken, chorizo, and marinated pork tacos topped with grilled onions and cilantro. The meal is often accompanied by grilled peppers and lime.

Tacos in a takeout container lined with foil and surrounded by white onions and grilled jalapenos. Brenna Houck

Antojitos Southwest

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The buzz-worthy Antojitos Southwest food truck landed on the corner of Wabash and Bagley in 2021 and with it, its popular quesabirrias. Using halal beef, these griddled, these tasty tacos are available with consomé for $1 extra. The truck is open for operation from noon to 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Detroit Loves Tacos,LLC

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Situated within the Happy 4 Liquor store on Fort, this takeout-friendly spot is a play on owner Julie Stevens’ Guanajuato lineage and upbringing in southwest Detroit. Stevens started off as a pop-up and catering venture, but her food’s popularity necessitated a permanent site. Beef birria tacos are served with consomé for dipping. Other styles of tacos include ground beef, chicken, pineapple pork with chorizo and bacon, or veggies — all available in corn or flour tortillas. A bonus, another specialty of Stevens, empanadas.

La Jalisciense Supermercado Y Taqueria

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It’s a supermarket with a bountiful butcher’s counter. But La Jalisciense is also a notable dining destination in Southwest Detroit. In addition to its quality Mexican breakfast menu, chicarrones prepared daily, and full-service bar, diners can nosh of plates of tacos with birria de chivo (goat stew), carnitas, beef tongue, and other traditional protein fillings.

Taqueria El Rey

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Southwest Detroit’s wildly popular Taqueria El Rey was sadly damaged in a fire earlier this year, however, fans can still enjoy its offerings at a twice-a-weekly popup at Batch Brewing Company at 1400 Porter St. in Corktown from opening time until supplies run out every Monday and Tuesday. El Rey fills tacos with a generous helping of meat, cilantro, and onion with sliced limes and radishes. The restaurant offers more than 10 options for filling the tacos (the buche and pastor are particularly tasty). Newcomers with a big appetite should also be sure to order a whole grilled chicken, which comes with a side of tortillas for a build-your-own taco experience. The house salsas help to amp up the flavors.

Loncheria El Parian

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With multiple locations dotting Southwest Detroit, El Parian may be the most prolific fleet of taco trailers in the area. Tacos al pastor (marinated pork shaved from a spit) is the standout at this restaurant, though customers can also savor lengua (beef toungue), pollo (chicken), and more. The mobile restaurant also serves up a mean cheese quesadilla in a grilled and folded flour tortilla and massive tortas topped with sauce and sliced hot dogs. During the pandemic, the ownership expanded to include a brick and mortar location, La Palapa Del Parian at 1633 Lawndale St in Springwells, where the tacos are freshly prepared on the outdoor comal.

The trailer for Loncheria El Parian on a sunny day on West Vernor. Brenna Houck

Las Cazuelas Grill

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Gas stations food culture is definitely a thing in Detroit and Las Cazuelas Grill in Southwest is among a cohort of metro Detroit restaurants that upholds that tradition. The restaurant’s tacos come with a choice of protein including steak, chicken, or marinated shredded pork. Everything is prepared on the flat top grill behind the counter. It’s also a great spot for breakfast burritos.

Brenna Houck

Los Altos

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The taco offerings at Los Altos are plentiful, ranging from al pastor, tripas, asada, and chorizo to egg, fish, shrimp, and chicharron. They’re available with corn, flour, or for a nominal charge, they can be prepared with handmade tortillas. Make it a meal and get three tacos with choice of meat, rice, beans, and lettuce and tomato on the side. The spot’s extensive bar menu features margaritas and margarita-adjacent cocktails, micheladas, and Mexican beers.

Taqueria Mi Pueblo

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This family-owned institution in Southwest serves an expansive menu with options like Detroit-style botana and menudo, but many customers simply spring for the tacos. Mi Pueblo’s selection of fillings includes options like chicharron en salsa roja (pork rinds in red sauce), lengua (beef tongue), and lomo (shredded pork loin). The establishment also recently opened an express restaurant for patrons in need of a quicker, carryout meal.

Tacos del Barrio

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This relatively new fleet of southwest Detroit-based taco trucks has been vying for dominance in the local birria market when it launched in spring 2022. Guests can order quesabirria hot off the griddle, tacos al pastor inspired by one of the company’s employees, as well as tacos using lengua and tripas — fillings that are sometimes hard to find at food trucks.

La Terraza

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This restaurant and live music venue in Springwells is known for Mexican seafood dishes as well as soups, and, of course, plenty of tacos. For a crisp, golden shell meal order the quesabirrias, filled with tender beef birria and pull-worthy melted cheese. Another unique-to-Detroit offering, the taco gobernador, featuring spiced Baja California-style griddled shrimp and melted together with mozzarella cheese, available with a corn or flour tortilla.

Tacos El Caballo

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This popular truck in Springwells is a mecca for many local taco connoisseurs. Choose from corn or flour tortillas and a selection of meats ranging from chorizo to beef tongue and pastor. Don’t forget to bring cash.

A man with a dark mustache looks through a window from the inside of the Tacos el Caballo food truck in southwest Detroit, Michigan. Rosa Maria Zamarrón

El Asador Mexican Steakhouse

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This slightly upscale Mexican restaurant boasts a strong selection of tasty tacos. Fans like the seafood versions best including the shrimp diabla option. The tacos are served with soft, fried, and hard-shell flour or corn tortillas. Reservations are not required, however, they are recommended.

Carnival Market

This popular Mexican grocery store is also one of Pontiac’s favorite spots for tacos. Customers can choose from several proteins including barbacoa, al pastor, and grilled chicken and customize their tacos with the market’s fresh salsas. The beloved mercado expanded in 2021 with a stand-alone restaurant at 23019 W Outer Dr. in Allen Park, offering many of the spot’s favorites for the Downriver crowd.

Tienda Mexicana

One of Oakland County’s finest taquerias is located inside a Mexican market off John R. Road. Tacos here are served on corn tortillas with standard cilantro, onion, and lime accoutrements. The restaurant’s enormous tortas are also worth the trip. Dine-in or carry out.

O.W.L.

This 24/7 Royal Oak diner puts a creative spin on Mexican American comfort food. On top of its popular breakfast menu featuring chilaquiles made with green tomatillo salsa, chorizo and egg sandwiches, and choco flan, O.W.L. features a taco of the day, including chicken, chorizo and potato, steak, carnitas, and beef barbacoa.

Casa Amado Taqueria

Residents of Berkley can rejoice because they’ve got access to award-winning tacos in an unexpected space. Chef Amado Lopez was named a semifinalist in the Emerging Chef category for the 2023 James Beard Awards for his work during the pandemic to transform the community’s Atomic Dog hot dog restaurant from fledgling diner to a pop-up operation, and eventually a full-time taqueria. The specialty here is braised meats, such as the pork braised in red chiles, as well as vegetarian and vegan options, like the mushroom taco or vegan beans and rice. Guests still thinking about those Atomic Dogs can reminisce while enjoying Amado’s Sonoran hot dogs topped with bacon, green chiles, and garnishes of pickled onion, jalapeño, and roasted chile sauce.

The Taco Stand Taqueria

Downriver’s Taco Stand serves five types of tacos with either corn or flour tortillas. Don’t miss the extra spicy chorizo or the campechano — a blend of griddled chorizo and steak. The tacos are filled generously and topped with onions and cilantro.

M Cantina

M Cantina’s chef-owner Junior Merino’s Nuevo Latino street food restaurant dishes up halal trios of enticing tacos such as mole braised short rib, duck carnitas, and chile relleno. Each tortilla receives a generous amount of filling and customers can dress them up even more with the restaurant’s extensive selection of salsas. Meals can be paired with Merino’s signature cocktails and non-alcoholic libations.

soft tacos loaded with meat, lime and guacamole M Cantina [Official photo]

Imperial

Diners and bar hoppers swear by this Ferndale restaurant's tacos. Imperial keeps its menu fresh with a selection of fillings that rotate weekly. Specials have included roasted cauliflower masala, blackened shrimp, and roasted butternut squash, complementing the menu’s standby carnitas, adobada de pollo (chicken marinated in a chile-based mixture), and beef barbacoa. Vegan options are also available, as are the California-style bacon wrapped Sonoran hot dogs and quality margaritas.

Mezcal Mexican Bar & Kitchen

Mezcal Mexican Bar & Kitchen is Ferndale’s newest option for tacos, ushering in a much-needed boost to Oakland County’s Mexican food world. While the bar emphasizes 30 different types of agave spirits, the spot also features an impressive lineup of tacos, including birria, fish, campechano (a blend of chorizo and carne asada), and alambre — with bacon, chorizo, melted cheese, and choice of chicken or steak.

El Charro St. Clair Shores

The cult of the Tex-Mex puffy taco is alive and well in metro Detroit thanks to local chain El Charro. This San Antonio-style taco features a hefty, deep fried corn tortilla with a choice of filling, plus plenty of shredded cheese, lettuce, and chopped tomatoes.

A puffy taco on a white plate. El Charro [Official photo]

Dos Locos Tacos

This Hamtramck shop inside the former Campau Tower offers carne asada and shredded chicken tacos as well as halal beef chorizo, ground lamb, and marinated mushroom tacos. As an added perk, Dos Locos stays open until midnight for the neighborhood bar crowds.

El Taco Veloz

This Southwest Detroit taco spot located on Toledo Street has a serious following that only grew after it expanded to a counter inside Midtown’s Marcus Market. The restaurant’s menu features steak, chicken, chorizo, and marinated pork tacos topped with grilled onions and cilantro. The meal is often accompanied by grilled peppers and lime.

Tacos in a takeout container lined with foil and surrounded by white onions and grilled jalapenos. Brenna Houck

Antojitos Southwest

The buzz-worthy Antojitos Southwest food truck landed on the corner of Wabash and Bagley in 2021 and with it, its popular quesabirrias. Using halal beef, these griddled, these tasty tacos are available with consomé for $1 extra. The truck is open for operation from noon to 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Detroit Loves Tacos,LLC

Situated within the Happy 4 Liquor store on Fort, this takeout-friendly spot is a play on owner Julie Stevens’ Guanajuato lineage and upbringing in southwest Detroit. Stevens started off as a pop-up and catering venture, but her food’s popularity necessitated a permanent site. Beef birria tacos are served with consomé for dipping. Other styles of tacos include ground beef, chicken, pineapple pork with chorizo and bacon, or veggies — all available in corn or flour tortillas. A bonus, another specialty of Stevens, empanadas.

La Jalisciense Supermercado Y Taqueria

It’s a supermarket with a bountiful butcher’s counter. But La Jalisciense is also a notable dining destination in Southwest Detroit. In addition to its quality Mexican breakfast menu, chicarrones prepared daily, and full-service bar, diners can nosh of plates of tacos with birria de chivo (goat stew), carnitas, beef tongue, and other traditional protein fillings.

Taqueria El Rey

Southwest Detroit’s wildly popular Taqueria El Rey was sadly damaged in a fire earlier this year, however, fans can still enjoy its offerings at a twice-a-weekly popup at Batch Brewing Company at 1400 Porter St. in Corktown from opening time until supplies run out every Monday and Tuesday. El Rey fills tacos with a generous helping of meat, cilantro, and onion with sliced limes and radishes. The restaurant offers more than 10 options for filling the tacos (the buche and pastor are particularly tasty). Newcomers with a big appetite should also be sure to order a whole grilled chicken, which comes with a side of tortillas for a build-your-own taco experience. The house salsas help to amp up the flavors.

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Loncheria El Parian

With multiple locations dotting Southwest Detroit, El Parian may be the most prolific fleet of taco trailers in the area. Tacos al pastor (marinated pork shaved from a spit) is the standout at this restaurant, though customers can also savor lengua (beef toungue), pollo (chicken), and more. The mobile restaurant also serves up a mean cheese quesadilla in a grilled and folded flour tortilla and massive tortas topped with sauce and sliced hot dogs. During the pandemic, the ownership expanded to include a brick and mortar location, La Palapa Del Parian at 1633 Lawndale St in Springwells, where the tacos are freshly prepared on the outdoor comal.

The trailer for Loncheria El Parian on a sunny day on West Vernor. Brenna Houck

Las Cazuelas Grill

Gas stations food culture is definitely a thing in Detroit and Las Cazuelas Grill in Southwest is among a cohort of metro Detroit restaurants that upholds that tradition. The restaurant’s tacos come with a choice of protein including steak, chicken, or marinated shredded pork. Everything is prepared on the flat top grill behind the counter. It’s also a great spot for breakfast burritos.

Brenna Houck

Los Altos

The taco offerings at Los Altos are plentiful, ranging from al pastor, tripas, asada, and chorizo to egg, fish, shrimp, and chicharron. They’re available with corn, flour, or for a nominal charge, they can be prepared with handmade tortillas. Make it a meal and get three tacos with choice of meat, rice, beans, and lettuce and tomato on the side. The spot’s extensive bar menu features margaritas and margarita-adjacent cocktails, micheladas, and Mexican beers.

Taqueria Mi Pueblo

This family-owned institution in Southwest serves an expansive menu with options like Detroit-style botana and menudo, but many customers simply spring for the tacos. Mi Pueblo’s selection of fillings includes options like chicharron en salsa roja (pork rinds in red sauce), lengua (beef tongue), and lomo (shredded pork loin). The establishment also recently opened an express restaurant for patrons in need of a quicker, carryout meal.

Tacos del Barrio

This relatively new fleet of southwest Detroit-based taco trucks has been vying for dominance in the local birria market when it launched in spring 2022. Guests can order quesabirria hot off the griddle, tacos al pastor inspired by one of the company’s employees, as well as tacos using lengua and tripas — fillings that are sometimes hard to find at food trucks.

La Terraza

This restaurant and live music venue in Springwells is known for Mexican seafood dishes as well as soups, and, of course, plenty of tacos. For a crisp, golden shell meal order the quesabirrias, filled with tender beef birria and pull-worthy melted cheese. Another unique-to-Detroit offering, the taco gobernador, featuring spiced Baja California-style griddled shrimp and melted together with mozzarella cheese, available with a corn or flour tortilla.

Tacos El Caballo

This popular truck in Springwells is a mecca for many local taco connoisseurs. Choose from corn or flour tortillas and a selection of meats ranging from chorizo to beef tongue and pastor. Don’t forget to bring cash.

A man with a dark mustache looks through a window from the inside of the Tacos el Caballo food truck in southwest Detroit, Michigan. Rosa Maria Zamarrón

El Asador Mexican Steakhouse

This slightly upscale Mexican restaurant boasts a strong selection of tasty tacos. Fans like the seafood versions best including the shrimp diabla option. The tacos are served with soft, fried, and hard-shell flour or corn tortillas. Reservations are not required, however, they are recommended.

Related Maps