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.

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.

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’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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.