The Big State

Had the steak burrito. Prices comparable to Natys & Taco Veloz but the burrito didn’t taste as good. Very bland.

I really love this place! The Big State is my top choice for tacos in my neighborhood, and there are lots of other options so that is saying something. My favorite tacos are the picadillo, fish, and pastor. They also have excellent guacamole and horchata… oh, and they are CHEAP. You can’t go wrong here!

Came here a few weeks ago, unfortunately they were out of the pork belly tacos but he carnitas tacos were delicious. This place would probably rank as 6 stars on any late night drunk food outing. For lunch it served its purpose with delicious tacos and burritos.

Love the pastor burrito and frijoles. Great lunch or dinner date! See you again soon Big State!

Hidden little Tex-​mex gem. I will take housemade tortillas anyday! l recommend this small place. Great tacos and amazing service. It takes a little while for food to come out because they seriously put alot of effort, worth the wait always.

Came back again. This place serves great food for dirt cheap prices.
I saw a couple reviewers complain about the time it takes for the food to come out. We had a similar experience — only us two in there, took the one guy about 15 plus mins.
Instead of moaning about the wait, you should appreciate the effort they are putting in. They are making everything from scratch, fresh. That takes a little more time. But it’s worth the wait.

Listen to the other reviewers… This place is great!
Get here soon. I’ve seen places like this. Somehow they don’t seem to last. The food was delicious, the presentation was impressive, especially considering it’s a one $ restaurant.
This place should be full but we’re the only ones here! But this place is a hidden gem indeed!

This place has great food, but the service and speed is awful.
Two taco dinners takes 20+ mins with no other customers in the entire restaurant?
Now that I’m done venting, the food is actually great.
Their standard green salsa is probably the best tomatillo salsa I’ve ever had.
Their pastor tacos and steak burrito is out of this world. I like their glass bottle soda selection too.
Check it out

I’ve gotten takeout here a few times and it was really good. Was disappointed that they ran out of horchata last time I was in – this is some of the best, non fake-​tasting horchata I’ve had in the city. Pastor tacos and burritos all the way!

Very delicious tacos and cheap if you’re on a budget. Would definitely visit again if I’m in the area.

I live right down the street and have been frequenting The Big State since a few months after they opened: man, I love this restaurant. The charros are savory slow-​cooked beans stewed in pork and chile, perfect for energy on a hot summer day or comfort in the cold Chicago winters. My girlfriend LOVES the tacos, especially the steak and fish tacos.
My thing is the tortas. The torta de papas (potatoes) is one of the best vegetarian sandwiches in town. I usually order that along with the torta de aguacate, which I heat up on the lowest oven setting later on. Everything this place makes is homemade and delicious.
Don’t want to take my word on it? No less than my favorite food blogger in the city of Chicago endorses The Big State:

Love love love. Get panza and pastor. Fresh, flavorful, and in case you missed it, these tortillas are hand made when you order. Boom!
And so inexpensive!
So glad they joined neighborhood, check it out!

I’ll start saying two things: (1) I hardly ever write reviews so the fact that I was compelled to do so today should tell you something and (2) I’m a Texas native so maybe I had unreasonable expectations for this «tex mex».
Let’s start w/​the latter. This is NOT Tex Mex. They were very nice people but I’d bet money that they don’t really know what Tex Mex is. It was obvious to me immediately that it was just a marketing thing.
Décor sucks but can’t fault them for that. Times are tough. There’s a random strip of garlic hanging next to door. Tex Mex is all about the red chilis. That was the first give away.
Second was the fact that they didn’t have crispy tacos. That’s the stable of Tex Mex.
Chips were cold. I don’t expect for EVERYONE to make their own chips but atleast heat those bad boys up.
Salsa was not very good in my opinion and they served it in the these stupid little mason jars. I get it. Mason jars is supposed to be a southern thing but you can’t dip your chip in it, it’s that small (see photo).
Their menu sucks in my opinion. Not enough options and none of them really resembled anything Tex Mex to me. Once again, I’d bet money that they have never really lived down there at all.
I ordered cheese enchiladas and they were OK but came out room temp. Dude handed me the plate instead of putting it down in front of me. Most people are like «careful, plate is hot». Nope, none of that. Warm enchiladas. Not hot.
My wife and friends had some tacos and said they were «pretty good, nothing special».
I wanted to like this place. I drove all the way from Ravenswood for it. Sadly I will not go again.

I was on my way to work at 10 AM and this was the only place not serving breakfast, so I decided to take a quick trip. The inside décor is nice and the service is par, average.
As for the food… i ordered the fish taco and one steak. Super average steak, and the fish tasted like cheap frying oil. I don’t think I’ll come back here.

I came in pretty high on Big State after my first visit in February. That was dashed today – quick-​like, too – when my wife and I stopped by for lunch this afternoon.
Service speed is still incredibly slow; today, I waited about 25 minutes for a shredded chicken, rice and bean burrito. No disrespect to Mexican cuisine, but how on Earth does it take 25 minutes to roll chicken into a tortilla? 25 freakin’ minutes! I’m ok with the space being minimal (at best), and the prices here are generally cheap for the portion size. But the speed is terrible.
But nothing was as terrible as the burrito itself (note: my wife got a torta and a rajas taco and finished eating before I got my food, so kitchen speed and style is getting worse!). The middle of the burrito was a significantly cooler temperature than either end of the taco, so I’ll let you do the math on that one. The rice and beans on the side? Maybe the worst I’ve had in town, but I’ll have to check my other reviews to be sure of that. And it was absolutely bathing in a terrible ranchera sauce (I don’t know what «ranchera» is, to be honest), so everything was soaked.
Straight bust today. Also, do NOT order the chips and salsa; $ 5 for this is a crazy bad ripoff. Tough day today; I really wanted Big State to do well, but for now, I’ll work with the other 30+ taco stands within one mile of my Wicker Park home.

First time here, had free chips and salsa to start and the fish, carne asada, and al pastor tacos. Fish taco was excellent and the al pastor was very good. You can find better carne asada in Chicago, but it wasn’t by any means bad. As far as I could tell however, the meat was cooked on the flat top and not flame grilled. House made tortillas helped keep everything together. Service was friendly.
Overall, a good first visit and I’ll be back to try some other stuff on the menu like the Sonoran dog and frijoles charros.

Pretty new spot and so far they are doing great!
I came in with a party of nine and they are BYOB so we brought some beers with us as well.
They are still figuring out their whole menu but they already have a lot of good stuff on there and do not need to make many changes.
I tried four out of their seven tacos and all four of them were amazing.
They make everything in house so be prepared to wait slightly longer than the average mexican restaurant that just throws reheated meat into a tortilla, but not much longer.
At two dollars a taco they are very worth it. I tried the asada, pastor, fish, and panza tacos. I need to go back and try pretty much every other menu item they have because if they were half as good as the tacos they would still be worth it.
I hope they add a few toratas to the menu since they already have the bread from the mexican hot dog and the meats from the tacos/​burritos.

I was in the neighborhood starving and truth be told wasn’t in the mood for tacos. I pulled up Unilocal to see what’s in the area and convenient and nothing sounded good. It was one of those days…
I saw all the recent and glowing reviews for Big State and said what the hell, I’ll have some tacos. Boy am I glad I did!
It’s your typical, neighborhood fast food setup inside. No glitz, thousands were definitely not spent in the décor. Tables with mismatched seats, etc… I don’t care though, I came for the food. I’ll sit on the floor if the food is good.
So let’s get to the main show. I decided to eat there and was immediately presented with chips and salsa. Yummy, salty tortilla chips. I ordered a panza, a pastor and an asada taco. A few minutes later, my 3 sexy tacos arrived. Looking good, lookin good. Now let’s see how you all taste. Started off with the pastor… I’m immediately wondering how they’ll stack up against other Chicago pastor’s. Yep, they do, they might just be my favorite pastor tacos right now. Followed up by the panza and asada.
The tortillas are made on the spot, the meat is quality, actually all the ingredients are quality, they don’t skimp on meat, they get it all right.
Diamond in the rough. 3 delicious tacos, some chips and salsa and a Mexican coke for under $ 10. Winner, winner, taco dinner.

The tacos are delicious, authentic and a great price! Support a local neighborhood spot. The tortillas are made in house and are a noticeable difference from other spots in the area (not to discredit my other favorite neighborhood taco spots).
The fish taco was my favorite because it gets everything right…best one around! It has a nice crisp outside, but isn’t dried out.
Pork Belly and Al Pastor are also good options. As another reviewer mentioned, the pineapple in the al pastor is a nice treat.
The sauces/​salsas (green was my favorite, not too hot) also appear to be made in house. Pretty sure they roast the peppers before. The guacamole is also delicious and the toppings give it more flavor than putting plain guac down).
So yea, basically everything we’ve tried we’ve enjoyed (we’ve been twice in the last week).
And for those who wonder why I gave it five stars.…it is because I’m rating it for what it is. A no frills authentic mexican joint w/​good food and great prices. If you want the frills, go check out Antique Taco, Takito Kitchen or Big Star.

EXCELLENT TACOS
Loved the tacos Panza (pork belly) — chewy, deeply flavored, aromatic, served on substantial tortillas. Also tried the special green pork stew — tender and spiced just right. Fish tacos were about the best I’ve had around here since Baja Fresh disappeared (yes, that Baja Fresh — it was apparently not well-​known that they made excellent Baja-​style fish tacos). Fresh-​made tortilla chips. Mild and smooth but flavorful salsas. No beer or wine, but a good selection of real sugar beverages (including Mexican Coke and Squirt).
Only a few blocks from my house so I“m looking forward to checking out the rest of the menu.