La Taq

The nachos and vaso loco are the perfect simple mex meal! The changing taco favors never disappoint. Just had the chipotle fish taco and I wanted 5 more. I usually eat myself to discomfort but am not complaining about it.

Tecate on draft, great cocktails, delicious food.

Best tacos in Portland. Before I elaborate, let me mention the only thing that annoys me about this place — when you go in with a group and order separately, they always bring the tacos out on a plate with, say, all the carnitas tacos together, then another with say, all the al pastor tacos together, etc. I ordered my own meal, why can’t they bring me my own damn plate with just my tacos, beans and rice, etc? I don’t want to have to pick thru a bunch of different plates with everyone I’m with to assemble the meal I ordered.
That said, I’ve eaten at most of the main/​popular tacos shops around town (Uno Mas, King Burrito, Stella Taco, PorQue No, Spicy Spoon, etc.) and these are easily my favorite. They’re a filling size, and the meat from Podnah’s next door can’t be beat. The al Pastor is super juicy and tasty, with real chunks of pineapple. The carnitas melts in your mouth, and even the veg options are open great. The beans and rice are always well-​prepared, not dried out like so many other places. And don’t forget about the queso… mmm. Cool vibe and good cocktails too. La Taq is on my regular rotation of places to visit alone, or with people visiting from out of town.

Ambience is amazing, great tequila selection and the carrot margarita is outstanding! I should branch out more (the tacos are great) but I generally order the queso fundido every time. Melted cheese and rajas, spooned into a warm corn tortilla… comfort Tex-​Mex at its finest!

Came here for dinner, so it was really packed. It has a great vibe but a little small so come prepared to sit close to others. The food was great, you could taste that they use fresh ingredients. I had the Brisket Nachos which were really good and had some spice to it.

My new favorite mexi joint. First of all, open late night until midnight. Lurve do the el pastor w pineapple. Great deal of $ 2.50 on house made chips w the best roja sauce and guac lime. House margarita strong!

Hands down, the BEST queso I’ve ever had, and the reason for my five stars. Flavorful and pretty spicy (look out if you aren’t a fan of hot), it got even better when we added brisket. And they serve it with these fresh and thick tortilla chips, so what’s not to love?!
The tacos are similarly tasty. Again, the brisket was something special, but the carne asada was quite yummy too! I wasn’t a huge fan of the shrimp, which is unusual for me, but you can’t win them all. I’m looking forward to going back and giving a few of the other options a try.
La Taq is definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area!

I’ve been here many times and it’s quite good. Service is always very pleasant and the food is delicious. I would’ve given 5 stars, but I’ve been let down by the inconsistent «puffy tacos.» The first time I had one, it was amazing. Warm, fluffy, soft, and puffy. The 2^nd time was cold, hard, & crunchy. Every taco has been great and the brisket tamale I had last night was fantastic.

Bomb! Got an array of food– Brussels sprout salad, puffy taco, carne asada taco, tamale and the arugula salad. All the plates were so different and had such unique flavors. The tamale was definitely my favorite, tasted like a home cooked meal from an abuelita. Dogs are also allowed on the front porch, bonus! Definitely will come back.

3 stars for drinks, but the thing you would come here for… Tacos are blah. It might be my particular taste since they use Podnas meat and I’m not a fan… So. The margaritas are enough for me to accompany friends and watch them ready. Maybe I’ll give the gift another shot next time we go.

Really delicious, flavorful tacos. I lived in Austin, Texas for a bit — so I’d like to think I ‘know’ tacos :)
Great options for vegetarians, a bit on the small side and kind of pricey in my opinion. We both got Tecates, guac and chips, two tiny tacos a piece and the bill was around $ 40 plus tip :/

Tip of the hat to the cooks! The aussie bartender is unattentive and the other servers have their own th ings to do. I have been staring at an empty water and empty Margarita for 15 minutes while sitting at the bar right in front of this guy. There are 3 people waiting, not the average friday night slam, and he is still ignoring us. They also didnt ever bring our nachos. This guy needs to go back to Starbucks where the rest of the unattentive assholes work. GO TO STELLA THIS WOULD NEVER HAPPEN THERE.

A cool upscale taqueria where you wouldn’t expect one.
I had the cochinita pibil and the tacos are legit. The rice and beans are worth the upcharge plus there are more than just margaritas on the cocktail menu. Check it out — for only a few more dollars than a food truck.
Watch out for that hot sauce. So good though.

This place is a mixed bag. You’ll either love it or you won’t. The margarita tasted great but a little on the pricey side. In the south, $ 5 would be a normal price for a happy hour margarita, but apparently in Portland every margarita is a craft cocktail and they’ll set you back about $ 10/​each.
The food was also good. I thought the small plates with each round of drinks thing was a cool format. The problem I had with this place was that it’s incredibly tiny and incredibly packed, even on a Thursday at 4 pm. I got there at that time and had to get on a wait list just to have one seat at the bar twenty minutes later. Just weird. It was so noisy in there and hectic, I felt rushed out. Thankfully that meant the bill came out fast and my card was run quickly. I think I’d go to the Podnah’s BBQ right next door instead in the future for a calmer dining experience.

Good food. The meat is from the smoker next door at Podnahs.
They have an extensive tequila list and I’ve been told the margaritas are delish. I don’t really like tequila myself.
The queso and house made chips are a fantastic starter. The nachos with the brisket can’t be beat. I also enjoy the brisket enchiladas.
The puffy tacos — shut the front door.
They have a small dining room, some seating out front and bar seating.

The queso is why I would come back. Amazing queso! The puffed taco was good, but did not have a lot of chicken in it. We also got the brisket enchiladas. Good, but I feel like the sauce overpowered the brisket. Still would go back though! We went on a somewhat busy Friday night, so the service was slow, but still good.

the service was a bit slow and discombobulated… but it’s portland so i guess i’ve become more accustomed to that.
so time and wait aside the food was absolutely stellar! ordered a variety of tacos, all amazing. the last one i ate tasted like a camp fire made love to beef jerky and had a taco baby! it was amazing!
ordered a wide variety of the menu between all at the table and everything was interesting, thoughtful and filling but not too heavy.
the waitress was super sweet to us and made sure everything was perfect even if it didn’t come out that way the first time.
*tip: come at off hours and have an amazing meal and drink.

The best carne asada tacos in Portland, and maybe AZ too. Moved here from Phoenix where there’s some great Mexican food, and this place would rank in the top 5 in AZ easily.
The carne asada has a great smoky flavor. The chips are perfect too. The puffy tacos are pure genius. The guac is quite impressive.
The only item that didn’t impress was the corn tortilla… ours seemed a little old and tough.
All in all though, the food we had was spectacular. Glad we tried this place and we plan on coming back quite often.

I actually just stopped by for a drink before dinner but then the menu says this place is meant to be a drinks w/​snacks place, and they had chips and queso on the menu. Okay, twist my arm. I ordered the Bandalero and the green chile queso. The cocktail was exactly what I expected — spirits based, smokey and strong.
The queso was the star though. They really put a lot of thought into it. The chips are fried in the back so they’re thick and crispy and can stand up to the dip. The queso is a large cup topped with salsa and guac. And the queso itself is nicely spicy from the green chile and it’s thick and goopy — not too runny. I love queso and this has to be some of the best I’ve ever had.
It can be hard to get service here as it’s busy and the place is small. I ordered another drink, the Jack of Diamonds, through the waitress but it never showed up. I had to order it again from the bartender. The waitress noticed and asked me if my first one ever showed up. When I replied no she said she’d comp me the drink. Wow. That’s really nice service.

La Taq! La WHAT WHAT?!
Podnah’s brisket in a taco format? Check. A mean spicy tortilla soup that has so much chicken and tortilla and Oaxaca (wah-​haa-​ka) cheese that it’s almost a stew? Oh yeah. Extremely tasty craft cocktails mixed up by none other than the maestro behind Beaker & Flask — Kevin Ludwig? BOOM!
I’ve often lamented that there’s a distinct lack of options in Portland of places where you can pair craft cocktails and tacos. Wait, actually, I never really even thought that would be a thing. But here it is, and me likey. Normally I wouldn’t think that spicy Mexican food would be a good mix with spirit-​forward stirred and shaken dranks. But when you have a bunch of classics reimagined with mezcal and tequila as base spirits, it totally works. Trust me on this.
Some of the meats here are done in-​house, some are done next-​house-​over in Podnah’s smokers. That means that it’s good meat, done right. Sure you can get sketchy tacos for $ 1.50 at a truck somewhere on 82^nd. But at $ 2.50 these are not overpriced and I’m happy to pay a little extra to know that my meat is what it says it is.
And damn, that’s some of the best tortilla soup I’ve had in a looooong time. I’ll be back for that alone.
Happy hour 10−12pm. Late night is where it’s at!