Las Tortugas Taqueria Market

Hands down my favorite Mexican restaurant in this area. If you are looking for authentic Mexican food this is the place to go. Their tacos are so simple, so cheap and sooooo delicious. They also serve 4 different types of salsa made in house that are very flavorful and good. If you’re looking for a fancy Mexican restaurant this isn’t the place for you because it is not that. But the food is top notch.

Met up with Pauly G for lunch before we went to the range. Las Tortugas is a combination grocery and restaurant. Came in at the tail end of lunch, lots of tables and booths in the dine in area. Complimentary chips and salsa. Didn’t feel too hungry, so just ordered two tacos (steak and barbeque beef) and the tostada with just refried beans. The great thing about taqueiras is how they all prepare the meats a little differently. This time the barbeque beef was nothing special, but the steak was nicely carmelized and flavorful. Total with bottled water — $ 6. Very reasonable. Definitely keep Las Tortugas in mind if I’m up in the Utica area and need a bite to eat. Recommend and will repeat!

Parking was kinda a mess but as soon as you walk in you know your in for somethin special I had the chicken and carnita tacos solo good best I had

Came here for lunch off of some good reviews and they are well deserved of all the praise. Amazing food! Will definitely be back

Best real deal Mexican street tacos. Your choice of protein, onions and cilantro piled on 2 fresh corn tortillas, with lime wedges. Simple and to the point!
They offer 3 kinds of taco sauces, a red one, green one and bright orange one. All are great and vary in heat.
Their homemade salsa, I wana drink… its that’s good! And even through their chips are good too, from time to time they have been greasy.
Their tortas, Mexican sandwiches, are huge and made with all fresh ingredients, try it if you never have– it doesn’t disappoint.
The tostadas are a ridiculous size too, 2 of them take up a large carry out container, overflowing with lettuce, tomato, avocado, cheese, salsa and sour cream. And at 1.99 each (for bean, $ 2.99 for protein), $ 4 would fill your belly FULL!
This tiny unassuming little store at the end of a strip mall, is kicking out great tacos, and the like.
Even better— they are only $ 1 on Wednesdays! (reg. $ 1.57, but even that’s cheap good eats!)

I’m a California girl so it’s inevitable that I will get mad cravings for Mexican. What’s a girl to do? Thankfully there is Las Tortugas!!!
Hands down my favorite Mexican restaurant in the area! As Joe T. mentions in his review, this place rivals those in Mexicantown even which is awesome. No, you don’t have to trek all the way to Detroit for decent Mexican.
Speedy friendly service, food is cheap, tasty, and filling. And it’s one of those restaurants where you don’t feel too self-​conscious eating by yourself. They have televisions to watch.
The restaurant shares the space with a Mexican grocery store which is cool. They have a lot of Mexican wares ie. fruit juices, cleaning products, and spices for sale.
I loooove chorizo tacos so I would usually get that with some rice and beans and a Mexican coke to wash it all down and boy, was I a happy camper. :) Chips and salsa are also good here. The chips have never been stale and the salsa is flavorful and doesn’t have too much of a kick to it.
Only cons I can think of that they are often out of tamales. The last two times I came here they didn’t have them so don’t have your heart set on that dish. Also, for some odd reason they don’t serve chile relleno which was a bummer for me as that’s one of my favorite dishes but I still have love for tortugas! Thanks for serving legitimate Mexican fare out in the suburbs!

Walking into this market/​restaurant, we were greeted by the sound of Mexican music. We went on a Sunday morning and the place was packed. We soon were able to get a table. The waiter gave us chips and salsa within the first few minutes of sitting down. The service was fast. After contemplating long about what to order, we decided to order breakfast. It is the best Mexican food I had in Michigan. The prices are very reasonable and the portion size is huge. I will definitively go back to this place.

Awesome food no frills just great authentic Mexican food ! Blows away any thing I’ve had since Mexico vacation

Been waiting for a while to try this taqueria. My first impression wasn’t going well… chips had no flavor, main salsa (served in a little salsa bowl) was watered down and I could barely taste any peppers or cilantro. We were also served a tres salsas variety of a red pepper sauce, spicy green sauce & a tomatillo sauce. All three were served in a squeeze bottle, just like they serve them in Mexico.
I ordered a side of guacamole & a pollo taco/​two asada tacos. Las Tortugas redeemed themselves through the tacos! Very tender, juicy and yummy pollo & asada, and a perfect amount of onions & cilantro. Tacos were $ 1.57/each. Guacamole was pretty good, but had way too many onions in it. Would have enjoyed more lime juice in it, which I had to add.
I’ll be trying something different each time I come here to decide if this place is seriously amazing, or just pretty good.

Delicious burrito.
Everything seemed to be home made and priced right. My only complaint was that they don’t serve water or soda on tap. I was given a bottled water when I asked for some water.
Other then that this place is great and I’ll surely be back to try other things on their menu.

My wife & I absoutely love this place for a quick, cheap, AUTHENTIC Mexican food experience. You will get real tacos up to par with the best places in MexicanTown (Southwest Detroit) here. The next best place like this in the suburbs is in Madison Heights, but since we are in the Utica area, we prefer going here. And a huge plus is that Las Tortugas offers some very good fresh made horchata drink (a cinammon flavored, rice milky treat).an Dy
I will upload pictures of their menu. But just know that this is the upgraded, larger dining area version that moved from the previous smaller 22/​Van Dyke location. Half the space is a simple Mexican market with a limited inventory of items, and the larger half of it very casual dining area. Each table and booth gets their 3 signature hot sauces and fresh chips and salsa complimentary of course. The meat options are varied and everything is there (lengua, buche, carnitas, steak, chicken, al pastor, etc.) The tacos come with onion, cilantro and limes of course, and they are just so tasty. One side order or rice and beans is only $ 2.50 and enough for 2 people to share. Wednesdays are $ 1 taco days, except for steak, and otherwise they are just $ 1.57/each anyways. The menu also has some Mexican soups like menudo with beef tripe, that I will surely try in the winter. Also, they now have hearty dinner options on the menu as well. For authentic, casual, real Mexican food — this place is a real treat. Definitely for the adventurous palette, and not many options for little kids. Our favorite meat for the tacos is carnitas cooked extra crispy (fried pork).
Yummy. Two thumbs up. A monthly lunch tradition for us. Will definitely go for dinner one day.

I cannot remember if I have written a review here or not. I came every Wednesday for their $ 1 tacos and find myself here in between Wednesday’s as well. I have watched this restaurant go from a tiny hole in the wall to a nice sit down type place. It is very casual and truly authentic. My fiancé is the reason I have tried more than just tacos but to be honest I am addicted to their tacos. My favorite is the buche, by far their best taco. If you eat enough tacos you can find your picture in the Muro de Campeones. I have managed 14 myself and they also give you a free shirt. So the spoils are good! I have yet to go to Detroit for Mexican food and I still may but this place gives me the great service and great food that I love. Do t take my word on it try Las Tortugas yourself and you will see how special this place truly is.

Came here for lunch today. My first time at the new location. Food was pretty good all around. We had tacos and gorditas, with steak, el pastor, shredded beef and the porkrinds soaked in salsa stuff. The el pastor was by far the best filling. Full flavored and delicious. Minor annoyances were the bottled water, without warning, if I knew I was buying a drink I probably would have ordered something else.
I like their food but I slightly prefer Jalapenos restaurant in Pontiac. I wouldn’t drive the extra distance to pick one over the other.

This will basically be two reviews, since I’ll be taking my girlfriend’s opinion into account. We came here at about 2:30 on a Saturday and we had to wait a few minutes for somewhere to sit… I didn’t expect them to be so busy. We were eventually sat, and given salsa and a green sauce in a bottle. I noticed other tables had two more bottled sauces, so I had to ask to get them. The other two were as good or better than the other. One an avocado based sauce, and the other a runnier red sauce that was really spicy.
I ordered tacos and my girlfriend ordered tamales. If it weren’t for Unilocal,I wouldn’t have known they’d be smothered in cheese. The picture on the menu shows two tamales in husks, but what you get is three out of the husks with sauce and cheese all over them. We both agreed that the tamales were good, but the excess of cheese really only masked the flavor of the tamales.
The tacos were excellent. Al pastor, barbacoa de res (they also have chivo/​goat), and chorizo are the three I got, with a side of beans and rice. For some reason you have to pay extra, since they don’t have a taco combo. My one complaint would be that I wish the corn tortillas tasted more like corn. I think the rice and beans are also great here, but my girlfriend prefers Carnival Market’s (in Pontiac) to anywhere. Honestly, I think Carnival’s rice and beans are a bit mediocre, but whatever.
Speaking of Carnival Market (my benchmark Mexican food), this place is nearly as good… I think the rice and beans are better here and the tacos are basically equally tasty, but to get the same amount of food here as there is about $ 3 more.
Las Tortugas isn’t near my house or especially close to OU where I go to school, so I don’t see myself coming here all that often, but they still very nearly have the best Mexican food I’ve ever eaten.

No words can explain, simply the best
Try the Tortuga Cubana or how about tacos. The guacamole salsa is fantastic. Grab a Mexican Coke while your there too. Japones Peanuts too

Absolutely love this place. Went to the old location a few times and just took the wife to the new spot last week. Great authentic street tacos. I had the tongue and al pastor but the carne Assad tacos are the best IMO.

Hands down the best tacos that I’ve had. Newly remodeled space that is half mini market and half booths and dining. Had a really cool feel to it.
Simple, straight forward menu. Delicious tacos. Amazing prices. Excellent service. The carnitas, carne asada, and chicken tacos were all terrific. Burrito was very good.

The NEW location is great. Newly remodeled store front with a small selection of Mexican grocery goods, and much more room or the restaurant. Clean and bright,
They have a new menu now.
Many more exotic meats and dishes. Tamales are on the everyday menu, I can’t wait to try them, but I couldn’t resist the finest street style tacos in Michigan. Sunday has specials of Menudo and a goat soup.

See my review of the old location for more details.
We decided to get some Mexican food, and were confused when we tried to find Las Tortugas because we had no idea it had moved. Thankfully we found it after a lot of swearing at the GPS. The new location is *much* bigger and very nice. Parking isn’t great since there is only a single row of spaces and they fill up quickly, but it’s manageable.
The food is just as great, and the prices are still amazing. They fill up quickly, even with more tables and booths, but that’s a good thing. And now there are more TVs to watch Spanish-​language football (soccer) on, and they’re bigger.
I tried the torta Cubano for the first time, and it was scrumptious. Only bad thing was they were out of all kinds of pop with caffeine, but I settled on a lime Jarrito and was ok. The first time we came here we had a really great young girl who was our server, and was very on top of everything despite the rush. This last time, it was a young guy who seemed really confused and did a lot of standing around the register.
This place is just as fantastic as before, and even more convenient now that they’re a couple of miles closer to home. If you haven’t been here yet, try it!

The new location is so very nice & open
Plus 6 – 7 large 6 person booths
And several 4 chair tables
The grocery section seems to have all the hispanic cooking staples, plus mexican treats, ice cream, candy & pop
Today I called ahead for 15 tacos for Taco Wednesday
8 chicken
7 ground beef
= $ 15
Plus a large bag of chips
$ 1.50
And a large salsa
$ 3
Everything was on the counter ready to go when I showed up
Plus plenty if salsas, napkins, plasticware & limes
This was a good size lunch for my Physical Therapy staff… who deserved a treat
The medium salsa was so chunky & very flavorful
My one grilled chicken street taco was EXCELLENT
In closing this family who runs it does so with lots of Joy & Smiles