Taqueria Valparaiso

I had high hopes for this place because it's close to me, but I have to say it was very disappointing. Where should I start... the tacos. I ordered steak tacos. The tacos were very small with very little favor and very little steak. I also got a chicken tamale. It was a bit dry and had an off taste. It too was small. Lastly the chips were not very fresh and the guacamole was lacking. There are to many places to get really good Mexican food. This ain't it, I can't go back. Sorry. If you do check them out bring cash, they don't take plastic. You can go next door to the liquor store and use their cash station. That's what I had to do.

My pops took me here on my last birthday. He had a fairly involved conversation with the manager working the register as the cooks put together our enchiladas and tacos. I'm sure they get a lot of their business from boozehounds on Irish death marches down Western, but it's cool that they get to know neighborhood regulars.

The food was delish, pretty much as good as you can expect to get without going to Pilsen or Blue Island. The guac tasted fresh even late on Wednesday night.

I've seen a few restaurants fold at this location over the years. I think it's great that something finally worked, and Beverly finally got a respectable Mexican take-out joint. They've got some more exotic ingredients like tongue, plus tilapia tacos with those purple pickled onions, just like XOCO. Unfortunately they've had to take some of the deeper cuts such as pozole off the menu, but they're still making a solid effort to go beyond the perennial favorites.

I have been here both on Parade Day and also a couple times on the weekends. Let's just say there's nothing like drinking that makes you crave yummy beef tacos. The tacos were very good and packed with taco goodness. What I like is the fact that their tacos are not completely overflowing and messy where then it looks like you were having an orgy of taco ingredients on your shirt. I would say, they are probably the best in the area. The tacos always do their job by settling those post pub time hunger pains.

FYI: Bring cash, no credit cards allowed.