Tacos To Try In San Antonio: Taquitos West Ave

By Kelsey Kennedy | April 25, 2023

Perhaps you’ve heard of the name "Taquitos West Ave in San Antonio" from word of mouth. Or maybe you’re local in SA and you’ve driven past it a time or two and noticed the constant line stretching out the front door. Or maybe you just stumbled across this blog post as you’re searching for some of the best tacos in San Antonio. But it doesn’t matter…because here’s what matters: you need to add this place to your to-try list in San Antonio.

These tiny Mexican street tacos are simply delicious.

Taquitos West Ave is a casual counter-service restaurant located on (surprise!) West Ave. It’s been popular ever since it opened, but the line definitely seems to be getting longer and longer as more people discover these scrumptious little tacos.

Park in their main lot, their overflow lot, or grab a nearby street parking spot on a local neighborhood street. If you’re showing up during prime lunch hours, which is what I did, expect a line. Actually, expect a line at pretty much any time of the day.

I was almost deterred from sticking around because I had a strict time limit that day, but I’m glad I waited; the line looked long but it was only about 10 minutes until I had made my way up to the counter.

The “patio” (it’s actually a covered and enclosed space, but it’s not air-conditioned and it has windows that open, so they call that portion eating “outdoors”) is noisy with chatter: construction workers taking their lunch break, families gathering for a weekday meal, couples enjoying a quick midday lunch date. There’s tejano music booming from the speakers and the sound of fans whirring.

All that to say: I had to yell out my order pretty loudly for the staff behind the counter to hear me: “4 TACOS! 2 PASTOR,1 CHORIZO, and 1 SUADERO!”

These are the tiny tacos that are popular in the owner’s hometown of Jalisco, Mexico. And there’s no menu here…just a list of meat. Choose the number of tacos and the fillings. They’re served on tiny corn tortillas, and you can choose to say either yes or no to the cilantro/onions + radishes, cucumber, and grilled onion served on the side. Add your own salsa when you sit down.

It’s a bit of an honor system to pay, and I’m not quite sure how they keep track of it other than they expect everyone to tell the truth: after you finish your meal, you’ll stand up, get in (another) line at the register, and tell the staff member how many tacos you ordered. (The type of tacos doesn’t matter.) And you pay with cash or card for said tacos.

What’s the best taco at Taquitos West Ave? That’s easy: my favorite is the pastor, and it seems to be the general crowd favorite, too. Everyone around me was ordering plate after plate of tacos al pastor: tiny corn tortillas piled high with roasted marinated pork that was shaved fresh off the vertical trompo.

Tacos Al Pastor are only available on Thursday - Sunday at Taquitos West Ave. If you haven’t been to this taqueria in San Antonio and you’re going to make a special lunch date to check it out, do your best to go on a weekend just to get those pastor tacos!