Best Tacos In The Twin Cities

Cinco de Mayo is right around the corner and what better way to prep your stomach for all the margaritas you'll drink than to fill it up with tacos? Tacos can be made with chicken, beef, shrimp, fish or pretty much anything. Some of the best tacos can be found right here in the Twin Cities and these five restaurants have some of the tastiest around. So if you find yourself nearby, stop in and order up a plate of this yummy Mexican fare and you might as well order a margarita while you're at it.

Related: Best Mexican Cuisine

Taqueria Los Ocampo 
895 Arcade St.
St Paul, MN 55106
(651) 774-7623
www.taquerialosocampo.com

Boasting that it is the state's "most authentic Mexican restaurant," Taqueria Los Ocampo in St. Paul serves up a spicy Mexican menu that might certainly live up to that statement. The recipes have been handed down through generations and are sure to please. For tacos, it offers a build-your-own taco of sorts, so you can control the level of heat of the meat. Los Ocampo has everything from spicy ground beef to chipotle chicken and smoked pork to beef tongue. For its vegetarian friends, it has delicious options as well. The tacos are topped with all things tasty that should be in a taco like salsa, lime, cilantro, onions and radishes.

The Lyndale Tap House
2937 Lyndale Ave. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55408
(612) 825-6150
www.thelyndale.com

Once you've had The Lyndale Tap House tacos with its specialty pit meat, you'll be hooked. These tacos are the kind that you dream about long after you've left The Lyndale Tap House, located in Uptown. The Tap House tacos are topped with the perfect amount of cilantro, carrot and radish and are served in a delicate corn tortilla. One reason these tacos are so special is the meat. It's marinated for three days and is slow cooked so it's tender, juicy and bursting with flavor the second you bite in. The Tap House might be known for its pit burgers and sandwiches but this little taco dish is one to be reckoned with.

The Lowry
2112 Hennepin Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55405
(612) 341-2112
www.thelowryuptown.com

The Lowry sits right where Downtown meets Uptown in Minneapolis. Its location is great, its service is great and, you guessed it, its tacos are great. The menu at The Lowry features fish tacos with full flavor from the blackened tilapia, Napa cabbage, avocado sauce and fresh black bean and corn salsa. The fish has just the right amount of crisp and flake to it to send this dish over the edge. If you're looking for another kind of taco on the menu, you're out of luck. But never fear, because once you order a basket of these fish tacos, you'll forget what beef tacos even tasted like.

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Pancho Villa Mexican Restaurant
2539 Nicollet Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55404
(612) 871-7014
www.panchovillasgrill.com

A list of the places to get the best tacos would not be complete without mentioning Pancho Villa Mexican Restaurant on Eat Street. Its menu offers many choices if tacos are what you crave. The tacos are served in warmed corn tortillas and topped with onion, cilantro and your choice of meat which include steak, beef, chicken, fish, shrimp and veggies. To try out some more dishes, you can always opt for one of the combination plates which typically has three choices of tacos, enchiladas, burritos, etc. Come for happy hour which is all day everyday, Monday through Thursday, and stay for its taco plates.

World Street Kitchen
2743 Lyndale Ave. S
Minneapolis, MN 55408
(612) 424-8855
www.eatwsk.com

What started out as an idea by the brothers behind Saffron in Minneapolis turned into a food truck and has now turned into its very own brick and mortar shop serving up foods influenced from spices all around the world. The dishes at this little joint pack a heaping helping of flavors, especially the tacos. Its menu showcases three of them and it's hard to pick between the caramelized lamb belly taco with its spicy, cool jalapenos in cucumber sauce and sweet basil, the charred squash and shiitake mushroom taco with pumpkin seed salsa and pickled red onions and the Kingston 12 jerk beef tacos flavored with slow-cooked beef brisket and queso fresco.

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Amber Ranzau lives on the edge of Uptown in Minneapolis and is a gal about town. She frequents the local restaurant scene, loves to support new and local businesses, follows the latest and greatest fashion and design trends, and she does all of this while working as an interior designer, spending time with her man, The Specialist, and taking care of her two goldfish Felix and Petunia and their tankmate Huey the Snail. Her work can be found at Examiner.com.