The Best Tacos in St. Louis: A Verified Local Guide
Revised July 27, 2026
Where are the best tacos in St. Louis?
For traditional taqueria tacos, the Cherokee Street corridor is the metro anchor — Taqueria El Bronco (2817 Cherokee), La Vallesana (2801), La Manganita (2812, tortillas pressed to order) and the taco counter inside El Torito grocery (2753), all within a few blocks. For birria, Taco Drip STL (1920 Carr St) is the metro’s only true specialist; Lucha does Oaxacan lamb birria in agave leaves and Terror Tacos (3191 S. Grand) a vegan seitan version. For al pastor from a real vertical spit (trompo), Mestiza (3279 Hampton Ave). Also strong: Cuatro Tacos (Tower Grove South), Chico Bueno (the Grove), La Tejana (St. Ann/Bridgeton, lamb consomé), La Oaxaqueña (Mehlville). ⚠️ Mission Taco Joint became Session Taco in 2024 and has closed several locations.
Keep reading ↓Somebody asks where to get the best tacos in St. Louis, you Google it, and you get a list somebody wrote in 2021. You drive to the address. It’s a different restaurant now.
That’s not hypothetical. The article currently ranking near the top for this exact search is from May 2021, and at least four of its sixteen recommendations are closed or have moved. One of them shut its doors six months after that piece was published.
So we did the boring part. Everything below was verified open in July 2026, and there’s a list at the bottom of the ones that aren’t — because knowing where not to drive is worth something too.
What are the best tacos in St. Louis?
It depends what you’re after. For traditional taqueria tacos, the Cherokee Street corridor is the metro’s anchor and always will be — Taqueria El Bronco, La Vallesana, La Manganita and the taco counter inside El Torito grocery are all within a few blocks. For birria, Taco Drip STL is the metro’s only true specialist. For al pastor cut from an actual vertical spit, Mestiza on Hampton. For vegan, Terror Tacos on South Grand, and it isn’t a consolation prize.
Cherokee Street: the anchor
If you only make one trip, make it here. Four genuinely good taco options sit within a short walk of each other, and the street’s Mexican food scene has roots going back more than thirty years — Latino-owned businesses began opening on what was then a largely empty commercial strip around 1990, and the corridor grew from there. Its Cinco de Mayo celebration now draws tens of thousands of people.
Taqueria El Bronco, 2817 Cherokee St. A past winner of the local “Taco de Oro” competition. Classics, executed straight, no reinvention.
La Vallesana, 2801 Cherokee St. Street tacos and margaritas served in a hollowed pineapple. It started in 2002 as an ice cream shop — it’s still a nevería, so leave room.
La Manganita, 2812 Cherokee St. Michoacán-style, and the tortillas are pressed to order. That difference is obvious from the first bite.
El Torito Taqueria & Supermercado, 2753 Cherokee St. A taco counter inside a grocery store — barbacoa, tripa, al pastor. If the idea of eating tacos next to the produce aisle appeals to you, this is the one.
Birria, and who actually does it
Birria went from unknown to unavoidable in about four years, and now every Mexican restaurant in the metro lists it. Three places are doing something distinct.
Taco Drip STL, 1920 Carr St. The metro’s only true birria specialist. Owner Steph Boyd is a former pastry chef who started out of her home kitchen in 2021 and drew forty-person lines before opening a brick-and-mortar. Dipped birria tacos with fried-crisp shells.
Lucha, 522 N. Grand Blvd. Oaxacan lamb birria wrapped in agave leaves — not the standard beef version, and worth ordering specifically because almost nobody else here is doing it.
Terror Tacos, 3191 S. Grand Blvd. Vegan seitan birria with consommé for dipping, everything scratch-made. It’s a fully vegan, horror-themed taco restaurant, and it has that lane essentially to itself in this market.
Al pastor and the trompo question
Real al pastor is cooked on a trompo — a vertical spit, marinated pork stacked in a cone, shaved off as it cooks, usually with pineapple on top. It’s the same principle as shawarma, which is not a coincidence; Lebanese immigrants brought the technique to Mexico.
Plenty of places here sell “al pastor” that was cooked on a flat-top instead. That’s not a scandal — it can still taste good — but it is a different thing, and the spit is a quality marker worth knowing about.
The one place we could confirm is running a genuine trompo is Mestiza, 3279 Hampton Ave in Lindenwood Park, which has a “Del Trompo” section on its menu and serves the al pastor with cut pineapple. They also do a Birria Fundida, and they bring you a complimentary potato taco when you sit down. We are not naming other trompo spots because we could not verify them, and guessing about this would defeat the point.
South City and the Grove
Cuatro Tacos, 3173 Morgan Ford Rd. Michoacán-rooted, sold four to an order, run by chefs Manny and Dorian. Tower Grove South’s reliable answer.
Chico Bueno, 4156 Manchester Ave in the Grove. Chef-driven and smoker-forward — carnitas, lamb belly barbacoa, baja fish. This is the one to take somebody who thinks they don’t care about tacos.
Taco Buddha, 1634 Tower Grove Ave in Botanical Heights, plus University City and Kirkwood. Global-fusion rather than traditional, and they do breakfast tacos from 8:30 a.m. on weekends.
Session Taco, 908 Lafayette Ave in Soulard. Mexi-Cali, bar-forward, crunchy tacos and baja tuna ceviche. More on this one below — the chain has changed a lot.
North, South and West County
La Tejana Taqueria, N. Lindbergh Blvd near St. Ann and Bridgeton. A taqueria attached to a meat market. Order the barbacoa and the consomé de borrego — lamb broth, and the reason to make the drive.
Taqueria Durango, 10238 Page Ave in Overland. Straightforward street tacos, no ceremony.
La Oaxaqueña, 2925 Lemay Ferry Rd in Mehlville. Oaxacan specialties from an operation that grew out of pop-ups and still runs a truck alongside the restaurant.
El Jarocho, Stonegate Center in Valley Park, with a second location in Maryland Heights. A tienda with a taqueria in it — street tacos and breakfast burritos.
Locoz Tacoz, 7374 Manchester Rd in Maplewood. Birria tacos and street corn.
What happened to Mission Taco
If you’ve been looking for Mission Taco Joint and not finding it, the name was retired in September 2024 after a trademark dispute with the company behind Mission Foods. The restaurants became Session Taco.
The chain has also contracted sharply, which most current lists haven’t caught up with. Town & Country closed in November 2025. The Central West End location at 398 N. Euclid closed and became LaPez Mod Mex in December 2025. Kirkwood closed in January 2026, and St. Charles closed in February 2026 and is set to reopen under a different name. As of now the official Session Taco site lists Soulard, the Delmar Loop, and Kansas City.
Reporting has suggested the Maplewood location survived, but the company’s own location page doesn’t list it — so if that’s the one you want, call first.
Closed, moved, or not what the internet thinks
These still appear as open in currently-circulating St. Louis taco guides. They are not.
Taco Circus on Southwest Ave closed in November 2021; that address is now El Milagro Azteca. Nixta left Tower Grove at the end of 2023 and reopened on Delmar in January 2025 — and it’s a chef-driven restaurant now, not a taco stop. The Taco & Ice Cream Joint on Cherokee closed in June 2024. Taqueria Morita closed in January 2025, El Burro Loco in July 2025, Mezcaleria las Chupacabras in November 2025, and Tacos La Jefa on Meramec in January 2026 — though La Jefa still caters and does pop-ups, which is worth knowing.
Even Cherokee Street’s own food guide is out of date on this — it still lists the Taco & Ice Cream Joint and its Taco Tuesday deal, two years after the place closed.
A note on Taco Tuesday
We looked hard and could verify exactly one current deal from a first-party source: Sports & Social at Ballpark Village, 651 Clark Ave, running $2 tacos and $5 margaritas — though not on Cardinals home game days, which is a meaningful exception downtown.
Most Taco Tuesday roundups you’ll find are recycling deals that ended. Beef prices climbed sharply through 2026 and taco specials have been squeezed accordingly. Assume any deal you read about needs a phone call.
How to order like you know what you're doing
A traditional taqueria taco is small, served on two stacked corn tortillas, and dressed with nothing but onion, cilantro and a squeeze of lime. The double tortilla isn’t a mistake or a gimmick — it’s structural, because the fillings are juicy and one tortilla gives out.
The common fillings, plainly: asada is grilled beef. Carnitas is pork, simmered then crisped. Al pastor is marinated pork, ideally off a spit. Barbacoa is slow-cooked, usually beef here, sometimes lamb or goat. Lengua is beef tongue and is far better than the name makes it sound — it’s the most tender thing on most menus. Tripa is intestine, crisped, and it’s an acquired texture. Suadero is a cut from between the belly and the leg, and when a place offers it, that’s a sign somebody in the kitchen is serious.
Order three or four to start, in different fillings. They’re meant to be eaten in a few bites, and ordering one of each is how you find out what a kitchen is actually good at.
Where this fits
This guide is about tacos specifically. For the wider picture — full-service restaurants, regional cooking, where to take a group — see our guide to the best Mexican food in St. Louis. For a deeper walk through the corridor that anchors all of it, we have a dedicated guide to authentic Mexican on Cherokee Street.
Everything here was verified open in July 2026. Small taquerias change hours fast and trucks move — call ahead if you’re driving across the metro for one specific place.
Frequently asked questions about tacos in St. Louis
Where are the best tacos in St. Louis?
For traditional taqueria tacos, the Cherokee Street corridor — Taqueria El Bronco, La Vallesana, La Manganita and the counter inside El Torito grocery, all within a few blocks. For birria, Taco Drip STL on Carr St. For al pastor from a real vertical spit, Mestiza on Hampton Ave. For vegan, Terror Tacos on South Grand.
What happened to Mission Taco Joint?
The name was retired in September 2024 following a trademark dispute with the company behind Mission Foods, and the restaurants were rebranded as Session Taco. The chain has also closed several locations since — Town & Country, the Central West End, Kirkwood and St. Charles — and its official site currently lists Soulard, the Delmar Loop and Kansas City.
Who has the best birria tacos in St. Louis?
Taco Drip STL on Carr St is the metro’s only true birria specialist, run by former pastry chef Steph Boyd, who started from her home kitchen in 2021. Lucha on N. Grand serves Oaxacan lamb birria in agave leaves, and Terror Tacos on South Grand makes a vegan seitan birria with consommé.
What is al pastor cooked on a trompo?
A trompo is a vertical spit — marinated pork stacked in a cone and shaved off as it cooks, usually with pineapple on top. The technique came to Mexico with Lebanese immigrants and is the same principle as shawarma. Many places cook al pastor on a flat-top instead; in St. Louis, Mestiza is the spot we could confirm runs an actual trompo.
Are there vegan tacos in St. Louis?
Terror Tacos at 3191 S. Grand Blvd is a fully vegan, horror-themed taco restaurant making everything from scratch, including a seitan birria with dipping consommé. It’s the only dedicated vegan taco restaurant in the metro.
Which St. Louis taco places have closed recently?
Taco Circus closed in 2021, The Taco & Ice Cream Joint in June 2024, Taqueria Morita in January 2025, El Burro Loco in July 2025, Mezcaleria las Chupacabras in November 2025, and Tacos La Jefa in January 2026 (though it still caters and does pop-ups). Nixta moved from Tower Grove to Delmar. Several of these still appear as open in circulating guides.
Where can I get tacos in St. Charles County?
St. Charles County is the thinnest area for verified taco recommendations right now — several spots come up repeatedly but we could not confirm current operation to the standard used for the rest of this guide, so we have left them out rather than send you on a drive.
Run a taqueria or a taco truck? Half the guides on the internet are still sending people to restaurants that closed years ago — and skipping the ones that are open right now. Getting listed where locals actually search takes a few minutes: add your business here.
Just hungry? Find more local spots across the metro on St Louis Near Me Directory.
Written by a dedicated team of St. Louis locals who live, work, and play right here in the St. Louis metro. Founder Lane Forman and team are committed to building the region’s most trusted directory by verifying listings and connecting local businesses with loyal customers across Missouri and Illinois.