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The Search For The Best Tacos In Town Takes Us To Taqueria La Antigua Guatemala

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Taco Tuesday

This week our search for the best tacos in Chatt Town brought us to Taqueria La Antigua Guatemala.

Never in a million years would I have found this place. It is an unassuming little wooden shed, sitting far back from the main road. It’s sandwiched between Quality Auto & Battery and a Beauty Salon/Barber shop on East Main Street.

The thing that caught my eye as I drove past the buildings was a dark blue sign that looked like a menu hanging on the front of the wooden structure, so I pulled into the parking lot.

Guess what?

It was a menu, listing their taco offerings and their dinner plates (platillas). The tiny eatery was packed with local workers waiting for a table to become available or ordering their food to go. The interior is small. When you enter there is a tiny dining area, to the right there are a few more seats and a doorway leading to their beverage refrigerator. Opposite the beverage fridge is the kitchen which was the largest room of the building.

There was one woman in the kitchen that stood in one spot. She didn’t move at all, carefully watching the cook do their job like she was the supervising matriarch of the flat top.

Be aware Taqueria La Antigua Guatemala is a cash only restaurant, absolutely no credit cards. Also know enough Spanish to at least, order and pay for your food. If you don’t know enough Spanish be prepared to point to what you want on a small menu posted on their wall inside by the kitchen. The interior is clean, but it is apparent that the restaurant has been in this little spot for nearly 13 years.

I ordered three barbacoa tacos and waited outside because I’m a bit claustrophobic. That’s how small it is and how packed it was.

Protein choices for the tacos include chicken, tripe, beef tongue, steak, Mexican sausage, and shredded beef. Plates include Fajita mix, pollo dorado, carne asada, quesadillas, shrimp plates tortas, chicken soup and on weekends menudo and beef stew.

I paid $7.50 for the three tacos and was soon on my way home. The tacos are small in size, but the shredded beef was amazing. It may be the best shredded beef taco (barbacoa) I’ve had. The meat was extremely tender and flavorful. The cilantro was not overpowering, and the onions were diced into tiny pieces. The tacos came with a lime wedge and salsa verde. As usual, I did the heat test and that sucker was a 20 out of 10 so it stayed in the container.

You know the saying good things come in small packages, it’s true when it comes to the quality of the food being served at Taqueria La Antigua Guatemala.

Mom has been a bit under the weather, so she wasn’t up for eating a taco, but when I told her they have chicken soup, she said she’d like to try that over the weekend. I may try their beef stew or menudo too.

Taqueria La Antigua Guatemala

What’s your favorite taco place and why? Send me an email at Pattyl@brewermediagroup.com