L.A. TACO is embarking on its biggest mission yet: to create a reliable taco and food guide for every neighborhood in Los Angeles! Along the way, we will also be releasing brief histories of each neighborhood to understand L.A. a little more and why each and every neighborhood makes our fine city unique. Check out the rest of our history and food guides on our neighborhood page.
These are the five best tacos in Santa Monica.
For lo, Santa Monica’s taco monster wears many faces and is more misunderstood than Boo Radley.
Saddled far and wide with the ill repute of being a parched landscape of scant Mexcellence, the seaside city counts one of L.A.’s largest concentrations of longstanding Mexican restaurants. Venerated family-owned and family-favored favorites like Gilbert’s El Indio, Lares, Tacos Por Favor, Mariscos Guillen La Playita, Casa Martin, Benny's, and Panchos, as well as veteran locations of El Cholo and Campos.
As a major target of international tourism, Santa Monica is also rife with margarita joints that put the party before the quality of their combo plates, speckling the city from Main Street and the Promenade, to the western stretches of Wilshire and the last few feet of the Pier.