When you crave tacos in The Valley, North Hollywood is the 'hood to satisfy it. In NoHo, customers line up around the block to taste handmade tortillas, thick, zesty salsas, and well-seasoned meats. However, there is nothing worse than spending your hard-earned money on a sub-par plate of tacos, so here is our list of L.A. TACO-approved taquerías spanning a curbside taco shop with a Peruvian-inspired salsa, a true birria specialist, and just a straight up textbook-perfect al pastor.
Below, find the five best taquerías in North Hollywood. ¡A taquear!
5. Pablitos Tacos
Pablitos Tacos is adjacent to the iconic Circus Liquor on Burbank and Vineland. Though its moniker includes “tacos,” Pablito’s has everything. Burgers, pizzas, fries, wings, and chiles rellenos are just a few plates on its menu. The taco shop also has aguas frescas, with flavors rotating daily but always featuring a horchata. The superstar taco, though, is their lomo saltado. The meat almost melts in our mouth upon that first big bite. And the handmade tortilla smells like home. That Peruvian-inspired green salsa borders on a huancaina sauce and salsa verde all at once and tastes so incredible that you'll want to lick your plate afterward. Pablitos Tacos doesn’t only have lomo saltado as their carne option. You can also order birria, asada, al pastor, pollo, chicken mole, and chicharrón. All are good choices!
Monday to Sunday, 5 p.m. - midnight, or Friday and Saturday, 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. If there’s a long line, wait it out—you won’t regret it. 5600 Vineland Ave., North Hollywood, CA 91601. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Lines 90, 154, 162 - “Vineland/Burbank.”
4. Angel’s Tijuana Tacos
Angel’s Tijuana Tacos always has the longest lines. Their cult following checks out with their social media presence, considering that the taquería has 400k Instagram followers and several pop-up locations as of publishing this story—including one in Echo Park. Angel’s Tijuana Tacos also has a delicious spread of cucumbers, salsas, and radishes that you can serve yourself after your order. If you get tacos, you’ll be blown away by the chewy handmade yellow corn tortillas and flavorful meat—al pastor, carne asada, pollo, chorizo, or cabeza. You’re not limited to tacos when you visit Angel’s, however. You can also get a torta, a quesataco, nachos, mulitas, vampiros and burritos. (Many people were getting burritos here, which are $9, instead of a $2.50 taco. We can't blame them because they’re the size of a football). To best keep up with Angel’s Tijuana Tacos and its business hours, check the taquería’s Instagram.
10945 Victory Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91606. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Lines 90, 162, and 164 - “Victory/Vineland.”
3. Birriería San Marcos
Birriería San Marcos's properly stewed beef birria is one of the city's birria O.G.'s and always hits the spot. A taco here means it will be dipped in consomé and served with a healthy serving of birria de res. Order a taco dorado (grilled crispy), a keto taco that uses crisped cheese as a tortilla-like wrap, and a quesataco, for the perfect birria plate. Also, the horchata at this taco truck is top-tier with light-brown specks of canela that add the richest sweetness to the drink. It also removes our spicy sensation, thanks to the red salsa that came with our order. Also included in an order here are chopped cilantro and red onion, lemons (not limes), and sliced radishes. Their menu is vast and includes quesadillas, tostaditas, vampiros, burritos, consomé, a birria plate, and tortas. And, of course, we’d be remiss not to mention their ever-popular birria ramen. In a time of birria over-saturation, Birriería San Marcos is worth it.
You can find them Tuesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., for some tasty birria in whichever form you’d like.
5621 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, CA 91601. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Lines 152, 154, 224, and 237 - “Lankershim/Burbank” or Metro B and G Lines - "North Hollywood Station."
2. Tacos El Tigre
Taquero Jhonatan, Tacos El Tigre's lead taquero, knows what he’s doing. He’s got the al pastor on a trompo, with a pineapple on top—as God intended. He’s also got a señora making tortillas a mano (by hand). And, to top it all off, he carefully curates his drink menu. We visited on a rainy day, and El Tigre was serving champurrado. (They only offer it on rainy days). In the summer, on the other hand, El Tigre will have aguas frescas, including—but definitely not limited to—jamaica, horchata, naranja, and pepino. All made from scratch. The handmade tortillas are the right kind of thick to hold all the meat and toppings. They’re also not too thick, like to the point where all you can taste is the masa. The cabeza was the M.V.P. cut here, perfectly crisped up on the outside and buttery on the inside. Speaking of the salsas, be forewarned that the red one is atomically spicy. Our lips were tingling for a few minutes, even after we were done eating. The menu at Tacos El Tigre also features burritos, quesadillas, mulitas, tortas, sopes, and fries. In addition to our tacos, we got the carne asada fries—which stood out for being phenomenal out of nowhere.
5600 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, CA 91601. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Lines 152, 154, 224, and 237 - “Lankershim/Burbank” or Metro B and G Lines - "North Hollywood Station."
1. El Venado
El Venado immediately gets bonus points for bumping music, creating an awesome vibe. One night, it may be Los Enanitos Verdes’ Luz de Día playing on the taco spot’s speakers, and on another night, it may be just straight cumbia. In other words, you get the overwhelming sense that the people working at El Venado are proud to be Mexican. El Venado offers the cheapest tacos on this list. Their menu features carnes like asada, pollo, cuerito, lengua, suadero, carnitas, chorizo, and al pastor (with piña, of course). Additional menu items include loaded papas, tortas, quesadillas, fries, and burritos. Be warned, though, these salsas are spicy. They also offer ample seating. Any self-respecting taco aficionado has no problem eating tacos standing up. That said, we also love having a chair and a table that allows us to only focus on eating instead of balancing our plate.
El Venado is open Tuesday-Sunday, 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. If you find yourself in NoHo within these hours, I can’t stress enough how much I recommend stopping by El Venado. (Pro tip: Check Instagram to ensure they’re at their regular spot.)
11702 Victory Blvd., North Hollywood, CA 91606. Closest Metro lines and stops: Bus Lines 152, 164, and 224 - “Lankershim/Victory.”
