by Eric Barton | June 24, 2025
Florida’s Taco Revolution
The Sunshine State just recently began making great tacos. We found the best Mexican spots from Miami Beach to Tallahassee.
There’s a saying comparing pizza to that thing two people do when they love each other: even if it’s bad, it’s still good.
I don’t think you could say that about tacos. We’ve all had the soggy-tortilla version at some beachfront bar, so underwhelming you just eat the free chips and salsa instead.
The truth is that tacos in this state are as hit-or-miss as a vacation-resort daiquiri. But in the last few years in Florida, we’ve quietly entered a taco renaissance. A state that’s never been lauded for its Mexican fare now boasts places milling their own masa and assembling tacos that range from high-end Oaxacan gourmet to humble street-food-style al pastor.
I’ve driven the state for a taste of the best—past the pastel tourist traps and vape shops, down alleys and boulevards, and into strip malls where the tortilleria shares a wall with a UPS store. Here are the 10 places I’d send you, where somebody definitely cares about the quality of tacos in that plastic basket.
Cholo Soy Cocina
West Palm Beach
Chef Clayton Carnes isn’t from Mexico—he’s a South Florida guy with a serious tortilla complex. But he does Peruvian-Mexican fusion so well you’ll stop caring about labels. This isn’t authentic Mexican, but that’s also what makes it incredible: octopus and chorizo, pork belly with pickled papaya, a shrimp BLT. It’s easily one of the best things you can eat within five miles of the Breakers.
El Vez
Fort Lauderdale
A Philly restaurant group opening a casual Mexican place at a beachfront hotel doesn’t sound like the recipe for a successful restaurant. But I’ve had some downright excellent meals here, and the fish taco is exactly what it should be: red cabbage, avocado and chipotle pepper remoulade. It’s the kind of beach food that’ll make you reconsider your dislike of beachfront tacos.
Hunger Street Tacos
Winter Park
Hunger Street now has two Central Florida locations, but it started with a craving—specifically, Seydi Creech’s longing for the taco de suadero from her childhood in Mexico City. Her husband Joseph, who grew up in Acapulco, spent years perfecting the slow-cooked, seared brisket version they now serve on house-nixtamalized heirloom corn tortillas. The result is street food done with intention: brisket tacos that hit like memory, plus esquites and squash blossom quesadillas that taste like someone’s abuela is running the kitchen.
La Tiendita
Tallahassee
Look, I realize I may lose some of you talking about nixtamal corn tortillas at fancy sit-down restaurants when what you really want is a place that serves burritos the size of a housepet. La Tiendita’s platters are massive affairs, best represented in the fried and stuffed sopes with a serving of rice and beans that’d serve a family.
Los Felix
Coconut Grove
They grind heirloom masa on a machine imported from Mexico, which ought to tell you about how special things will get. Carnitas as tender as they come, wrapped in a blue corn tortilla: it’s rich, indulgent and I think the best taco I’ve ever eaten.
Streetlight Taco
Tampa
Streetlight is what happens when a fine dining chef gets obsessed with tacos and decides the tortillas should get the same attention as a dry-aged steak. The taco fillings are far from standard: pork cooked in a copper pot and dotted with chicharron, sweet potatoes with pomegranate and macha glaze and skirt steak grilled over wood with serrano-avocado salas.
Tacos Azcatl
Jacksonville
It’s a taco truck parked next to a BP station on Beach Blvd., and if that doesn’t tell you everything you need to know, the smell of grilled meat will. Legua, carne asada and a whole lot of cilantro and onions sprinkled on everything. No music, no bar, no branding—just tacos that don’t need to sell you on anything.
El Carnal
Cape Coral
Operating out of a tiny taco truck, El Carnal serves cheesy, crispy birria that comes with a rich consomme for dipping. They’re about five bucks each and better than most tacos you’ve had at five times the price.
Taquiza
Miami Beach
Taquiza started in a sliver of a space down a flight of stairs and built its name on blue corn tortillas that crunch and melt at the same time. The beef tongue taco is the star—cooked low and slow with beer and charred onions and folded into a taco. Or for the adventurous: grasshoppers, toasted in spices and served with avocado.
