This adorable Mexican joint is a quick walk from our home, making it an easy candidate for our "go-to" spot. And when we first discovered it we did go fairly often. But we tired of spending $4 for a small serving of chips when another spot in town gives you unlimited amounts of warm fresh from the oven chips. On the plus side, the tacos I've had are delicious, my son loved his tortas,, drinks are great and service has been wonderful even when packed. Lastly, I would love a tortilla soup on the menu for something lighter (hint, hint). read more

I love this neighborhood spot for a margarita at their fun bar, chips and guacamole on the patio, and delicious salad! As a vegetarian though, I feel the options are limited. I would be a regular if they were to expand or recreate their vegetarian taco offerings, which currently are not very memorable. read more

Had lunch at La Principal. This is definitely a place to go for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The staff are friendly and welcoming. The space is great. The chorizo taco was okay. The short rib was very tasty, along with the carnitas. read more

This place is my new favorite neighborhood restaurant to go to. Our host and server was fletcher and he was really good. Knew all the answers to our queries and was very attentive. The chicharonnes with lime were crunchy and flavorful; the elotes we couldn't have enough of. Creamy and perfectly spiced. Tacos al pastor and carnitas were perfect; the ahogado came dunked in a red chile sauce; bread was crusty and pork so tender; quite delicious. My only quibble is that the sauce was too tomatoey. Not enough chile and spices. The churros are reason enough to keep coming back. Perfect chocolate dipping sauce! read more

La Principal - Churros - Mexican Near Me - Evanston, Illinois

I'm a fan of their tacos and food in general. Service is pretty good but it is important to know that their happy hour pricing only applies if you snag one of the very limited seats at the front in the bar area. read more

We ordered the churroS, but only received one churro. We saw another table with a plate of churroS while we only got to split one. The churros are great, but make sure they give you more than one. read more

great service, food and location. on Main Street Evanston, this restaurant has a great price point and it's outside of Chicago where life is a little slower and more relaxed. Get out of the city and take a staycation here at Le Principal. The chicken torta was delicious and the sauce was spicy hot and great accompaniment. read more

Had the chicken tinga and shrimp tacos; both excellent. Highly recommended finishing off the meal with a churro & chocolate sauce. My only gripe about La Principal is that they charge $4 for chips and salsa. Name me one other mexican joint in Evanston that charges for chips and salsa...no refills on the chips/salsa either. Dampened the experience. read more

La Principal is our go-to. I've tried most of the menu and enjoyed it all: I especially love the Portabella Torta, the Al Pastor taco, the smokey Paloma and of course the Churros. This is a fun, casual place, always tasty and great to have in the neighborhood. read more

Great place! Creative and delicious take on tacos and tortas, with careful homemade quality. Fish tacos are solid. I've enjoyed the mushroom torta. All their sandwiches are made on Hewn bread, so if all else failed, there'd be at least that to hold it up. However in my experience, these do not fail and all of the ingredients are always cooked and seasoned perfectly, making these really wonderful sandwiches aside from being on fantastic bread. One time they got my takeout order wrong- went to get another mushroom torta but they ended up giving me the pork one with the side of dipping broth. Wasn't even mad becuase it was so tasty!!! read more

La Principal is such a great restaurant. The food is always outstanding and the service is excellent. We've gone there many times, and have never had a problem with the food or staff. Tonight we ordered take out and when we got home we realized they forgot the drinks. While an honest mistake, when we called they were so apologetic and wanted to make up for it. We will definitely be returning soon! read more

Great restaurant. Taco x 3 for dinner more than enough. Great service. Flan pumpkin A +

My favorite Mexican restaurant in Evanston. The chips and salsa and tacos are great! I particularly love the short rib and al pastor tacos.

Great starter. Chips and Salsa were awesome. Then I order the tofu taco and the cod taco. Unfortunately, the tofu was very dry and tasteless. The cod as a tiny piece. Mostly bread and also flavorless. The churro to finish his first was good. My husband ordered the chicken soup and was also disappointed. Ambience and location were very good. read more

We decided to try this cute Mexican restaurant in the heart of Evanston is very good. We tried to the carnitas and pescado tacos. They were very flavorful and great flavor combinations. They unfortunately did not have many things with chicken in them. For desert we had the a churro aka sweet fried goodness. The environment is very friendly and energetic. They have a order window outside the restaurant which seems very cool. Love this place! read more

La Principal - Elotes, corn on the cob is very good. It is salty and has many tasty spices - Mexican Near Me - Evanston, Illinois

If you're looking for a low key corner spot, this is the place to go. Almost all of the food I tried here was delicious. The guacamole was very balanced and well seasoned. The queso fundido was a bit disappointing. It was quite bland. However, the short run torts was nothing but full of flavor with a delicious salsa verde served along side of it. I will definitely be going to this place again. read more

My husband and I absolutely love Principal. First off, the atmosphere is awesome. So much light and fresh air. Cocktails are creative and yummy! The service is so friendly, the kinda place where they remember your name and favorite order. The Cafecito is a fav stop of ours on our morning walk to grab a bfast bowl and coffee and our dog always gets a treat. The chips and guac are bomb, the tacos are packed full of flavorful goods and the churros are perfectly doughy and flaky and crispy and cooked to perfection every time. It's great for a date night or a family outing. Go there, support an awesome local family spot that does so much to give back to the community. You'll be happy about it. read more

Place is alright. I am from Los Angeles so paying more than 3 dollars for tacos is still weird to me. Their food is good but overpriced. Also, the margaritas, while tasty, are expensive in small glasses. Then again, where else can you find margaritas like theirs in south Evanston? read more

I went back and continued not to be impressed by anything but the amount of money some people charge for a meh taco.

I think this is only my second yelp review, which means it had to be really good to get my lazy self to write one. I loved every single thing tonight. We arrived at 4:55pm, and the bar was already completely full (in order to get happy hour specials you have to sit in the bar). But we were 5 minutes from dinner service and we stayed. Margarita was good, kale and arugula salad was incredible. The dressing was to die for. I'm a pescatarian, and I was thrilled to have three taco choices: pescado, tofu, and sweet potato. Each was flawless, wonderful flavors. Loved every bite. Churro was awesome. We will be back very soon. read more

The waitstaff at La Principal really made this visit for us, though the food was also fantastic. My family of 6 arrived just after Northwestern graduation. We were waiting maybe a minute or two past the 15-20 minute wait they'd estimated for us, and not only did one of their waiters come by and apologize, he brought us complimentary chips, salsa and guacamole (fantastic, especially the guac). They were very apologetic and very thoughtful, which was lovely - I can't count too many other times a restaurant has been so attentive while I've been waiting to be seated. Once we did sit, service was really quick, and the server was wonderful. She gave a thoughtful heads-up to anyone ordering spicier tacos to make sure they were okay with a little spice, and suggested a sharing plate each of the rice and beans, which worked out wonderfully. Our food arrived quickly, and it was incredible! Great tacos (crowd-pleasers were the al pastor, chicken tinga and carnitas) and phenomenal black beans on the side (do not leave without trying the black beans). Margaritas were great, if a little on the small side, and they had a good selection of beers on tap. Overall, this was such a lovely experience - after standing around all morning at graduation, we were pleasantly surprised to be so well taken care of and to eat so well! read more

I used to like this place, but I went for Happy Hour one day and they refused to seat us. They only allowed for customers to order their happy hour prices at the bar. Even though only one table was full in their dining area, they refused to seat us. Absolutely terrible model. So even though they have a happy hour, it's only for certain people and even when you arrive an hour into their time period, they won't honor their prices. read more

Nothing special about this place. I was highly disappointed .If you like Americanized tacos, and pricey drinks be my guest! My friend and I ordered shrimp tacos and a flan dessert (done in one bite because it was so small). But you could get a better deal (and more authentic food) at Taco Burrito King read more

Really good place to eat and drink!, I went with me family and we spend a great time!, let me tell you that the churro was the best churro that I ever eat in all IL! The tacos are berry good whit their own Mexican touch! read more

Walked into their happy hour. We were very happy to sit on the funky chairs in the lounge and eat our $2 tacos! A great option for a cheapie hangout. Our tacos were unique and flavorful. I would definitely come back for a margarita and to sample more delicious food! read more

Awesome spot for tacos. The pozoles rock too. Order the smoked Paloma cocktail. Just don't order too many unless you like Uber. The owner has a great head of hair and is fantasy football guru. read more

I think the restaurant has potential and server was nice. Ordered tofu taco, which had little to no flavor. I asked for salsa to bring more flavor and was charged $3. That was a big turnoff for me. In my experience, other restaurants do not do the same. read more

Not Mexican food, overpriced, and just not very good. I had the green pozole, and my companion the red pozole. The pozole bears no resemblance to actual pozole. There appears to be little to no stock in it - mine was mostly a thick green sludgy sauce of some kind that was extremely vinegary - I'm pretty sure that it was just bulk sauce from a five-gallon drum with distilled white vinegar preserving it. There were a few pieces of small hominy, some corn kernels, and some bits of meat. But mostly it was just this thick green vinegary stuff. The red one was much the same idea - only red. We paid $12 each for this little dish of nail-varnish remover. Still, we were given a nice carafe of warm tap water with it to wash it down. I have spent a lot of time in Mexico, and in the Mexican community in Chicago - and had a lot of pozole along with other Mexican food. Whatever this is, it isn't Mexican and my Mexican friends would be embarrassed to serve it as such. They take pride in their food in that country. And then there was the extra good part - we asked for some chips and salsa, and )when they arrived the salsa was a little dish of the same greenish vinegary stuff from a five-gallon container. To make us feel even better, on paying the bill, we discovered that having chips and salsa with the meal costs an extra $4. Never had that happen anywhere else. But wait, there's more. We also asked for tortillas to go with the food - being surprised that none arrived. Have you even heard of not being offered tortillas with a Mexican meal? No, nor had we. Anyway, when they arrived, there were two of them. One tortilla per person. Each tortilla (which couldn't appear to decide if they were corn or flour tortillas - I suspect it was a mix of some sort) was about 5 inches across at the most. When the bill came, it turned out that they charged us $1 for EACH of these little doll-sized discs. Has anyone ever heard of being charged extra for tortillas in a Mexican restaurant in any country? Nope.Maybe it was because one of them was folded artfully in half on top of the other. I don't know. Personally, I didn't find that quite enough to merit the price. On the bright side, the warm tap water was free. If you want Mexican food, spare yourselves the pretension and the indigestion and go to any of the several small family-run restaurants on Clark just over the border into Rogers Park where you will get good, authentic Mexican food for a good deal less money, prepared from scratch by people who care about what they are doing - and they won't charge you extra for tortillas, either. Que le vaya bien. read more

Their 'Cafecito' serves the best coffee in the hood. From 6:30 am!!!! They got me covered on my early commute to work- Starbucks has nothing on them :) Who would have thought the small window will serve such great coffee & breakfast tacos!!! Kudos guys! read more

The street tacos are fantastic as well as the churros con chocolate! I love how it's open until 11:00 PM (one of the few restaurants in Evanston open past 9 PM). My husband's favorite is the al pastor, and I personally love the pescado, carnitas, and red mole short-rib. The chips with guac are also excellent. Yes - it is expensive relative to the tacos one mile away on Howard or in Uptown, but you also pay for quality. There is no mystery meat here. This is a very welcome addition to the Main Street food corridor. read more

Great local spot, with pleasing design, yummy tacos & happy hour. Staff is always pleasant and it has a good vibe.

I love this place! Ok, so like Mancow, I have never actually stepped foot into this place. However my husband works near by and brings home take out from here almost weekly now. Everyone who I have ever talked to on the phone, to place my take out orders, including Joe, have been nothing but nice, professional and hospitable. I tend to be a slightly picky eater, "no this, extra of this, this on the side". And no one has ever given me a sigh or huff or puff when accommodating my requests. They have been nothing but splendid and quite honestly, top notch. Since I HAVE eaten from this joint, unlike Mancow, I would like to tell you what I liked and what you should definitely try. First off, items are almost tapas style, smaller portions, which means smaller prices. I love this because I get to enjoy lots of different flavors without breaking the bank. The chips and guac are awesome. The chips are nice and crispy and they go with the creaminess and chuckiness of the guac perfectly. I also LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Queso Fundido! It's made with green chorizo and poblanos and served with homemade corn tortillas. It also is some of the creamiest fundido that I have ever had, it's not heavy and all cheese like some. Lastly, the short rib taco is the best. They've captured Umami very well in this little taco of taste. A little sweet from the sauce the short rib is cooked in, a little savory from the meat itself, a little salt from the cojita cheese that it's topped with and a little heat from the peppers that it has on it. A definite try! Don't listen to Mancow, he never even tried out the place. Take it from me, who has eaten from there many of times. Super yummy!! read more

A wonderful experience. A cozy, welcoming vibe. Thanks to attentive, nice staff. Wonderful drinks. And creative, tapas like l like food offerings. The ultimate neighborhood hangout. read more

My husband and i tried to eat at La Principal last night, but never got the chance. I don't think we are going to venture back for another try. We heard how friendly the staff is and read mixed reviews about the food, so we thought we would give it a try. We entered the restaurant at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday night we saw that there was no line and 4 tables had no one sitting at them. We were told by the hostess that it would be a one hour wait. We normally would not have minded the wait if #1 The hostess was friendly, #2 and acted as if she wanted to work. She actually looked very disinterested in working and was dressed inappropriately (She had tattoos on her breast. I shouldn't have been able to see this.) If this restaurant is still open in a year, we might try again. Maybe they will get serious about their hostess staff. read more

Overall this is a decent place for hip Mexican food, but it's probably not a good place if you want regular Mexican food with free chips and salsa. The food was good and the restaurant was nice inside. Service was good and our party of 5 was able to be seated right away on a Saturday around 5, before it got too busy. The menu was somewhat limited - it's basically just tacos, sandwiches and soup with a few other random items. But the food that they do have is tasty. I just would like more options, especially if you're with picky eaters who aren't as adventurous. It's a little bit expensive as items are ordered a la carte. Tacos are about $3-4 each and you have to order sides separately. Overall it was a nice experience but not a great value. read more

Down to one star. I left the original 3 star review at the bottom for reference. So I knew that they charged you for chips (that come out of a bag) and salsa at the restaurant, but I thought I could at least rely on this place for carry out. Wrong! Tried to order 3 tacos carry out recently and asked for red salsa with two of them, and green salsa with one. They come back to me with the price. 18 dollars and change! I asked why, and was told that salsa did not come with carry out orders. You have to buy salsa if you want that with them. So, they tried to charge me 8 dollars for salsa alone (one green order, one red). Then they acted surprised when I decided to cancel my lunch order. This place is actually too cheap to provide you with a couple 1/2 ounce little plastic cups of salsa to go with your carry out order. Unbelievable. I'm never going back to this place and dealing with this nonsense again. Straight up ripping people off over there. I know Evanston is short on Mexican places right now, but I don't mind driving a few blocks to the 6000s on Clark St to get some quality Mexican food. I'm telling my friends to avoid this place now. *NOTE- BELOW IS THE ORIGINAL REVIEW The tacos here are good. I had the sweet potato, the short rib, and the carnitas, and enjoyed all of them. Also had the elote and enjoyed that as well. Great mezcal margarita, too. Most of the food here is quality, but the problem I have are the prices, as well as the chips. The chips taste like a mediocre brand straight out of an industrial size bag. Frankly, it's a little insulting considering this is a pricier establishment in a town that knows quite a bit about quality eats. The prices are high as the tacos are not that big, about 3 bites each. You also pay for the chips and salsa, and as stated, the chips aren't that good. The salsa is about a 3 ounce size mason type jar and it's 4 dollars. Not worth it in my opinion. Me thinks this place will have to up their game a bit, especially with Taco Diablo coming back a few blocks away in the spring. read more

I've been coming to La Principal since they opened, and it's become a go-to spot when we have people up in Evanston to visit. The elotes are a tasty starter, while the tortas and tacos are not to be missed. If you have a larger group, the staff does appreciate a phone call as a heads up, but I don't believe they accept reservations. The ingredients are fresh, and it's clear that the staff know their flavors and take pride in their work. The hot sauces and churros can't be missed either! The drinks, both the mixed drinks and the beers, are fabulous. Sketchbook Brewing (around the corner) has a a collaboration beer with La Principal that is fabulous. read more

Its always a pleasure to come here. Their Short Rib Red Mole Tacos are to die for! And their Pescado and Carnitas tacos are of a very high quality as well. The best tacos I have ever had really for any price, but their prices are very fair, bordering on cheap. This is especially true at Happy Hour whem they are practically giving tacos away. The look and feel of the place is warm and inviting and the staff is friendly and accommodating. I have literally spent hours here catching up with friends. Affordable Margaritas available at their bar. Highly Recommended! read more

I visited for dinner on Saturday night, and was really happy with the experience. Nice beer list, nice atmosphere, each of the tacos I ordered was delicious, and I found the portions of taco filling pretty generous. We tried the corn appetizer which is pretty good especially considering out of season corn. And of course queso fundito is always good because cheese, though this one was a bit more mild tasting than others I've had. One of the people I was with tried a soup for dinner and absolutely loved it. Long story short, I'm sure it doesn't taste like going to Mexico, but it's a pretty darn good restaurant to have within walking distance of my house for a casual but still fun night out. Also, I have been really enjoying the coffee and churros in the morning on the way to the train station. read more

I was really looking forward to this place since it needed a better Mexican restaurant in Evanston. First of all, I have to give the margaritas here 5stars! Fresh, nice combination of tart and sweet and tequila. Nicely done! Secondly, service at lunch was very efficient and friendly. Now to the food: Chicharones were delicious, the hot sauces were great, guacamole and chips were Meh. The tacos I ordered were plain bad--Pescado was a breaded cod which tasted old and fishy. The el pastor tacos were so so. Unfortunately both tacos were not hot but came out slightly warmed. My partner ordered a torta of carnitas which was good especially the bread it was served on. It should be because it was from Hewn bakery. The desert we got was the churros which was delicious especially the chocolate dipping sauce. So I had to take away a star for the guac and chips, bad tacos, and meh food in general. I'd probably come back and try it again to give it another shot if not for the margaritas themselves. read more

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