Cancel

    Open app

    Search

    Tacos Madre

    4.3 (541 reviews)
    ModerateMexican
    Closed 10:00 am - 9:00 pm
    Updated 2 months ago

    Tacos Madre Photos

    Business Info

    TACOS MADRE ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Trendy
    Moderate noise
    Good for groups

    Recommended Reviews - Tacos Madre

    Your trust is our priority, so businesses can't pay to alter or remove their reviews. Learn more about reviews.
    Yelp app icon
    Browse more easily on the app
    Review Feed Illustration

    Reviews With Photos

    Keto tacos
    Megan O.

    Dang Taco's Madre is where it's at! The food was sooooooo good. Everyone there was so nice and the vibes inside were prime. I ordered the asada keto tacos and was nottt disappointed. The cheese shell was perfect with the meat and onions. My family all said they looooved their food too. 11/10! The only bummer is the parking. But Taco's Madre is 100/10!

    Dana T.

    I was craving carne asada fries and came here to check it out! The carne asada fries come with the larger crinkle cut fries but they're so crispy and the toppings were delicious. I also really liked the al pastor taco. Overall, great service, food and ambiance.

    Chips and Guacamole
    LaRon D.

    Tacos Madre is LEGIT! Some of the most elevated casual Mexican food in Orange County. We've had the opportunity to visit a few times and they never disappoint! First off the ambiance of the place is really cool! They have some amazing artwork and images of cultural icons that looks super modern. It's also extremely clean and always well-maintained. You order at the register, get your table number, take a seat and they'll bring out your food. The menu is a little intimidating, at first, because they have such an expansive menu. At this point, our go-tos are: - Birria Quesataco - Fish Taco - Chilaquiles with red sauce - Side of Guac All of these items are 5/5. They make all of their own tortillas in-house and are amazing! Every order comes with complimentary fresh chips and salsa - chips made with homemade tortillas- TOP TIER! The fish tacos and chilaquiles are both some of the best we've ever had. The batter on the fish is crispy, full of flavor and a nice crema on top. The red sauce on the chilaquiles was epic! If you're in the area, I highly recommend Tacos Madre for an elite meal!

    carne asada fries
    Esli P.

    Great spot for Mexican food. Everything we tried tasted really good. The servers were friendly and welcoming. The atmosphere is casual and relaxed, making it an easy place to sit down and enjoy your meal. Definitely worth checking out if you're in the area.

    Mojarra Frita
    Olivia H.

    Tacos Madre has some of the best fish tacos in Orange County. We also love their fried fish plate. They are always super friendly there, which is a plus! It can get really busy, and tables can fill up even on weekdays. The parking situation can be tough, but it's worth it!

    Queso tacos
    Calli Y.

    Love the tacos here!! You can't go wrong here. Just be patient because there could be a wait to order, 1 register, and for the food to prepare. Always fresh and tasty. They do have taco tuesday specials as well which is nice. Just wish they could do something about their parking lot! Horrible parking situation when there's not spots available. SYOY

    Inside
    Jessie Z.

    Pretty limited parking so expect a bit of wait. Ordering is okay but the tacos do take a while to be made and there is no sauce/chip bar. Be sure to ask for water/napkins/limes/salsa when ordering. They do give a tomatillo and a spicier salsa (not too spicy, roasted, and buildable spice). Taco prices are okay, but doesn't have all the options ($2 normal, $4 fish taco for taco tuesday). They serve the tacos on a board and for the price a pretty good portion. The chorizo was okay, a bit dry and it would do well with some cheese. The tortillas are corn. Fish tacos had mostly cream flavor and was dressed well, pairs well with the lemon and big chunks. You should probably clean up after yourself because of limited staff. Overall, a little gentrified, but solid place for fish tacos and casual ambiance. Pretty self service.

    Ernest F.

    Amazing tacos. Great service. Nice seating with cool art on the walls. Parking out front can be difficult since it has only a few spots; try the spots in the back too.

    Vegetarian burrito
    Arely R.

    A lovely ambiance! Stopped by for "brunch" after finishing the OC marathon as a treat! I had the veggie burrito with zucchini; it was a yummy and fulfilling! While my family and I enjoyed our time, I wish the vegetarian options varied a bit more :- ) Amicable host and waiter yay

    Asada on the left and Al Pastor on the right

    See all

    15 days ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of T K.
    45
    130
    132

    18 days ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    3 months ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 1

    4 months ago

    Helpful 2
    Thanks 1
    Love this 2
    Oh no 0

    2 months ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    5 months ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 3
    Oh no 0

    5 days ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    25 days ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    6 days ago

    The tacos here are amazing. They take a while because everything is made fresh. I've been here twice now and it's so good.

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    4 days ago

    So good! This place is always quick and taste is on point! I'll be back asap! Wish there was one closer

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Joe M.
    26
    129
    39

    8 days ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    3 months ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 1
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    6 months ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    8 months ago

    Helpful 2
    Thanks 1
    Love this 2
    Oh no 0

    9 months ago

    Helpful 2
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of G K.
    681
    509
    195

    28 days ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    1 year ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 2
    Oh no 0

    1 year ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    3 months ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    21 days ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    1 year ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 1
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of D G.
    6
    66
    6

    1 month ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Tom P.
    0
    15
    1

    28 days ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    4 months ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 1

    9 months ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    1 month ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    5 months ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    1 year ago

    Helpful 2
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of J P.
    12
    46
    3

    11 days ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    1 year ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    11 months ago

    Helpful 2
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    1 year ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    7 months ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    7 months ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 1

    1 year ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    2 months ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    6 months ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    1 year ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    4 months ago

    So I just started recently coming back to this place. Good definitely improved. The taquitos were on point. Generally good food, clean.

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    1 month ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    Page 1 of 14

    Tacos Madre Reviews in Other Languages

    Ask the Community - Tacos Madre

    Do you offer delivery direct through your business or third party i.e Ubereats, doordash, grubhub? Thank you.

    Hello Michelle unfortunately not at this time, apologize for the inconvenience

    Do they have Taco Tuesday deals?

    Yes, we do have Taco Tuesday deals. !

    Do you have gluten friendly options?

    they do, plenty :) since they use corn tortillas and not flour.

    Do they have outdoor seating? Do they serve beer and wine?

    No they do not have outdoor seating. Beer and wine I'm not sure.

    Any vegan options?

    Hello We do have some vegetarian options that we can turn it vegan , we have this 4 options calabacitas,nopales ,poblano rajas and potato, using this options we can do completely vegan sopes,hand make tortillas taco,rolled crispy taquitos ,hard… Read more

    View All 7 Questions

    Playa Mesa - A house favorite: Taco Combination with our Spicy Cucmber Margarita

    Playa Mesa

    4.4(3.4k reviews)
    2.7 mi
    $$
    Takes reservations
    Happy hour specials

    OMG!!! What an amazing experience from the time we came in the door till the time we left! Friendly…read moreand inviting atmosphere! We were in from out of town and celebrating 31yrs of marriage. We sat at the Bar and really enjoyed our time with Mario! He was great and really took care of us, not to mention the food was amazing!

    What a great find. I had not eaten at this place before, but it came highly recommended from a…read morefriend of mine so I thought hey I'm going to check this out. I am so glad I did, especially since it was happy hour. The place definitely has a great vibe to it. Plenty of seating throughout the restaurant. I recommend sitting at the bar as that's where all the action happens. You definitely want to make sure you get there for happy hour and Taco Tuesday especially, $10 Margaritas $4 tacos and these are not cheap tacos. These are like serious tacos that will fill you up. Their salsa is great, not super spicy and makes great for munching while you're talking with friends. The margaritas are definitely strong, which is nice, as some places tend to water them down for happy hour. I would say that this is a great choice to go check out and have a taco or two or three or four. I had the carne asada, the carnitas, and the pastor, every single one of them was perfect and the salsa that they came with was out of this world. Bottom line? This is a great place for Taco Tuesday as well as just a hangout and have a drink after work. Whenever I am in Costa Mesa. I am definitely coming here again.

    Photos
    Playa Mesa - Margarita flights!

    Margarita flights!

    Playa Mesa
    Playa Mesa - Weekend Brunch served Sat - Sun, 9am-2pm.

    See all

    Weekend Brunch served Sat - Sun, 9am-2pm.

    Mercado Gonzalez - Carne Asada Burrito and Tortilla Chips

    Mercado Gonzalez

    4.3(1k reviews)
    0.8 mi
    $$

    Want to be transported to somewhere new, fresh, exciting and to embrace Hispanic culture? Mercado…read moreGonzalez is that. It's not just a grocery store, it's not a place to go in and out (you could if you wanted to), it's a place to enjoy not just the produce, but everything it has to offer! Yes, it is a grocery store, but it's also a place with many food stalls with delicious foods that are made fresh throughout the day! The service is fantastic, everyone is so happy and are eager to help! The ambiance is bustling either music constantly playing and some live music on certain days! I've had their horchata, burritos from one of the stalls, a torta, and a muleta. I've also purchased some fresh guacamole and their freshly made agua frescas!, all of which were great! Some say it's ok or sub par from other places, it could be true, but it's definitely the experience that is hard to match. This isn't just a one and done place, I feel like I haven't fully experienced everything yet and plan to come back multiple times to try out all that this place has to offer!

    Our building had a catered event from them, and it was well received overall with a successful…read moreconclusion after some initial challenges. I will use mostly my names for what I tried: "ELEPHANT EAR" BREAD: -- light beige color -- very sweet -- honey taste very pronounced and sticky texture -- great with hot Mexican chocolate or hot coffee with no sugar to offset the sweet RATING = A- "PINKIE LA RUE" (aka Polvorone Rojas): -- semi-crumbly texture -- buttery shortbread -- large size -- dusted w/white table sugar on top which I scraped off to reduce the sweet -- medium sweet or tad more -- not dry nor moist -- very nice tasting, especially w/milk or hot coffee RATING = A "RHINO HORN" bread: -- has some color variance with light brown -- semi-firm texture -- lightly sweet -- best for dipping in hot Mexican chocolate or hot coffee; not ideal to eat plain -- not buttery -- I am not a big "dipper" of cookies or bread into coffee so this is not of much interest to me -- it's okay RATING = B- CUCUMBER/LIME AQUA FRESCA: -- I poured into my water bottle and added half water to get the sweet down. Way too sweet for my palate but nice once I got the ratio right. -- up to medium sweet initially RATING = A- PINEAPPLE/SPINACH AQUA FRESCA: -- above medium sweet but expected for pineapple -- the pineapple defeated anything rough about the spinach for me which was a good thing...not chalky tongue syndrome RATING = B+ WATERMELON AQUA FRESCA: -- medium towards high sweet -- I did 50/50 with water again to get it right -- tasted pretty close to fresh watermelon juice when I did that RATING = A

    Photos
    Mercado Gonzalez - Great packaged foods, snacks and Mexican candy.

    Great packaged foods, snacks and Mexican candy.

    Mercado Gonzalez - Time to eat churros

    Time to eat churros

    Mercado Gonzalez - Menu As of 6/8/25

    See all

    Menu As of 6/8/25

    Descanso - Lobster Enchiladas

    Descanso

    4.1(1.8k reviews)
    0.3 mi
    $$

    We LOVED our Mother's Day brunch at Descanso. We made reservations and were seated quickly. They…read morehad bottomless mimosas and a special Mother's Day menu. Food- 10/10. We ordered the bottomless mimosas, watermelon spicy marg, churro pancakes, and the shredded beef chilaquiles. All were amazing! The churro pancakes were soooooooo yummy. Crispy and fluffy. Service- 10000/10. Manny was amazinggg! He was working so hard serving so many tables at once and he did a great job. He was so kind, positive, and had great recommendations. He always made sure we had everything we needed. The gals at the front were also so kind and helpful. Everyone there was great! Environment- 10/10. It was a beautiful day so we sat out on the patio. They had table umbrellas which were super nice to block the sun. They also had a DJ's (I think there were 3 taking turns) that were all great! The inside is very clean and nicely decorated! Next time we wanna try sitting at the grill :) Extras- Lots of parking as it's in a shopping center. The prices for us were a little on the higher end, but the food and service are fantastic! Perfect place for celebrations and authentic food :)

    How did I not know about Descanso's taco game sooner?…read more Came here on a Tuesday during lunch and got the mahi mahi taco and birria taco. Both were amazing! The mahi mahi taco was so innovative. I loved the slaw on top and the surprise of the peanuts. The birria taco is on another level. The short rib was melting in my mouth, and paired with the consume... chefs kiss. On Tuesdays they also have an amazing Taco Tuesday deal with 6 street tacos for $22. That's a steal! Definitely need to come back more hungry to try that out.

    Photos
    Descanso - Dining Room

    Dining Room

    Descanso - Carne Asada Skillet

    Carne Asada Skillet

    Descanso - Short Rib Estofado

    See all

    Short Rib Estofado

    Acapulco Restaurant & Cantina

    Acapulco Restaurant & Cantina

    4.4(2.2k reviews)
    2.0 mi
    $$

    This is my favorite Mexican Restaurant. Our server Roberto provided awesome service. We live in the…read moreInland Empire but we make sure we have lunch at Acapulco every time we are in Orange County. Great food and great service.

    LOVE this place for GREAT, FRESH, Coastal, Mexican food!…read moreThis location in Costa Mesa in particular, has been updated (new paint, new chairs, new lighting, etc.) and they have updated their menu with even MORE, Seafood items! They make GREAT Guacamole, customized at table side to your specs and their FRESH Chips, Tortillas and Salsa's are homemade in the restaurant. Husband LOVES their Pomegranate Margherita's and I can't get enough of their Enchilada's (Cheese, Chicken) and their Crunchy Taco's (Shredded Beef is my Fave!). Add in that their FRESH, Side Salads are AMAZING along with their new menu items - including Seafood combo's and there is no where else to go in OC for better Mexican food! Our INCREDIBLE Server, Hector (He IS the Acapulco restaurant - always upbeat and advising us about their new menu items!) and their FANTASTIC Chef Hector and all of the other Servers and Cooks there, make this a casual, yet special date-night restaurant! P.S. We've also tried their EXCEPTIONAL, Sunday Buffet and literally had to almost be wheeled out of there, there were SO MANY DIFFERENT, AUTHENTIC foods to choose from and sample! VERY nice to find this level of a PERFECT MEXICAN restaurant - with HIGH QUALITY FOOD INGREDIENTS, nearby! Can't wait to go back!

    Photos
    Acapulco Restaurant & Cantina
    Acapulco Restaurant & Cantina
    Acapulco Restaurant & Cantina - Make your own omelette. Veggies and chorizo.

    See all

    Make your own omelette. Veggies and chorizo.

    Tacos Madre - mexican - Updated May 2026

    Loading...
    Loading...
    Loading...