Taqueria San Jose

• 1338 S. Division Avenue
• Grand Rapids, MI 49507
• (616) 284-2297
• No Known Website
• Menu

All I knew was that I was hungry.  I didn’t really know what I wanted.  I was actually heading towards a soul food place only to show up in the parking lot to find a completely new, non-restaurant business in it’s place.

That was a little disappointing, but I was also sort of craving tacos.  A co-worker had just shown up to work with Chipotle, but I had just eaten there two days prior, so I wanted something else.

For several months (hell, maybe even years), I’ve been driving by a small Taqueria in an old drive-in on South Division Avenue just south of Hall Street in Grand Rapids.  I just read a pretty positive review about the place on Eating Our Way Through Grand Rapids.  While I’ve always been curious about the place, I never had the courage to stop in.

Taqueria San Jose is in what looks like an old A & W Drive-in.  They don’t really use the drive-in part of the property for anything other than parking.  There is some outside seating, but you still need to go in to order.

The small building houses about half a dozen tables with a small order window cut out of the wall in the corner opposite the door.  The menu is written on a dry erase board.

These are the kind of places I love getting tacos from.  The corn tortillas are fresh pressed and they are filled with meat, cilantro and onion.  The meat options are somewhat standard with asada, al pastor, pollo, and chorizo.  There are also much more ethnic options like birria (goat), barbacoa, and a non-meat option, nopales (cactus).

I ordered four asada tacos which came with a chili pepper and two different kinds of hot sauce.  The four tacos set me back a little over seven bucks and five minutes.

There is room to sit down and eat at Taqueria San Jose, but I took my tightly wrapped foil of tacos back to work with me.

After breaking open the still steaming foil, I poured a little bit of the red hot sauce on all four tacos.

I hate to overstate things here, but the tacos from Taqueria San Jose are probably the best tacos I have ever put in my mouth.  Everything about them is fresh from the tortillas to the hot sauce.  The steak is super tender and juicy,  I had no problem biting though the large portion of cut up cubes of steak in every tortilla.

Taqueria San Jose is awfully close to where I work in downtown Grand Rapids and after the meal I had last night, there is no reason for me to ever go back to Taco Bell.  Taqueria San Jose is a fantastic family run taqueria.  The fresh, home made food is delicious and it by no means breaks the bank.

Four Asada Tacos

Asada Tacos w/Hot Sauce