El Zarape
103 S. Nicolet StreetI know it’s not my money when I’m on Mackinac Island for work but it still kind of feels wasteful to eat dinner on the Island before heading back to my hotel in the City. There’s nothing that really jumps out as someplace I have to try and it all just seems a little expensive for a meal that’s not always filling.
My third night on this trip, I headed back on the 6:00 ferry and got back to my hotel around 6:45. It was still pretty early and there was a taco place I saw while driving around when I got to town Monday night. I like tacos…like, a lot…so Wednesday night was going to be taco night.
The new taco place is El Zarape. It’s on Nicolet Street south of Central Avenue near downtown Mackinaw City. This new Mexican joint took over the building that had been built for and occupied by a Burger King. The restaurant is pretty new. It wasn’t there when I was in Mackinaw City this time last year. Just going back through their Facebook photos it looks like it opened in October of 2023. There’s not much signage on the building itself, but there is a large sign near the road so you know you’re at the right place.
The restaurant is a counter service taco spot. They do have online ordering but I saw pictures online showing this as walk up service so I just went to the restaurant to order. I figured it would probably be quicker and I was hungry, tired, and ready for bed…but still had five more hours of work to get through.
The menu is typical Mexican restaurant fare. I looked at the price for tacos and immediately asked, how many comes with that? The guy working the counter told me tacos are $4.50 each. That seems pretty high for tacos but I was there and now in the mood for tacos so I only ordered three instead of the usual five I typically do. I also added on an order of fries which brought the total for dinner to just over $21.
I got steak tacos which come with just steak on them. The cool thing about El Zarape is their taco bar. You can customize what you want on them. You don’t have to choose “Mexican style” or “American style” when you order.
I stuck to Mexican style and added on cilantro and onion plus a little bit of the Salsa Ranchera which came with a little bit of heat.
Since this is an old Burger King, there is a pretty large dine-in area but I chose to grab my food and head back to my hotel room to eat..
I actually started with the fries when I got back to my room. They were kind of limp frozen French fries with some seasoning salt on them. They were a little spicy but for the most part, just a filler. They made up for the two fewer tacos I wasn’t able to order and made sure I didn’t go to bed hungry.
The tacos were pretty standard steak tacos that were loaded with tender, delicious steak bites. I had loaded up the cilantro, onion, and salsa so there were a lot of flavors going on in each bite. I was really in the mood for tacos after seeing this place while driving around a couple nights earlier and that craving was satisfied.
El Zarape has some unique things going for them. The taco bar where you top the tacos yourself is a pretty unique idea I haven’t seen at any taco stand before. The price of the tacos was a little off putting at first…typically, these kinds of tacos are in the $3 range but you can make up the price if you really load on the cheese/veggies/guac/etc.
I like having another option in Mackinaw City. I always stay off the island so it can sometimes get a little repetitive eating burgers every night. El Zarape offers something different.
SW Michigan Dining 