La Taq

This place is awesome. I love the food, innovative drinks, and the staff are incredible. I would come here every Wednesday (hint, hint) when every other restaurant in Portland is closed if you were open!!! I feel like I have to rate it three stars though because the hours suck. How can you pay rent for 168 hours of the week and then only be open for 20 of those hours!!!!!! It doesn't pencil! And it makes it hard for me to make it there. Also, please don't just be a Portland sucker and close at 10. Stay open til 11! I can barely get to the bar by 9, which makes 10 impossible. Last thing....you have seating. Change your license and allow kids. You're not open bar hours, you're open restaurant hours. I'd be here a lot feeding my kids queso and drinking margaritas.

This has been mine and my husbands favorite taco spot for over 6 years. Before the pandemic, this was our go-to spot for date night. The food and drinks are INSANELY good. We have tried so many other places in Portland and no where can compare. My personal favorite is the queso and chips and Al Pastor taco… I can’t even describe how yummy they are ahhhhh. We moved away in 2018 and came back in 2020. We were so sad (my heart was CRUSHED) to see La Taq was permanently closed but I drove by one time maybe 6 months ago and saw LA TAQ WAS OPEN!! I literally about cried I was so excited. We finally made it over here tonight and it’s just like how we remembered it. So so so good. And we will be back. Thank you for opening again 🥹🙏🏻

This is a quaint place that is super casual and relaxed. When you walk in you seat your self and will find water and menus already waiting for you on your table. Grab a table and check out the La Taq menu. We wanted to order a cheese dip but couldn’t choose between the green Chile queso or the fundido. Our server told us the difference (queso like Tostitos salsa con queso/velveta cheese) we went for the fundido, it was really spicy and I like spicy stuff. It basically was melted gooey cheese and peppers. Not too much flavor and I was sweating lol. The tortillas that it came with were really good but we ran out of them fast. I wouldn’t get it again. Probably go for the cheaper option of the green chile queso. We did get chips and salsa, the salsa was really good. I preferred the red salsa but the green was good too. Lots of flavor and heat! I ordered the tacos: rojas poblanos (veggie) and shrimp taco. The veggie taco was alright, really Tex mex and true to the flavors but the shrimp taco was AMAZING. If you like shrimp but are hesitant about it being fried, it’s surprisingly really good. Great flavors. Friend ordered enchiladas and somehow got the combination plate... the combination plate has a lot going on and was HUGE. my friend barely ate it. Anyways great place for tacos and finger food! And the service was great!

Sheesh, I’m so bummed. La Taq has been one of our favorite spots in PDX since they opened, and we’ve tried most if not all of the best taquerias in town. I can’t remember the last time I wrote a review, probably because I don’t think the PDX service industry in general really cares anymore, but here goes in hopes La Taq cares and wants to stay in business: Apps: - Chips typically were the best in town, house made, warm, light & crispy, the right amount of grease, a reason to show up all on their own. Tonight they were cold, overcooked, under salted. - Guac, avocado base tasted good and fresh but otherwise bland, needed salt and some heat from peppers/jalepeño/serrano, plus cilantro. - Queso was good but not warm - Salsa was tasty and good layers of spice Entrees/tacos: - the brisket taco is usually my fave and one of the best in town. Tonight it was different, fat not rendered like the brisket didn’t spend enough time in the smoker - but somehow dried out and not moist either. In addition there was dry spice garnish that I didn’t recognize but was very bitter. - Poblano taco was overcooked, no texture/snap left in the poblanos - Al pastor was tragic, like stew, so soupy it broke through the tortilla. It definitely isn’t cooked on a trampo to give it those crispy edges, it’s likely braised but not for long enough. Drinks: - Margs were good not great. The salt was caked on so thick around the rim that another bartending grabbed the glasses from our bartender and tapped to reduce the salt rim by at least half. I thought these used to be fresh squeezed, but maybe mistaken. Everything was pre-mixed this time and a little too sweet, not enough citrus.

I live in the neighbor and have been a raving fan of La Taq for quite a while. The tacos are undoubtably amazing, but after last night's visit and the horrendously obnoxious and rude behavior of the server, I will not, in good conscience, ever return. From the moment I asked the simple question: Is there table service outside (because some evenings there isn't) and the server's obnoxious reply - "That's why there are tables there..." to then be left waiting for 20 mins and the blatantly up-charging us for drinks we didn't order - I now don't even trust that they didn't cheat us on our bill - the server made it that unpleasant of a dining experience. Fortunately, this is Portland, and there are an abundance of great food choices and taco places close by, and with servers who don't make patronizing their restaurant an unpleasant experience. Sincerly - Your neighbor.

This is my second time coming in and will be the last. both times i’ve been here the service has been unnecessarily slow for no reason. the bartender/servers have no regard or urgency to run drinks or check up on you. the first time i came here, the server ended forgetting my second drink all together but the food was great so i ended up tipping over 20%. my mistake because our second time here, the service was even worse. we waited a very long time for our drinks and order to be taken all while our drinks sat at the bar to be ran. i wanted to walk up to the bar myself to grab them all while the bartender and server were just standing there doing god knows what. same issue when i got a refill on my drink. they weren’t even busy. although the food is good, it’s not enough for me to come back or to tip, and i should’ve not even tip but still left something small.