Taquería Orinoco

What Taquería Orinoco is

Taquería Orinoco is a northern-style taquería with six branches in Mexico City, founded in Monterrey in 2015 and named after the street where the first one opened, Río Orinoco 101 in San Pedro Garza García. It reached the capital in late 2017 and now runs six branches here and three in Monterrey.

The format is the argument. White tile, aluminium, hand-painted signage and a retro fifties look, with a trompo turning in the window and a short menu that has not grown as the chain has. Three proteins and three formats, and that is the whole proposition.

It has become a celebrity stop without becoming a celebrity restaurant. Harry Styles was photographed at the Roma Norte branch on 28 July 2026, before his run of six concerts at the Estadio GNP Seguros, and Mexican press covering it noted that Rosalía and Dua Lipa had eaten there before. In 2022 Adidas gave the taquería its own shoe, a Forum Low in the Adilicious City Series, in the restaurant’s white and red with its upside-down pig logo on the tongue and heel.

Who is behind it

Taquería Orinoco was opened in 2015 by Héctor Alfredo López, Jesús Villarreal and Héctor Álvarez, with the stated intention of reinterpreting the classic tacos of the north inside a deliberately built aesthetic. The retro look, the tiles and the hand-painted lettering were part of the concept from the first branch rather than something added later.

The expansion has been unusually disciplined for a chain that grew this fast. The menu at the Roma Norte branch is the same one the Monterrey original opened with, which is rare and is most of the reason the food holds up across nine locations.

How the menu works

Three proteins, three formats, and a short list of sides. Nothing rotates and there is no seasonal menu.

• The proteins: trompo, the pork cut from the vertical spit and what Monterrey calls al pastor; res, a slice of beef; and chicharrón, the meaty northern pork crackling.
• The sueltos, meaning the single tacos, each dressed differently: trompo with onion, cilantro, corn chips and pineapple at 29 MXN; res with onion, cilantro, avocado and fresh cheese at 47; chicharrón with avocado, pickled red onion, beans and corn chips at 42.
• The costras, 59 MXN each: the same fillings with asadero cheese griddled until it crisps and becomes the shell. The exception is the Orinoco at 75, chicharrón with the house salsa, which the menu itself labels very hot.
• A third choice nobody mentions: every taco and costra comes on a flour tortilla, a corn tortilla or a tostada, and the tostada versions arrive on a bed of beans.
• The especiales, 129 MXN each and 120 grams: large tacos with asadero cheese, crisp corn chips, onion, cilantro and avocado. Each is a fixed protein, so the gringa is trompo, the pirata is beef, the norteña is chicharrón and the campechana is beef and trompo together.
• Sides: papas Orinoco, ten pieces of Galeana potato smashed and fried to the house recipe, plus frijoles charros and orders of avocado, onion or tortillas.
• The salsas sit on the counter and run from mild to hot. They are the reason two people ordering the same taco can have different meals.

What I ate

I went for the trompo in costra form, which is the dish the whole place is arranged around: the cheese goes onto the griddle first, crisps, and the meat goes on top, so the shell holds together in a way a plain taco does not. The papas Orinoco came alongside and are worth ordering for the table rather than per person.

Dessert is where I did not expect to end up. The buñuelo at 69 MXN is a fried flour tortilla with leche quemada from Nuevo León, crushed nuts and banana ice cream, and it is the part of the meal I still think about. There are two other desserts, the Oblea Reyna at 39 and a guava ice pop at 55.

What it costs

Prices below are from the taquería’s own posted menu, which states that they include IVA and that delivery platforms charge more. That warning is worth taking literally: the same trompo taco that is 29 MXN at the counter was listed at 35 on the chain’s delivery site, and the especiales at 129 were listed at 162.

Item	Price
Taco de trompo	29 MXN, about 1.50 USD
Taco de chicharrón	42 MXN
Taco de res	47 MXN
Costra de trompo, de res or de chicharrón	59 MXN, about 3.10 USD
Costra Orinoco, with the hot house salsa	75 MXN
Especiales: gringa, pirata, campechana, norteña	129 MXN each, about 6.80 USD
Papas Orinoco, ten pieces	45 MXN, half order 35
Frijoles charros	39 MXN, especiales with trompo or beef 49
Taco de aguacate or quesadilla	25 MXN each
Buñuelo with banana ice cream	69 MXN
Oblea Reyna	39 MXN · guava ice pop 55
Coca or water	35 MXN · agua fresca by the litre 49 · beer 45

Three trompo tacos, papas and a drink comes to about 167 MXN. Two costras with a side and a drink is close to 198. One especial with a drink is about 164. Call it 150 to 250 a head, which makes Taquería Orinoco cheaper than the reputation suggests and cheaper than almost anything else on that stretch of Álvaro Obregón.

They take cash, Visa, Mastercard and American Express, which is printed on the menu.

Do you need a reservation

No. Taquería Orinoco does not take reservations at any branch. You arrive, you queue if there is a queue, and you order at the counter.

• The queue is real and it is fast. The short menu and the constantly turning trompo mean the line moves at a pace that surprises people who join the back of it.
• To avoid it: go in the early afternoon. Dinner and late night are the peaks, and the Roma Norte branch is the busiest of the six.
• Hours: listings disagree, with some giving an early evening close and others describing it as a late-night stop. Check the branch you want on the day.
• Ordering from home: the chain runs its own ordering site and is also on Rappi.

Getting there

• Roma Norte: Avenida Álvaro Obregón 100, Roma Norte, Cuauhtémoc. Telephone 55 5514 6917. This is the branch in most of the press and the one to expect a queue at.
• Condesa: Avenida Yucatán 3.
• Polanco: Avenida Horacio 400.
• Zona Rosa: Florencia 18.
• Tabacalera: Plaza de la República 117.
• Nápoles: Calle Pensilvania 167-A.
• Public transport to Roma Norte: the Álvaro Obregón stop on Metrobús Line 1 along Insurgentes is about ten minutes on foot, and Insurgentes on Metro Line 1 is a similar walk.
• Driving: street parking on Álvaro Obregón is difficult in the evening. A ride app is simpler, and it is the sensible choice if the taquería is the end of a night rather than the start.

Before you go

• Order the buñuelo. It is the dessert people do not expect from a taquería, and it is better than it needs to be.
• Order a costra at least once. The griddled cheese is the thing that separates this from every other taquería on the street, and ordering only plain tacos misses the point of coming.
• Decide on flour, corn or tostada. It is a real choice on every taco and costra, not an afterthought.
• Work through the salsas. They are laid out to be tried, and the range from mild to hot is wider than it looks.
• The especiales are large. One at 129 MXN is 120 grams and a full meal for most people, so order one and share rather than one each.
• Vegetarians should eat first. The avocado taco and the quesadilla, both 25 MXN, are the only meat-free items, so this is not the place to bring someone who does not eat meat.
• Pair it with the street. The Roma Norte branch sits on the same stretch of Álvaro Obregón as a long run of bars, which is why it works as a late stop.
• Check the hours before you go. The hours on this page come from the venue’s public listings, which drift, so confirm on Google Maps or the venue’s own channels before a special trip.

Watch the visit

The reel above is the short version: the trompo, the three formats and the queue. For the rest of the city, open my map or browse the Mexico City recommendations.