La Huasteca Restaurant

This place is a gem. Tucked into a plaza on Eat Street, La Huasteca is a small family-​run joint that serves up simple but supremely satisfying Mexican fare. The goat, in particular, is not to be missed (whether as part of a platillo, in the birria, or in a taco). Vapor-​steamed cabeza and lengua tacos are very good as well. If you’re in a gluttonous mood, try their choco-​flan (flan sitting on a layer of chocolate cake). The service can be a little bit haphazard in the sense that they sometimes forget to bring items of minor importance that you may ask for (glass of water, etc.), but the owners are very friendly and more than make up for it. During one visit they mistakenly gave me more tacos than I asked for (which I duly finished, of course) and wouldn’t take my money after I pointed it out. If your idea of Mexican cuisine is confined to the Americanized food you get up the street at Pancho Villa, then you’ll have to adjust a bit, but it’s worth it. There’s nothing like this place in the Twin Cities.

Came w parents for quick bite. Food was really good and complexly flavored sauces came w everything. Got our food pretty quickly, although our order came out piecemeal as each item was cooked, and we ended up short an order that they then put into the kitchen as everyone else’s meals were up. Lamb tacos were the best, so good and not at all gamey. No frills seat yourself atmosphere. The bathroom was unisex and a thing of horrors, truly not with going into unless you are desperate, hence the missing star. The delicious cheap
authentic food makes it worth the trip anyway.

Jose, the owner, is a wizard with goat, sheep and any other delicious meat you can throw in a tortilla. The hospitality at this ‘ma and ‘pa joint is superb and the food is even better. Also, it’s sooo inexpensive.

First off, until Unilocal starts letting us review in half stars, I round up. So it’s really 4.5. Not for the ambiance, location, etc., just for the food. This isn’t Michelin, and I’m not reviewing like it is. This is about the food, the service and experience.
As others have said, really in a tucked away location off of Nicollet on a side mall, so it’s easy to miss. However, it’s also definitely worth seeking out.
As an out of towner here on business, this was exceptional Mexican at a very good price and large portions. I am partial to Carne Asada, so I got tacos and a burrito. The burrito was HUGE (and I’ve had some really big burritos). It’s a good thing my hotel room had a fridge because it was definitely left-​overs. As it seemed that I couldn’t pass up trying their specialty, I also had Goat and Lamb tacos. I was going to try Al Pastor, but they had run out. All of the food was outstanding.
Since I got all of this To-​Go, if I had 1 suggestion for others, it would be ‘ask for more red and green salsas’. Also, it’s very easy to overlook everything they offer if you only look at the menu board. Go to the register and get a menu, as it is much more extensive. I will definitely be paying them another visit on my next trip to Minneapolis.

Ordered goat taco, 2 chorizo tacos, and chicken tamale… like everyone else on here, I advocate for the goat taco because it is simply delicious and will defy your establishment driven palate… the texture can be described as tender and similar to pulled chicken/​pork with the flavor profile of beef brisket (but with lamb undertones, could not distinguish it from other forms of slow braised meat) or slow braised chicken breast… for sure not as gamey as lamb or wild boar, trust me when I say it’s just not a protein that the American establishment wants to push to your plate or to go box… its just plain good eats… the chorizo was great, depth is key here with the spice mixture into the sausage, not sure if it was homemade chorizo due to marissas market across the parking lot, but solid nonetheless. all tacos come with 2 fresh corn tortillas, fine diced onion and chopped cilantro with nice verde salsa on the side. tamale was huge, moist, with chicken cooked in verde salsa, steamed in green corn husks, super…9 bucks for 3 tacos and a huge tamale… on my list

Stop what you’re doing and go eat the goat and lamb tacos. NOW. And pay under $ 5 and talk to the really nice staff. Didn’t expect to be re-​living the Texas-​level of taco greatness from my recent trip but these were amazing.

This place is so good. You absolutely get your money’s worth, and it’s just delicious. The place is simple and small, but we’ve only eaten in and there’s always been room.
You have to try the lamb and goat. It’s for sure their specialty and it they nailed it. It’s so good.

Get the Thursday special. It was tamales served with sides of black beans and rice.
Service was great, food was decent (more authentic) cost was high for a special.
I will try again.

Ordered the Platillo with Goat (to go); meat was very tender and flavorful. Unfortunately the corn tortillas were so old and dried out that the edges were crunchy, they didn’t give me any salsa, and the cockroach by my foot was a bit disconcerting.

Simply the best goat tacos in Minneapolis. So lovely to find some real food. These are real mexican tacos, not froo frooed up with yellow cheese and lettuce and so on, not tacos re-​imagined by hipsters for the local taste – in a word; authentico. I feel like I’m in LA or Mexico until I walk out of here into a frozen wasteland. This place is a treasure and you would be a fool not to eat here as much as possible. The cook puts love into this food and it shows.

As damn near true regional Mexican food as I’ve had anywhere outside of Mexico. In fact, I’ve not had lamb tacos anywhere in Mexico in the 5 or so months-​long trips I’ve taken throughout central and northern Mexico, so that was a wonderful first for me.
The first time I went I had a variety of tacos — a meat focused way to sample the meat. The lamb was soft, tender and slow cooked and came in sizable pieces. The owner is a master of the art of meat (I’m thinking about quitting my job, do you think he will take me on as a lowly apprentice?). The goat was also very tender, with a sophisticated marinade and spice formula. I’ve gone back since and sampled the Birria (stew) and I was very impressed.
Overall, this is close to what is thought of as a Birria restaurant (Birrieria) in places with higher concentrations Mexican and Mexican-​American folks. In fact, it’s advertised as such on the window. These are common in Los Angeles, San Francisco and recently in Chicago, as well. Birria (served both wet and dry) is a delicacy of a feast and for many is the high point of the country cooking of central western Mexico– although it is popular all over. There’s an intersection of 9(!) streets in Guadalajara that is a remnant of the colonial-​period that is often thought of as a the epicenter of this food. There diners have their pick of 5 different and competing Birria restaurants to enjoy the dish on the open patio while listening to live mariachi bands playing in the square at the center of the intersection. I love this dish so much that I’ve traveled there just for a taste and I even made it the food served at my wedding. The guests stuffed themselves with abandon. We are very lucky to have this in Minnesota.
I also had the dori-​locos — a popular street food in parks and at public markets in Mexico. These were pungent — with a mixture of hot sauce and tart fruit — and next time I’d probably take home an order and pair it with a lager (actually just writing this is making me crave it and I thinkI might do this tonight…). What I really loved about the way Huasteca makes this is that the co-​owner (wife of the meat-​master, I believe) lovingly loads this up with fresh mango and jicama — so although this may seem like «junk food» it is really quite healthy. Along with the chicarron preparado, these are very unique items to have on a restaurant menu in the U.S. and I would highly recommend them for anyone looking for an adventure.

Went here about a week ago. While a little light on ambiance, the owner/​manager and other staff could absolutely not be any nicer. Worth the visit alone!
I’ll preface this by saying we ended up not ordering either lamb or goat based entrees (which is kind of like going to Manny’s and not ordering a steak) so did not sample from their specialty.
I ordered the chicken tinga burrito, which was served with a side of green and a red salsa. It was very tasty and satisfying, but suffered from a bit of «sameness.» The chicken/​cheese/​beans/​rice contents ended up being similar enough in taste that every bite tasted exactly the same. I’d certainly go back for it – comfort food!
My wife is a vegetarian and there were very limited options – basically either a cheese or a bean gordita. She ordered the cheese gordita was basically a soft cheese and some lettuce on the gordita. The first couple of bites were good, but was quite bland and heavy. She added a side of refried beans, which helped a bit. I’d definitely recommend that they consider adding a vegetarian entrée that would be worth getting excited about. I’m sure they can do it.
Back to the staff. The manager (owner?) was really engaging, making recommendations and offering tips. When he heard my wife was a vegetarian, he said, «Oh you are into healthy eating, you must try this!» and gave her a sample of the hibiscus tea they make on site. It was so good that she ordered some. She asked some questions about how they made it and where they get the ingredients and he went into great detail. He even suggested she try making some at home and later came over with a small container of dried hibiscus for her to use – a really nice touch.
To sum up: ambiance — ok; staff — wonderful; food — quite good if you aren’t a vegetarian. I’ll be back to try one of their lamb dishes soon.

TL; DR:
THE place in the twin cities to have mexican style goat and lamb.
Cheap, huge portions, yet great taste. Definitely bang for the buck.
Most authentic Mexican joint in the twin cities I’ve been to.
Being an Indian, goat meat is THE thing for me, and I’ve been a fan of Birria and goat tacos after having it for the first time at the Pilsen neighborhood in Chicago (this place:
to be exact). Found La Huasteca from a random google search, and boy, it didn’t disappoint me.
Went there with two friends on a friday evening. We ordered Dori-​locos, pork and chicken tamales for appetizers. The sauce on top of Dori-​locos perfectly compliments the tanginess of mangoes. The tamales were comforting, fresh and flavorful. We had goat barbacoa and lamb birria for the main course which came with rice, refried beans, tortillas. and two delicious, delicious hot sauces. The portions were huge and enough to feed the 3 of us. The goat has a subtle charred barbecue flavor, while the lamb was soft and had a direct kick very characteristic of slow-​cooked birria.
The staff were super friendly, and repeatedly asked how the food was. I’d definitely go back there. 5 stars!

I heard about La Hausteca on the Food Network so I tried it out this weekend. It was very authentic Mexican and very good. I had a steak taco, lamb taco and pork taco and they were all filled with very well seasoned, tasty meats! The tortillas were good too.
I will definitely be back, especially since I’m always near the Eat Street area anyways!

I just shot this place for a show on the cooking channel and it rocks! My favorite tacos in Minneapolis and that includes Andale Taqueria. The goat and lamb tacos are their specialty but the el pastor are also fantastic. The owner is a great guy, they have only been around a year so make this your go to spot before they get super busy!

La Huasteca is a hole-​in-​the-​wall restaurant in a side mall, yet it has one of the most varied and interesting menus of any Mexican eateries. Delicious food prepared by the owner and enthusiastically served by her husband, for the most part.
I’m only giving this place four stars because wait times can be long when it gets busy, but the food itself rates five stars. They specialize in lamb and goat. Speaking Spanish would help you choose from the extensive choices.

For the love of baby Jesus. Go here. This place specializes in goat and lamb tacos so you know I had to try them and take my boo along. It’s set in one of the complexes smack in the middle of 27^th and 28^th. They have a parking lot, but with karaōke going on at the neighboring restaurants it fills up fast.
My boo and I got one each of the goat and lamb and boy did I want to stuff my face. Ya’ll know I love tacos and the sauce on these was fabulous. Both were tender and had their own unique sauces. The lamb tasted similar done to a typical pork barbacoa and the goat had a mild spicy red sauce. It also comes with an optional sauce with chills that is spicy but delicious. There are some bones in the goat taco but not enough where it takes away from the food.
There are a lot of stew, platos and soup options with the goat and lamb from $ 8 – 11, but the tacos are $ 2. If you want to be boring and go with pollo or barbacoa, tacos are $ 1.25. But who wants boring really, besides Dwight from The Office. I can’t wait to go back here for a large dinner. It’s going to be awesome!

What a fantastic place to eat! The staff are very friendly and the food is very good. We ordered the steak and chicken tacos, pork tamales and the barbacoa burritos. We went up for another order of each! Needless to say we will be back.

My second favorite hole in the wall Mexican place. Tough to find as it is on the South side of the building next to the parking lot. A nice guy ran the front, and service was good. I got Tripa and Lengua tacos, they had good flavor and texture. Often Tripa is too crispy, it was perfect today. Sides of two salsas were very good. Great value.

Mexican comfort food done well and cheap. La Huasteca has the same setup as My Huong Kitchen: you have to head around the corner of the building to the side where there’s a mini-​strip mall along a parking lot and head a little ways back along a narrow sidewalk past a storefront or two where you weren’t expecting a restaurant to be hiding in the shadows. But this is Eat Street we’re talking about and now that everything facing Nicollet is occupied you have to stray a bit to open another restaurant or dine at someplace new.
With the ongoing construction at Marissa’s and having had a bad experience at El Nuevo Mariachi (how do you screw up a burrito and charge $ 9 for it?) there’s been a dearth good cheap Mexican around these parts and yes, there’s Pancho Villa’s, but it’s very Americanized and expensive for what it offers. La Huasteca is a bare bones joint, the staff speaks enough English to make ordering easy: just be sure to open the door slowly, as the heavy «open» sign will clang against the glass.
It’s all about tacos and tamales here. The tamales are as big as your head and $ 3, but most importantly they are not dry and they’re flavorful. Heads up to adherents of certain Abrahamic supernatural belief systems: my chicken tamale was without a doubt filled with tender pork. The goat tacos are $ 2 each, delish, and come topped with a bright red sauce. I have to give the edge to the steak tacos though which came with an orange sauce that I ended up dumping all over my tamale too: great stuff. Funny thing is, common items like steak tacos and horchata are not on the menu, so you have to ask for them unlike the steamed head and cheek tacos which are prominently given an entire corner. Oh, and there are dollar tacos. Yes, I said «dollar tacos», among which includes scrambled egg and salsa or chorizo and potatoes. It’s going to be hard not to make repeat visits here.