Birreria Reyes de Ocotlan

Cheap, authentic Mexican food. I hate when friends say «let’s go get Mexican food… at Big Star.» Sorry, no. The lengua and cabeza tacos here are probably the best I’ve found in Chicago (send me recs if you have other places). But of course, the star here is the birria. I love birria and am glad they have it all day, every day and not just on weekends. I’ve already been multiple times and will be a regular. If only I lived closer to Pilsen!

I love this place! Small restaurant/​menu offering the most quality birria in chicago. If you order birria de res/​chivo and need a little extra juice just ask for some. Great lemonade as well. Service is great.

DO NOT GET THE TACOS. Get the BIRRIA (goat platter)!
Now, dont get me wrong. The tacos are tasty. We had the cabeza, lengua, goat, and goat liver tacos — all were delicious except the liver, which tasted a bit like cardboard.
But the birrrria. Wow. It is luxurious and flavorful, with well spiced and moist bites of meat. Bright cilantro contrasts the spicy yet thin and healthy broth. It is better than phở, and — sorry, Chinese ancestors– I might even prefer this to chinese beef noodle soup. It the stuff of dreams.
So yes– don’t get the tacos. Just get the goat platter (aka, the birria stew).

It wasn’t great. There’s a cheaper one closer to my house. This place does have good goat though. They were definitely generous with the meat when it came to the tacos.
We heard about this place from a book «1001 Places You Should Eat At Before You Die». I think I could have happily died without eating here.
The heartburn when you get home is TERRIBLE.
TL;DR Nothing to write home about. I guess I’ll write a Unilocal review though. Bring tums.

They have amazing goat platter. It comes in a bowl with a soup. Its a small and cash only joint. I will definitely go back again.

Wow simply amazing! Best Birria I’ve ever had. The Goat is really tender with lots of flavor! Service is great! you can ask for more soup and tortillas at no extra charge. Truly one of my favorite spots in the Pilsen neighborhood! OH and is cash only.

We had a disastrous experience here.
But it didn’t have anything to do with the great Birrieria Reyes de Ocotlan or any of its welcoming staff.
No, this one’s all on me. See, I accidentally turned our tiny two-​top into an impromptu bowling lane. With the «pins» set up in front of my wife. Transmogrifying myself into a world-​class doofus for a half-​second too long, I carelessly allowed a bottle of smoky hot salsa to tip over. Not only did it spray my wife’s sweater, but it tipped over her Diet coke into her lap, flipped her taco out of its basket and onto the table, and dumped a bowl of dried chiles onto the floor.
Holy Baby Bejeebus: Horrible, and incredible. You can best believe that she was none too happy. But luckily for me, my wife is a forgiving person!
(Anyway, they say «50 million Elvis fans can’t be wrong.» Don’t know about that. But I say that 4 billion goat-​eaters can’t be wrong. (Although goat isn’t the most-​produced meat on the planet – Western consumption of huge quantities of pork, beef, and chicken makes sure of that – it’s apparently eaten by a larger percentage of the world’s population than any other.) I’d been waiting to get to a birrieria for a long time, and then I went and ruined the experience.)
Our idea had been to do a mid-​day taco/​pupusa crawl on 18^th Street, but I went and spoiled that, too, by being unable to refrain from eating too much food. Ordered goat and cabeza tacos and a cup of goat stew here. Order got lost in translation, and I ended up with an extra taco, and goat consommé instead of stew. I had thought that the $ 2.50 and $ 2.75 prices for the tacos sounded a little high, but they are huge. Nonetheless, I had no self-​control, devoured everything (including the extra taco), and pretty much destroyed my appetite for the rest of our project. Everything was terrific, as just about everybody else here says.
Minor complaints: The huge, succulent, juicy tacos come rolled up in wax paper, and by the time you get through your first one, your second (and third and fourth?) will already be getting soggy. And as I noted above, my order got lost in translation a bit. (That obviously won’t be a problem for Spanish speakers, who are by far the main clientele here.)
But our server was very clear in communicating that the disaster I created at our table wasn’t a big deal, and I was very appreciative for that.

My Mongolian friend recently moved to Chicago, got married and also got pregnant in the same year~~ life goals achieved! So… one of her biggest cravings during pregnancy was goat meat, which is easily found and popularly consumed in her home country.
I’m not familiar with Chicago’s food scene as it was my first time visiting but being a birria lover from early childhood, I knew I could find a place with Mexican style goat soup.
BOOM! Found one in this cute neighborhood not far from downtown Chicago. We immediately took an über and walked right into it. They were doing street and building construction when we visited a few weeks ago so we may have easily missed it if it wasn’t for the OPEN sign.
The Birria was super rich… Lot’s of meat and available in either medium or large bowls. We got two large and shared between three people. They loaded us with warm tortillas and all the sides that you NEED to add to this tasty soup. The service was quick and clean.
Lots of Latino locals frequent here with kids and the like of family and friends. Its more of a hole in the wall-​hidden-​tasty-​gem. Worth the try! And my friend was so happy and satisfied. I am sure she will be going there often now.

Mexican goat soup. If you are a fan goat or lamb chops. You gotta give this place a try. They have some really tender goat meat and some goat soup broth that comes along with it. I’ve been here a few times. The last time I was here the goat soup was overly salted as if salt was on a black Friday sale. Also if you like super spicy they have this habanero pickled onions that will light your behind on fire. This is a nice hole on the wall joint. Think it is cash only too.

Great spot! Real deal mexican. Small menu but what they have they do really well. Out of the way south of downtown but definitely worth the trip. I got birria (goat) cause that’s their specialty, and rightfully so-​delicious. Also got a lengua and a cabeza taco-​both so delicious and tender meat. I could eat those cabeza tacos all day long. Tortillas are great and get the tacos with everything on them (onion cilantro). They were very nice! Cash only.

I already knew I wanted birria. That was the easy part. Chicago’s birria selection vastly outshines New York’s, and probably every other town on the east coast. And as I strolled on my taco crawl, through the taco district (side note, I know it’s Pilsen, but don’t rain on my parade) I saw my destiny.
This is what I’m talking about! Birreria Reyes de Ocotlan is a temple to the taco god. Specifically the birria sect. Totally cool by me. I got the goat, because goat. And it was fantastic. Juicy, messy, flavorful, delicious. Everything I wanted.
But after savoring my taco, the guy behind the counter gave me a free taco that I think was liver. He’d asked if I’d had one before, and I said no. Just like that, free taco. What a country!
To be honest, I felt the liver needed a bunch of birria juice, but I get that there are people who grew up with this that love it as is. I salute them.

Juicy and flavorful. You will get free refills of the soup and can keep going until you are filled. The meat was tender and the tacos fresh. We had a great time, 4 of us ate heartily for under $ 25, and the family was wonderful. Not sure what else you can ask for from a hole in the wall.

Place was disgusting. Floors were grimy and wet. Tables were sticky. I couldn’t order anything and walked off.

I was gifted a rare saturday off and with it being a really gorgeous day, a friend and I decided to walk down to Pilsen and do some picture taking of the various murals and street art.
With us walking a good amount and in need of nourishment, we came upon Birreria Reyes de Ocotlan. I’ve had this bookmarked for trips down to Pilsen and now was the time to finally check it out.
If one were walking down 18^th, this would be a place that you may just pass by and not really notice. Well, quite frankly you’d be missing out on some absolutely amazing mexican food. My friend and I only got a couple of things as we just needed some recharging. I got a beef and goat taco. I also made sure to get a small bowl of the goat stew. These were extremely wise choices by me as the tacos were just utterly killer. There was a ton of flavor to both tacos and it was really hard to decide which one was better. While the tacos were awesome, the stew was amazing. Granted, I did seem to order a bit too much (so I only had half of my stew), but this was subtle and complex. It really was something awesome.
Birreria Reyes de Ocotlan was exactly what the doctor ordered for us. We needed a place to stop by quickly and take a few minutes to recharge. The fact that this was some of the best mexican food I’ve had also helped. Next time I come here, I’ll have to spend more time as this sneak peek was a beautiful tease for what I can imagine that they bring.

Birria or Goat stew is the best hangover cure, cold, flu you name it, head over to this amazing Birreria and you leave feeling like new!

By now you’ve probably gathered this is the place that serves goat tacos and the meat is surprisingly tender. But in terms of flavor, not a whole lot going on.
As we went there on a taco crawl, we of course had a goat taco so my review is limited to that item. Perhaps there are other dishes which fare better than the goat taco but unfortunately, I found it to be just eh.
First off as stated, the meat was kind of bland with no real flavor.
Then there was tortilla which simply fell apart as I was eating it. I expect the tortilla to be hearty enough so that I can get most of the way through before it splits and this was not the case.
Then there were the toppings. Standard cilantro and onion but the hot sauce was well, not very hot. And I am super sensitive to spice and I didn’t even sweat. Pretty mild, perhaps too much so.
Overall an interesting concept (goat tacos) but given the other options in teh area, if you’re looking for tacos, I’d say look elsewhere.

I had the tongue taco and split the goat plate with four other people. The tongue taco was amazingly tender and flavorful. Plus, they will give you a bowl of onions, cilantro, and lime on the side. The hot sauce was pretty great too. I’m very happy with the tongue taco but a little disappointed with the goat plate.
The one pound of goat is meant to be split among 2 – 3 people. I would veer more towards the 3 side but we split it among 5. Though the meat was moist and tender, it didn’t have as much flavor as I wanted. Perhaps it’s just the taste of the goat meat itself. I did, however, enormously enjoyed the horchata. It’s not too sweet and has just the right amount of cinammon.
Also, the wait staff is INCREDIBLY kind and patient. They were really helpful and advised us on what to order when we took a tad too long.
TIP: Cash only!!!

There’s a goat head on the wall. That’s all you really need to know.
I really loved Birreria Reyes de Ocotlan. The food is simple, wonderful, and addictive. Here’s the lowdown:
(1) Portions are large, but they’ll happily wrap things to go. If you make a mistake and order too much you’ll just have to «suffer» through great leftovers.
(2) The homemade salsa is incredible. I didn’t indulge in too much of it this time, since I wanted to focus on the flavors of the food alone. Next time, I’ll take full advantage of this rich, spicy, and unique blend of flavors.
(3) The cabeza tacos are unbelievable. They’re tender, flavorful, and a must-​try item.
(4) Oh yeah, it’s a birreria, right? Lots of goat. Actually, pretty much all goat. And it’s very good.
(5) This is a great place for sharing. Order the large goat plate (basically a large bowl of stewed goat meat in broth) and a few tacos. You will not be disappointed.
(6) If you’re not feeling too hungry then try a bowl of the goat consommé and a taco on the side. On a chilly day, this is a perfect lunch.
Otherwise, just enjoy. The cabeza and goat are the best. I’ve had better tongue elsewhere but still do recommend it. The service is extremely friendly and you won’t go home disappointed if you like to take small chances with your dining options. I’m craving more food from here right now.

This place did not have a lot of atmosphere and looked a little run down but the food was very good. The goat was very tender and flavorful and the tacos are only $ 2.00.
I was disappointed that everything was served as if it was to go. All the tacos came individually wrapped in a basket and they were greasy so it was a little hard to eat. I would definitely eat their food again but I think I will get take out next time.

I love coming to Pilsen since there is so many restaurants and well I freaking love Mexican food!
We did a random trip to the Mexican Museum of Art and figured why not eat lunch in Pilsen too?! Luckily, my Unilocal app suggested I go here to this hidden gem.
Their specialty is goat, goat, and well more goat! We ordered a goat taco, a beef taco and goat face/​head taco. The beef was okay, but the goat and goat head was just to die for! No gamey taste, not dry at all and full of flavor. I do admit the goat head was my fav… so tender that it just melts in your mouth. The tacos are pretty big and three is enough for one person.
They also give you a bowl of pickled spicy onions along with limes. Warning these little pickled spiced onions pack a good amount of heat! Also they’re addicting too… i wonder if they sell it by its self?
The menu also gives you the option for goat stew, consume, and of course buying just the goat meat by the pound. FYI– Cash only here.
Overall, wonderful place to try! Best goat by far!