Birrieria Riveras Ocotolan

THE BIRRIA is so good. I have eaten here more than 5 times and they never disappoint. The consome is also very good. I love that the salsa is really spicy and they have chiles de arbol in a little bowl as well. SO good !

My wife’s favorite birria place. Excellent tacos de cabeza, birria is hit and miss, but it is good most time. I grew up on in South Chicago and have been going to Birrieria Ocotlan on 87^th for a long time. Now that I live in the west suburbs, this spot is closer to me.

An authentic food spot with authentic style. Straight from a small restaurant in Mexico’s food district.
The tacos de lengua (beef tongue) are one of the best in the city. But these guys are known for their Birria.
El consome, is a must. Soup style broth from the Birria. (Goat meat).
Tacos de barbacoa (goat sliced) are superb.
Smack in the middle of the Mexican District, Little Village. This is true authentic style if you ever looked for one. Perfect

Not a stranger to biria.
This place is the family’s place for birria and I have been here a few times over the years.
Many years ago it was a small place with only a few tables and it was almost impossible to get a table on the weekends. We never had a problem tough. did I mention that it is my fams fav place? they know a few of the waitresses by name and vice versa.
Some things have changed but some have stayed the same. They moved to a bigger location, the service is as good as always. They have an extra room, that they will open if needed, the food is, as always, very good. The new place is not as dark or dive-​y as before, the prices seem to have stayed the same as if inflation was no factor for them.
They give you lemons and not limes now, can’t blame them for that, have you notices limes’ prices lately, LOL.
If you are a birria aficionado, you have to try this place.
Good birria, good prices, good service
PS hate the tables

Came here with my brother and ordered the birria soup. The flavor is amazing and it def hits the spot! I added lime for zest and also ordered an additional birria taco. Try it out! I gave it 4 out of 5 bc the housekeeping could have been a little bit better (sweeping mopping flrs). But then again it is winter right?

For those that don’t know what birria is, it’s a goat soup. The goat is very much like a shredded beef in texture in a broth. Very tasty.
When in Chicago, I go with my buddy to this place. He lived in Mexico City for a long time and this is the best place that he’s been to (including in Mexico City).
The recipe is a closely held secret that the owner has. He brings the broth into the restaurant in the morning and no one else that works there is privy to the secret recipe.
The place has been growing due to it’s growing popularity. If you come in on the weekend, during brunch time, you are going to be waiting in line. But it’s well worth it.

I walked into Ocotlan about 6 months ago. Since then they have moved to next door I believe. Anyways, I walked in with my mom and it was packed so I thought we’d try something else, but the lady said there was room upstairs. I thought «sweet» theres even an upstairs? Well, we go upstairs and enter into someones kitchen and then into a dining/​living room that was setup with plastic chairs and tables. I felt SO uncomfortable and I really couldn’t believe they had this setup just to make extra room and receive extra customers. Maybe I should be grateful that they had this, but really I believe they should’ve just made us wait downstairs and if there was no room we’d just come back another day.
This was my biggest complaint I had about Ocotlan. But there was something else. I ordered goat meat tacos and they were SO good. BUT, I like sour cream on all my tacos and it may not be the way a Mexican is «supposed» to eat goat meat, but its the way I like my tacos. So when I asked for sour cream the lady said they had no sour cream! I mean how do you have a restaurant and do not carry any sour cream in the fridge? And if you don’t have any don’t you just go buy some from the store next door for a customer?
Regardless, of all my complaints and the awkward feelings I had eating at Ocotlan, the meat is DAMN GOOD. If you want to try some good goat meat this is one of the top places in chicago. The meat was very well seasoned and prepared. I judge a lot of meat by the amount of fat I am served and I think i only had a little piece of fat in mine all the rest was just good pure meat. But i will never go back in there again unless they have actually moved to a more comfortable place and if not I will probably just order my meat to go. Its a shame that I feel that so high about a cozy or comfortable environment to eat my food because for this reason my score for this restaurant drops 2 stars.

maybe i just love all goat consommé but i haven’t had a bad experience yet.
this place was incredible. the goat was less crispy than zaragoza or la barca but i liked it this way too. the consommé had a nice tomato base which worked really well with the roasted pepper salsa.
it was a cool place too and it was packed for lunch on a monday. that’s always a good sign for a local restaurant.
(there is a review on Unilocal with Birrieria Riveras Ocotolan as the name.)

Delicious birria, especially when you order it in consome.
Horrible service!