What are the best Mexican restaurants in West Allis?

Carnitas De Rafa on West Lincoln Avenue, Chucho's Red Tacos on West National Avenue, La Salsa 2 on West Greenfield Avenue and Romero's Taco Truck on West Rogers Street are the four Mexican kitchens in this guide. Lola's Empanadas on West National Avenue is a Latin empanada stop nearby.

Where can I get birria in West Allis?

Chucho's Red Tacos serves beef and chicken birria tacos, quesadillas and ramen birria, and Romero's Taco Truck lists quesabirria tacos and birria ramen. Check each one's hours before going.

Is Carnitas De Rafa open during the week?

Its own description says it serves Friday, Saturday and Sunday and stays closed Monday through Thursday.

Which Mexican restaurant is closest to the Wisconsin State Fair?

Of the Mexican kitchens in this guide, La Salsa 2 Restaurant, at 8129 W. Greenfield Ave., is closest, about 0.3 miles from Wisconsin State Fair Park.

Mexican Restaurants in West Allis WI: Birria, Carnitas

Q: Is Romero's a restaurant or a truck in West Allis?

The West Allis stop is a taco truck on West Rogers Street. OnMilwaukee reported in December 2022 that the family was opening a sit-down restaurant at 4171 S. 76th St. in Greenfield.

Five stops from a weekend-only carnitas counter to birria at a brewery, with reviewer tips and a short history of the food.

Birria at a brewery, a taco truck on West Rogers Street and a carnitas counter that opens on weekends alone: that is the short version of Mexican restaurants in West Allis. The five stops in this guide run from West Lincoln Avenue to West Greenfield Avenue, and they range from a sit-down dining room to a truck window. Plan the rest of the day with the more to do in West Allis.

Carnitas De Rafa: weekends only, tortillas by hand

Carnitas De Rafa Restaurante, at 7032 W. Lincoln Ave., serves its traditional dishes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and the restaurant's own description says it stays closed Monday through Thursday. Plan a weekend morning, not a Tuesday lunch.

Carnitas De Rafa Restaurante

The kitchen makes carnitas with handmade tortillas, green salsa and consomé con carne.

One reviewer ordered exactly that combination and said the tortillas reminded them of Mexico, while another called it their new favorite Mexican restaurant after one visit.

One reviewer praised the Palomas, and Google lists beer as served.

Google lists free street parking, a wheelchair-accessible entrance, parking and restroom, and takeout alongside dine-in, and it marks the room as good for children. Reviewers name servers who made suggestions to newcomers, so ask what is running before you order.

Chucho's Red Tacos: birria at the brewery

Chucho's Red Tacos works out of the same address as OPE! Brewing Co. at 6751 W. National Ave., where the brewery says rotating food trucks, often serving tacos, set up. If you want birria, this is the stop, about 1 mile from Wisconsin State Fair Park.

Chucho’s Red Tacos

Birria is a chili-forward stew from Jalisco, and OnMilwaukee reported in August 2024 that Chucho's launched with shredded beef and chicken birria as tacos, quesitacos and mulitas.

The business began as a truck in September 2020 at a paint bar and banquet hall on South 6th Street in Milwaukee, and the owner recommended the birria plate to newcomers: rice, frijoles, four corn tortillas, onions, cilantro and salsa.

The West Allis menu adds pastor tacos, birria quesadillas, burritos, birria ramen and sweet potato fries.

Birria can be made with goat, and beef, lamb or chicken versions are common; the broth comes alongside for dipping. A 2021 Radio Milwaukee story said the trend had reached the city with a vengeance, with Chucho's already one of the names it cited.

Reviews run hot and cold. One reviewer said they had been searching for great Mexican food since leaving California and that the red taco plate with beef and chicken birria delivered, and others like the pastor tacos and the loaded burrito. Another reviewer said every meat was gone by 7:30 p.m. and two quesadillas took more than 40 minutes, and a third was unhappy with a loaded fries order. Go earlier in the evening than you think you need to.

Google lists dinner-hour opening for weekdays and takeout, a free lot and free street parking, and no wheelchair-accessible entrance, so check before you bring anyone who needs one. The brewery side of the visit, including the volleyball courts, is covered in the bars in West Allis.

Romero's Taco Truck: a weekday lunch on West Rogers Street

Romero’s Taco Truck is a truck, not a dining room, parked on West Rogers Street at 10840 W. Rogers St., about 1.9 miles west of Wisconsin State Fair Park. Google lists it open Monday through Friday and closed on weekends, so it is a workday lunch stop.

Romero’s Taco Truck West Allis Wi

The menu runs to quesabirria tacos, birria ramen, a quesadilla pizza, asada and al pastor tacos with salsa verde, burritos and catering trays.

One reviewer paid just over $5 for an asada taco and an al pastor taco and called the steak well seasoned, while another called the quesadilla pizza a 9 out of 10 and suggested ordering it with company because the portion is large.

Google lists a free lot and free street parking, takeout, and the stop as good for groups and children.

The Romero family started their first taco truck in 2020, and OnMilwaukee counted five trucks by December 2022, three of them on regular routes in New Berlin, West Allis and Wauwatosa. Milwaukee Record reported that the family comes from the State of Mexico near Toluca and uses slow-roasted beef for its birria rather than goat.

OnMilwaukee reported in December 2022 that the family was opening a sit-down restaurant at 4171 S. 76th St. in Greenfield. One reviewer called a sit-down Romero's bright and clean and ordered the birria ramen.

La Salsa 2: a sit-down room near State Fair Park

La Salsa 2 Restaurant, at 8129 W. Greenfield Ave., is the sit-down option, about 0.3 miles from Wisconsin State Fair Park. It says it is open daily for dine-in.

La Salsa 2 Restaurant- West Allis

The kitchen lists trio fajitas, steak tacos with cilantro and cheese, chimichangas, burritos and a nacho supreme, with margaritas and daiquiris from a small inside bar.

One reviewer said they and their spouse always plan to order something new and end up with the trio fajitas again.

Another reviewer said the restaurant moved into the former Señor Sol's space near the fairgrounds and is one of the few nearby with Mexican breakfast options such as chilaquiles.

A Friday-evening reviewer arrived around 6 p.m. with the family, found no wait and plenty of seats, and liked the steak tacos, though they thought the chips and salsa were fine rather than special. Google lists free lot parking, outdoor seating, a children's menu, and a wheelchair-accessible entrance, parking, seating and restroom. On a fair day, treat it as a pre-fair meal and read the Wisconsin State Fair notes on parking before you go.

Lola's Empanadas: a Latin kitchen on National Avenue

Lola’s Empanadas, at 6207 W. National Ave., is not tacos and salsa, but it belongs in any Latin food crawl: baked empanadas, hot, in savory and sweet fillings. It sits about 0.2 miles from the farmers market and about 0.4 miles from Chucho's.

Lola's Empanadas

The fillings include pulled pork and cheese, ground beef with bell peppers and hard-boiled egg, chicken and cheddar, and guava paste with cream cheese.

OnMilwaukee reported in 2022 that the truck is named for owner Citlali Mendieta-Ramos's grandmother Lola, who raised five children selling dinners at a market in Zimapan, Hidalgo, Mexico.

The same 2022 article said the couple also ran Antigua Latin Inspired Kitchen at this address and that one savory empanada uses an Argentinian recipe.

Reviewers say the empanadas arrive hot and a good size, with one preferring the beef with bell peppers and onions and others singling out the guava. One couple served them as late-night wedding food and said everyone raved. Google shows the dining hours as evenings, closed Mondays, so this is an after-work stop.

How this food reached West Allis

The story starts just east of West Allis, in Milwaukee. WUWM reported that the earliest Mexican community, known as Los Primeros, arrived in the early 1920s to work in industrial jobs, and that some of those residents opened the first Mexican grocery stores, with small restaurants inside. The first, opened in 1925 at Fifth Street and Florida Avenue.

PBS Wisconsin put the community at under 50 people in 1910, more than 3,000 by 1927 and as many as 7,000 by 1930, before the Depression and forced repatriation cut it to about 1,500 by 1933. A second wave arrived in the 1940s and 1950s, when places like Luna's Texas Restaurant on South 5th Street took off.

West Allis itself grew around the Allis-Chalmers plant, which led to the village's incorporation in 1902, and it became a city in 1906. The 2020 census counted 60,325 residents, and 16.9 percent, or 10,211 people, identified as Hispanic or Latino.

The map keeps changing. Milwaukee Record reported that Ventura's Taco, a Milwaukee truck with a Bay View restaurant, planned to open at 5823 W. Burnham St., the former home of La Costeña Cafe, on March 23, 2025; we could not confirm that it did. Las Cazuelas, serving chilaquiles and tacos, was covered as newly opened by FOX6 in November 2024; we could not confirm it is still open. Check current status before you head to either.

Which one to pick

Pick Carnitas De Rafa for a weekend breakfast, Chucho's for birria with a beer next door, Romero's for a weekday lunch from a truck, La Salsa 2 for a table, a margarita and a pre-fair meal, and Lola's for a hot empanada or a guava one for the road. None of the hours, prices or menus here are guaranteed, so check each place before you drive over, and see the wider spread in West Allis restaurants for everything else.

Birria beside a brewery, tacos on Rogers Street and carnitas on Lincoln: the best of Mexican restaurants in West Allis is spread across a few miles and a week's worth of schedules.