Taqueria Buenavista: A Mexican Food Staple of Southside Milwaukee [REVIEW]

Restaurant Name: Taqueria Buenavista

Restaurant Address: 6000 W Burnham St, Milwaukee, WI 53219

Phone Number: (414) 546-1197

Business Hours: Open Sunday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to midnight.

Price Per Entrée: 5.50-12.50

Attire: Casual

Reservations: No

Payment: Credit Card, Cash

Service: 3

Setting: 2

Food: 4

Value: 4

Overall: 4

Being Mexican and having my family cook some of the best Mexican cuisine for me all of my life has been a gift and a curse. On the one hand, I have been absolutely spoiled when it comes to delicious Mexican meals, but, on the other, it has made it to where seemingly no other restaurant can compete. I’m still looking for a place that matches my grandmother’s tostadas (my favorite), and I doubt I will ever find one.

There’s no shortage of Mexican restaurants in Milwaukee, especially on the south side, but that can make it difficult to determine where to go. While on the south side, there is a prominently displayed Mexican restaurant on the corner of 60^th and Burnham that is hard to miss. There are three other Mexican restaurants in that area, Las Palmas directly across the street from it, Al Pastor two blocks west on Burnham and newly opened La Costeña Café which is two blocks east on Burnham. I went out to determine if Taqueria Buenavista can separate itself from the pack and I’m happy to say that there are several reasons why they do.

Taqueria Buenavista is home to many locations; they just opened up a new location this year, located at 7507 W. Oklahoma Ave., they have another one at 3447 W. Forest Home Ave., and three food trucks with regular service at Chase and Oklahoma avenues, 108^th and National Avenue and 92^nd and Greenfield. Most of these locations are in close driving distance to my house and so it’s a mystery why I haven’t eaten at any of their locations. Maybe I didn’t go out of fear of pricing, or that it wouldn’t stack up to my family recipes, but the only Mexican restaurants near UWM campus that I would go to regularly was BelAir Cantina and Jaliscos and so I thought it would be a good idea to not only try something new, but also something that is really engrained in the heart of my southside community.

Enicacio Sanchez opened his first Taqueria (on 60^th and Burnham) 10 years ago and with the help of sons Alejandro, Leonardo and Ruben and daughter Lizbeth they have expanded their family business rapidly. The new location on Oklahoma Ave. serves as the culmination of their success and is a full-service restaurant, with an expanded menu, and a banquet hall with ample seating. For the purposes of this review, I went to the original family business that started it all on 60^th and Burnham.

I went on Easter Sunday, uncertain if they would be open, but below their gigantic sign, I saw the neon “open” sign lit up, as well as several customers already there. The spot on the corner is small but hard to miss and I’ve passed by it so many times I knew the makeup of it even as I pulled into the tight parking lot behind the brightly painted red building. I still had never been inside and, on first glance, if there weren’t glass panes and some tables around the counter, it would seem like a large taco truck. They took the taco truck model and expanded it later, but you can still see where that model came from, as many people ordered their food ahead of time and were just picking up. For its size, this place can fill up rather fast and there have been many occasions on my drives past it where I have seen a line filling up the tight ordering area.

I saw the eating area was empty and asked if I had to order first or if I just seated myself and ordered and the guy behind the counter told me to order first. The menu is prominently displayed over the counter with pricing on everything, and it can be a bit overwhelming at first, but after debating between the chimichanga and taco dinner, I decided to go with their taco dinner which came with three tacos and a side of beans and rice, and also ordered a large horchata to drink. All of that came up to $12.32, which isn’t bad considering the portions, the horchata was truly large and came in a Styrofoam cup, and you also get free chips and salsa when you dine in.

The seating area was rather plain for a Mexican restaurant, with no décor or artwork displayed, just orange tables and booths, sort of what you’d expect at a fast food place. Despite the plainness it was clean enough, save for some crumbs I saw at a couple of the booths, and I chose the booth I thought was the cleanest. The chips and salsa were nothing special; the salsa had a good flavor of spice, but the chips tasted overcooked, which made them too hard. Although the chips and salsa were disappointing, before I could think too much about it, the young man who took my order quickly brought it out to me (within minutes). He also provided three bottles of hot sauce with varying degrees of spice.

The rice and beans were evenly separated to the right of my tacos and the beans had shredded cheese that was melting into it, which is always something I love. Although it is separated, I like to mix the rice and beans together and the combination of the two was delicious. The beans are refried, and although I prefer Puerto Rican rice more (it tastes more seasoned and usually contains peas and pork), the fresh, brown, Mexican rice mixed perfectly with the beans and it was gone off of my plate just as quickly as it arrived.

Next, the three chicken tacos I ordered were double wrapped in corn tortillas, which is a nice touch because generally corn tortillas tend to break easier and the chicken was topped off with lettuce, tomato, whipped cream, cilantro and onions. As far as traditional Mexican tacos go, this is the works in how they are supposed to be prepared, and so anything extra like guacamole or extra sour cream costs extra. I got the tacos how the house makes them, and they also came with three limes, which I squeezed on them as well and tried them with no sauce first. The first bite was a fresh mixture of flavors, but it was definitely missing the edge of the hot sauce. There were three bottles and I didn’t try them separately, but they range from moderate to spicy and I put a little of each onto the tacos and it truly pushed it over the edge. I normally don’t like onions, but the mixture of the onions, cilantro, hot sauce and chicken made an impression on me and washing it down with the horchata was even more satisfying.

Overall, while I haven’t been to many Mexican restaurants to compare, I can see why it was ranked the second best Mexican restaurant in the area on Yelp. I will say if you are going with a lot of friends and want more eating space, I would recommend their new location on Oklahoma, which they say has more seating. I went alone and did not mind the space, due to the fast service and authentic food. I have been to Mexico and a place like this is representative of a taco shop and the authenticity also extends to the rich texture and flavor of the food. Most Mexican tacos are made with the same ingredients and with corn tortillas prepared in the same manner, and it just feels right.

Expectation is important when coming here and while there is seating space, I can see people being thwarted off by the size and look of the restaurant. My advice: don’t. Even though I would probably carry out next time, I knew what I was in for just from my familiarity with the area and the taco truck route seems to be their business model and what most people are in there for anyway. There were a few families in there dining, but I couldn’t tell if that was for the holiday or a regular staple of their business.

The price was fair for the amount of food, and it was very filling (I didn’t feel the need to eat at all hours after). There is a Taco Bell down farther on 60th street that holds the record for worst customer experience I’ve ever had at a fast food restaurant, and while it’s more popular to the average American, I would recommend Taqueria Buenavista to anyone, even if they don’t reside in the south side area. I will definitely be looking for their taco trucks and trying out some of their other menu items in the future and if you’re in the mood for Mexican you should too.

Final Verdict: 4 forks out of 5