Tacos Doña Lena

Missing Tacos Doña Lena from the street is impossible. The small strip center Mexican restaurant explodes with a rainbow array of chairs, banners, plants, and art, from the patio to the interior. After years of making tacos in various locations, the restaurant’s namesake Doña Lena opened this extremely colorful spot in Spring Branch in 2020. And although the restaurant serves just about every kind of taco imaginable, the birria here reigns supreme.

Whether you order the birria as a street taco, smashed with cheese as a quesabirria taco, or in a bowl with consomé and ramen noodles, every juicy bite tastes just like the deeply flavorful smoky red chile broth in which it was steeped. And don’t skip dunking the taco or quesadilla form into the little cup of hot consomé served on the side—it’s pure, beef and chile flavored goodness. We recommend wearing a shirt you don’t mind getting stained.

Everything at Tacos Doña Lena, from the birria to the gorditas to the crispy machetes looks and tastes excellent, and, seriously, what’s not to like about a gooey cheese-and-meat-filled tortilla? Sitting in a colorfully decked-out restaurant makes the entire experience whimsical, as though the simple act of eating a taco calls for celebration. Go here and split a few quesabirrias with friends or have a bowl of birria ramen all to yourself for a quick and filling meal. 

photo credit: Liz Silva

photo credit: Liz Silva

photo credit: Liz Silva

photo credit: Liz Silva

photo credit: Liz Silva

Food Rundown

photo credit: Liz Silva

Birria Street Tacos

If you’re all about the birria, go straight for the street tacos. Stewed beef gets stuffed into tortillas drenched in consomé, and every plate arrives with even more consomé.

photo credit: Liz Silva

Quesabirria

The ratio of cheese to meat can make or break a quesabirria, no matter how much chile-rich consomé the tortillas are marinated in. Tacos Doña Lena’s quesabirria are about fifty-fifty melty cheese to birria. Dip into the hot cup of consomé on the side to keep the cheese gooey and rich.

photo credit: Liz Silva

Birria Ramen

Any bowl of ramen that includes a whole corn cob on a stick immediately gets our attention. Dunking the corn for birria-flecked bites between slurping hot noodles is our favorite version of zen.