Top Places For Tacos, Beers, Margarita Specials & South Bay Singles
Nearly every bar or restaurant becomes a cantina on this day offering specials on tacos, beers and margaritas.
But Taco Tuesday in the South Bay is more than about the taste of the tacos and the deals. The South Bay is a social place and people go out on Tuesdays as much for the singles scene as they do for tacos and drinks.
And so, that’s the primary – but hardly the only – factor PubClub.com considered when we compiled our list of top Taco Tuesday places in the Beach Cities.
Best Taco Tuesday Singles Scene: OB’s Pub & Grill
This small bar (capacity of about 50) in north Manhattan Beach packs in the locals and the occasional tourist who finds it (probably by reading PubClub.com!) and there’s always a wait to grab a table or a spot to sit.
So you grab a beer ($3-5) or margarita ($5) and “hover” around a table or by the bar. It’s very social and so, too, is grabbing a handful of peanuts from the barrel by the back door.
Once you get a seat, you’re close to people at the next tables, so the socializing can continue when you get your tacos and the beef ones are the best in town. They are huge, too. There’s none of those “street tacos” thing here!
Eat 10 and the entire bar will start paying attention to you. Plus you get your name on a plaque. The tacos are $2, 10-ounce beers are $3, margaritas are $5 and 16-ounce beers are $5.
Best Taco Tuesday Food Deal: American Junkie
This bar and restaurant on the Hermosa Beach Pier offers not just tacos but rice and beans and chips and salsa, all for 8 bucks.
It’s all-you-can-eat and it’s good. By far this is the best deal in the South Bay for Taco Tuesday. There’s a $5 margarita special (not great margaritas) but if you arrive before 7, you can take advantage of its Happy Hour ($3 for all beers & wells).
AJ’s certainly has socializing potential but everyone seems to stick to their same group. If the place were smaller, like OB’s, it would be easier to mingle but you pretty much have to force your way into a conversation. For single guys, it’s nice to sit at the inside bar because the bartenders are always attractive.
Best Dive Bar Taco Tuesday: Ercoles
Only true locals know that Ercoles in downtown Manhattan Beach has tacos. Known mostly from a food standpoint for its outstanding burgers (2-4-1 on Wednesdays) it also has three tacos for 5 bucks on not just Tuesdays but also on Thursdays, both starting at 5 p.m.
Best Redondo Beach Taco Tuesday: Hudson House
This popular craft beer bar and restaurant is similar to OBs in that it’s crowded for Taco Tuesday and you have to wait for a table. Unfortunately, from a singles’ standpoint, people are in there to scarf down the tacos ($1 carnitas & pollo and while really good they are small so you’ll need to order four or five) and not necessarily to mix and mingle with others.
That being said, it gets in a pretty good-looking crowd and one thing about being single is to put yourself in an environment with lots of other single people. It’s pretty loud in here with all the conversations among friends at tables and the lighting is subtle to say the least.
Drink prices are $2 Teate & 7-ounce Modelo, $3 12-ounce Modelo & $5 Mexico Mule.
Other Top Taco Tuesday Bars & Restaurants
You can never go wrong with tacos and drinks and also potential socializing at Sharkeez; for the latter the Hermosa Pier location is slightly better than Manhattan, tho MB gets a few post-OB’s spillover people.
And Sharkeez Hermosa certainly has this going for it: here it’s as much about the drinks (a couple of Great White margaritas will get you in the mood for, well, two more Great White margaritas) as the tacos, plus you never know who might walk through the door and turn a simple night into a memorable one.
The deal is $1.99 for “street” tacos (you’ll need to order at least four), $3.25 for regular tacos, margaritas for $4-7:50 and a bucket of cervezas for $17.50. You’ll be better off drink wise to go during Happy Hour, 2-4-1 drinks 4-7.
Also, Waterman’s Safe House (Hermosa Pier) has “street” tacos for $2 and four for $5 and $3 cans of Mexican beers, $4 margaritas, plus half-priced drinks at Happy Hour (4-7). Patrick Molloy’s, also at the Hermosa Pier, has 2-for-1 tacos and burgers, half-priced tequila all day and starting at 9, live music with $5 mimi-domestic pitchers…Sharks’ Cove in downtown Manhattan Beach has $2 mini tacos (three for $5) and $5 margaritas all day/night.
Best Wednesday Taco Tuesday: North End
The original Taco Tuesday in the South Bay was started by Critters, which is now called North End. However, it’s on Wednesday because that’s when the softball team it once sponsored played its league games.
Here, the street-sized tacos are only a buck; go into the kitchen and make your order, then go to your seat in this dive-ish sports bar and hangout of locals who live on the Hermosa/Manhattan border.
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