Duo's — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

As of August 2022, Duo’s Tacos are the best tacos in Pittsburgh. Here’s a list of reasons they are superior to their two closest rivals, Las Palmas and La Palapa:

Drinks: Any taco joint can get Jarritos and Mexican Coca-cola, but classic taco joints in Mexico have agua de horchata (and agua de jamaica and LIME lemonade). Duo’s agua de horchata tastes authentic. They only lack cinnamon on top to be indistinguishable from a Mexican Taqueria agua de horchata.

Street Taco Tortillas: No other Pittsburgh joint has taco tortillas. Taco tortillas must be smaller and thicker than normal tortillas and they should be slightly fried, but also have a rougher texture. Duo’s tortillas are very slightly larger than Mexico city taco tortillas, but anyways the real deal would freak out Americans (“omg they are too small”), yet Duo’s are about the size of taco tortillas in a northern city like my hometown.

Variety: I haven’t found Lengua, suadero, or nopales together on a menu at any Pittsburgh taco place. This place breaks the “has pastor” benchmark and sets a new one for Pittsburgh. This variety sets it on par with the best Texan and Cali taquerias (I have lived in Houston). I don’t really expect more variety, as they define themselves as a Mexico city street taco imitation. They do not have longaniza, or tripas, but it makes sense as not even Mexican-Americans or American tourists in Major cities have experienced those taco ingredients, and I kind of think tripas would be illegal in the US? Not sure.

By just defining itself as a street taqueria (not trying to do carne asada tacos or fish) it clearly dominates its market niche.

Standing Experience: Good street tacos must be served on a tall table where people are standing. Las Palmas doesn’t offer tables and La Palapa is a nice restaurant experience, but the standing with a table experience is needed to appreciate a good street taco. Tacos must be eaten fresh, as toppings will lose temperature faster than tortillas. This is due to the higher surface area of the toppings and low thermal conductance of tortillas.

Plastic chairs could also be used as a courtesy for seniors, but there aren’t that many taco-loving seniors around in Pitt.

As a side note, them using paper plates and aluminum foil makes it the best to-go taco packaging in town (same deal as in a good mexican taqueria)

Ingredient quality and authenticity: Their pastor tacos have the actual consistency and flavor of non-shawarma pastor tacos. Their nopales tacos have the right consistency and seasoning and their lengua tacos taste like average lengua tacos from Mexico.

Salsa: Duo’s salsa was of decent quality and spiciness. Salsa is their weakest aspect vs las palmas, as they only have a selection of two salsas and lack avocado salsa and thick red habanero salsa. But still Duo’s salsa holds up better...

WOW!!!! That is the best way to describe this place. I was visiting Pittsburgh for a business trip and had to stay in the East Liberty section of town. My friend and I were looking for a good place for dinner and boy did we find a TRUE HIDDEN GEM. We saw that Duo's Taqueria had great reviews, but we were a little concerned when we got there due to the exterior, When we walked in we knew we found a special place. The young lady that was the hostess greated us with the warmest most friendliest smile I have have ever seen. Anya did an outstanding job of finding us a seat at the bar since there were no tables available. That is where our incredible dining experience really took off. Garrett was working the bar and quickly greated us with another warm welcome and explained the drink menu to us. This place has a vast selection of tequilas and mezcal. I explained that I was not a big tequila fan and he suggested a perfect drink for me from their cocktail menu. My friend had a margerita, which was also delicious. Garrett explained that it was a special night because the chef was making homemade papusas using her Mom's family recipe. We ordered two different ones and were blown away by the flavor. They were truly worth driving back for. While waiting for the food we met another bartender named Migdalia. I couldn't believe there were this many high quality people in such a small establishment. She went out of her way to make sure we did not miss any of the other must have items on the menu. We went ahead and took her suggestion and ordered the guacamole and the tuna tostada. We also decided to try the braised goat shoulder. Another wonderful employee served us our guac named Olivia and we found out that she was the Assistant Manager. It is clear where this staff learned their customer service skills because Olivia was on point. She told us about the restaurant and more importantly about the Executive Chef and that they are being considered for a prestigious James Beard Award. I can tell you this Chef not only has the skill but also the creativity to win this award. I hope you took the time to read this entire review because I wanted to make sure that if you are anywhere near this area or if you just wanted to best most authentic mexican cuisine you can find you HAVE TO TRY THIS PLACE OUT!!!! Thank you again to Anya, Garrett, Migdalia, and Olivia for a truly incredible dining experience. If I didn't live 2 hours away I would be...

After months of coming past Duo's, we finally were able to make an evening for it. We came early on a Thursday and the restaurant was fairly empty, but filled rather quickly as we ate. We were sat by a really lovely and energetic host, and were pleased to find such a beautiful space.

The menu is short and simple to understand. To drink, we had the sangari sour, and la dolce vita, both of which were absolutely delicious. I love the sliders on the menu that indicate how adventurous/comforting and boozy/refreshing it is, it was such a fun way to categorize the drinks and really helped us choose. The whole drinks menu was so fun to peruse. I was shocked at the breadth of agave drinks and the dedication to Mexican owned and produced products, it really shows how much of a labor of love this menu is.

To start, we got the queso fundido to start. Unfortunately, this was the one disappointing part of the meal. The cheese congealed into one mass and had to be cut apart. It was not very appetizing, and we did not eat much of it. However, the chips were incredibly delicious, they were like homemade Fritos in the best way. It seemed like the chicharrones were the way to go, four other tables got themselves while we were sitting there.

For entrees, I got the goat birria. I cannot put into words how good this dish was. The corn tortillas were the best I've ever had. The beans were so incredible. All the toppings were perfect. The meat and the consommé was just purely delicious. I will struggle to try other things on the menu just because this dish was so delicious. I only wish I could have had more tortillas, when I finished my stack I still had a lot of meat, but I wasn't complaining about eating it with a fork. If you want something delicious and maybe outside of your comfort zone, please get this dish. I have to admit I didn't try the enchiladas because I was entranced with my dish, but they were enjoyed by my comrade.

For dessert, we got the churro, which was excellent. Warm, crispy outside covered in sugar, soft pillowy inside. The chocolate was kind of boozy, which I enjoyed. It was perfect to split between three people.

Overall, Duo's was such a nice meal, far nicer than I expected. This was an incredibly intentional and curated experience that I never would have expected. I will be returning to experience more of the menu, and I greatly look...