Birria Tacos in Forest Hills at Homemade Taqueria

For birria tacos in Forest Hills, Homemade Taqueria at 72-36 Austin St is a room where three tables are the entire dining area, and where that limit is the thing to plan around rather than a quirk to tolerate. The cooking is the reason people keep coming: birria tacos, quesadillas and tortas, prepared fresh and seasoned so the dishes read savoury rather than overly salty. Ratings sit at 4.1 from 256 reviews, with reviewers consistently praising the flavour and the warm, welcoming service. Service matters more than usual here because with three tables there is nowhere to hide a slow order, and the same small floor is what makes the hospitality land. Expect a casual, quick-bite stop rather than a sit-down evening: the labels are casual dining, cozy space and quick bite, and the interior answers to the same brief, with primary colours, festoons and streamers overhead and a theatrical, film-like edge to the room. Prices stay in a single dollar band and reviewers describe them as reasonable. Hours run 11 AM to 10 PM Sunday through Thursday, then an extra hour to 11 PM on Friday and Saturday. The menu sits in the window, which is the best way to check it before committing a table.

Address: 72-36 Austin St, Forest Hills, Queens, New York
Hours: Sunday–Thursday 11 AM–10 PM · Friday and Saturday to 11 PM
Phone: (718) 544-0016
Website: homemadetaqueria.com/foresthills
Rating: 4.1 out of 5 from 256 reviews
Seating: three tables, the whole dining area
Price signal: a single dollar band, described as reasonable
Menu: displayed in the window
Good for: a quick bite, a casual lunch, a solo stop

Start with the dish the room is named in reviews for: birria tacos, ordered as a set rather than one at a time. The Argentina Torta is the sleeper order, a sandwich that appears in the asset's own menu highlights alongside quesadillas and a chicken and mushroom burrito, and it is the thing that separates this counter from a straight taco stop. Quesadillas cover the table for anyone who wants a shareable plate, and the chicken and mushroom burrito is the vegetarian-leaning option in the same list. The kitchen's stated aim is savoury cooking that avoids excessive salt, which shows up in how the plates land: fresh, direct, and built for a quick lunch rather than a long tasting. Prices sit in a single dollar band and reviewers describe them as reasonable, so the risk of ordering wide is low — two plates per person is a safe structure for a first visit. Ask at the counter what is running that day, because a three-table room turns its menu quickly and the window copy is the only published menu detail in the record.

Three tables means the room cannot absorb a wave, and the practical version of that is simple: arrive at the front of a service, not the middle of one. Doors open at 11 AM every day, and lunch straight after opening is the most forgiving slot for a walk-in; by mid-afternoon the seats are either full or cycling slowly, because table turnover in a three-table room is driven by how long people linger rather than by queue management. Evenings run to 10 PM Sunday through Thursday and to 11 PM on Friday and Saturday, which makes this a genuinely late option for Forest Hills on a weekend compared with most of Austin Street. The quick-bite label is accurate rather than a downgrade: this is a place to eat well and move on, not to hold a table for an hour of conversation. If you are coming as a group of four or more, plan to split across tables or take food away, since the whole floor is three tables. Solo diners and pairs will find the odds are with them, and the service being warm and helpful matters most in a space this small.

Homemade Taqueria's 4.1 from 256 reviews is a middle score among the Queens Mexican rooms nearby, and the comparison is more about format than quality. George's Mexican Grill scores 4.7 from 140 reviews on Newtown Avenue in Astoria, Taqueria Santa Fe 4.6 from 1,075 on 47th Avenue, and Chihuahua Restaurante 4.5 from 563 in Sunnyside, so all three carry higher ratings on smaller or larger samples. THE Birria on the block in Corona sits at 4.0 from 149 reviews and Nenes Taqueria Plus at 4.4 from 293 in Astoria. What Homemade Taqueria keeps is the smallest room and the tightest lunch window: three tables, an 11 AM start and an Austin Street address that puts it a short walk from the Forest Hills shopping stretch. Choose Santa Fe for a larger menu with the biggest review base, George's for the highest score, and Homemade Taqueria when you want birria and an Argentina torta without a plan beyond the next hour.

Where is Homemade Taqueria Forest Hills?
At 72-36 Austin St in Forest Hills, Queens, on the neighbourhood's main shopping street.

What are the hours?
Sunday to Thursday 11 AM to 10 PM, and Friday and Saturday 11 AM to 11 PM.

How many tables are there?
Three. The dining area is only those tables, which is why timing matters more here than at a larger room.

Do you need a reservation?
No booking channel is published, and three tables make a reservation impractical. Walk in at the start of service.

What should I order first?
Birria tacos, then the Argentina Torta. Quesadillas and a chicken and mushroom burrito fill out the rest of the menu highlights.

Are prices high?
No. The price signal is a single dollar band and reviewers describe the prices as reasonable, though no menu figures are published.

Is there a menu I can read before arriving?
The record notes a menu displayed in the window. The shop's website is homemadetaqueria.com/foresthills.

Is it good for a quick lunch?
Yes. The labels are casual dining, cozy space and quick bite, and reviewers praise fast, warm service in a small room.

What is the Argentina Torta?
It is one of the menu highlights named in the asset, listed beside the quesadillas and the chicken and mushroom burrito. No ingredient list is published, so ask at the counter when you order.

Beyond a three-table taqueria on Austin Street, Forest Hills holds a short list worth the walk. Handmade corn tortillas lead a nearby Mexican menu, and a coffee counter opens from 5 AM for early commuters. A Greek frozen yogurt and baklava stop covers dessert, a Forest Hills diner with 50 years behind it covers the classic plate, and a sushi lunchroom with about three tables repeats the small-room logic in another cuisine — all of it inside a mile of the birria counter.