Bodega Taqueria South Beach: 3 Tacos for $11 on Tuesday

Bodega Taqueria y Tequila serves its tacos out of a converted Airstream trailer at 1220 16th St, Miami Beach, FL 33139, a short walk from the west end of Lincoln Road, and on Tuesdays three Clásico tacos cost $11 from open to close. The taqueria is open Sunday to Wednesday from 11:30am to 1am and Thursday to Saturday from 11:30am to 3am, so it is one of the few places on South Beach where a cheap taco is still possible well after midnight.

Bodega's own story page says the brand was co-founded in South Beach in 2014 by Keith Menin of Menin Hospitality, and the South Beach location page dates the opening to December 2014. The company describes itself as the first to bring fast-casual Mexican food to South Beach, and it lists coverage from GQ, InStyle and HuffPost. This address is the flagship, and the brand has since added Coconut Grove, Fort Lauderdale, a Mezcalería in Coconut Grove, a stand at Hard Rock Stadium and a West Loop branch in Chicago.

The setup is what made it famous. An Airstream trailer turned taco truck sits in the open-air front, where you order at the window and eat at nearby tables. Behind it is the bar, and the way in is through a door dressed as a porta potty, which opens onto a lounge with margaritas, tequila cocktails, DJs and live music. The joke works because nothing outside tells you a full bar is waiting behind that plastic-looking door.

The order to build around is the Clásico taco, the house street taco and the one used in every Bodega deal. On Tuesday the three-taco special makes it the cheapest full meal on this stretch of South Beach, and during the daily happy hour single Clásico tacos drop to $4 each. Add chips and guacamole, which cost $5 at happy hour, or nachos at $6, and two people can eat well for under $25 before drinks.

The rest of the menu runs from traditional favorites to what the company calls unconventional and innovative interpretations. Pair one of those with a Clásico so you have a baseline to compare. The Tuesday deal applies whether you eat in the taqueria, take your plate into the lounge or order through the Bodega app for home, so a group can split between the window and the bar without anyone missing the price.

Bodega also rents out the space and its catering side. The site offers full buyouts, semi-private areas and a mobile Airstream that can be booked for birthdays, weddings and corporate parties, plus taco trays, burrito trays and build-your-own taco stations. If you are planning a group dinner of more than eight, the private events form is a better route than hoping for space at the bar on a Saturday.

Happy hour runs every day from six to nine in the evening, and the prices are posted on Bodega's site: well drinks $8, select cocktails $10, Patrón shots $7, and draft beer or margaritas $6. That makes the three-hour window the right time to try the bar side, before the DJs start and the room fills. On Mondays, frozen and draft margaritas are $6 all day under the Margarita Monday deal, so Monday and Tuesday are the cheapest two nights of the week.

Inside the lounge, the menu leans on tequila and signature margaritas, and the screens show live games, so it doubles as a watch-party bar on football Sundays. Seating at the bar is first come, first served every day. The company notes that it can refuse service to anyone over-intoxicated and that a dress code may be enforced, so beach clothes are fine at the Airstream but less reliable for the lounge late at night.

Tables at the taqueria are casual and unreserved, but the lounge takes reservation requests, and Bodega encourages them for larger groups and for anyone arriving after 9pm. Weekend nights bring rotating DJ sets to the lounge, so a reservation request is the safer move if you plan to arrive late. If you just want tacos, skip the lounge line, order at the Airstream window and eat outside.

If Bodega is packed, the Taco Stand's South Beach branch is another late taco option on the island, or you can use the online ordering link and pick up from the window. The location page notes that late-night pick-up and delivery run even after the dining room winds down. On a rainy night, the open-air front is less pleasant, so a pick-up order eaten at your hotel is the better plan.

Bodega sits in the quieter western corner of South Beach, between the bay and Lincoln Road. Walk a block to Lincoln Road for the pedestrian mall's shops and cafés, which are at their best in the evening when the heat drops. Heading north toward the bay brings you to Maurice Gibb Memorial Park, a small waterfront park where locals watch the sunset over Biscayne Bay.

The beach itself is about a mile east along 16th Street, past the Art Deco blocks of Collins and Ocean Drive. An early dinner at the Airstream, a sunset walk to the bay and a late margarita back at the lounge make a good evening that avoids the crowds of Ocean Drive. Parking on South Beach is expensive and limited, so walking or a rideshare is easier.

Address: 1220 16th St, Miami Beach, FL 33139, in South Beach. Taqueria hours: Sunday to Wednesday 11:30am to 1am, Thursday to Saturday 11:30am to 3am. Deals: Taco Tuesday three Clásico tacos for $11, Margarita Monday $6 frozen and draft margaritas, daily happy hour with $4 Clásico tacos, $5 chips and guacamole and $6 nachos. The lounge takes reservation requests for groups and late arrivals, and a dress code may be enforced. To gather friends for a late taco night on South Beach, use the Karpo APP.