Last updated: October 29, 2026
If you are searching for the La Tingeria menu, you are looking at one of the most distinctive taquerias in Northern Virginia: a Mexico City–style street-food menu — handmade tortillas, slow-braised birria, tortas the size of your forearm — that happens to be 100% halal, at every location, with no exceptions. La Tingeria serves Falls Church, Alexandria and Fredericksburg (Spotsylvania) with the same short board of tacos, tostadas, sopes, tortas and quesadillas, and it has earned a place on Washingtonian’s “100 Very Best Restaurants” list along the way.
The story explains the concept. Owner David Andres Peña grew up in Woodbridge in a Mexican family, cooking recipes handed down from his mother and grandmother. He ran La Tingeria as a food truck in Arlington for years before committing, in 2020, to going fully halal — a decision he has credited to a close Muslim friend who kept wishing he could eat Mexican food freely, and to a large Muslim community with almost no taqueria it could use. In late 2021 the truck became a tiny brick-and-mortar in Falls Church, and the kitchen has since grown into Alexandria — inside Port City Brewing — and Spotsylvania, near Fredericksburg. The truck is still kept for catering and events.
¿Buscas el menú de La Tingeria en Alexandria o Falls Church? Es el mismo menú en los tres locales: tacos desde $3.50, tortas, quesadillas y birria — todo 100% halal.
Menu note — read this before the price tables: The prices below are La Tingeria’s counter and pickup prices, taken from the restaurant’s own Toast online-ordering menu for Falls Church and cross-checked against its Spotsylvania listing. Delivery apps tell a different story: the same items are listed roughly 18% higher on DoorDash and Postmates (a $3.50 taco shows as $4.13; a $13 quesadilla as $15.34). If you have seen higher prices online, that is the delivery mark-up, not the menu board. Prices can still vary slightly by location, and the Falls Church Toast page notes a 3% surcharge on credit-card orders.
La Tingeria Menu at a Glance
| Detail | What to know |
|---|---|
| Cuisine | Mexican street food — tacos, tortas, quesadillas, birria |
| Halal status | 100% halal — every protein, all three locations; no pork anywhere on the menu |
| Format | Counter service; walk-ins only, no reservations |
| Falls Church (flagship) | 626 S Washington St, Falls Church, VA 22046 · (571) 648-9167 |
| Alexandria | Inside Port City Brewing, 3950 Wheeler Ave, Alexandria, VA 22304 · (703) 928-2284 |
| Fredericksburg / Spotsylvania | 4828 Southpoint Pkwy, Fredericksburg, VA 22407 · (540) 940-8952 |
| Hours (Falls Church) | Monday closed; Tuesday–Saturday 11 AM–8:30 PM; Sunday 11 AM–7:30 PM |
| Price level | Tacos $3.50–$5; most plates $10–$16 |
| Signature deal | $2 Taco Tuesday (see the Taco Tuesday section — terms are worth confirming) |
| Founded | Food-truck roots (the business dates itself to 2013); halal since 2020; Falls Church restaurant opened 2021 |
The Full La Tingeria Menu
The board is deliberately short: a handful of fillings — birria beef, birria goat, tinga chicken, tinga beef, chicken chorizo, smoked-chicken “Hal Pastor,” carne asada and lengua — worked across tacos, tostadas, sopes, tortas and quesadillas. Everything below is a counter price, per the menu note above.
Tacos
Served on soft tortillas with cilantro, onions and a lime wedge.
| Taco | Price |
|---|---|
| Birria Beef — braised beef brisket | $3.50 |
| Birria Goat — the traditional birria meat | $3.50 |
| Tinga Chicken — shredded chicken in chipotle garlic sauce | $3.50 |
| Tinga Beef — shredded brisket in chipotle garlic sauce | $3.50 |
| Chorizo Chicken — ground spicy chicken (the halal answer to chorizo) | $3.50 |
| Hal Pastor — smoked chicken, standing in for al pastor | $3.50 |
| Carne Asada — grilled steak | $4.00 |
| Mixto — carne asada & chorizo chicken | $4.00 |
| Vegan Carne Asada | $4.00 |
| De Lengua — beef tongue, with pickled onions | $5.00 |
Tostadas
Crisp open-face tortillas with lettuce, crema and queso fresco over the filling.
| Tostada | Price |
|---|---|
| Veggie — refried beans, lettuce, tomato, avocado | $3.00 |
| Tinga Chicken | $4.00 |
| Tinga Beef | $4.00 |
| Birria Beef | $4.00 |
| Birria Goat | $4.00 |
| Chorizo Chicken | $4.00 |
| Hal Pastor | $4.00 |
| Carne Asada | $4.50 |
| Mixto — carne asada & chorizo chicken | $5.00 |
| Shrimp | $5.00 |
Sopes
Thick handmade fried tortillas with refried beans, lettuce, cilantro, onions, crema and queso fresco.
| Sope | Price |
|---|---|
| Tinga Chicken | $5.00 |
| Tinga Beef | $5.00 |
| Birria Beef | $5.00 |
| Birria Goat | $5.00 |
| Chorizo Chicken | $5.00 |
| Hal Pastor | $5.00 |
| Carne Asada | $5.00 |
| Vegetarian | $5.00 |
| De Lengua | $6.00 |
| Shrimp | $6.00 |
Tortas
Built on griddled pambazo bread with mayo, bean spread, mozzarella, lettuce, red onion, cilantro, queso fresco, tomato and avocado. These are large sandwiches — one feeds a big appetite or two lighter ones.
| Torta | Price |
|---|---|
| Chorizo Chicken | $15.00 |
| Hal Pastor | $15.00 |
| Carne Asada | $15.00 |
| Mixto — carne asada & chorizo chicken | $15.00 |
| Pambazo | $15.00 |
| La Chingona — chilaquiles rojo, a fried egg and carne asada on top of the full build | $16.00 |
Quesadillas
Griddled flour tortillas with mozzarella, cilantro and onions.
| Quesadilla | Price |
|---|---|
| Only Cheese | $10.00 |
| Birria Beef | $13.00 |
| Birria Goat | $13.00 |
| Tinga Chicken | $13.00 |
| Tinga Beef | $13.00 |
| Chorizo Chicken | $13.00 |
| Hal Pastor | $13.00 |
| Carne Asada | $13.50 |
| Mixto — carne asada & chorizo chicken | $13.50 |
| Lengua | $14.50 |
Breakfast Burritos, Bowls & Kids
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Breakfast Burrito — No Meat | $6.50 |
| Breakfast Burrito — Carne Asada or Chorizo | $8.00 |
| Rice Bowl | $14.00 |
| Kids Quesadilla with Fries | $8.00 |
| Chicken Tenders with Fries | $8.00 |
Appetizers, Sides & Extras
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Elote — charred street corn with crema, cotija, chile and lime | $4.00 |
| Chips | $3.00 |
| Fries | $3.00 |
| Guacamole Dip | $3.00 |
| Queso Blanco Dip | $3.50 |
| Chips & Guacamole | $6.50 |
| Chips & Queso (8 oz) | $6.50 |
| Loaded Fries | $12.00 |
| Birria Egg Roll | $9.00 |
| Rice & Bean Combo | $5.00 |
| Rice-Bean Mix / Frijoles Charro / Chorizo Fried Rice | $3.00 each |
| Consommé Chico (4 oz) — extra birria broth for dipping | $1.25 |
| Crema | $0.50 |
Desserts
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Churro — cinnamon brown sugar; Washingtonian singled out the caramel-filled churros | $2.00 |
| Churros (3 pack) | $5.00 |
| Tres Leches | $5.00 |
| Strawberry Shortcake | $5.00 |
Beverages
| Drink | Price |
|---|---|
| Jarritos sodas (cola, mango, pineapple, lime, mandarin, tamarind, guava, grapefruit, fruit punch, Mineragua) | $3.00 |
| Agua Fresca of the Day | $4.50 |
| Canned Coke / Sprite | $2.00 |
| Tropicana Apple Juice | $2.00 |
| Red Bull | $3.00 |
| Bottled Water | $1.50 |
What to Order at La Tingeria
Start with the birria tacos — beef or goat, $3.50 each. This is the dish the reputation is built on. Birria is Jalisco’s chile-braised stew meat — Wikipedia’s birria entry traces it from goat barbacoa to the Tijuana-style tacos served with consommé — and La Tingeria’s version follows that script: the meat is slow-braised, the tortilla is dipped and griddled, and the taco arrives with the rich consommé the meat cooked in, for dipping. Goat is the traditional choice and the one regulars swear by; beef is the gentler entry. Order at least two per person.
Add the Tinga Chicken. Washingtonian’s reviewers argued the chicken tinga — stewed with tomatoes, onions and chipotles — deserves equal hype with the birria, and they are right: it is juicy, smoky and the best non-birria taco on the board.
Split a Torta La Chingona ($16). The flagship sandwich stacks chilaquiles rojo and a fried egg over carne asada inside the full torta build. It is the single biggest item on the menu and a legitimate share for two alongside tacos.
Get the elote ($4). Charred corn with crema, cotija, chile and lime is the side that shows up in “most ordered” lists for a reason, and it resets your palate between rich tacos.
Finish with churros ($2 each / $5 for three). Made to order, rolled in cinnamon brown sugar; reviewers and Washingtonian both flag them as worth saving room for.
Sample order for two: 2 birria beef tacos + 2 birria goat tacos → 1 tinga chicken taco each → elote to share → churros. That lands near $25 before drinks — and on a Tuesday, the taco line of that order drops sharply (see below).
100% Halal: What It Actually Means Here
Plenty of restaurants offer a halal option or two. La Tingeria is built the other way round: the entire menu is halal, at all three locations, with no exceptions and no substitutions — that is the restaurant’s own stated standard, and it is the reason the place exists in its current form.
The evidence is visible, not just claimed. At the Falls Church flagship, a halal certificate is posted with the menu — the halal directory Zabihah notes the certificate on display and the restaurant’s extensive halal advertising — and the Falls Church, Alexandria and Spotsylvania stores are all listed as halal restaurants in their local listings.
What halal changes on the board is the interesting part. There is no pork in the kitchen at all, so the two pork classics of a normal taqueria have been re-engineered rather than dropped:
- Al pastor becomes “Hal Pastor” — the marinated, spit-style preparation done with smoked chicken instead of pork.
- Chorizo becomes chicken chorizo — ground spicy chicken carrying the seasoning role pork chorizo usually plays.
Everything else — birria beef and goat, carne asada, lengua, tinga — is beef, goat or chicken prepared to halal standards. For Muslim diners, the whole menu is open, including items taquerias normally make off-limits. For everyone else it changes nothing except the two smart substitutions above — exactly the point Peña makes in interviews: going halal restricted nobody and included more people.
$2 Taco Tuesday: The Deal, and What We Could Not Confirm
La Tingeria’s weekly hook is real: the restaurant promotes a $2 Taco Tuesday special, a Washington Post critic’s account of a Falls Church visit describes tacos priced at $2 on Tuesdays instead of the usual $3.50, from 11 AM, and recent diner reviews for both Falls Church and the Alexandria kitchen mention coming in for $2 Taco Tuesday — one Alexandria reviewer describes their standing routine of four tacos on Tuesdays.
Read the fine print before you plan around it, because the restaurant does not publish full terms online. We could not verify from an official source: which tacos are included (whether premium tacos like the $5 lengua are in or out), whether there is a per-person limit, whether the deal is dine-in only, or whether the Spotsylvania store runs it on the same terms. The honest way to use it: go on a Tuesday, expect the standard $3.50 tacos to be $2, and confirm the day’s terms at the counter before ordering a dozen.
Vegetarian, Vegan & Gluten-Free at La Tingeria
Vegetarian diners are properly served, not tolerated: a Vegetarian sope ($5), a Veggie tostada ($3), the cheese quesadilla ($10), a no-meat breakfast burrito ($6.50), elote, and chips with guacamole or queso all build a full meat-free meal.
Vegan diners have a named option — the Vegan Carne Asada taco ($4) — plus the veggie tostada and vegetarian sope if you ask for them without crema and queso fresco. Flag it when you order, because crema and cheese are default toppings across the board.
Gluten-free: tacos, tostadas and sopes are corn-tortilla based, which makes much of the menu naturally wheat-free, but La Tingeria is a small shared kitchen with flour tortillas and bread on the line and does not publish a gluten-free menu or certification. If you have celiac disease or a serious allergy, tell the counter before ordering rather than relying on the corn-tortilla shortcut.
Locations, Hours & Practical Information
Falls Church — the flagship. 626 S Washington St, Falls Church, VA 22046 · (571) 648-9167. A tiny counter-service room — roughly 20 seats, with a few outdoor tables. Hours: closed Mondays; Tuesday–Saturday 11 AM–8:30 PM; Sunday 11 AM–7:30 PM. Regulars warn that parking here is genuinely limited (expect street parking or a nearby garage), and the room fills fast at lunch — takeout is the local habit. The Falls Church ordering page notes a 3% surcharge on credit-card orders.
Alexandria — inside Port City Brewing. 3950 Wheeler Ave, Alexandria, VA 22304 · (703) 928-2284. This is La Tingeria’s permanent kitchen inside Port City Brewing Company’s tasting room — tacos with the brewery’s own beer, in a big family- and dog-friendly (beer garden) space, which solves Falls Church’s seating and parking squeeze. Kitchen hours per Port City: closed Mondays; Tuesday–Thursday 11 AM–8 PM; Friday–Saturday 11 AM–8:30 PM; Sunday 11 AM–7 PM.
Fredericksburg / Spotsylvania. 4828 Southpoint Pkwy, Fredericksburg, VA 22407 · (540) 940-8952. The southern outpost, in the Southpoint shopping area off I-95 — same menu, same halal kitchen. It is listed on the delivery apps under “Halal Tacos La Tingeria, Fredericksburg”; check the store’s current listing or call ahead for its exact hours, which are not published as consistently as the other two.
Ordering & catering. No reservations — it is counter service everywhere, walk-ins only. Order ahead by phone or through the restaurant’s online ordering for pickup if you want to skip the line, and expect delivery-app prices to run higher than the counter prices in this guide. Catering is a real part of the business: the original food truck still works catering and special events, and the restaurants cater group orders — office lunches, graduations and community events are the occasions they name — all of it 100% halal.
La Tingeria FAQs
Is La Tingeria really 100% halal? Yes — that is the restaurant’s stated standard for every protein at all three locations, a halal certificate is posted at the Falls Church flagship, and the menu contains no pork at all: al pastor is done with smoked chicken (“Hal Pastor”) and the chorizo is chicken. The restaurant has been fully halal since 2020.
Does La Tingeria give free consommé for buying birria tacos — or for ordering 4 tacos? Birria tacos come served with consommé for dipping — that is part of the dish, not a promotion. What we could not find, in any official source, is a published rule that extra consommé is free with four tacos or any other threshold: extra consommé is a paid side on the menu (Consommé Chico, 4 oz, $1.25 at the counter). If you want a bigger cup for the table, order it as a side rather than counting on a freebie.
How much is a taco at La Tingeria? Most tacos are $3.50 at the counter (birria beef and goat, tinga chicken and beef, chorizo chicken, Hal Pastor). Carne asada, mixto and the vegan carne asada are $4, and lengua is $5. On Tuesdays, the promoted special brings tacos to $2 — see the Taco Tuesday section for what is and is not confirmed about the terms. Delivery apps list the same tacos higher.
Where is La Tingeria? Is there one in DC? There are three Northern Virginia locations: Falls Church (626 S Washington St), Alexandria (inside Port City Brewing, 3950 Wheeler Ave) and Spotsylvania/Fredericksburg (4828 Southpoint Pkwy). There is no DC storefront on the restaurant’s current location list — Falls Church and Alexandria are the in-close options from the District.
Does La Tingeria take reservations? No. It is counter service at every location — order at the counter, take a seat or take it to go. For the Alexandria kitchen you are sitting in Port City Brewing’s tasting room, which is likewise walk-in.
What does “La Tingeria” mean? It is a taqueria-style play on tinga — the chipotle-tomato stew (tinga chicken and tinga beef here, shredded in chipotle garlic sauce) that fills tacos, tostadas, sopes, tortas and quesadillas across the whole menu.
Does La Tingeria cater? Yes — group catering from the restaurants and from the original food truck, for office lunches, birthdays, graduations and community events, all 100% halal. Contact the restaurant directly for a quote; no fixed catering price list is published.
Before You Go
La Tingeria works because it refuses to be two restaurants: it is a serious Mexico City–style taqueria — handmade tortillas, birria with its consommé, a torta that eats like a full meal — and a fully halal kitchen, in the same breath, at taqueria prices. Go to Falls Church for the original room; go to Alexandria when you want seats, parking and a beer with it; go on a Tuesday for the $2 deal, and confirm its terms at the counter. Order the birria first, the tinga second, and do not leave without churros.
Exploring more Mexican menus? Our Mi Cocina menu guide covers the Dallas Tex-Mex institution and its Mambo Taxi, and the Mesero menu guide walks through another Dallas Tex-Mex favorite, dish by dish.
Enjoying the menu guides?
Follow MenuExplore for daily restaurant menus & prices — know the menu before you go.
