Des Moines Gems, Guides, and Goodies (DSM G3)

Des Moines Gems, Guides, and Goodies (DSM G3)

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Des Moines Gems, Guides, and Goodies (DSM G3)
Des Moines Gems, Guides, and Goodies (DSM G3)
Gems: Tasty Tacos

Gems: Tasty Tacos

It's the shell, Des Moines.

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Professional Contrarian
May 02, 2025
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Des Moines Gems, Guides, and Goodies (DSM G3)
Des Moines Gems, Guides, and Goodies (DSM G3)
Gems: Tasty Tacos
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Close up of a taco from Tasty Tacos

Tasty Tacos

The Deets

Locations via OpenStreetMap, a Google Maps replacement!

  • East

  • West Des Moines

  • South

  • Northeast

  • Ankeny

  • Clive (newly relocated)

Hours

Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Closed Sundays

Delivery

They deliver, and you can order through their website by location.

Interior of Tasty Tacos with their name in frames and a colorful, lighted message board

What Is It about Tasty Tacos?

Tacos don’t fall in my top 5 favorite foods.

I can hear you yelling at me.

When my dad wanted Mexican food, our family dined at Chi-Chi’s like the proper, naïve, Midwestern food noobs we were. There, we ordered fajitas. Every time. If Chi-Chi’s had tacos on the menu, I have no recollection of them. I didn’t like taco seasoning. I still don’t. Chili powder tastes like dirty socks to me. I’m convinced it’s like cilantro in that I have some sort of DNA aversion to it. Not cilantro. I love cilantro.

Throughout high school, I walked to Taco Juan’s John’s damn near every day and got two chicken soft shell tacos with sour cream. That was the extent of my appreciation for tacos.

I have no memory of going to Tasty Tacos until 2007. Even then, I wasn’t wowed. I was still thinking with TacoChiChiJohn’s brain.

I did, however, grow the fuck up. Now, Tasty Tacos is in my regular rotation.

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