A crisp birria taco has a small engineering challenge: the tortilla needs enough crunch to be satisfying, but it still has to hold onto all that meat. At Simon’s Tacos in Sioux Falls, the birria tacos manage the job with substantial, crisped tortillas, a generous filling and a separate cup of consommé waiting alongside the plate.
The dipping is not an afterthought. A taco can go into the broth one bite at a time, picking up that rich, meaty layer without surrendering its texture all at once. It is a simple setup, but it turns a compact taco order into a meal with a little ritual built in.
Simon’s is a casual counter-service restaurant, a useful format when the craving is direct and uncomplicated. Order at the front, settle in for the short wait, then pick up food while Spanish music keeps the room from becoming too quiet.
Start with the birria
The tacos get plenty of attention, but birria appears in several directions across the menu. There is a birria plate with tacos, rice and beans, along with birria in a burrito, torta, chimichanga and taco combo. That range is handy when one person wants the classic dipping-taco experience and another wants the same deeply savory meat in a larger format.
The birria torta also comes with consommé for dipping, which gives the sandwich the same rich companion as the tacos. It is a good example of how the restaurant takes a favorite filling beyond one signature order rather than treating it as a one-item specialty.
Rice and beans are more than obligatory side items here. They are regularly praised alongside taco orders and plates, providing the familiar, comforting foundation under a meal that may otherwise be heavy on crisp tortillas, sauces and meat.
A chimichanga with its own sauce lineup
The birria chimichanga is one of the more elaborate ways to approach the menu. It arrives with a birria cup, an enchilada-style sauce and red and green sauces served separately, so the crisp shell can be handled in stages instead of getting lost under one blanket of flavor.
The red sauce brings noticeable heat. The green sauce has a lime-forward tang with heat of its own, offering a brighter counterpoint to the birria. An orange sauce served with a chimichanga has a milder, warm character, compared to puréed orange bell pepper.
That separation matters in a fried entrée. The shell stays crisp, and the individual elements retain their own personalities rather than turning into a single, indistinct filling.
Burritos built for a serious appetite
The menu runs well beyond birria, with tacos, burritos, enchiladas, carne asada, fajitas, chimichangas and combination plates. Portions commonly land on the generous side, especially with the burritos. Some are substantial enough to split or to turn into tomorrow’s lunch.
The surf-and-turf burrito brings steak, shrimp, potatoes, rice and beans together in one large package. It is a maximalist order, but not a random one: the potatoes and rice make it particularly filling, while the steak and shrimp give it two different savory notes.
The Simon Burrito and California Burrito are also notable choices for diners seeking a full-scale burrito rather than a quick snack. Then there is the Philly burrito, a more unexpected turn on a Mexican menu and a nice reminder that the kitchen does not limit itself to the usual list of standards.
Breakfast gets into the oversized-burrito conversation, too. A breakfast burrito has been large enough for two people to share, and horchata makes a natural companion when breakfast calls for something sweeter than coffee.
Fresh vegetables and a few less usual tacos
A plate of Mexican food can be rich without feeling flat, and the freshly cut vegetables help with that balance. They bring a sharper, fresher note alongside grilled meats, sauces and beans, especially useful in a meal that includes several items to sample.
Lengua tacos offer a different path from the usual steak or chicken order. The meat has been described as tender and well seasoned, the sort of taco to order when the table is already sharing a few familiar choices and wants one more thing in the mix.
Seafood tacos add another distinct lane. Fish and shrimp tacos use large pieces of grilled, seasoned seafood, accompanied by a smoky chipotle sauce. The sauce is flavorful without standing out as particularly spicy, which lets the grilled fish and shrimp keep their place on the plate.
Pick a bottle from the cooler
The drink selection is unusually worth noticing for a quick-service meal. Mexican glass-bottle soft drinks, including multiple Jarritos flavors, provide more variety than the standard fountain-drink routine.
Cane-sugar Coca-Cola is another bottled option. For a meal of birria, tacos and sauces, a cold glass bottle has a certain practical appeal: it is easy to bring back to the table, easy to share alongside an order, and pleasantly old-school without making a big performance of it.
Horchata is another fitting choice, particularly with breakfast or anything spicy. The menu offers enough range that a table can take different approaches—one person with a fruit-flavored Jarritos, another with horchata, another reaching for Coke.
Easygoing counter-service dining
The rhythm here is straightforward. Food is ordered at the counter and collected there rather than delivered through traditional table service. Indoor dining is available, and the setup suits both a sit-down meal and a takeout order that needs to get back on the road.
Food has often come out hot and quickly, with several visits describing waits in the five- to 10-minute range. That is not a promise of a particular turnaround on every day, but it does fit the restaurant’s efficient, casual character.
A broad menu also helps with mixed appetites. One diner can make a focused meal of tacos and consommé, while another goes all in on a burrito or combination plate. Enchiladas, carne asada and birria tacos make a particularly substantial spread when several plates land at the table together.
A few practical notes
A free parking lot with plentiful parking has been reported, an appreciated small convenience when the goal is a filling lunch or a no-fuss dinner. Individual spending commonly falls around the $10 to $20 range, though an order can vary depending on how far into the burrito and drink list you go.
Vegetarian dishes are identified on the menu, though the restaurant’s strongest calling card remains its meat-centered offerings, especially birria. The broad selection makes Simon’s Tacos a good place to return to with a different order in mind; the burrito list alone can keep that project going for a while.