First Look: Soulful Tacos in Farthest North Dallas

Soulful Tacos in farthest North Dallas at the corner of Marsh Lane and Trinity Mills had its official opening  Feb. 22. This physical location has seen many restaurants come and go during the last several years, so every newcomer deserves a new chance. This looked promising: Who doesn’t like tacos, and the more soulful the better for that matter

Their press release states that they’re a Black-owned business with a Black culture-inspired interior and drinks and cocktails made with Black-owned wine and liquor brands. In terms of entertainment, Soulful Tacos has a state-of-the-art entertainment system that "will allow guests to experience multiple decades of music videos from some of the most iconic entertainers representing the Black culture over the years.”
Owner Rio Lee was in the kitchen, and general manager Vincent was up front taking orders and answering questions. The QR code menu was still getting updated. Items not listed on the menu at the time but available were street tacos at three to an order for $10.

We decided to order off what we could see listed on our phone, which included several single taco selections such as Puff Daddy, which comes in a deep-fried corn shell, Erk and Jerk Taco (a Caribbean-infused chicken), BBQ Hennessy Pulled Pork Taco (Hennessy BBQ infused pulled pork) and Off the Hook Taco (fried catfish or shrimp). Da Corner Store Taco is a bag of Doritos with melted cheese and meat.

Customers pick a protein of ground beef, steak, chicken, ground turkey or plant-based. The single tacos start at about $4.50, while the two-pack and Chi Town Super Taco (a larger taco on grilled pita) cost a bit more at $8.99 and $6.99, respectively.

Sides include nachos at $9.99 and fries, cream corn, rice and refried beans (each at $2.99). They also appear to have a full bar, although we didn't try it on our visit.
We decided on a semi-random sampling of four different tacos to try to get a flavor of the place. We settled on a steak Puff Daddy, a shrimp Off the Hook, a BBQ Hennessy Pulled Pork Taco and an Erk and Jerk.

All of the tacos were made with fresh ingredients and brought to our table hot. The beef was tender enough and the little puffed shell complimented it well. The pulled pork came with a pile of coleslaw on top; it didn't drown out the pork, nor drench the tortilla as can often be the case.

The jerk chicken was also flavorful, not spicy but also not bland. It was just jerky enough. The shrimp taco was nice with only three shrimp, but they were large shrimp, breaded and fried. All were mildly spiced.

The only beef (or shrimp?) here is the size of the portions. These are small tacos. The puffed taco in particular was, shall we say, “dainty.” Practically an hors-d’oeuvre at maybe 2.5  inches in diameter, and the other tacos weren’t much bigger. They were “just enough” for a nice little snack, but if we were expecting this to be a meal, we’d have had to order half a dozen or more.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with a small taco, and again, the flavor was there, but the dollars-to-square-inches ratio here is pretty small. Just know that going in.

Soulful Tacos, 3335 E. Trinity Mills Road, Suite 100. Closed Monday. 11 a.m - 10 p.m.Tuesday - Thursday; 11 a.m. - 12 a.m. Friday - Saturday; 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Sunday