Good Mexican in Downtown Morgantown: Monarca Taqueria

📍 236 Walnut St, Morgantown, WV 26505
🍽️ Queso, Guacamole, Birriamen & Chicken Burrito

There’s a brand new eatery downtown that comes highly recommended by The Morgantown Dish! Monarca-Taqueria is an authentic Mexican restaurant with all sorts of delicious specialties.

My main dish was a burrito stuffed with rice, beans, your choice of protein, pico de gallo and cheese. It is a simple, but staple item to fill up on. I must admit, however, that once I tried the queso, I was dipping everything right into that! Not only the tortilla chips that come with the dip, but my burrito, too. My scrambled egg breakfast the next morning found itself smothered in the leftover queso. Can you tell I love cheese? If you do, too, this is one to put on your most wanted list. Next up on the dip list, was guacamole. It was creamy and stuffed with everything you want in guacamole, and kept well into the next day. I would’ve got the salsa too, to make myself a trio, but I had many other things to try on their extensive menu. The burrito with one chip and dip option is a large meal!

The menu carries plenty of options. Tacos, of course, as that is their named specialty and next on my dishes to try, but also burritos, fajitas, enchiladas, tamales, chimichangas, tamales, and more - the list goes on. You can also find an array of dips in addition to what I tried, Mexican street corn or elote, and one of the most talked about dish from other foodies around Morgantown, their Birriamen.

Birriamen is essentially the combination of birria and ramen. Birria is a deeply flavorful stew that includes slow-cooked dark meat simmered in peppers, herbs and spices, which is a little bit smoky and just a touch spicy. Throw in ramen noodles to soak up the broth and you have yourself birriamen! If you want a lunch that packs a flavor punch, add this one to your order. Don’t forget to add a Mexican Coke to drink, made with cane sugar as opposed to American Coke’s high-fructose corn syrup.

If you want to try it, the taqueria opens at 11:30 am every day except for Sunday, with late-night hours until 2:30 am Thursday through Saturday. The staff was super friendly and happy to serve you some of the best Mexican food in town. 

I didn’t get the tacos and I need to. There is so much more on the menu that I have to try! 10/10, I am definitely going again!

*This article was originally written by The Morgantown Dish for the Dominion Post and has been repurposed digitally for the blog.