Central Square’s Beantown Taqueria will close after 13 years
Beantown’s rotation of buy-one, get-one deals and long hours made it an MIT standby
Vivian Hir–The Tech
In an undated letter posted in their restaurant, Beantown Taqueria has announced that they will close due to building renovations this summer. Although proprietors are unsure about the exact date, Beantown’s closure could happen as early as July. The letter expressed Beantown’s “deepest gratitude” for “13 years of service” and mentioned “the possibility of relocating to a new location.”
To save money, the letter stated that Beantown Taqueria would discontinue their signature rotation of buy-one, get-one (BOGO) deals, which applied to specific items for each day of the week. Instead, the restaurant will offer “Get One Half Off inflation specials.”
The Central Square restaurant has served Mexican and Tex-Mex food at 245 Massachusetts Avenue since 2012. A Boston Globe article from 2013 praised the chilaquiles as “wonderfully resourceful” and the tacos as “food coma-inducing.” Beyond its food, Beantown’s BOGO options and long hours (closing at 4 a.m. on weekends) made it popular with MIT community members. Student organizations, offices, and labs also took advantage of the restaurant’s catering options for events.
Beantown manager Hugo Mendez told The Tech that landlords notified the restaurant about the building renovations around February 2025. Mendez added that vendors do not know whether they will be able to return. Mendez described “generations” of MIT students coming into the restaurant, his favorite memories being of MIT’s Solar Electric Vehicle Team (SEVT) and Motorsports, who work nearby at 265 Massachusetts Avenue (Building N51).
As a SEVT member who “spent a lot of late nights working in N51/N52,” Sophie Fan ’26 enjoyed weekly catered lunches from Beantown every Sunday. Fan praised the burritos, birria quesadillas, tres leches, and flan. She stated that Beantown was “so kind to support our build team.”
Gloria Zhu ’26 wrote to The Tech that as a freshman, she ate at Beantown at least once every week and “memorized” the BOGO deals. Zhu, who especially liked the restaurant’s carnitas quesadillas, wrote that Beantown’s late hours, proximity to campus, relative affordability, and quality were “all a college student could really ask for.”