Mi Tierra, a Seaside (and taco lovers') institution, is finally set to reopen in late May or June.

This is not an April Fool's joke, as that would constitute cruel and unusual punishment to taco lovers everywhere, but the best news of 2025 has arrived: The reopening of Seaside's Mi Tierra market and taqueria is imminent, just a few long weeks away. 

But given how long the wait's been so far, a few more weeks feels like tomorrow. 

When Mi Tierra closed for renovations in August 2022, the plan was for the market and taqueria to reopen the following spring. For fans of the market’s beloved taqueria—which arguably had the best al pastor tacos in the 831, among other delights—it was a tough blow, but at least it was for less than a year. 

And then spring 2023 passed and the building just sat there, still shuttered, with no visible work having been done. That was because the renovation would be a lot more complicated than originally envisioned, as much of the building’s infrastructure—things like rebar—was laid haphazardly, and made work more labor-intensive.

Oswaldo Mejia, then the architect of the remodel, told the Weekly in August 2023 that construction was planned and would take six to eight months. But one of the challenges then, it turned out, was lining up contractors at the right times to do their work in succession.

A year ago, the owner of Mi Tierra, Manuel Yepez, brought in a new architect, David Mena, to finally complete the project. Mena says progress is going well and that his team is “shooting for the end of May” to reopen, though Jose Bazua, Seaside’s economic development director, thinks sometime in June is more realistic. 

“It’s the small details that are taking the time,” Bazua says, things like making sure everything is up to code from a fire and safety perspective. And when it is finally ready to open, Bazua says, it’s not going to be without fanfare: the city is planning to hold a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the moment.

And as for whether the tacos will still be as good, Mena says he doesn’t see why not—they’re family recipes, and the family hasn’t changed.