Barracuda Taco Stand opens first Alabama location in Huntsville with street-style tacos and outdoor dining
Barracuda Taco Stand, Huntsville’s newest neighborhood hangout and margarita garden, officially opened to the public on Sunday, March 22. The restaurant marks the brand’s first location in Alabama, joining existing locations in Louisiana and Mississippi.
Located in Huntsville, the fast-casual concept offers a flexible dining experience designed to serve a wide range of customers throughout the day. The restaurant is open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week, with a menu that spans breakfast, lunch and dinner. It also features year-round outdoor seating and catering options.
Founder Brett Jones said the goal is to create a space that fits seamlessly into customers’ routines, whether they are stopping in briefly or staying longer to gather with others.
“It needs to be a spot you could go on a date night, bring your kids right after school, catch a happy hour, hang out with a group of friends and where people can come and go as they want to,” he said.
Jones continued, “We want the experience to be the garden aspect, but also if you want to utilize it like some of those fast-casual brands that are out there, we aim to run operations just as well as those kinds of places.”
Barracuda Taco Stand is known as a Mexican-inspired taco concept, serving fresh, street-style tacos with creative flavor combinations. The menu focuses on simple, high-quality ingredients, with an emphasis on bold flavors and made-to-order items.
Jones said the most popular item is the crispy fish taco, made with tempura-battered local catfish.
“Northern Mexico is kind of a big influence on most of our food here. We also have what we call salsa matcha here. It’s an olive oil-based, toasted chili salsa that’s really smoky. We also have crema that we make in house.”
In addition to its dine-in offerings, Barracuda offers catering for businesses, individuals and families, including what the team calls “DIY taco parties.”
“You can just pop open the box and immediately start serving out of it,” Jones said.
Jones said he and his team initially planned to open their next location in Nashville, but after spending time in Huntsville, he quickly realized the Rocket City was where Barracuda’s next location was meant to be.
“I’ve got good friends here and a business partner also was like, ‘You should really check out Huntsville. So, we got in touch with a great broker here and he immediately put us on to some understanding (for me mostly) what the communities looked like, what the layout was, where Huntsville’s going.”
Jones said that with every visit he made to Huntsville, he realized how much he liked the area.
“As much as we look at demographics and traffic patterns and things like that, mostly it’s like, how does it feel? Does that feel like the right spot? And that’s kind of what landed it for us,” he said.
To celebrate Barracuda’s grand opening, Jones and his team donated $1,500 to Huntsville’s Manna House.
“They do a ton of work and feeding families in particular. That is completely aligned with what our mission is as an accessible, value-driven place that also serves really nourishing high quality food,” he said.
Jones said the team has been encouraged by the early response from the Huntsville community.
“The enthusiasm and support we’ve received from the community have been incredible, and every visit makes us prouder to call Huntsville home. We’re grateful for the warm welcome and honored to give back through our donation to Manna House,” Jones said.
