Barrio Tacos has closed its restaurant at 41 Lafayette St. in Salem after five years, ending a run that began when the build-your-own taco chain first opened its doors there in summer 2022. The closure leaves just two Barrio Tacos locations remaining in New England, down from three before the Salem shutdown.
According to MassLive, the company said it “made the difficult decision” not to renew its lease at the Salem spot. The restaurant announced the closure in a Facebook post Thursday, per the same report, and the Lafayette Street location has since been removed from Barrio Tacos' own website. Boston Restaurant Talk, which first reported on the Salem closure, also confirmed the removal through the chain's site.
In the Facebook announcement, the eatery pointed its Salem regulars toward its two surviving New England outposts, encouraging customers to visit its other locations in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Those two restaurants are now the only Barrio Tacos locations left in the region following the Lafayette Street closure.
A Cleveland-Born Chain With Great Lakes Roots
Barrio Tacos was established in 2012 in Tremont, Ohio, part of the Cleveland area, and the brand has long maintained most of its footprint in the Great Lakes region even as it expanded into New England. One of its Cleveland-area outposts, the Lakewood location, was once named among the top 10 taco stands in the country by Gayot.
Patch had reported back when the Salem restaurant was first coming together that Barrio Tacos was planning a summer 2022 opening at 41 Lafayette Street, moving into the Salem storefront as part of its push into the Massachusetts market. That report did not confirm the restaurant's actual opening date, only the company's stated plans at the time.
Closures Have Hit the Chain's Ohio Home Turf Too
The Salem shutdown comes as Barrio Tacos has also been pulling back in its home state. As reported by the Dispatch, the chain shuttered its Fifth by Northwest location at 1416 W. Fifth Ave. in 2025, and this year it closed its last remaining Columbus restaurant, at 1870 N. High St. in the University District.
It is not clear what, if anything, will take over the Salem space once occupied by Barrio Tacos. For now, fans of the build-your-own taco concept in the region will need to make the trip to Haverhill or across the state line to Portsmouth to get their fix.
