Athens restaurant where Asian and Latin cuisines are besties

Long before I started writing about food in Athens, I was just a guy who was super loyal to his favorite local restaurants, and Doc Chey’s Noodle House was one of them.

My friends and I ate there so often that, when it closed in 2014, I actively avoided the new tenant for more than a decade. Not because I wasn’t interested in the food, but because Doc’s was our place, and I wasn’t ready to meet its replacement.

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Taqueria Tsunami restaurant in downtown Athens, Ga., on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026.

That “new” tenant at 320 E. Clayton St. is Taqueria Tsunami, which has been a local favorite for the past 10 years. The Marietta-based chain location is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Due to my ongoing mission to eat at every downtown restaurant, I finally decided to make peace with the loss of Doc’s and make friends with its successor.

Taqueria Tsunami was founded by Larry and Cheryl Lynch, who opened the first location in Marietta in 2002. The restaurant combines Asian and Latin influences in a menu built around tacos, bowls, salads and appetizers.

The downtown Athens location opened in 2015, and the 1791 Oconee Connector location followed in 2023. According to the company’s website, Taqueria Tsunami currently operates seven locations across Georgia.

Diners can choose from tacos inspired by flavors from Mexico, Korea, Japan, and elsewhere, alongside poke bowls, quesadillas, salads, and shareable starters. The bar menu includes margaritas, cocktails, beer, wine, sake and soju. Appetizers generally range from about $8 to $16, and most entrees and larger plates fall between roughly $12 and $17. The downtown Athens location also serves Heineken 0.0, one of my alcohol-free favorites.

Mini Poke Tacos from Taqueria Tsunami restaurant in downtown Athens, Ga., on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026.

For my visit, I ordered the Mini Poke Tacos and the Avocado Cilantro Egg Rolls. Priced at $12.50, the trio of smaller-scale tacos features sushi-grade tuna tossed with soy sesame dressing and topped with sesame seeds, spicy mayo, and cilantro. The Avocado Cilantro Egg Rolls cost $9.50 and are served with Santa Fe ranch and sweet Thai chili sauce. I also tried their fried yuca, a starchy side that looks and tastes like double-thick French fries.

I’m not too proud to admit that my avoidance of Taqueria Tsunami was immature and unprofessional, and I truly had no idea what I was missing.

Sushi is one of my favorite foods, and to experience that fresh texture and lightly spicy taste while biting into a hard-shell taco bordered on mind-blowing. The egg rolls were perfectly crispy and paired well when coated in the chili sauce. It was enough to make me forget about Doc Chey’s, which was a big step for me.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Athens restaurant where Asian and Latin cuisines are besties | Exclusive