THE TACO HIT LIST

You want tacos? We’ve got tacos.
And we keep adding more.

The taqueria openings of the pandemic years gifted the Capital Region and Hudson Valley with regional Mexican options from Oaxacan dishes quietly fired in bodegas to vibrant spots pressing nixtamalized masa tortillas from scratch. When gringo chains sprout up i n high traffic shopping areas, we ask why and feel bad for customers don’t know there are better options minutes down the road.

We know a few upstate restaurants have reliably raised the street taco game with exceptional care given to their nixtamalized dough. (We see you, Casa Susanna, Viva Empanadas, and Casita at Mass MoCA.) But, when time is short and the taco urge hits, we want the $3 taco that puts Taco Bell to shame, or mix-and-match combos for under $10. The list sticks with locally-owned, small businesses, with one (sometimes two) locations—but no franchise chains. We’re constantly scouting, but we’d wager this list has some hidden gems. Save our list + make your own taco map.

—-RIP Bodega Aguila Real. Some open, some close. We keep tabs. Last updated 5/5/26‍ ‍

ALBANY

1. Cielito Lindo
   31 Central Ave., Albany  •  @cielitolindony  •  cielitolindony.com

   Hey, Cielito Lindo! The name which roughly translates to “sweetheart” lives up to its name with the space—a short walk up Central Avenue from Center Square—decked out with faux flowers, hanging baskets, light wood tables and modern white chairs. We like hanging out in here watching couples linger over an afternoon plate and the Mexican cowboy movie in the background. Oaxacan owner, Rufino Vazquez-Suarez, opened Cielito Linda with his family in November 2022 with dishes from chilaquiles to tacos de la casa — think potato with chorizo, or steak layered with onion, cream and cheese. Classic tacos can be ordered as a mixed trio, with a choice of eight fillings from chipotle chicken tinga to birria. Best news of all is that the classically double-layered tortillas are puffy and fragrant from their time over comal heat.

2. El Patron Mexican Grill & Cantina
   198 Central Ave., Albany  •  @elpatrongrillcantina  •  elpatronalbany.com

   The bright orange building is practically a beacon on Central Avenue, and once you’re inside — amid music, soccer on the TV, takeout traffic and families dining in — the energy is entirely its own. The building has served as a church, a film location (you may recognize it from Ironweed), and has housed bilingual Mass and immigration legal advice. Peruvian restaurateur Ray Rojas, who has partnered on multiple Mexican restaurants across upstate, adapted his menu early on to include Tex-Mex options alongside more classic preparations. The taco trio ($14.50) is customizable: try spicy pork al pastor heavy with pineapple, shrimp with melted cheese, or Baja-style tacos in chicken or beef.

3. El Rey Mex-Italia
   215 Western Ave., Albany  •  @elreymexitalia  •  elreymexitalia.com

   This lively spot deep in the student district at Western and has pizza and pasta — even pasta-topped pizza — but it’s the giant taco sign flapping outside this corner spot in the former Mary Jane bookstore on Western and Quail that draws people in. The three co-owners — two brothers and a cousin from Oaxaca — pooled three years of savings while still cooking in local kitchens (TJ’s, Lanie’s) to open this casual, spacious spot with TVs and a surprising amount of seating. Traditional corn tacos with a choice of dozen fillings are topped with cilantro, onions and lime, and the birria—available unusually in shrimp, chicken or beef—comes with an unusually rich dipping broth.

   If you like fusion cuisine, check out our feature on three fusion restaurants.

4. Oaxaquéna Triqui
   68 N. Lake Ave., Albany  •  (no public Instagram — check Facebook)  •  oaxaquenatriqui.com

   The taqueria spot that started it all when I found it in the back of a North Lake bodego and reviewed it not long after opening in 2016. Now relocated across the street to a much larger space at 68 N. Lake Ave., the retail pantry has gone and prices have gone up. (But then food prices have definitely risen, so no shade there.) Service is still warm and friendly, though it helps to speak a bit of Spanish or use Google translate if you have specific questions. Owners Gricelda Herrera and Hector Hernandez press soft flour sopes and fluffy tortillas by hand over an imported comal, and the warmth of southern Mexico’s Triqui cuisine is in Oaxacan dishes featuring epazote, hoja santa, fresh tomatillo and huitlacoche. Taco options include are the classics, plus traditional chapulines (crickets) and lengua (beef tongue). Look for menuda, chivo, and huitlacoche in weekend Facebook specials. It’s an icon at this point.

5. Taqueria Sabor Latino
   117 Lexington Ave., Albany  •  @saborlatinony  •  (order via DoorDash/GrubHub)

   This corner spot has been quietly doing its thing for a couple of years but every time I mention it people people react as if its new. The best part of walking in off the sidewalk is that it feels like crossing the border with little children sometimes running around, family members chattering with staff and the counter and shelves crammed with religious photos, bowls of chiles, flashing lights and pesos taped to figurines of Jesus and the Madonna. Handwritten menus and Mexican football jerseys line the wall and a fridge filled with every flavor or Jarritos glows in one corner. Owner Sabrina Santacruz, from Oaxaca, runs the open kitchen with her family sizzling up meats to order. For $9 you get three tacos from 10 fillings, including harder-to-find options like mesquite chicken and chopped smoked pork alongside al pastor. Lengua costs a little more at $12.50. Tacos are topped classically with cilantro, onion, lime but you can dress them with squeeze bottles of habanero yellow sauce, salsa verde and salsa roja.

6. Viva Cinco de Mayo
   809 Madison Ave., Albany  •  @vivacincodemayo  •  vivacincodemayoalbanyny.com

   The bright orange walls with festive butterflies and striped tapestries set the mood, but the tacos do the talking here. Double-layered soft corn tortillas blanketed in the classic cilantro, onion and lime combo. Pork, stained red with chile and spice, plays off sticky roasted pineapple for a smashing al pastor; chipotle chicken is shredded and gently smoky; cumin-and-salt-seasoned pork confit—excellent, no notes— and their pan-crisped tongue is done right. They don’t have chapulines, but an occasional tripe special surfaces. Genuinely fun spot whether it’s that solo taco mission or casual date night.

   COLONIE

7. Toro Cantina
   111 Wolf Road, Colonie  •  @torocantina  •  torocantina.com

   This looks a little out of place here as a wildly popular deep-pocketed Wolf Road destination for big parties and family events. The huge oversized burritos carried overhead, pendulum-swinging chocolate piñata for dessert, and faux tree growing in the middle can feel a little gimmicky—but we also think it has broad appeal, decked out with Mexican skull art (calaveras) and glammy curved velvet sofas upholstered in teal and green.

   So they’re landed on our our taco list largely because Wolf Road is such a tricky place for legit, non-chain, takeout fast food. (Shout out to Legends for Turkish takeout, or Spicy Mint for Indian.) At Toro, you can order to-go or dine in next to a machine that presses 900 tortillas an hour. Every tortilla starts with nixtamalized, imported Mexican blue corn ground into masa from scratch. As tacos come two to an order, you can choose 50/50 flour-corn blend or blue-corn tortilla, or mix for an inexplicable $3 fee. We like the lamb barbacoa slow-cooked for 10 hours with banana leaves, garlic and spices; roast chicken with jicama radish coleslaw; red snapper with cilantro pesto, and sweet potato with goat cheese and huitlacoche. If you’re dining in, add the sampler of seven house-made salsas too.

   BALLSTON SPA

8. Taqueria Guadalajara
   2007 Doubleday Ave., Ballston Spa  •  @arribataqueriaguadalajara (Facebook) 

   Saratoga and Ballston Spa residents landed well when Taqueria Guadalajara opened in the space formerly occupied by Alaturco. Owner Gilberto Padilla hails from Guadalajara — the Jalisco capital — and the flavors and colors of his hometown are all over the muraled walls and striped tablecloths. It’s a casual, come-as-you-are spot with an open kitchen and a small service counter where tequila, beer and cocktails are also available. Tacos come four to an order in about half a dozen fillings — shrimp, chorizo, lengua, marinated beef birria — each topped classically with cilantro, onion and lime. Priced a touch higher than most ($13, with lengua and birria at $18.50), but the quality is there.

   GREEN ISLAND

9. Taqueria Tren Maya
   23 Lower Hudson Ave., Green Island  •  (no public Instagram — check website)  •  taqueriatrenmaya.com

   The name comes from the Tren Maya — the ambitious Yucatan Peninsula rail project built to connect coastal tourists with inland Mayan sites — and there’s something similarly unexpected about finding this place at all. It’s tucked into a Green Island strip mall right behind a shooting range, which makes the riot of cascading faux flowers, strung flags and bright colors inside feel all the more like a discovery. Oaxacan owner Anatolia de Jesus Cornelio (who also runs Taqueria Central on Central Avenue in Albany and Al Punto Picante in Rensselaer) keeps this one open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. — a remarkable span that covers breakfast chilaquiles through late-night birria. The menu is unusually broad: tacos arabe, carne asada, tacos de cachete (beef cheek), blade-shaped machetes stuffed with meats or cheese, sopes, and more. Settle into a checkered-cloth booth with a cerveza or a tamarindo-horchata from the counter machine and take your time.

   SCHENECTADY

10. La Mexicana Restaurant & Grocery
    1759 State St., Schenectady  •  (Facebook)  •  lamexicanarestaurantandgrocery.com

    Enter through the grocery side, navigating tight aisles heaving with Mexican breads, colorful hot sauces and dry beans to reach the counter at the back where you’ll order your tacos and watch the cooks through the pass-through window on the kitchen. But drift left, past the fridge of Jarritos sodas, and you’ll enter a newer and large dining room with yellow walls, long tables and a full bar. This is a family business, and the recipes draw on the Oaxaca and Jalisco regions of Mexico. Soft flour tortillas are filled with everything from carnitas to lengua, dressed with cilantro, onion, lime and a housemade salsa verde. If you’re waiting for take out, choose a few sugared fruits by the counter as a post-prandial sweet treat.

    TROY

11. La Capital Tacos
    161 4th St., Troy (+ a smaller Latham location inside Galleria 7 )  •  @la_capital_tacos  •  lacapitaltaquerias.com

    The tagline is direct: “Real tacos by Real Mexicans.” Although, La Capital has an outpost in Galleria 7 in Latham, our heart is in the original Troy spot in the former Capital Taxi stand anchoring the corner of Fourth and Ferry. Its walls covered in stickers and graffiti, a beautiful, vibrant leafy deck is ideal in warm weather behind the most enormous rainbow colored block letters lining the parking lot. Chef Yair De La Rosa, a Mexico City native, keeps the menu tight and always on point: carnitas (slow-roasted pork), asada (strip steak) or calabacitas (sautéed squash and zucchini medley). Buy a mixed trio with classic cilantro, onion and salsa ($10), or go “con todos” ($12) with guacamole, lettuce, pico de gallo and cheese piled on. Simple pleasures, reliably executed.

12. Taco Libre
    Albany Empire State Plaza •  @tacolibreny  •  tacolibreny.com

    An off-shoot of Mex Cocina in Troy’s Monument Square, Taco Libre has made tacos its whole identity when it opened in the since shuttered River Street Market, a food hall in the waterfront Hedley Building. But its Empire State Plaza underground location is going with their siganture rust-red birria folded, sprinkled with cotija cheese and served with finger-staining dipping broth and lime on the side. Choose from pulled pork, pineapple-kissed al pastor, chorizo, strip steak and vegetarian/vegan options. They rotate proteins so not all are available every day, but their tinga chicken and lengua are worth seeking out.

    NASSAU + GUILDERLAND

13. Tacos Diablo
    20 Albany Ave., Nassau + 2080 Western Ave., Guilderland (Hamilton Square) • @tacosdiablony • tacosdiablo.com

    In opening Tacos Diablo, Chef Dominic Giuliano, a Southern California native, switched from fine dining to what he loves: tacos, a short menu with counter service + food made to order. In Columbia County, the Nassau location occupies a renovated, rustic roadside building with an indoor dining area and picnic space out back that draws a loyal crowd. The newer Guilderland outpost in Hamilton Square has the same menu in, as you’d expect, a more contemporary space with fast counter service for an easy weeknight fix. In both locations, the braised beef barbacoa, slow-cooked carnitas, green-chile chicken, and seasonal veg tacos are reliable hits. Get the elote. Save room for churros with Mexican hot chocolate sauce. Wash it down with their Jalapeño Lemonade.