Tacocracy

Another retroactive review, from 20 714
First I’ll say. I’m very pleased with what’s happening in Northside. I grew up in Northside in the 1970’s when you had better NOT get caught walking or riding or driving while black or you’ll catch a major beatdown.
But NOW, it’s become a bastion of progressiveness, diversity, innovation, and all around fly living.(for the most part). The house I lived in is decrepit as hell, but I’d move back into one of those rehabs or condos in a smoking hot minute.
But I digress… about Tacocracy
1. The beef on my tacos were overcooked. I believe the meat may have been slow roasted and then dipped in sauce for serving, however, it may have sat too long.
2. The water was served in a big igloo pitcher. Was it filtered? Dunno. Looked like a few floaters in there. Was it pulp from lemons? Dunno. A brotha didn’t see any lemons.
3. The chorizo was dry as well. It doesn’t take that long to prepare fresh, does it?
4. The corn chips were stale. but ALL the Salsas were good… so…
…I’ll have to give Tacocracy another chance.maybe.

I love me some good tacos, unfortunately this was a let down. Not only was my overpriced taco gone in like three bites, it was dry and left me hungry and disappointed. I went with my two friends in efforts to try someplace new and different and also because they serve vegetarian friendly options. The décor was unique and fun and the waitresses were stereotypically hipster (not a bad thing.) I just expected better. Maybe throw in some tomatoes or sour cream on the taco so my mouth doesn’t feel like the Sahara desert afterwards? Maybe I just chose the wrong option, I have considered that. However, my other friend was also bummed out and we left immediately with the group census 1. We aren’t coming back 2. We’re still hungry 3. Let’s go someplace else to eat. Oh well, there’s plenty more places to try in Cincinnati, this just won’t be marked a favorite.

Paul and I took our six-​year-​old granddaughter here today after finding that Ruth’s was not open for lunch. Our granddaughter can be picky, so we were a bit concerned, but it turned out to be a good experience.
We ordered the seven tacos with guacamole and three salsas. For tacos, we went with Here Comes the Regular, Buffalo Chicken, Tiger something (cannot remember the full name, but it came with mashed potatoes, the chorizo taco, an the duck taco. My favorite was the Buffalo Chicken, as the Gorgonzola on it was delicious. I ended up giving my Tiger to my granddaughter after she tried Here Comes the Regular and complaining that it was too spicy. I did get one bite of the Tiger in, and it was also delicious. I thought the Hear Comes the Regular was kind of whatever. Paul didn’t like it at all, but he did like the duck taco. He said the chorizo taco did not taste like chorizo.
For salsas, we went with the rojo, the verde, and the garlic chile. The rojo was my favorite. It wasn’t too spicy for my granddaughter either. I also enjoyed the garlic chile. It had just the right amount of heat, bust the consistency was a bit too runny. I didn’t care for the verde at all, nor did anyone else.
We all enjoyed the guacamole. My granddaughter hesitated to try it, but once I convinced her to give it a shot, she kept going back for more.
Service had its pluses and minuses. The guy behind the counter who took our order was very friendly and had a pleasant personality. It took a bit too long to get our tacos, especially considering how quiet the place was when we came in. They were solved on the room temperature side, which led me to believe they were inadvertently left sitting for awhile.
Atmosphere also offered good and bad points. The place is definitely a dive, but that didn’t bother me. I liked the indie music, but it could be turned down just a notch. Some folks actually want to converse during a meal. Judging by the mostly twenty-​something patrons, I suspect my opinion on this matter is not a popular one.
I am willing to try Tacocracy again.

This place just speaks to my heart! It is small, but mighty!
When you enter there is a main aisle and two raised seating areas on either side. Both seating areas have 3 – 4 two-​top tables. So not alot of seating.
Make sure you check out the specials written on the chalk board (they are almost always out, but I am sure it is because they are just so delicious!)
I wish I could eat more food here… I usually get chips & salsa and two tacos. All of the salsas are delicious and the chips are good solid chips.
They have alot of vegan/​vegetarian options and I have yet to eat anything bad here!

I tried Tacocracy for the first time a week ago. Even though the place was dead at the time I went in, no one really greeted me as I walked in. The two employees just kind of stared blankly until I walked up to the counter to order. That service continued while ordering. No friendliness, all business. I ordered the green chile chorizo taco and a buffalo chicken taco. Both tacos were $ 3.75 each I believe. The green chile one was fantastic and full of flavor. The buffalo chicken one was just ok. The chicken was kind of dry, and it just wasn’t anything exciting. In hindsight I probably should’ve ordered a more interesting sounding taco. I’m not sure $ 3.75 for these sized tacos is really justified. I feel like they should be more like $ 3.25 or $ 3.50 at most for what you get. I’m willing to give Tacocracy another try but I just wasn’t blown away.

If this is one of the top rated restaurants in Cincinnati, we are in serious trouble.
Overpriced tacos that have terrible portions and overall very weak ingredients pairings. We had the «full flight» of 7 tacos and 3 salsas and guacamole and absolutely nothing was stand out in a positive way. To be honest I’m also not huge on Bakersfield either, but I have no doubt Bakersfield is considerably better.
To make matters worse, we ordered a margarita and it was trash, entirely too much triple sec. Not even 25% of it was drank between the two of us.
I hope we got a «bad night» for this restaurant. We dropped a lot of cash and I have absolutely no doubt that chipotle would have been a better choice.
Two stars only because deco was decent and service was polite.

My boyfriend, one of our best friends and myself went to Tacocracy last night to go see our friends band play. Our visit here was overall a horrifying experience. However, let’s start with the good.
The good was that I have a food allergy and the guy with a the beard who was running the register was super nice, understanding and helpful when it came to making sure that we found something I could eat without what I’m allergic too in it. I took a decent amount of his time doing this and he kept his patience and was more than understanding. My boyfriend and I decided on getting the four tacos with the two salsa and chips. I got the black bean taco and the mashed tater taco. We didn’t get any salsa with our chips but ordered guacamole instead.
We waited forever for our food but to be fair I think it was only the nice guy and one other guy making our food and everyone else who had recently ordered. The nice guy apologized multiple times for it taking forever and even messing up one of tacos and offered to remake it but I told him it was fine and not to worry about it.
Our food was alright. It wasn’t anything special and I felt like it cost way too much for what we got. I didn’t like the guacamole at all. The tacos were unique combinations and they were good, but not great.
When I leave a place spending $ 30 for four tacos and some chips, a beer and Mexican coke I expect the food to be awesome.
While we were eating and talking to our friends a homeless man came in and started asking everyone for cigarettes, and the nice guy with the beard and one other guy acted really fast on asking him to leave. Then apologizing to all of us and everyone there for the incident.
Which is fine, it happens, it’s not that big of deal. It was taken care of and we carried on. However, later in the night the same guy came back, started harassing everyone for a cigarette again while eating what looked like a plate of vomit. He cleared the whole front of the restaurant. People ether left or went back in the bar area. When I went up to the guy at the counter who had a pony tail, I told him quietly that, that guy was back in here. His response to me while being a complete cowardly jerk was that he wasn’t doing anything so he couldn’t ask him to leave.
You know why he wasn’t doing anything besides eating his plate of vomit? Because he had already harassed everyone and they had left. He made me feel really uncomfortable because he was staring me down the whole time he was in there.
After this we all left because it had already been a terrible night there.
When we were leaving we saw another homeless man going in there. If Tacocracy is going to allow homeless people to come in and harass their customers they should do something like do a pay it forward program for tacos or something to actually give them food. $ 4 for a crappy taco. I would actually do it.
The two other problems I had is 1. I find this place dirty. If you look around at their «Kitchen» area and everything else it’s dirty. If you’ve worked in a restaurant before you can spot a handful of things that you know aren’t supposed to be happening cleanliness wise.
2. They have a «Uni-​sex» bathroom. But it’s got multiple stalls in it and the stalls have holes where the original locks were supposed to be. I don’t enjoy having to clean a disgusting amount of urine off the toilet then going to the bathroom when some sleaze ball guy is standing outside of stall who could possibly be watching me.
You also have to walk through the bands playing and setting up to even get to the bathroom and I felt like a nuisance when I had to walk through one of the bands setting up.
So after we were done eating my boyfriend said «I would come back here only if I band I really wanted to see was playing.» and it ended with all of us saying «Never again. Even if a band is playing that we like.»
It’s basically a hole in the wall where you can buy over priced tacos and have a good chance of getting hepatitis while being judged by a bunch of middle aged jerk faces.
If you want a good taco or burrito just go up the street to Comet or to OTR to get Bakersfield or Gomez Salsa. Avoid this place like the plague.

This place has the best tacos ever!
The service is hit or miss.
The food is delicious but overpriced.

These were some creative tacos. I’ve never had a mashed potato taco. Of course, there’s a reason why mashed potatoes aren’t put inside taco shells. Its because that shit is gross — or at best not good.
My wife and I ordered the sampler of seven and tried everything they offered with exception of their mushroom taco. Nothing was terribly good. Everything seemed overly complicated and expensive. Perhaps nothing beats a basic taco truck taco for a buck-​fifty though.
The margaritas were alright and the salsas decent.

I’d been looking forward to trying Tacocracy for some time after reading reviews from other Unilocalers and being in the thick of my taco addiction I went with a friend.
The menu was just a little too «fusion» style for my taste. There was not one taco there that I felt comfortable ordering as is and I couldn’t ask for substitutions because I would have been left with just meat (plus I try to avoid doing that). There were just too many things happening in one taco for me!
Settled on the nachos but I didn’t add any meat or anything and we got an order of guacamole. I ordered water which I had to get out of a big orange cooler like you see in football games; I REALLY a didn’t like that. There has to be a better way!
The food was so so. The chips were Tostito’s-esque, nothing special and the guacamole needed salt. My nachos were tasty but could have used some meat besides random bacon bits and there was just way too much cheese.
I would be up for giving Tacocracy another try but definitely not going to be my first choice when the taco cravings hit.

We finally tried Tacocracy last night, and I’d say it was a solid four-​star experience.
You walk up to the counter to order, and the woman at the «register» (okay, iPad) gave us some good recommendations — with the caveat that she doesn’t eat meat, which wasn’t a big deal to us. They have a deal of four tacos, a basket of chips and two salsas for about $ 20 — so we went with Korean BBQ beef, the duck, black bean and Tofu Banh Mi, and the verde and rojo salsas — plus gauc and some beer.
The guac, chips and salsa came out quickly, and everything was good. The rojo salsa had a smoky flavor that I wasn’t a *huge* fan of, but the guac was fresh and the verde was good. We liked all four tacos as well — they didn’t blow my mind, but all of the flavors were solid and it was a good amount of food to share between the two of us, taking bites of each other’s as we went.
We had absolutely no qualms about the service — the woman at the front was helpful and the guy who brought out our food was very friendly. It’s very cool that you can get beer from them to go — I like the idea of grabbing some takeout tacos and a six-​pack for dinner after a long day of work.
We’ll definitely be back.

Took me a long time to get around to Tacocracy… now I wish I hadn’t gotten around to it.
4 – 5 $ for a single taco is not terrible if the food backs it up. My Korean beef taco was crunchy. Not a shell, but the beef itself. The beef besides being crunchy was flavorless and more dry than the piece of beef jerky I ate that had been sitting around for a week or so. The curry chicken wasn’t much better. Flavor was so so but couldn’t penetrate the big hunks of chicken.
Being the only ones in there at the time I didn’t think it would take so long to get our food. My wife’s nachos came out after about 10 minutes but she was more than halfway done before I received my tacos. But after seeing the staff I shouldn’t have expected too much, stoned doesn’t begin to cover it. And extremely unhelpful as this was our first time in there (not that they could’ve been bothered to ask, they were deep into a what happened last night story). We had been there standing around the counter for about 5 minutes before we were greeted, such as it was.
Overall I was hoping the influx of taco places to Northside would raise the quality of them all. This was not the case.

Summary: Cute restaurant with modern tacos made to order that maybe lacks in flavor
Restaurant: This place screams Northside. It fits the neighborhood perfectly with an eclectic décor and just enough seating. When I went, it was pretty much empty with another guy picking up take-​out who had just ordered the last korean beef tacos, which I figured was a good sign that the food was good.
Food: Between me and my girlfriend, we tried a ton of their menu, including the duck, ‘shroom (mushrooms), tofu bahn mi, and black bean tacos. We also had an order of mac and cheese. Just looking at the list, it’s a very inventive menu of tacos. They unfortunately lacked flavor, surprisingly. Being vegetarian, I only had the last 3 but the tofu bahn mi was nothing like a tofu bahn mi. The tofu was fresh but the only thing that made it even asian was the peanut sauce, which was more Thai than Vietnamese. I’d have to say with the best vegetarian tacos were the ‘shroom, that had the most flavor. The mac and cheese was ok, with the cheese being a little gritty.
Overall: I hope this restaurant succeeds as it fits perfectly in Northside but I think tweaking their tacos would make this a great place.

I pretty much wanted to go to Tacocracy from the first time I heard their name. Tacocracy. Fun to say, right? Say it with me: Tacocracy.
I didn’t, however, actually make it there for awhile after they first opened. Then one magical day, some friends were all, «Let’s get tacos,» and that’s one of the best sentences ever, so I was in, wherever we were going. As it turned out, that place was Tacocracy. I’ve been a few times since then, and it’s always been a positive experience of taco ordering and the subsequent destroying of said food product via mastication, promptly upon its arrival. Poor tacos, what a way to die.
Using incomplete sentences, here’s the deal: American fare tacos. Awesome vegetarian/​vegan options. Super friendly staff. Delicious margaritas. Nice ambiance, eclectic décor, great patio. Unisex bathrooms.
If you’re a hater when it comes to cilantro, make sure to mention that, and they’ll take care of minimizing the soapy-​awful grossness of it.

Really liked this place! There is a vibe here I enjoyed very much. Walking through the doors was like stepping back in time a few decades. The decorations, games on the shelves, record player, airliner seats, back patio area all added a special kind of charm that has me wanting to go back again.
The food and drinks were great and that’s what will have me coming back to northside again soon. Had the black margarita and the Chicken curry, Korean BBQ, Green chorizo tacos. The salsas we tried were the chili garlic and the verde. The verde was a bit tame and not a personal favorite. I enjoyed the chili garlic though! The clear choice for tacos I tried was the green chorizo taco. It was perfection in every bite.
Really enjoyed the hour spent here and can’t wait to return and try the duck taco that is well reviewed on Unilocal

Tacocracy is one of the few places my boyfriend + I visit when we go back to Cincinnati. We used to live in Northside and these delicious tacos moved in almost around the time we left Ohio. Bummer! I adore local joints and this dance club/​bar turned restaurant fits in well with the quirky string of shops in the neighborhood.
I’ve had the mushroom medley + mashed potato tacos … Most tacos range between $ 3 – 5 bucks a piece, but it’s a good amount especially paired with a guac appetizer. Let’s put it this way — I’d rather have two gourmet, delicious tacos than twice that many from say, Taco Bell. No comparison!
There’s seating inside + out, but if the weather is crappy — you may end up waiting because seating indoors is limited. (*though this may have changed since I was last in town) but worth the potential wait!

Delicious duck taco. I went here for lunch with a co-​worker and was shocked that the place was basically empty. I loved the duck taco, their other tacos looked great as well and unique. The salsa was a bit bland though. I typically like my salsa to be bold and full of flavor. Tococracy’s salsa was subtle and lacked a bold spice profile but overall it was pleasant and probably more suited to the Midwest palate.
I like this place. It was cozy inside, the staff was funny and energetic despite the lull. I will definitely return.

I took my parents here while they were in town from Maine. We loved it! We all got the «commute» special which includes 2 tacos (your pick), chips and your choice of salsa. They were about $ 10 each. I got the Shroom taco and The Korean BBQ. Both were very tasty, though the Shroom one was very oily. The chili garlic salsa was very garlicky.
My parents both got the duck taco and the Adobo-​curry chicken taco. Both were great. The duck was sweet abd the chicken surprisingly had some spicy kick to it. Verde salsa was good.
Sadly their beer is expensive: $ 4.50 for a can.
The atmosphere is a nice mismatch of eclectic pieces of furniture. I loved the melted records outside in the patio.
I would definitely recommend this place.

We stopped in for mother’s day and found the staff very accommodating and helpful. Overall we enjoyed our visit. I wanted to order food my wife could eat so we had the potato taco, curry taco, duck taco and mushroom taco. The potato taco was the most filling but was kind of bland. That was supposed to be the spicy one out of the tacos we ordered but it wasn’t spicy at all. I loved the curry taco and duck taco. My wife really liked all but the potato. I’m tempted to give this only 3 stars because I still would go to Mazunte for tacos way before going here as Mazunte’s ingredients seem so much fresher.
Side note; this neighborhood sucks so I recommend not sitting up front at the window because someone will smack the glass or do something else childish.

While I understand that there are handful of places around Cincy to grab some quality tacos, Tacocracy is the second I’ve been to (first was Django, which is practically across the street.) In my opinion, Tacocracy wins — but I am biased because almost half of the menu was non-​meat tacos and nothing was too spicy. We went out in search of food on a Sunday — we weren’t positive on their hours since they don’t have a website, but we decided to take a risk. Glad we did. There’s a chalkboard on the wall with all of their menu offerings; we happily settled on all of the vegetarian tacos. :)
And they were all good. While they aren’t huge tacos, we shared three between two of us and we left satisfied. The toppings are anything but sparse but you can still pick up your taco without making a mess. You order at the counter, and they bring the food to your table, served on kitschy mismatched plates. We wandered toward the back of the restaurant to find a restroom and there’s like a whole vintage store behind the food area.