Tacos 101

My boyfriend and I went to Yelapa, Mexico at the beginning of January. All the locals where we stayed raved about how good Julio’s tacos are, so we made a trip to Tacos 101 as soon as we were back in the city. We were totally impressed and now have a place that can take us back to Mexico, at least food-​wise, any time we want to go. The food is amazing, the ingredients are fresh, the meat is perfectly spiced, the tortillas are delicious, and the moles are excellent. These are the best tacos in Toronto. Julio and his staff are super nice and helpful. Tacos 101 is a very welcome addition to the city’s food landscape. Go eat there!

This place is probably my new favourite no frills Mexican restaurant. If your craving some authentic Mexican tacos but not looking to commit to a dine in restaurant –this place is for you. The tacos here were just as I remembered from Mexico, the ma and pa taquerias, served incredibly fresh and not over the top. The «al pastor» is authentic, slow cooked on a spit topped with small slices of pineapple. The fish was incredibly fresh, battered and cooked as you wait –I highly recommend.

I had the carnita and fish.
Both tacos were decorated and dressed like the cover of a magazine. The taste matched the look. ¹⁰⁄₁₀
Fish was really tasty. It didn’t need tomato so I picked it off but overall very good
Carnita has so much flavour I liked that more. Next time I will try more.
The only downside is the seating. 4 bar stools at a window. I would like to sit down and order because then I would try more.

Loved the fish tacos and carnitas! Guac and chips were fresh and tasty! Also enjoyed the homemade hibiscus drink.

Just tacos. I’ve tried each of the five varieties and they are all excellent. Lots of meat etc. Very tasty and well seasoned. At a reasonable $ 4 a piece, I highly recommend this place for taco enthusiasts. Very limited seating.

Downtown T-​Dot Staycation over the Xmas Holidays! Was walking back from the LCBO and what do I see? Tacos 101!!! Small Taco joint with no parking. Very limited seating. Free samples of their house made nachos and sauces. Hot, medium and mild. Sample the sauces with the comp Nachos before pouring it on. Ordered 4 Fish Tacos (Battered). After the wife and I consumed two tacos each, we were beached. The portion of fish in each taco is huge as is the flavor. Dayaam they were delicious. Garnished with Slaw and Yellow Relish (Pineapple?) these tacos were heavenly. I hit this place up two days in a row. Consistency? YES. The fish tacos come standard with the mild sauce. You can fill up little take-​out containers with their house made sauces. Remember peeps, Chips likes it hot. The in house hot sauce was «bite you in the ass the next day hot» so beware. Would I go back? They had me after the first bite.
Peace my brothers and sisters.

I have been meaning to share with you my thoughts of Tacos 101. Several weekends ago I planned a little food tour for my buds and I, and I decided to make Tacos 101 our first stop. I had never been here before and I did not know very much about this restaurant as it is under a year old. Nevertheless, I love tacos, and I am always on the lookout for the next «it» food stop.
Our plan was to meet here at 11:30AM on a Saturday and then make our way south on Church Street. We arrived at 11:30AM, but they were still prepping. Everything looked and smelled amazing, so we were happy to wait. However, the staff apologized for not being ready, and brought out homemade chips, and three types of salsas for us to snack on while the meat cooked (chicken needed more time). There were four of us, and two of us wanted the Al Pastor taco (marinated pork, garnished with pineapple, cilantro, onion, and salsa taco for $ 4), one wanted the fish taco (beer battered cod, garnished with red cabbage, mango, pico de gallo and chipotle mayo for $ 4.50) and the fourth friend wanted the Chicken Adobado taco (grilled chicken breast, marinated with dry peppers, oregano and lime for $ 4). For my Al Pastor taco I asked for no onions, and the friend that ordered the chicken taco had to wait as the chicken still was not ready. When I received my taco, they made a mistake and put onions on it. But rather than it go to waste, the friend that wanted the chicken taco bought it, and the manager told my friend to return whenever he wanted for a chicken taco on the house. Since we had a tight schedule, our friend decided to come back another time for the chicken taco and appreciated the offer considering that he was more than pleased with the Al Pastor taco.
Food:
AMAZING! The ingredients were fresh, the portions were hearty, the taste/​flavor was spot on, and the quality was impressive!
Drinks:
I ordered the orchata (a favorite drink from back home made with rice, vanilla and cinnamon and milk) and another friend ordered the Jamaica drink (made with fresh hibiscus flower boiled with with water sweetened with sugar cane (or agave)) for $ 2 each. I gave one friend a sip of my orchata and he loved it so much that he got one too. Both drinks were excellent! Mine was creamy and sweet, and the Jamaica was fresh and tangy.
Service:
Even though we were okay with waiting, we were offered food to snack on, and the staff chatted with us and kept us entertained while we waited. They were friendly, polite and attentive.
In Sum:
I can’t wait to go back and try every other taco on the menu! In fact, since coming here, I have been eager to return, but I went to New Orleans shortly after, and then it was the holidays. But soon, expect new photos from me on the rest of the tacos! Also, the staff told us that they will be having weekend specials, so check their Twitter feed for updates!
Are you also a lover of tamales??? I am! Make it a special! :)
See you soon! The fish taco is calling my name! YUM!

Tried all but the cactus tacos. My favs are the chicken adobado and the fish taco (grilled not battered). Generally great all around with a very authentic taste and preparation. A bit pricey but the tacos themselves are a healthy size. Three are a perfect meal size if you’re hungry.

Been here a couple times for afternoon work snacks. Pretty solid. Love the tacos. Chips are heavy: I recommend feeding them to your colleague.

Having read about Tacos 101 in Blog TO, I was looking forward to trying a new taco joint downtown.
It’s a tiny place with a small menu and they do tacos very well. The service is friendly and helpful — we were about to order 3 tacos each when it was kindly suggested that we may want to start with two — good call. They were very filling and flavourful.
The tacos (except the beer battered fish taco) are gluten free. The chips are not as they are fried in the same fryer as the fish. We had the chicken adobado and the carnitas. I’m looking forward to going back and trying different ones. The prices are very reasonable — dinner for two (4 tacos and 2 bottles of water) was just under $ 30 including tip.

So I never went to the Greek place that this establishment replaced, however, my SO mentioned that the taco place looks exactly like the Greek place, in that no major overhaul was done in opening this place. Not that this matters, but it’s interesting.
They’ve got 5 tacos on the menu, two of which are pork, with 1 chicken, 1 fish (cod) and 1 fully vegetarian option. My SO had the two pork ones; Carnitas and Al Pastor. He liked them. He’s said that they were pretty close to authentic tacos, just more meat in them because that’s what we (Canadians) would want haha. I had the Chicken Adobado. I enjoyed this taco. There was a lot of meat; it kept coming out of the sides as I was eating. But I wouldn’t want them to change that!
I also got Guac and Chips. I would not get this again. The guac was nicely presented in half an avocado skin. But that meant that there wasn’t enough guac for the amount of chips in the container it’s served in. The chips came in handy for my excess chicken. But the guac was so bland. It definitely need a kick.
The best part is how cheap everything is. $ 4 for the tacos (the fish is $ 4.50) and the guac and chips were $ 3. They also have salsa or beans and chips (as other side options).
It’s a great place to get a quick taco fix and it’s so close to Ryerson!

I had the carnita taco with chips and salsa. The taco was an okay size with a good amount of toppings but I really didn’t like the texture of the tortilla. It was very grainy and dry. There was also a lack of seasoning. The salsa was nice. It was labeled medium but it tasted more medium. There really wasn’t much spice to it at all. The chip are home made and a touch oily and thick. Overall, this place was just okay but I will give it another shot sometime later because they do have some good moments.

This place was the first stop on a small food tour with around Dundas St East. The space is small inside a la the same dimensions as most of the eateries in Kensington Market but enough there is some ample sitting space and also enough space to move around.
Our group of four given a basket of complimentary tortilla chips with three different dipping sauce the spiciest of which was really no joke, as the own had given us a friendly warning about it. Haha, well heat from the pepper used in that sauce scared off the chill from my bones. But I also need to counter the heat on my tongue so decided to get one of the two in-​house Aqua Frescas. I decided on the Horchata a concoction of rice, vanilla, cinnamon and almond milk which tasted distinctly of bubble gum when I took the first sip, and it was light and refreshing and obliterated the remnants of the hot sauce from my tongue.
I liked the sound of the Chicken Adobado but it was still in the second stages of cooking so I ended up «tasting» one of the extra Al Pastors that my friends had sitting at the table with them. I didn’t really savor this taco but I did fill me up (I had not eaten anything before getting here) and our group all agreed on that. The owner did let me know that I could return to pick up the Chicken Adobado taco on him later in the day which I did. I had that for breakfast today and the meat was tender like it had been braised and the pico de gallo complimented the flavor of the meat. But I really bet it would taste a lot better when eaten right at the place.
So I did end up getting to try two different tacos for the purpose of getting one and neither one disappointed. The sauces for the chips also had their own distinct flavors at first bite. The Horchata was refreshing even on a chill day. The products worked out well for my palette.
I will be stopping by here when I’m in the Dundas Square area next time.

Staff were super friendly from the second you walk in. Free nachos and dip (hopefully people don’t double dip). Ordered the fish and carnitas tacos. The fish was delicious. Excellent tasting fish and sauces. The carnitas though was just ok in my opinion. The meat was fairly dry that night. Otherwise, this place is great. Reminiscent of So Cal style tacos.

Just finished my take out from Tacos 101, I had the al pastor tacos and the guacamole and chips. Everything was great, they make the sauces and chips in house and the staff was friendly and funny and just generally really nice. They don’t deliver, but for the best of reasons, there is no good way to deliver tacos, and they don’t want to compromise their quality.
I’ll definitely be returning, I’m full for $ 20 including drink.

I’m completely re-​writing my review for this place. My opinion of this place has now changed drastically for the better, so i want my review to reflect this.
Originally i gave this place 3 stars, i had come by very early in their existence, and they simply hadn’t worked out all the kinks yet. Fast forward 3 months and wow, what a difference.
They finally added a pulled pork taco and it was absolutely delicious! the taco was jammed with pork and some fresh veggies including salsa verde and this really awesome cole slaw. It was absolutely dynamite, I honestly could have eaten 3 more, but sadly for me, their business has been so good, that they were out of carnitas and it was literally their last one.
I also had the fried fish taco, and holy wow was that ever freakin delicious as well, i was going to add extra salsa but it was so perfectly dressed that i didn’t want to change a thing. It was just so perfect. The cod was super fresh and perfectly fried in a super tasty beer batter. This taco was really a masterpiece. I could honestly eat here everyday, the tacos here are just crazy good, so fresh, so delicious… I can honestly see myself here several times a week, it’s that good.
The customer service is friendly and very welcoming, the lady who made my tacos was very sweet. I had a absolutely great experience here and i seriously can’t wait to come back.
Warning: Their hot salsa is no joke, it’s nuclear hot, delicious, but nuclear hot. Even If you think you can take hot, I assure you this salsa will floor you so, be warned… ;-)

I have now gone to this restaurant over 6 times. The tacos are as authentic and as tasty can be. The meat is tender and the toppings add a little kick to them.
What I like about this place is that they also cater to vegetarians. I tried the Nopal and boy was it yummy.
I am not a big restaurant reviewer but believe me when I say its good, tasty and reasonably priced I really mean it.
So get out there and give it a try!

I actually came here last week but they had already sold out of everything by the time I got there (near closing). I chatted to one of the co-​owners for a bit and found out that they hadn’t anticipated so much business and it was partly because blogto had reviewed it the night prior. Although a little disappointed, I was determined that I would come back and try it.
So I did. I came here tonight with two friends and we ordered the fish taco ($ 4.50), al pastor taco ($ 4), and carnitas taco ($ 4) along with beans & chips ($ 3) and horchata ($ 2). All three of the tacos were fairly good and I enjoyed the diced fruits that accompanied each of them (mango in the fish, pineapple in the al pastor, and orange in the carnitas). It was a nice touch that made it more «special» than your average taco. The only downside was the portion size. We collectively agreed that it wasn’t too filling and we would’ve appreciated a larger portion (especially if I compare it to Seven Lives in Kensington Market). The chips were homemade and had a nice crunch to them, but my friend had suggested, again, that they could’ve been more generous with the portioning of the refried beans dip. They offer 3 levels of heat for their salsa that you can add on the side but I don’t have a spice tolerance so I never tried any. My friend, however, does and her commentary was that the heat was too overpowering — so much so that she couldn’t really taste the heat but only feel it. Overall, I would rate the food a solid 3.5÷5 but because the co-​owner was so friendly and I recognize that the business is still finding its way into the market, I rounded them up.
P. S. It’s a petite store so there is no seating, there’s just a ledge that you can stand along to eat.

Hoping for some great Mexican I stopped into Tacos 101 for an early lunch.
I ordered the carnitas and al pastor tacos, double checking that their shells were corn based for gluten-​free purposes. When my order came out, I received one fish taco and one al pastor taco. Which wouldn’t of been a problem if the fish hadn’t been battered in wheat flour. The staff resolved the issue immediately and provided me the correct taco. Great, if a restaurant can respond quickly in instances like this then as the saying goes, «no harm no foul.»
After biting into the al pastor taco, «dry» is the only word that comes to mind. The pork was shredded but so tough and dry it became a chore to eat. As for the carnitas taco, I found the meat tough, gristly even as if the cooking time wasn’t long enough. For authentic Mexican you want that fall-​apart consistency. At least to where tendon, ligament and gristle has rendered.
Lots of potential here, just a few needed tweaks to their cooking times and execution.

Food: ⁹⁄₁₀ —- Value: ⁹⁄₁₀ —- Service: ¹⁰⁄₁₀ —- Ambiance/​Décor: ⁸⁄₁₀
Ordered the fish taco with beer battered cod. It was really good. The sauce was tasty and even though I don’t normally like cilantro and pineapples (or were they mangos…), they weren’t overpowering and the sauce and fish were enough to make up for it.
Tip: You can have your fish grilled instead of fried if you don’t like beer battered fish.
The shop itself is really small, so there’s a small bench you can eat on along the window, but there’s not much space. It’s definitely more of a takeout place, but there are chips and salsa while you wait for your food.
The guy at cash was super patient in explaining what the different menu items were and how they could be customized if you didn’t like one aspect or another.
At $ 4.50, the fish taco is on par with other taco places downtown and it tasted great.