Naco Taco

This restaurant could be rated either higher or lower depending on what you ordered. The chips and guacamole were delicious, and the chicken tacos were some of the best I’ve ever had. However, I also tasted the shaved vegetable salad, which was just awful (far too spicy), and the gazpacho, which did not appeal to me in the slightest but which my sister quite enjoyed.
(Side Note: Don’t forget to order the tacos with vegetarian shells if you don’t eat pork; the normal ones are fried in lard!)

We came here for the outdoor seating on a Friday night. The patio is nice, but the service was disorganized and they forgot that we were waiting for a table so we ended up waiting way longer than estimated. I ordered the half portion of street corn, an al pastor taco, and a lamb taco. Luckily I wasn’t very hungry to begin with because the tacos were small. I enjoyed the al pastor better than the lamb, but I think they could have been better or bigger based on the price. The street corn was not on the cob as expected — it had a kick to it but was a bit too creamy in the end for me. The place wasn’t terrible and I think I would try it again but at this point I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it. Wish they could at least give free chips and salsa!

Having tacos and drinks on a nice outdoor patio should be a bit easier.
On the food: the two tacos I tried were fine, if a bit on the pricey side. If they were $ 3 instead of $ 4, you could get 3, not just 2, for under $ 10 (mad math skills I know). The fish taco, AKA the quality calibration taco, was crispy, tasty, good. The al pastor taco was not bad either. The guacamole was fresh, but under-​seasoned IMO. The margarita I had was spot on.
Now, this sounds pretty good so far, but getting there was quite tricky. The outdoor patio is popular and has both sit-​down and stand-​up tables. Here is the quicker. Wait staff only visits the sit-​down tables and to get either food or drinks for the stand-​up tables you have to go indoors to the bar and wait for the food and drinks to be brought up to you at the bar before you bring them out to your stand-​up table outdoors. So, do you split the group up awkwardly as you go order (and wait!) or do move the entire group indoors and lose nice your spot outdoors? To add insult to injury, the staff themselves were not clear on what the actual policy was, and I needed to go back and forth from the bar to the front of the house to clarify the situation.
Here is my suggestion. Food has to be brought up to the bar anyways. Just give people a number and have the food be brought to where they are standing. You tip at the bar already. This simple solution would have made my experience at Naco so much better.
I’ll be happy to come back, but only if I can get a table.

Could not be more surprised about how great this place is!
Had a late lunch on a 90 degree day and the waiter could not have been friendlier! Tried their steak taco special and it was amazing! They should absolutely add it to their menu. Also the soft tortillas were great too.
Delicious spicy margarita was the icing on the cake.

I unlike many of the other reviews was a fan of this place. The tacos are fabulous, though my favorite was the chicken taco with the el pastor being a close second. Pork and pineapple is always a good idea. The smoked thigh in the chicken taco was on point. We also ordered the shaved vegetable salad which was very very good and larger than we thought it would be. The sangria was great. I like my sangria with more wine, less sugar the better, so thank you.
The outside seating area is cool but the inside is better. Definitely an industrial vibe but I eat that up. I will be back. It’s not the best Mexican food I have ever eaten but it’s definitely a good spot to check out.

Would’ve loved to try the food, especially the gazpacho.
The two of us sat down after a very short wait and order beers immediately. Beers came very quickly and we enjoyed them and the great ambience (star 1 and star 2).
26 minutes later, beers done, and people seated after us in other sections were eating, waitress reappears and asks if we were «ready to order.»
Our grumbling stomachs couldn’t wait much longer so we passed on the food and took our money elsewhere.

Solid tacos and drinks! Homemade corn tortillas! Nice to sit outside (unfortunately dogs aren’t welcome). The lamb taco was my favorite of all I tried. My house margarita was nice and strong. Service was good. Chips and salsa did the trick. I will definitely go back! Not sure why the reviews here are so mediocre — I was very happy with my dining experience :-)

Cool place but the food was super disappointing and little value for the price. Might be a decent place for cocktails in the summer.
P. s. saw a huge bug crawling up and down the wall but when we told the waiter about it he said they would look into it but could only take action if it was a rodent… I probably won’t be going back.

I go to Middlesex Lounge after the wave. The wave was claimed the best Dance party by best of boston. After all that dancing, it leaves you hungry. This is where this place comes in.
I only get the tocos here. I don’t have much of a reason to get anything else. I walk up to the bar and get them. They all are amazing. Nice, fresh, and tasty. Personally I like the chicken and beef tocos.
The place has a cool atmosphere and great music. The best seat in the house is at the bar. The tocos are always on point. It’s a win, win here. The bartenders are pretty cool aswell.

Not such a great place, food was fair but the tortillas were very good, beer warm.
What they really need is a new owner with customer service skills. Food is a service organization. Let see if she responds

Naco taco has great tacos, stressed out staffers, and their location is too big. The food and drinks I really enjoyed a lot– just ask what is vegan and they’ll gladly guide you. Staff was by no means rude but seemed a little stressed out which I thought was strange as there were maybe five other people in there. Seems like a big space for a taco shop, I understand what they were trying to do and hopefully this place draws in a crowd this summer!

I was surprisingly pleased with the tacos here. The corn tortillas had a good slightly crunchy texture which I like a lot better than soft flour tortillas. I tried the lengua ($ 4), lamb ($ 4.50), and fish ($ 4) tacos. The meat in the lengua taco had the most flavor — this was my favorite. The lamb meat was not as flavorful but had a zingy sauce on top of it which was tasty. The fish taco was my least favorite. It was pretty bland and didn’t have any toppings that really stood out. I thought the tacos were on the small side for the price. Maybe at least give us some chips and salsa as a starter so we don’t feel so bad for paying $ 4 for one taco that took about 3 bites to eat.
I came here with 3 co-​workers for lunch and we had no problems with the service. The hostess was friendly and the waiters were courteous. We each ordered 3 different tacos and we got our food quickly. There were mini plates on the table which were a bit greasy. The guys didn’t seem to care but I kept my tacos on the tissue paper they were served on.
The restaurant was really big and spacious with many tables and a huge bar so definitely a good place to bring a group for lunch or dinner or drinks after work.

This restaurant feels like a very modern spin on traditional mexican food. It feels like an up and coming dive restaurant that keeps it classic but also fun and fresh. I think their food speaks to culinary expertise and appreciation for the «roots» of where the style of food originated.
In the summer the restaurant takes on the whole Mexican street food ambiance. It would be a great place to take a date or go with friends. My boyfriend and I got a table with no problem although there seemed to be a lot of people!
Highly recommend for a great time with a great atomsphere especially in the warmer weather when you can sit outside and enjoy a cold beer with some delicious tacos.

Like every other human to have spent time living in Southern California, I appreciate good Mexican food, and welcome any new opportunity to try it locally. Naco Taco looked promising, so I suggested lunch there to some friends. In retrospect, I should have made a solo trip beforehand.
I give Naco Taco points for creating a menu of Mexican delicacies that goes beyond the Americanized staples, but almost everything we ordered and shared was disappointing when it came to flavor and portion size. The chicken and barbacoa tacos — $ 4 a pop — were small and drenched in sauce and cream, but the meat was insubstantial and not particularly flavorful. (When you compare these to the tacos at The Painted Burro, which are filling and very tasty, there’s really no contest.) Likewise, the tortilla chips that came with our guacamole tasted like they had come right out of a store bag, lacking that heat and crispness that you find with chips at other Mexican restaurants. Considering we paid $ 8 for the guacamole, I found that frustrating.
The only thing I would recommend is the pork charro beans, which were very savory and rich. Nice for dipping. It should also be said that our waiter was a friendly guy and quite attentive. But overall, these were two small bright spots in an otherwise disappointing meal that did not seem worth the money I paid for it. And evidently, I’m not alone. Judging from the looks of these reviews, it appears Naco Taco has a more than a few things to work out in the kitchen.

It takes a lot for me to give a single star, but ‘a lot’ this place provided! I’d read a few reviews of this place in magazines and online, and I have to say that with what I heard, I was pretty excited about this place. Central square has a handful of cute, trendy new places that popped up in the matter of a few months, and I was excited to try this place.
I will say that the physical space of this place is cute. It has a casual vibe and a fun outdoor space that is great for warmer weather. But even the cutest place couldn’t make up for my experience here.
First of, this place doesn’t seem to have a liquor license. Who ever heard of a Mexican place not being able to sell margaritas?! Because they don’t have margaritas, my friend and I settled on the sangria. It sounds unique with flavors like basal and jalapeño, but after our first taste, we realized that it was not at all what we expected! The flavors just don’t work in the sangria and we almost (just almost) couldn’t even finish the drinks!
Based off the drinks, we decided to only order appetizers for fear of the food. We ordered the guacamole and the corn and again were sadly disappointed. The guacamole had a weirdly thin consistency and the corn tasted a few days past ripe. I don’t think it’s too difficult to make a standard guacamole, but this place proved me wrong.
I can’t speak about the tacos or meals at this place, but if it’s anything like the drinks and appetizers, I don’t know that I’d be adventurous enough to try them. I’m sorry Naco Taco, but I don’t think I’ll be back anytime in the near future.

Unilocal wrote, and Naco Taco responded!
First time I came here, the taco was the size of my palm. So very small. And for $ 4?!
I came back a second time, expecting a small taco as the waitress described how big the tacos were, but to my surprise they are much bigger! They now take up a serving plate each, which is definitely worth the $ 4 price tag.
+ LENGUA TACO: This taco has a little kick to it with well-​cooked meat.
+ CABEZA AHOGADA TORTA: The pig’s head meat is super tender, almost like a pulled pork texture. It also comes with crispy bacon, dipped in a pig blood sauce that makes this torta like a french dipped sandwich on Mexican crack.
~ AL PASTOR TACO: This is a sweeter twist on the classic al pastor by adding pineapple salsa, but I just wasn’t feeling it too much.
The food and service here is good. But both times I’ve come here, I’ve had a really bad stomach ache that lasts through the night. If your stomach is sensitive, be warned.
They got a Nacho Libre vibe going on, and cook all the food from the truck outside near the patio seating. It’s definitely not your traditional Boston/​Cambridge Mexican joint, so it’s worth a try. They accommodate large groups really well!

I was knocking (naco-​ing?) on wood that Naco wouldn’t be as terrible as some reviews claimed. And I was pleasantly surprised by having a great experience! Probably because I did my diligent Unilocaling beforehand and knew what to order (and what to avoid). It pays to do your research, kiddos!
There was a wait to sit out on the large patio, so we took a seat at the bar. I started with the rose sangria ($ 7). This was a spicy-​sweet mixture of strawberry and jalapeño that was both flavorful and refreshing. My friend regretted getting an agave michelada immediately.
The seating process is a bit confusing, as there are hostess stands both inside and outside, and we kept shuffling between the two to figure out how much longer the outside wait was/​if we could change our minds and just sit inside. Eventually we were seated at an indoor table right by the window, so it kind of felt like we were out on the patio. Good enough for us!
As for food, instead of splurging on the sampler, we went for two of the most popular: burnt pineapple salsa and the avocado & tomatillo crema ($ 3 each). They’re served with a pile of chips that could make 4 people happy. The pineapple salsa was a good balance of chunky fruit with spice. Deliciously different. The avocado-​tomatillo crema also had a nice kick as well as distinct notes of lime. This is a great option when you want an avo fix without going all out on $ 8 guacamole.
I was nervous about the food since I’d read so many mixed reviews. So for my entrée, I decided to take a blind leap and order the special of the day: a halibut sopa consisting of a thick tortilla topped with chunks of fish, two sauces, queso fresco, and some greens. This cost $ 9 and was approximately the amount of food as 2 tacos ($ 4 each), so the price seemed about right. The flavors here were great! Both salsas were flavorfully spicy, and the white fish was tender. The thick tortilla underneath absorbed all of the flavors like woah. A woman was literally making the tortillas right next to our table, so you can’t get much fresher than that. That along with the chips left me feeling full, and my wallet didn’t feel much pain. I’d say Naco Taco knocked it out of the park!

I expected more.
The food was meh. The sauce that the cabeza ahogada tortas was placed in was sooo salty, making it almost impossible to eat, and the lengua taco had tender meat, but lacked more flavor. $ 4 for a small taco is also manageable if you’re not super hungry, but if you want to eat more, the price can definitely add up.
Our waiter was friendly and took the time to quickly run over the menu with us, but when there was a slight mix up with the order (fish taco brought out instead of chicken), the girl who brought out the food was pretty rude and unapologetic.

This place is always packed, and we were super excited to try Michael Scelfo’s new place! Rose sangria is great — has a jalapeño kick to it without the burn.
Food was underwhelming. The avocado taco didn’t have much flavor to it, though the almond salsa was interesting. Of the salsa sampler, our favorites were burnt pineapple, pico (classic), and tomatillo. Not much for vegetarians. Friends had the chicken and steak tacos and the carne asada torta — they enjoyed it, but it wasn’t as good as they thought it’d be.
The patio is sweet though! I’ve been eyeing the micheladas!

A $ 20+/person range for good Mexican food in Cambridge/​Central Square. Great outdoor seating and spacious inside. Since this is newly opened, you might have to wait 20 – 40 min? But they do have a good text message system to notify you when your table is ready.
Tacos ($ 4/​each) are well made, and the tortilla seem to be house-​made. Note: only single tortilla taco is the downside. The tacos are standard size street taco size. This is a plus since most of the tacos around Boston area are somewhat bigger than a street taco from East LA.
Guacamole was $ 8 as of this review and a little oily for my tastes, but overall good to share for about 2 people.
Normally, this place would get a 3-​star Unilocal rating in my book because of the quality/​price breakdown is a little misaligned for this type of standard Mexican food, but it is for the yuppie crowd and it is a great addition to the Central Sq area.