East Harlem Taco Crawl

New York City ha amazing Mexican food. While there are tried and true staples like Los Tacos #1 and Taqueria Diana, sometimes you have to go off the beaten path to find the true hidden gems. We embarked on an East Harlem taco crawl to see what we could find. There were some hits, some misses. But overall, a total taco-fest!

East Harlem Taco Crawl

Stop One: La Chula

With a stumble along east Harlem taco crawl itinerary, stop one was La Chula because it was the first option was came to. The corner restaurant is chipotle-esq, with the food being prepared on a visible, hot line style. However, there isa set menu, table service, and better décor.  The men behind the bar and grill were friendly as we ordered our tacos and margaritas, collected our number, and sat down.  In under 7 minutes our order arrived.  The frozen margarita was overly sweet and lacked the advertised spice. The al Pastor taco had dry, but flavorful meat with a hint of sweetness and punch of cilantro.  The shrimp taco had an interesting flavor profile with an unlikely combo of shellfish, cheese, and crunchy lettuce that was almost cohesive. What bumped La Chula up a notch was the delicious tortillas that had a fresh taste and perfect texture. 

            Ambiance: 6/10

            Drink: 4/10

            Taco: 6.5/10

            Service: 9/10

Bottom Line:  La Chula serves average tacos at a decent price ($3.95) with standard fillings on a great tortilla. Don’t bother with the $10 margarita.

Frugal Tip!: If you go on Monday, Margaritas are 2 for $10.  

Stope Two: Taqueria Sante Fe

What lured us into Taqueria Sante Fe was the fact that the man behind the counter wearing a sombrero. What can I say, we are easily amused.  After placing our order and sitting on the dinky chairs, it quickly became obvious that the hole in the wall was a seamless/ubereats driven eatery. Food was being pumped out at the blink of an eye as people on bikes filtered in and out.  To be blunt, the carnitas and pulled pork tacos were horrid and unworthy of even being called a taco.  The meat looked like canned cat food dumped onto a store bought tortilla with a touch a pico and splash of cilantro attempting to make the food in front of us be considered a taco.  I took a bite of each and was done. 

            Ambiance: 3/10

            Drink: NA

            Taco: 2/10

            Service: 7/10

Bottom Line: You’re better off getting canned tuna. This was undoubtedly the worst stop on our East Harlem taco crawl.

Stop Three:  Hot Jalapeño

Hot Jalapeño is a classic Mexican sit down restaurant with stucco walls and religious icons on the walls. The only waitress must have been an owner of sorts. She was running around everything being sure all the customers were attended to.  We opted for a carne asada and al pastor taco, hoping and wishing for deliciousness to ensue because we loved the woman so much.  Unfortunately, the meat was dry, the tortilla was average, and the toppings were unoriginal.  The red hot sauce on the side, however, had a delicious, deep heat with a flavor we couldn’t quite pinpoint.

            Ambiance: 8/10

            Drinks: 6/10 (only beer and wine)

            Taco: 5/10

            Service: 8/10

Bottom line: The tacos at Hot jalapeño wouldn’t be worth a second trip given the average meat and basic flavors, but the other traditional Mexican dishes coming out the kitchen looked promising, and I’d give it another shot. 

Stop 4: Taco Mix

Taco Mix earned a lot of hype on social media. It certainly looked promising given the number of people and great looking rotating meat. We got the Grande Al Pastor; the meat was tender with typical Mexican spices, the onion was fresh, the cilantro was nice, and the radish added a good crunch.  The hot sauce was moderately spicy and the tortilla neither added or took away from the experience.  

            Ambiance: NA given the take out nature

            Drink: NA

            Taco: 6/10

            Service: 7/10

Bottom Line: It was a perfectly fine, decently cheap taco, but nothing I’d recommend to a friend and nothing I couldn’t make myself.  

Stop 5: Made in Mexico

116^th wasn’t proving to have high quality tacos, so took our East Harlem taco crawl south and happened upon Made in Mexico.  Music was blaring, and it was packed with young locals surrounded by abstract Mexican-influenced art with bright colors and cheap hardware. The tacos came before the margaritas. With just one look we knew they would be horrible. The fish taco was drenched in a cheese sauce that gushed out of the flimsy tortilla on bite one and the “avocado” topping was a blended green mess. The chicken taco was a tortilla topped with grocery store chicken strips and some greenery. The worst part? These were the priciest tacos of our adventure coming in at $6 each.  The average margarita was much welcomed, and we downed it in order to move on.

            Ambiance: 2/10

            Margarita: 2/10

            Taco: 1/10

            Service: 4/10

Bottom line: don’t do it to yourself. 

Stop 6: El Aguila

Desperately needing to end on a high note, we decided to finish at El Aguila which came up  on a couple “Best Harlem Taco” searches.  El Aguila serves food in a Chipotle hot line fashion. We built yet another El Pastor taco with all the works on it; meat, cheese, pico, jalepenos, lettuce, hot sauce, cilantro, and lime.  It was by far the best taco of the crawl, with great, fresh flavor, juicy meat, and a bit of zing.  It’s the one place I would return to on this taco mission.

            Ambiance: 6/10

            Taco: 9/10

            Drink: NA

            Service: 8/10

Bottom Line: for quick, cheap, delicious take out tacos , El Aguila is hands down your spot

Stop 7: The Rochard NYC

The original intention was to do a taco/margarita crawl. But we quickly found that most places were too small for a liquor license, meaning no tequila…. A vital component of a good marg. We passed the Rochard NYC, saw two open bar spots, and figured why not. The spicy margaritas were disappointingly average, but gladly welcomed.  Up on the blackboard we spotted a sign: “Taco Tuesday”.  Guess we were making room for one more! The fish taco had catfish, pineapple, salsa, chipotle aioli, and coijita cheese, and it was on par with the taco at El Aguila.  

            Ambiance: 9/10

            Taco: 8/10

            Drink: 6/10

            Service: 7/10

Bottom Line:  A great spot for beers and apps, but also pretty good for margs and tacos!

Stop 8: Block Heads

Going out is a rare occasion for us, we figured we’d go for the gold and take the crosstown bus to Blockheads for one final Margarita to wrap up our East Harlem taco crawl.  Within 5 minutes of sitting down we got two large icy, frozen margaritas.  They were too sweet, but deceptively strong, and a good cap to a whirlwind tour for tacos and margaritas.  

Did we find the best taco New York has to offer?

El Aguila is certainly a contender!

While the majority of stops on our East Harlem taco crawl were misses, we had a ball every step of the way. Food isn’t always about the taste. It’s about the experience too! And we certainly had one for the books.