The Best Tacos in Downtown Victoria
If you have been reading the blog for a few years, you have likely picked up that I am unlikely to be sitting down for a big fancy meal on my lunch hour. If I am not just brown-bagging it, I will settle for something fast and inexpensive like pizza or ramen. Of course, my preference would be that I could eat everyday at a food cart, but that just doesn’t seem likely to happen anytime soon (any candidates want to announce their pro-street food platform?) If I am not in the mood for pizza or ramen, a third great option in Victoria is tacos. We have a pretty amazing selection of them downtown, they are fast and many are really delicious!
So this is going to be much like my other ‘favourite or best’ articles in that I am not going to rank them, though I will likely say which one I like the best. You should note that I am not including any real sit-down places in the list, these are really only the taco bars. That means that they may have seats inside but you aren’t getting table service. As I said before there are a lot of options so I kept my walking around downtown and places near downtown. Please don’t be upset that Mesa Familiar (One of the best mexican places in the city) or any other one is not mentioned, it just means that they were too far to go at lunch. That said, if I missed a great place downtown, do not hesitate to tell me in the comments.
Al Chile Mexican Cuisine - 788 Yates Street
This might be the newest taco place in Victoria. It has the challenging location right next to Brickyard pizza which has been at least ten different food places since I lived here. This location should be good and it is right in the middle of downtown so it should have enough foot traffic so maybe the right place has just not worked with the space yet and Al Chile is going to stop the trend. When you walk in, the place is brightly lit, clean and has a big menu screen for you to choose from. I had pork tacos which were simple and but came with fresh chopped onions and a guacamole sauce. They were maybe not the best tacos in the city but they had a real mexican street taco feel to them. They were also a decent size and not overly expensive. I will definitely be going back to try them again.
La Fogata Latina - 1310 Douglas Street
When I first started writing this piece a couple of months ago, I went straight over to La Fogata Latina on View Street and was sad to see that they had closed. Then to my surprise, they reopened right on Douglas Street between Yates and Johnson. If you had visited their old location, you would know that it was pretty cramped and while the new spot is still small, it likely has twice the square footage. In my last visit I had one taco birria and one taco adobado, both were delicious though I would likely eat a plate non stop of the pork birria tacos. I would say that Fogata has the smallest tacos of any of the places downtown and they are still $4.50 a piece, but they are also the only place that serves them with a side of rice. And that rice is so good. So if you want a quick lunch for ten dollars, two tacos and the rice is a pretty nice meal. The new space has a great atmosphere and I bet it will continue to be very popular.
La Taqueria - 766 Fort Street
La Taqueria has been around for a few years now. When it opened it was truly a food sensation and that seems to have continued with a lunch line-up here out the door being the norm. While La Taqueria can be safely said to have brought the hipster food vibe look to Victoria, it has the flavour chops to back it up. While not traditional, the tacos al pastor at La Taqueria are my favourite tacos in the city. I could eat ten of them no problem except that would be an expensive lunch. While still ostensibly a taco bar, La Taqueria has prices to match its hipster look, so getting the three or four tacos that you need for a lunch are something that I only do occasionally. Like I said though, they are my favourite tacos downtown.
La Taquisa - 1017 Blanshard Street
La Taquisa has been around for a long time. I am going to guess that it is the oldest place on this list. They actually have three locations and while I have been to the one in Vic West, I am talking about the downtown location here. What I like about La Taquisa is that it is cheap, delicious and fast. It is not the best taco place, but for the price, they are hard to beat, especially if you are really hungry. My personal favourite here are the mole chicken tacos. They also provide a great selection of spice levels and all I can say is that they are all good except the hottest one which was a little too much pain for me. I will also recommend there very yummy, but not traditional, tortilla soup.
Sabor Mix Latino - 1412b Douglas Street
Not as new as Al Chile, but still one of the newer taco bars in the city, Sabor Mix Latino is right next to The Mexican House of Spice Grocery Store on Douglas Street. I didn’t know what to expect from the taco bar, I had eaten the chicken tamales from the House of Spice many times and loved them, but it isn’t clear just how connected the two places are. I went in and had some birria tacos made with pork and wow they were delicious. The tortillas were lightly fried but also had a great little crispiness to them and the filling was delicious. Best of all the tacos I had were on special for three for ten dollars and I walked out feeling very full. I walk by here on a regular basis and the sign out front seems to indicate a special almost every day, so I think that if you are looking for the best value to flavour ratio, this might be the place. I expect will be going back many times to enjoy the food.
Tacofino - 760 Pandora Avenue
If La Taqueria is our own home-grown hipster taco bar (as pointed out to me on Reddit, this is not true. La Taqueria was also an import to Victoria), Tacofino is our imported one. Tacofino started out as a food truck in Tofino before really hitting it off in Vancouver. It was well into this popularity that Tacofino opened its first Victoria location on Fort Street where Burger Crush is now located (also a former food truck). With the leaving of Dobosala in the new Jawl building on Pandora, Tacofino took advantage and moved in. At both locations, there has always been a line-up. We recently went there for dinner and had a variety of the tacos. I will say that the steak tacos are really good, but the other ones we tried out were pretty bland. They are also likely the most expensive tacos on the list, at least for what you get. Still anytime I am out walking there is a big crowd so maybe I need to try something else on the menu. Let me know in the comments.
Taco Stand - 1701 Douglas Street
Perhaps the least known of the taco places on the list, as it is hidden away inside the Victoria Public Market on Douglas Street. I have only been there once to try the tacos so need to go back and try them again. Still when I tried them the first time I ordered a couple of the tacos al pastor. They were pretty good though not traditional at all (to be fair, I am not sure there is anyone on the island doing real tacos al pastor) and served on a flour tortilla. Still I will say that they were very tasty despite that. If you are in the public market and want to have some Mexican, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend stopping here plus you get the cool vibrancy of the market with people all around you.
Taco Justice - 1580 Cook Street
I know that Taco Justice is breaking the rules in a number of ways by being on this list but I am putting them on here anyways. I know it isn’t technically downtown, but really from my office building, it is likely closer than the spots on Fort Street. And I know, it isn’t traditional Mexican tacos but the ones they have are so good and while each taco is pretty pricey, the amount of food you get with them is insane. My personal favourite is the Belly 2 Belly Taco which is a rich pork belly taco with some thai flavours brought in along with some fresh vegetables. You can try and eat two but you will likely regret it. They have a pretty decent selection and I have never had something I didn’t enjoy here. If you are okay to walk to North Park Village at lunch, stopping in at Taco Justice will be worth it, also there are some tables at the nearby Franklin Green Park if you want somewhere to enjoy your food truck lunch.
That is the list. If you didn’t see your favourite or you disagree with my assessment, make sure to set me straight in the comments!