Charleston, SCTacos

Taco Boy's Huger Street patio is the draw as much as the tacos, singled out by Charleston Magazine as one of downtown's essential alfresco spots. The kitchen runs carne asada, crispy fried-avocado and other fillings on soft corn tortillas, backed by a full bar. Order a round of tacos with chips, guac and a Tecate on the patio.

Charleston City Paper's Connelly Hardaway covered the twelfth-anniversary overhaul of this St. Andrews Boulevard room, the flagship that opened in West Ashley in 2012 with what the paper called a SoCal vibe. The kitchen kept its top sellers, including the chicken tacos, and worked to improve those recipes rather than replace them, while adding an ahi tuna taco topped with ginger and a short rib taco. Order the chicken tacos and the fire-roasted street corn.

Pitmaster John Lewis brought West Texas border cooking to King Street, pairing Hatch chiles, beef back ribs and mesquite smoke with local shrimp, Manchester Farms quail and heirloom Marsh Hen Mills corn. Fried ice cream in a cornflake shell closes the meal. Order tacos and save room for the fried ice cream.

Owner Javier Maya opened Santi's downtown in 2002, adding a Mount Pleasant location a decade later and a third West Ashley restaurant in 2024. The menu runs to tacos, chile rellenos, flautas, nachos, enchiladas and burritos loosely based on the cuisine of Jalisco, per the Post and Courier's coverage of the expansion.

El Molino Supermarket runs a taqueria counter inside its West Ashley grocery store, topping tacos with onions and cilantro and serving them with salsa and radish and cucumber slices. A second location has since opened in North Charleston.