Charritos

Nothing gets any worse for Mexican food than when it is Americanized. This place was definately not the case. It was very authentic and full of flavor. The waitress was very nice and helped a lot. Would eat at again if I was in the area.

What a great authentic Mexican restaurant! We truly enjoyed this find today. The menu is simple, yet offers many unusual dishes made from scratch. The menu is changing Monday 6-​5-​2016. Homemade Tamales are being added, refried black beans, among other items that have been popular on the daily menus.
The small cozy joint is tucked in the Arlington Plaza on the corner of Reed and Henderson roads. Super clean, great service, and hand painted murals line the walls, along with Mexican décor.
We choose to eat in and the food was super fast. The chips were homemade, fresh and warm. The salsa was homemade and had the right amount of mild heat and salt. It had a little too much cilantro for me, but I’m not a fan of it anyways. It’s more of a well blended salsa, not chunky. They do have 2 other sauces as well they make and bring out with the tacos. Both were tasty. One was green and other was a hotter one.
They offer bottled imported Mexican sodas (which my son loved. He got the Mango.) they offer a wide variety of them. They also have Pepsi products as well.
The refried beans were great, not runny or well blended like other restaurants. The rice was the best Mexican rice I have had in a long time. Defiantly not a typical blah after thought side dish.
The tacos were the show stopper! I have to say, the Al Pastor tacos were the star! Super moist, seasoned perfectly, not dry, and the best I have had! I have tried the other famous place for these-​I like these much better! And for $ 1.50-sold! We also went with the stake and brisket ones as well. All were fantastic! Served on homemade tortillas, topped with onion and fresh cilantro.
Everything here is almost made from scratch. The most important things anyways! The fries are not-​but really? Your not here for the fries. They even make the Jalapeño Poppers from scratch!
There are a lot of daily specials here. I also learned after the fact, they will make anything requested. I am eager to try the new menu. We will be back here! Place is super delicious and cheap!
Reading past reviews, I was mixed coming here. After our visit today, looks like it’s improved.

Delicious! Tacos $ 1.50 — $ 2.00. Three filled me up. Coming back soon!

Good food, great service.
Everyone makes mistakes from time to time, but how you handle them is telling. They forgot an entrée from my carry-​out order a couple weeks ago, and they called me proactively to let me know that they identified the mistake. I got the call shortly after I arrived home, and I didn’t feel like returning at that time. They apologized and offered to make good on their mistake whenever it was convenient for me.
It has been a couple weeks now, but I came in this evening to take them up on their offer, and I am more than pleased. They made more than good on the mistake, and I appreciate that.
I’ll happily bring my business back here, any time. Great staff and service. Thank you for doing the right thing!

I used to always drive by this place but had never been in until recently. After going to the busier places like cucos and los guachos, I decided to skip the lines and go here. The food is authentic and prices same as the usual ($ 1.50 for tacos). Let’s just say this place is extremely underrated, I’ve been 2 days in a row and not tired of it. If you like al pastor tacos go on Mondays buy one get one free. Great place, great staff and they have free chips and salsa. ⁵⁄₅

This place is a hidden gem! I live in Upper Arlington and usually my go to Mexican restaurant is Cucos, but lately they have been very crowded and the service has been getting worse over time, so we decided to give this place a try. It was definitely a great move.
The first thing I want to say about this place is how awesome the service was. Our waiter was great and had a lot of helpful recommendations about what to order. The chips and salsa were also excellent. Our food came quickly once we ordered it and it was delicious. I got the green enchiladas and my girlfriend got one of their salads. Finally, our bill was super cheap for the amount of food that we got.
Overall, the experience was great and I would definitely recommend. We will be coming back very soon.

Went here on a weekday night and ordered a pork burrito. I can’t think of a better burrito than the one I had that night. If you love burritos they do an amazing job of it here. However, not everything on the menu is amazing. My husband ordered a different dish and immediately regretted it. I can’t remember what he ordered, but it wasn’t as good as mine. They roast their pork here which is why it’s a good choice on the menu. I love this little restaurant. I’ll be back for another burrito. They’re pretty addicting once you order one you start craving another.

Enjoyed the chicken nachos and some tacos. Loved the al pastor tacos!!! Tilapia taco with mango salsa was phenomenal as well. Did not care for the carne asada. If you love cilantro, the salsa verde is amazing. Oh yeah, and be sure to get the cucumber water. So refreshing.

I have been there twice and today I got the Al Pastor Torta and it was amazing. The Torta was huge and the bread was perfectly grilled. The meat along with the mayo, lettuce, avocado, cheese, and beans was superb. I’ll be coming back again and again for this one. The price was awesome too at 6.50.

I would give this another half star if I could – it really is solidly A-​OK, but not mind-​blowing. If you’re in the area and you’re like «hmm, should I try it?» then I would say yes, do.
One item I was really into that we had was their bean dip. It had a more complex spice blend than one would usually find in a bean dip and I thought it was really good.
I had a few tacos – brisket, carne asada, and al pastor. All of them tasted totally fine. None of them was the BEST taco I’ve had in Columbus, or the second best. I would definitely eat these tacos again but I wouldn’t crave them. My husband had the chiles rellenos, which I thought were tasty but he didn’t like as well as some other ones in town.
If Charritos were in a town that didn’t have a great taco truck population and some fierce competition, they’d be four stars for sure. For Columbus, I still think they’re a solid 3.5.

I just want to update to say that I have never had anything that wasn’t incredibly delicious here. Last night, there was a carnitas in green chile sauce as a special– of course I got the special. It was phenomenal (so was my al pastor taco I could not resist ordering)! My partner’s milanesa torta was (multi-​meal) massive and quite delicious. (If she had left the table I probably would have began eating her ‘I’m saving this’ half).
If there is a special get it. Be it posole, albondigas, goat barbacoa, tamales, or menudo on the weekends. You won’t be sad (unless you were wanting Ohio-​an ‘not quite Mexican, Mexican).
I love the tomatillo based green salsa that’s brought with the chipotle (that’s what I taste) salsa to the table just before food is served. Seriously. I’ve consumed over a quarter (pushing on a half) of that squeeze bottle in one meal.
I feel like the drink options are expanding too! Aguas frescas (cucumber and the melon are YUM-​tastic) and horchata (yet to have) and a few more bottles of sodas.
Still hungry at the end of your meal? Order more tacos! Or get a churro! I have had them a few times and they have always been hot, fresh, and delicious. (I even ate one last night even though we were headed to Diamond’s for ice cream).
Also go for breakfast people! Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings there’s a breakfast menu.

For the price you pay the food awesome! This place is WAY better than Yabos Tacos and a cheaper version of Bakersfield.
Tacos have handmade tortillas w fresh cilantro and onions. Home run.
The boyfriend had the charrito burrito. It was fresh and very flavorful.
I will be returning!

Tried this place today because of all the stellar reviews. I have to say I don’t get it. My experience was really not great! I’m wondering if maybe this is super authentic and I’m not used that or if we both ordered the wrong thing, but, not good on any level. Service or food!
My mom had beef nachos that had canned cheese poured over… you know, the kind that is super processed and yellowish orangish? Yuck. I’m not sure how you can mess up beef nachos, but today was the day! Skimpy on the beef too.
I had the chicken flautas and they were over a black bean sauce. I like black beans but I didn’t care for this either! I ate one of the four. It was supposed to come with guacamole and it didn’t, so I had to ask for it and the server brought out a spoonful amount. Wow.
And just FYI-​the salsa is pretty thin-​think water and spicy and they don’t have fountain drinks. $ 2.00 for bottled cokes, and Jarritos.
Maybe I should’ve tried a taco.
Food=2 stars
Service=½ star
Definitely not a fan.

Had some great tacos here today. Service was great, very friendly, no language barrier.
Chips and salsa was pretty good, the chips were fairly standard. The salsa was excellent, not too chunky and somewhat spicy, just the way I like it.
The lengua, suadero and chicharron tacos were all really good, hot and fresh, dressed with finely chopped onion and cilantro. The chicharron had a red marinade that gave it more flavor than others I’ve tried.
I like the al pastor here better than Los Gauchos. There I said it. They were hotter, juicier and in my opinion, tastier. They didn’t have pinapple on them and I didn’t really miss it.
They also had the whole rainbow of Jarritos flavors including my fav grapefruit.

Yummmmmmmm!!!
Best tortas in town! Fantastic guacamole. Brisket taco and AL pastor taco are amazing! Large Horchata = heaven!

One of our favorite Mexican places in Columbus. Great service and clean. We love the Tortas — great ingredients and huge! The jalapeño poppers are hot as they are fresh.

I love this place. Everything I’ve had has been delicious. Their tortas are huge and very tasty but I think the chile relleno is my favorite. And try their tres leche cake for dessert. It’s pretty stellar.
It’s worth your while to be on their email list too. We’ve gotten a couple decent discounts and I got a free birthday meal! And it’s super affordable too.
Thumbs up for Charritos!

Once again, I don’t usually give restaurants 5 stars unless I truly believe it’s phenomenal. This is the best Mexican food that I have eaten in Columbus. I’m glad I did my research before selecting this as my choice. For the most part, the reviews are great. Clearly, I can trust my fellow Unilocalers. Anyhow, I ordered the chicken quesadilla and carne asada. I know that was greedy of me! It was soooooo delicious!!! Best rice, veggies and both the chicken and steak was very flavorful. You won’t be disappointed. I topped it off with Strawberry Jarritos! BTW clean restaurant, kind of scarce parking, slightly pricy and great customer service!!!

Awesome mexican restaurant! Opens until late and the service is great. My wife and I have been coming here for the past 2 years and have never been disappointed. We love the tacos al pastor, flautas de pollo and tamales de rajas… Got to try them all :)

This has quickly become my favorite Mexican restaurant in Columbus.
Our first visit I got the enchiladas verde and we were given free chips and salsa for it being our first time. The sauce was so flavorful and I could not get enough of it! The rice and beans were equally delicious.
Another evening I tried the 3 enchilada plate, chicken, beef, and cheese each with a different sauce. Each sauce became my new favorite as I ate.
We decided to go back for al pastor tacos on a Monday night for the 2 for 1 deal. My husband lived in Mexico and I have visited, let me tell you this is the closest we have found to genuine al pastor. The meat is tender and flavorful, they are generous with the slice of juicy pineapple, and all their salsas taste great. I also recommend you try the pickled onions and habanero peppers.
They serve breakfast, so that is next on my list to try. Huevos rancheros are worth going out for.
Beyond the delicious food and fantastic prices, service is always great. They are friendly and quick to make some more tacos if you didn’t order enough the first time! You can order at the counter for take out or pick a table where you will be given menus and receive service.
The only thing that I don’t like is that I have never seen this place full!

If you are reading this trying to decide if you want to go or not… Here is your sign GO NOW! This is hands down one of my favorite hidden gems in Columbus! The owner and his son are super nice and the prices are great!
If you’re wondering what to get the al pastor tacos and suadero are my favorites! The tamales are also amazing, go early or they sell out! That’s how great they are.
It’s never really busy, which is really crazy for how good the food is, so you can really go anytime get great customer service and food at a great price.

Really flavorful authentic tasting food. On Mondays they have two for one Al Pastor tacos which my boyfriend LOVES. Their hot sauce is tasty, and I’m picky about hot sauce. I knock off one star due to the fact that they don’t have the yummy white queso dip for chips (I’m a sucker for it). Their churros are delicious and covered in a warm chocolate sauce. The food is quality and not expensive. We love having little nights out over here!

Just so happen to be the only customer on Black Friday. I did get here on the tail end of the lunch rush, but I kinda assumed I’d see more people out and about, more patrons out for lunch.
I decided to try the Pastor Torta. A bit bummed: I couldn’t really taste the marinated pork. I thought, hey Gwen, maybe it’s just you, and tried a few forkings of the meat solo. Definitely could taste the red marinade, but not much pork punch.
Avocado and pineapple slices were a hit! Beans meshed well and gave flavor, but not overbearing. The ginormous bun was reminiscent of airy garlic bread minus the butter and garlic. Quite good, and it wasn’t the main filling agent (always a plus when you pay for substance, not just lots of bread carbs).
Was the meal good? Yes. Enough to come back? Hmmm. There are other Mexican places closer to the east side that have warranted return visits of my own volition. I’d be glad to meet friends here if THEY pick it.

I love this place! It’s traditional al poster tacos coupled with its amazing service and price make these the best al pastor tacos in Columbus. I’ve been to a lot of taco trucks/​restaurants/​taquerias and this is my favorite place. I have to stop here whenever I’m in town. It is always clean, and the servers are so nice and friendly. The tortas are huge and delicious but tacos are my favorite. For anyone saying the tacos are bland, that’s what the salsa they serve with the tacos are for! You can also get spicy peppers if you ask!
If you are getting carry out, you order at the counter. Usually when I’m waiting for my order, they will bring out chips and salsa. If you are dining in, you can take a seat at a table and a server will bring you menus.
Monday is 2 for the price of 1 al pastor tacos which is crazy because they are already a great deal!

We’ve gotten carry out a few times. Always fresh and good flavor. Favorite is a seafood soup: Caldo de Mariscos”. Tacos are also good and varied.
Location is a busy corner retail strip. They’ve made it nice-​ish inside with faux brick décor. Most of the food is cooked within view by a friendly younger man. Tonight they provided chips and salsa as I waited for our order. They apologized for the «long wait» (it didn’t seem too bad to me) and threw in a Mexican cola «on the house.»
These folks clearly care about their food and their customers’ experience.

This salsa is what all salsa should aspire to be. A whole mouth of warmth.
Another weekend bonus is the soup with garbanzo beans, onion, cilantro, and mint is tasty!
We’ve had nothing but great service all while being taught more Spanish.
I’ve had tacos (yes the tripa is really tripe and the lengua truly tongue). Spot on. I’ve had breakfast enchiladas and I’m waiting on dinner enchiladas as I type. The Rojas sauce is the best enchilada sauce of my life. Perfectly balanced with tomato and chile.
The beans are wonderfully done.

This place is not half bad, especially if you know what to order. Some of the dishes were hit or miss — the Mexican nachos were… not good. But the fish tacos (grilled tilapia to be exact) were fantastic! The churros were over and undercooked at the same time (over on the outside and under on the inside) :/​Despite how busy they were, the service was very good and when we went to pay, our server wouldn’t charge us for the churros. He noticed that we hadn’t eaten them and apologized as they had a new cook that wasn’t used to making them. Overall, I would say this place is great for a decent, quick, cheap (our entire lunch bill for two was less than $ 15!), no frills lunch. Will definitely return!

I didn’t love it, and don’t understand all the great reviews…
Don’t get me wrong, the food was OK. But just OK — nothing special, nothing spectacular, and not terribly authentic in my opinion.
Certainly not deserving of a bunch of four and five star reviews.
At least service was friendly.
There is so much better fast and inexpensive Mexican nearby… try Los Gauchos or Cucos or even Chipotle before going here.

Darn good Mexican food in the Upper Arlington /​Clintonville area. I had the Cubacharrito torta and it was the best torta I have had in a long time. This torta is kinda like the garbage disposal of tortas. It has Mexican pork sausage, Milanesa, chicken, salchicha, egg, and ham. It easily feeds 2 people if you split an appetizer. It had great flavor, it was HUGE, and exceeded every expectation. I went with a couple of friends and everything on the table was a hit. I’ve only been here once so I can’t speak to a wide variety of items on the menu, but what I’ve tried was mighty tasty.
I will echo what other’s have said, this place would be a 5 star hit if I could order a draft Modelo Especial with my dinner. An ice cold beer and tacos go so well together.
The staff was super nice and I will definitely be back.

Was driving by here after doing some shopping in the area. I saw a few places nearby but Unilocal pretty much told me «try Charritos».
I got a lengua taco which was pretty good, if I rated it on that alone it would be a ⁴⁄₅. The veggie burrito was very very good, so I’m upping it to a 5. I’ll be back to try more.
Friendly staff, fast service. Good if you are in a time crunch.

Exploring our Mexican options and decided to give it a try. It was a total win. I am not a Mexican food expert by any means, but have had a lot over the last 60 years… in the US and in Mexico, and know what I enjoy. This I really enjoyed. The restaurant is small, and there is a takeout counter as well as casual dining. Everything sounded enticing and I settled on the Chile Rellenos which were excellent. The rice and beans were well prepared. My husband left not a trace of his Carne Asada. The manager/​owner? Suggested the Four Leches Cake with strawberries for dessert… in one word fabulous!
My husbands only complaint was no beer, thus the four stars. We will return!

I actually really liked this place. As a native Southern Californian, I am constantly looking for a good Mexican food in Columbus, and its constantly falling short.
I had four tacos (two Al Pastor and two brisket). The al pastor were much better. Tacos are smallish but filling (I definitely didn’t need four). This is particularly true considering they give you free chips. The salsa with the chips was below average and almost water. However, the salsas that come in the squeeze-​y tubes (one red and one green) had a sufficient kick to warm me up on a single digit temperature day and had flavor to make it worth putting them on all my chips and tacos.
As others have said, it seems like you order at the counter, but you don’t. They seat you and take your order. However, you then pay at the counter. Its a little confusing and odd, but the confusion is hardly an issue as it may add 30 seconds to your visit. And besides, as someone used to amazing hole-​in-​the-​wall Mexican joints, I would feel weird about a flawless dining experience at a taco joint.
Food is good. Its a bit out of my way. I would come back but only on a Monday when its BOGO tacos! I only need so much Ohio Mexican food, and while this satisfies, if I can get it half off, theres no reason for me to come back another time.

I was seriously debating for awhile whether I wanted to give them a 4 or 5 star review. Then I realized that there was no way I could go below 5 star. I had never been to the old location and didn’t even know the place existed which just makes me incredibly sad, because the meal we had here was delicious. Is this my favorite Mexican place in Columbus? No. Is it now in my top 10, possibly top 5? For sure.
The place is a little confusing at first, because they have the menu above the register as if you are supposed to order at the counter, but one of the servers told us to take a seat, and he’d be around to take care of us. The guy that served us was one of the nicest servers I’ve ever had wait on me. I also think he was helping cook as well, and the place was decently busy, so he was everywhere.
They provide you with chips and salsa, and I have to say if there was one drawback, it would be the salsa. The taste was great, but it was so super thin that it was difficult to really get any dip on your chip, and it ran off onto the table. It was free though, so it’s whatever to me.
Every time I go to a new Mexican place like this, I go with the tacos and a quesadilla, because I like to compare everything to Tacoriendo as my benchmark. The girlfriend and I both got pastor and carne asada tacos, and I got a pastor quesadilla, and she got one with the Tinga, which is marinated chicken. The pastor was awesome. It was probably close to Los Gauchos in terms of good, and the steak was almost as good. The hot sauce they provide was pretty hot and had a really nice flavor as did their green sauce. Out of the quesadillas, the Tinga was the favorite.
The new place is right on Reed next to Nicola, so it’s only about a 10 minute drive for me, which is way closer than Los Gauchos and Tacoriendo, so you can bet I’ll be back here often. I just wish I had known about this place sooner.

Went here for lunch today and was pleasantly surprised. Most items cost around $ 6.50, which is decent, and tacos are at food truck prices at $ 1.50 apiece for the cheaper meats and $ 2 for tilapia, etc. Also like food trucks and unlike most Mexican restaurants, no chips and salsa.
They have a full menu of tortas, but I sadly saw no veggie option. They do, however, have a pretty tasty looking veggie burrito. So I asked if they’d make a veggie torta for me out of those ingredients and they obliged without hesitation. I also ordered a fish taco because I can’t not do that.
The torta was huge and thin, very traditional and authentic. It was really good and, for the price, a steal to boot. The fish taco was tiny, but also really yummy. It included some kind of mango salsa that wasn’t listed on the menu, which just said «onion and cilantro.» Roja and verde sauces were presented with the food and both were good, although I prefer the verde because I’m just not in to the smokiness of roja all the time.
Service was fast and courteous. I was in and out in under half an hour. They gave me a placard and informed me of a buy 2 get 1 free taco deal on Mondays. Good to know! The space is very clean and apparently people have a tough time (according to the chef) spotting it crammed into this strip mall. They moved here from their old location a year ago and it still looked fairly new.