Condado Tacos – Spiciest Dish in Columbus Series

There are a handful of taco spots around Columbus and Condado Tacos has been a staple since 2014.

Last week we ventured to the downtown Condado Tacos location to try out all of their spiciest options. We were going to build the spiciest taco possible to see where it stood on our list. This particular time we were joined by new farm friend the Spicy Frenchman, who is a big fan of tacos and pizza.

The inside was still rather festive from the holidays and a bit crowded with the lunch rush, but that’s typically a good sign. Condado Tacos typically has special tacos available and this time around was featuring their “Holiday Dinner Taco.” The Spicy Frenchman ordered one of those and two other side tacos because who doesn’t want mashed potatoes in their taco? All about that avocado horseradish cream sauce, but you’ll have to wait until next year for it to roll back around.

Not the most appetizing of photos, but the Spicy Frenchman noted that he would put 4 of these down if he could turn back time.

If you haven’t been to Condado Tacos, you may be in for some choice paralysis. There are a few pre-determined taco types, but if you’re a customizer there is a sheet of options that present you with enough choices to make thousands of unique tacos. The spicier pieces of the tacos are noted with a little flame and we put all of those on one taco.

Behold, the order sheet for the spiciest taco!

If you’re looking to put together the spiciest taco at Condado Tacos, select the following: Tequila Lime Steak, Jicama+Cabbage Slaw, Salsa Roja finished with the Dirty Sauce (their 4-flame sauce). You could really boost it by adding the Firecracker shell, but we wanted to try that with a more plain taco to see how that faired. We got two of the “spiciest tacos” and then added an additional taco with the Firecracker shell, Brisket, Pepper Jack cheese and the Condado Secret Taco Sauce.

Three tacos of variable spice.

The presentation of the tacos isn’t the prettiest, nor does it need to be because that’s not Condado’s thing. These are highly customizable street tacos, but we’ve never had an inaccurate order (knock on our raised beds). The ingredient combo for the “spiciest taco” isn’t much to write home about. All of the ingredients are of good quality, but the heat on everything is pretty low.

With four flames next to a sauce, I was expecting to at least get some sort of kick to the face, but it never showed itself. It hid with the steak and cabbage and was like “nah, you don’t get the full four-flame effect.” There were a few of the tiniest sniffles, but I’m unsure if that was from the hidden heat or from the walk to the restaurant. One “spiciest taco” in, I swapped to the Firecracker shell taco.

Some redness to this crunchy boi.

For the Firecracker shell, think of the Doritos Locos taco shells from Taco Bell and you’ve got roughly the same thing. We’re not sure if it was the corn salsa or another part of our order, but the opposite side of the shell (from what you see above) was pretty much destroyed from wetness and barely held together. The shell had noticeable heat, but was pretty mild overall.

While the heat of all of the items was underwhelming, I enjoy tacos, so the meal overall was satisfactory. I was pretty disappointed with the flame scale that is used on the menu because it didn’t seem to represent much. Your cockiest of friends could waltz in and say “one Juicy Lucy Shell with only the Dirty Sauce please, no other ingredients” and barely make a face at the spiciness. Condado Tacos is a nice spot for quick tacos and some excellent guac and queso, but this is not the spicy taco you are seeking. With all of the above in mind, we’re placing Condado Tacos at number #36 on our list, just above Firdous Express: Tunisian Chicken (ID required!) and below Beer Barrel Pizza and Grill: Nuclear Hot Sauce Wings.

You can find Condado Tacos downtown, Dublin, Polaris, on High Street by campus and a few other spots in Ohio.

Look below for more in our spiciest dish in Columbus series and hit us up if you have any suggestions that are not already on our list!

You can find us on Facebook, Instagram or contact us via our contact page.

More From Our Quest To Find The Spiciest Dish