Taco Libre
The Skinny has run the same line on this kitchen two years running: the tacos are some of the very best around.1
Why go
Peter Simpson's Edinburgh guide puts it in one line: Chaos reigns at Taco Libre, with its bright lights and loud decor. The tacos are some of the very best around, with simple, authentic fillings and bags of flavour.
1 The same entry, unchanged, ran in the 2025 edition, so this is a held assessment rather than a first impression. The guide lists two sites, 3 Shandwick Place and 85 Rose Street. This one is the Shandwick Place premises in the West End.
Order this / avoid
- Order: tacos. That is what the only published judgment on this kitchen is about.
- Avoid: the assumption that the two addresses are interchangeable. They hold separate hygiene records and the ratings differ.
Good to know
- Hygiene, and read this first: the Food Hygiene Information Scheme rating at 3 Shandwick Place is Improvement Required, from a City of Edinburgh inspection on 10 September 2025. The Rose Street site holds its own separate Pass from 1 April 2026, and that rating belongs to that door only.2
- Booking: walk-in. The Shandwick Place premises is registered as a takeaway.
Verdict
could-visit — A bylined city guide has called the tacos here some of the very best around in two consecutive editions, which is a real judgment from a source that eats widely in this city. The West End premises carries an Improvement Required hygiene rating from September 2025, which is what keeps it at could-visit and off any stronger recommendation.