With NoDa space on hold, this taco favorite is opening a West Charlotte location

What began as a pandemic hobby in a South Charlotte apartment is coming full circle with a new permanent home.

After building a loyal following through her food truck and years of pop-up service, Mariah’s Taco Spot is opening a new space at City Kitch on Tuesday, giving customers a dedicated location to order exclusive menu items and weekly specials that aren’t available anywhere else.

“It’s a chance to reintroduce the ghost kitchen concept to Charlotte,” owner Mariah Brown told CharlotteFive. “Customers can expect a lot of their favorites that they’ve been used to over the years, along with new additions that will only be available at the ghost kitchen.”

Among the biggest draws will be Caribbean taco boxes, a collaboration Brown created with the late Carlos Abrahams — who owned Crav’n Caribbean — that she’s bringing back in his honor. The ghost kitchen space will also exclusively serve Crunch Wraps and feature rotating weekly specials, including the return of longtime customer favorites like the Birria Queso.

Brown said the expanded kitchen gives her flexibility she never had while operating solely from a food truck.

“There were so many things that were hard to do on the truck because it’s mobile,” she said. “Now we’ll be able to bring back those items and continue introducing new specials.”

To celebrate opening day, the first customers Tuesday will receive giveaways including Mariah’s signature all-purpose seasoning blend, while others will find free taco cards tucked into their bags that can be redeemed on a future visit at either the ghost kitchen or food truck.

The ghost kitchen also gives customers a permanent place to find Mariah’s Taco Spot while plans for a standalone restaurant continue to develop.

Brown previously announced plans in 2024 for a brick-and-mortar restaurant near Soul Gastrolounge in NoDa, CharlotteFive reported, but said the project is currently on hold as she works through funding challenges.

“We’re just going through a few hiccups right now,” Brown said. “For now, we’re focused on the food truck and the ghost kitchen. At least this will be a permanent location that people can access.”

Mariah’s Taco Spot traces its roots back to the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Brown began making birria tacos in her South Charlotte apartment after stumbling across a cooking video on social media.

What started as a boredom-fueled hobby quickly turned into a side business as friends and followers began placing orders through Instagram. Brown coordinated pickups from her apartment, cooking tacos after finishing her full-time job at Duke Energy while friends helped deliver orders to customers waiting outside.

At its peak, dozens of people would line up outside her apartment for tacos.

“It was like a carpool line,” Brown previously told CharlotteFive. “I realized I couldn’t keep doing this out of my apartment. We had to find a commercial kitchen and legitimize the business.”

That realization led Brown to her first ghost kitchen space before eventually expanding to a food truck, where Mariah’s Taco Spot became known for its birria tacos, taco boxes, wings and creative specialty tacos.

The grand opening of Mariah’s Taco Spot is slated for Tuesday, Aug. 4 from 2-7 p.m. inside City Kitch.

Location: 2200 Thrift Rd, Charlotte, NC 28208 (Inside City Kitch)

Cuisine: American, tacos

Instagram: @mariahstacospot