'Long time coming': Ghost Taco arrives on Newmarket Main Street

Newmarket residents hungry for scary-good eats flocked to Main Street to get their fill as Ghost Taco opened Dec. 1.

After more than a year in the works, the former pop-up opened a permanent location at 247 Main St. S. The fast-food restaurant offers a wide variety of “unauthentic” Mexican tacos that garnered it a following as a pop-up restaurant amid the pandemic.

Co-owner Samantha Buckley said it is exciting to be open.

“It’s been a long time coming, and the anticipation for us and all the customers has been really high, so we’re super excited,” she said. 

Ghost Taco began as a pop-up restaurant at EventMrkt in 2021 as a way to keep staff working during lockdowns. Its popularity prompted the Buckleys, who also own Ground Burger Bar, to expand to a permanent location. They have worked on the site since October 2022.

Manager Addison Tomas said it took some time, with a design change prompted by a desire to franchise the restaurant.

“It took its time, but we’re pleased with the results. Some things you want right away, but some you can’t really rush,” Tomas said, adding an invitation for people to come by. “No more ‘are we open, are we not,’ we are in here.”

Plenty of people came through the restaurant for its opening hours. Taylor Oake said she wanted to support the place after falling for the tacos during the pandemic.

“We were just obsessed and loving them,” she said. “We found out they were opening up a storefront on Main Street, we were 100 times more excited. We’ve been slowly but surely, not so patiently, waiting for the day they opened.”

Nadia Deacetis has wanted to try the tacos and waited months for the new location to open.

“It’s all I’ve been hearing in the community,” she said. “It’s nice to have a place like this close by on Main Street. I think it’s missing from the choice of restaurants.” 

Buckley said they wanted to work on franchising as they feel there is nothing quite like Ghost Taco on the market, offering a unique variety at a quick pace. The success of the pop-up also prompted them to create a permanent location.

“It’s been a lot of growing pains over time,” she said. “But it’s been amazing to see the vision come to life.”

Regardless, this Ghost Taco will always be the first.

“I hope we open many more Ghost Tacos to come,” Buckley said. “But this one will always be the original, our baby. It’s Newmarket, it’s our hometown, it’s our home base and we’re really excited to be here.”