We discuss the incorporation of quarks in the fundamental representation of the color group into the non-critical string/gauge duality. We focus on confining theories and address this question using two different approaches: (i) by introducing flavor probe branes and (ii) by deriving backreacted flavored near extremal gravity backgrounds. In the former approach we analyze the near extremal AdS₆ model with D4 and anti-D4 probe flavor branes included. We study the meson spectrum and discuss the role played by the constituent quark mass, related to the integration constant that defines the embedding. As for the second approach we derive a class of flavored AdS_n+1 × S^k black hole solutions. In particular we write down the flavored AdS₆ and AdS₅ black holes and the near extremal AdS₅ × S¹ backgrounds. We analyze several gauge dynamical properties associated with these models.