Mexican food in Memphis area? (Jackson, Bartlett: 2014, neighborhood, living)

[clemsontyger]

We've been living here for a couple of years now and sadly have not yet found any good Mexican restaurants. When we moved here we were told about Casa, La Hacienda, and several others. We've eaten at them, and they are not horrible, but to me those are basically the Mexican restaurants found in every small town across the country. The dishes all look and pretty much taste exactly the same. Now I must confess we did move here from Texas, so the bar was set pretty high for Mexican food. Not that I expect to find it as good as it is in Texas, but are there any really good places to go here? Or is Casa, etc, about as good as I can expect to find? I know there are tons of good places to eat and we've found a lot, just not Mexican.

[pappy35]

El Gallo Giro on Lamar just north of Winchester is a pretty good, hole in the wall, kinda place. They have this green sauce that's to die for. My coworkers and I go there at least once a week and it's always filled with Mexicans (I take that as a good sign). That's a rough area so don't think you're going to go there on a date. It's just really good food.

[CristenS]

Anything along Summer Ave. La Guadalapena is well known to be very good. I agree with El Gallo Giro too.

This blog mentions a couple along Summer, look in the comments for more suggestions:
Summer Avenue Time, and the Eatin' Is Easy - I Love Memphis

[eastmemphisguy]

Summer Avenue is an interesting place. Very Blue Collar. Very International. Down on its luck, but full of authenticity. In a more popular city, it would be absolutely overrun with hipsters, but that's not really an issue here. Lots of little places to discover. Definately less threatening east of Highland. Memphis would do well to pitch the area as our "Bargain District" much as New York did with the Lower East Side. So much potential going unfulfilled!

[Jardine8]

I think the question here is whether you are looking for Tex-Mex, which is basically what La Hacienda and a lot of other "Mexican" restaurants in town serve or are you wanting a little more authentic Mexican food? The more authentic places are going to be in poorer parts of town where there is a larger Hispanic population (Summer Avenue, Jackson Avenue, Macon Road, Lamar Avenue, Winchester Road). My assumption is that the places that the previous posters mentioned are probably a little more authentic, just going by where they are located.

[Comingtomemphis]

Thanks for the names of those restaurants. Agree that Summer is an interesting street, and less threatening as you go east. As mediocre as the Mexican food can be, the Chinese restaurants we've tried are really bad. Have we missed a really good place somewhere in town?

[eastmemphisguy]

For Chinese, I like Mosa Asian Bistro. They're at the corner of White Station and Poplar, next to Bed Bath and Beyond.

[pappy35]

There's a surprisingly good place on Kirby just south of Knight Arnold called Tycoon...I can't explain why it's so good. It just is. I've sampled Chinese all over the country, and a few places out of the country and this is my favorite place to go in Memphis for Chinese/Asian. They have Vietnamese and Malaysian dishes as well. Again, it's a rough neighborhood but safe enough not to have to worry. Mosa is very good too. There's another place in Germantown called Noodles (Google it). It's just like Mosa. These last two places are themselves are a lot like PF Chang's but not so over-priced. They are a bit pricey though.

The place on Kirby is like a Chinese restaurant in China. Not fancy. The owners, husband and wife, are constantly bickering with each other in flurries of Mandarin (I think). While they are arguing, the 10 year old daughter and her 8 year old sister run the register, and they are NOT to be f&!#ed with! Meanwhile, their teenage brother sits in the back playing on his computer. It's an interesting place. It has character and I like that.

[CristenS]

Shang Hai on Poplar for Chinese. None of the employees seem to speak English, which is usually a good sign

[Salmonista]

Why has no one mentioned Las Delicias yet? SO TASTY! Everything I've eaten there is delicious. It is not like your typical Americanized Mexican place - they don't serve everything drowning in a sea of cheese. They make their chips in house. Also Elena's Taco Shop in Bartlett is pretty good.

If you want some place so authentic that you practically need to speak Spanish to go there, try Tacos Borolas. I don't know what the exact neighborhood is called, but it's just south of 240 btwn Perkins and Knight Arnold. They serve things like tongue tacos.