Best Mexican restaurants around Phoenix.. (Tucson, Mesa: rental car, rental, buying)

[skyegirl]

Hi all! My hubby and I are spending this weekend driving around Phoenix, checking it all out. Can any locals recommend some good authentic mexican restaurants? We will have a rental car, so any area would be fine!! Thanks in advance...

[Finger Laker]

los dos molinos has 3 locations in the metro area - the one way down on central avenue as you approach south mountain is probably the most interesting as far as environment ........ their food tends to be hotter and mirrors the style you are most likely to find in new mexico

i'm not the biggest fan of the sonoran style you'll find in phoenix, but there are a lot of good options - if you are near downtown glendale then I would definitely check out Pedros for mexican food - it's at around 49th Ave & Glendale Ave

some interesting food choices in that area - Haus Murphy has good german and A Taste of European Cafe is very good with a polish/eastern european taste

[sablebaby]

You can do a search on here for a similar thread with lots of ideas.

[blisterpeanuts]

Right across the street from Pedro's on Glendale Ave. (which is a good restaurant and I second the recommendation) is a Mexican taqueria (sp?) that is pretty authentic. It was the only place I could find open on Christmas day (we were picking up my mother-in-law from the airport that day)--they had this Spanish TV blasting away, and delicious homemade flour tortillas, and mole' chicken. Yum.

Keep the suggestions flowing--I'm also looking for more great Mexican cuisine!

[snowthedirtbub]

You can go anywhere in arizona and find good mexican resutrants. If your by chase field in downtown pheonix i highly suggest Carolinas. Dont be run off by the neighbor hood, it is the best, and has the best homeade tortillas ever, i suggest buying a couple dozen for later. I will warn you though it is...well kinda trashy, but still delicious. If your by pheonix, i suggest mattas, miamigo, and filbertos is fast food. If in chandler a new place opened up called ellies that has good fry bread.

Thats just a few, pretty much anywhere you go you can find good authentic mexican in arizona.

[sweettearose]

My favorite Mexican restaurant is in downtown. It's called La Canasta. It's not in the nicest part of town (Buckeye and 7th ave) but the food is amazing and the ambience is fine. It looks like a hole in the wall until you go in it. It's a favorite place among the police officers in the area so there are alway cops in there so you don't feel unsafe.

Charros is another great restaurant in downtown and it has a very homemade authentic style to it. It's very good and it's probably my third favorite.

Los Dos Molinos is really good and spicy. The service is pretty lousy and the prices tend to be high but other than that, the food and margaritas are amazing.

Tepee Tap Room is also in downtown. It's right by Bank One Ballpark and it's the restaurant President Bush always stops by to eat at on his trips to Phoenix. It's a combination of a restaurant and a cantina with plastic booths. It has a run down yet charming feel to it. It's straightforward and simple Mexican food that is relatively cheap. Some would say it's not as authentic as the other places I mentioned but their execution is flawless and they have the best refried beans and rice of any Mexican restaurant I've been to.

The Fry Bread House on Indian School and 7th ave. It's not really Mexican food but they have the best Indian tacos I've ever tasted. They all types and it's kind of a hole in the wall but it's very good.

[Steve-o]

Anything but Macayo's.

BLECH.

[ibarrio]

I agree. Macayo's is not very good.

[vegaspilgrim]

Check out this thread I started a while back: Best Mexican restaurants in Phoenix.

Since I started that thread and got a bunch of suggestions, I've tried a TON of Mexican food places in Phoenix, of all shapes and sizes. And the truth is, dollar for dollar, pound for pound, taco for taco, El Taco Tote is the best. It's a SW chain (they have it in Phoenix, Tucson, Albuquerque, El Paso, Laredo, as well as in Cd. Juarez Mexico where it started). Two locations in Phoenix: one on Camelback and 35th and one in Mesa on Country Club and Southern (the one I go to). Actually three if you count the one in the foodcourt at the AZ Mills Mall. It's pretty much just tacos, but once you try it, you'll see it's not "just" a taco. Freshly made corn or flour tortillas, grilled chicken, beef, or pork straight off the grill, and an INCREDIBLE salsa bar (I recommend the Salsa Cambray). And their tacos are big, stuffed with generous portions of meat. The rice and beans are so-so, but the tacos themselves will blow away any taco you've ever had. Most of the "authentic" Mexican restaurants in town will serve you tiny bite sized tortillas filled with shredded, liquidity chicken that tastes like it comes out of a can. I don't know who invented "shredded" chicken, but it is one of the most disgusting and cheap things out there.

Another honorable mention is a place called El Pollo Supremo, in a strip mall in Tempe on University and Ash. Hole in the wall place that serves whole pieces of barbeque Mexican-style chicken, served with fresh tortillas, salsa, and beans. All for under $5.00. Incredibly amazing. Think of it as the non-chain, tastier version of El Pollo Loco. And by the way, EPL isn't so bad, I go there all the time, but El Pollo Supremo is better.

[Magnum Mike]

Good Mexican restaurants - Taco Bell?

Garcia's and Macayo's, they have various locations around the valley.
Via De Losanto's, 9120 North Central Ave, between Dunlap and Hatcher.