The Absolute Best Mexican Food In The US

Tacos, enchiladas, and guacamole, oh my! There's no denying the spicy, flavorful, distinctive deliciousness that is Mexican food. Nor is it possible to refute Americans' profound love for the stuff. You don't need to look any further than the almighty dollar for proof: Americans spent more than $66 billion at Mexican restaurants in 2021, according to Statista. America's craving for food from its southerly neighbors has given rise to an ever-growing supply of Mexican-inspired restaurants. As of 2020, there are around 65,000 restaurants serving Mexican food in the United States, according to the foodservice research company CHD Expert. That's a lot of chips and salsa.

While no one will complain about how easy it is today to enjoy a Mexican meal, the abundance of choices does make finding the best south-of-the-border food a tall task. But that's precisely what we've done! From hole-in-the-wall eateries in Philadelphia and legendary taco joints in Los Angeles to the Southwest's bevy of critically acclaimed restaurants and the Big Apple's Michelin-starred destinations, here are some of the absolute best Mexican food options in the U.S.

Cosme isn't the best Mexican restaurant in the United States. It's the best restaurant in the United States, period, according to at least one well-respected source. Cosme currently ranks 22^nd on the list of The World's 50 Best Restaurants, higher than any other eatery in the country. The New York City destination is the brainchild of world-renowned chef and Mexico City native, Enrique Olvera. He opened Cosme in 2014 with the intention of bringing authentic Mexican flavors to the Big Apple, receiving heaps of praise as soon as the doors opened. This included a rave three-star review from The New York Times – not an easy feat.

For many years, Cosme's kitchen was run by Daniela Soto-Innes, a superstar in her own right as the youngest person ever to be named World's Best Female Chef. Although she's no longer with the restaurant, you can still expect the same delectable food coming out of the kitchen. Combining Mexican flavors with local ingredients, Cosme's menu features south-of-the-border delights such as duck carnitas, octopus tostadas, potato tetelas, housemade mole, and cornhusk meringue. The restaurant's beverage selection is just as enticing, with a host of tequila and mezcal-based cocktails, as well an entire section dedicated to margaritas. If the food is good enough for the Obamas, who enjoyed a meal there in 2016 according to Eater New York, we're sure it will satisfy all of your cravings too.

If you're a fan of food documentaries, you're likely familiar with South Philly Barbacoa even if you've never had the pleasure of eating there. The restaurant and its legendary chef Cristina Martinez were the subjects of an episode of Netflix's hit show "Chef's Table" (via IMDb). And rightfully so considering the incredible story behind them both. According to Bon Appétit, after Martinez emigrated from Mexico to the United States, she had trouble landing a job due to her undocumented status. Undeterred, she began cooking batches of barbacoa at home and selling them from her apartment. Word of this now-iconic dish began to spread around town, eventually forcing Martinez to expand her operations into the brick-and-mortar location where it stands today.

While the menu is small consisting of tacos, tamales, quesadillas, and consommé (via Visit Philadelphia), you won't be complaining. After all, you only came here for one dish: the barbacoa. To prepare the restaurant's eponymous item, the staff butchers, marinates, and cooks the lamb overnight in customized steamers (via Bon Appétit). By the time it's cut to order, the meat is so tender it practically melts in your mouth.

The only downside to South Philly Barbacoa is that it's only open three days a week: Friday through Sunday. So come hungry and early. Lines usually stretch out the door and down the street, according to Visit Philadelphia. Once you have your food, grab a seat at one of the communal tables and dig in!

When Fernando Lopez opened Guelaguetza in 1994, he was told he'd never be successful if the restaurant only offered dishes from the Oaxaca region of Mexico. "People laughed in his face," Lopez's son Fernando Lopez, Jr. tells the Los Angeles Times. "They'd say, 'You can do Oaxacan mole, but you gotta have mole and hamburgers or mole and tacos.'"

The elder Lopez ignored the outside voices and in doing so, created one of the best — and most important — restaurants in Los Angeles. In 2015, Guelaguetza became the first traditional Mexican restaurant to win a James Beard America's Classics Award (via Los Angeles Magazine). The honor is bestowed on restaurants that have been open for at least 10 years, have a timeless appeal, and reflect their local communities.

If you want a truly unique Mexican meal in the U.S., you won't find a better option than Guelaguetza. The popular culinary destination, located in Los Angeles' Koreatown neighborhood, is renowned for its authentic Oaxacan dishes, including a wide variety of moles. Other traditional delicacies on Guelaguetza's menu include banana leaf-wrapped tamales, fried pork ribs, black bean enchiladas, and fried crisp taquitos stuffed with chicken picadillo.

According to the James Beard Foundation, Guelaguetza has become the epicenter of Oaxacan culture in L.A. since its opening. And though it's now run by Lopez's children, the restaurant hasn't missed a step. Last year, Guelaguetza won the Times' Gold Award, given to a restaurant that displays culinary excellence while simultaneously expanding Southern California cuisine.

Chicago is about as far away, literally and figuratively, as you can get from Mexico while still having your feet in the contiguous United States. A trip to Topolobampo, however, will make you feel like you've been transported south of the border. The Michelin-starred restaurant has been a Windy City mainstay since it opened in 1989. Over the years, it has received rave reviews from the likes of Esquire, Chicago Magazine, and the Chicago Tribune. In 2017, Topolobampo won the James Beard Award for the outstanding restaurant of the year (via Chicago Business Journal). 

These accolades are the result of the innovative dishes put forth by award-winning chef Rick Bayless, whom you may recognize as the winner of season one of Top Chef Masters (via Los Angeles Times). His tasting menu changes throughout the year but is always an unparalleled homage to Mexican cuisine. On any one night, you might be treated to roasted suckling pig with red mole, corn husk-roasted black cod with garlicky kale and cashew pipián, or hazelnut cake topped with guava mousse, chocolate sauce, and toasted meringue (via Gayot). Forget the Willis Tower and Wrigley Field, Topolobampo is Chicago's real can't-miss destination.

If you've watched the news at any point in the last decade, you've likely been bombarded with stories of natural disasters and humanitarian crises. In each case, you may have seen José Andrés on the ground helping to feed the hungry. In 2010, the famed chef founded World Central Kitchen, which has grown to become a global leader in providing meals to suffering communities.

But before he was saving the world one plate at a time, Andrés was owning, operating, and helming the kitchen at numerous Washington, D.C. restaurants, including the highly acclaimed Oyamel Cocina Mexicana. Since 2004, Oyamel brings a taste of Mexico City to our nation's capital, focusing on small plates known as antojitos, not to mention ceviches and tacos. Per the restaurant's menu, some highlight dishes include chilaquiles con salsa verde y queso (house-made tortilla chips with melted Monterey Jack cheese, tomatillo salsa, crema, and onion), huevos enfrijoladas (fried egg with black bean sauce, housemade chorizo, salsa verde, queso fresco, onions, and tortilla), and Cochinita pibíl tacos (Yucatán-style pit barbecued pork with Mexican sour orange and pickled red onion).

Oyamel's delicious food has been recognized by The Washington Post, Eater Washington, D.C., The Washingtonian, and Huffington Post, among others. It has also received a Bib Gourmand award from the Michelin Guide, representing good quality and good value cooking. Oh, and did we mention the Obamas have also eaten at Oyamel — twice in fact, according to Eater Washington, D.C..

Empellón is a mini Mexican food empire in New York City, consisting of a bar and two taquerias, with its flagship location Empellón Cocina in midtown Manhattan. Here, chef Alex Stupak concocts some of the most creative dishes that you'll ever come across. (This shouldn't be too much of a surprise if you're familiar with Stupak's resume: He previously worked at two of America's most inventive restaurants: WD-50 and Alinea.)

Rather than whipping up batches of traditional guacamole and salsa, Stupak imbeds the dips with chunks of pistachios and cashews, respectively (via Andrew Zimmern and Michelin Guide). Instead of classic chicken or shrimp tacos, Empellón Cocina's menu offers varieties such as maitake mushrooms with quesillo or pastrami with sauerkraut and mustard seed salsa. While the dinner menu at Empellón Cocina is filled with enticing options, you should absolutely save room for dessert, which The New York Times says consists of some of the most exciting sweet dishes introduced to the city in a while. Did we mention Stupak worked as a pastry chef at his previous restaurants?

Located a stone's throw from the Mexican border, San Antonio is one of the hotbeds of authentic Mexican cuisine in the United States. And there's no better place to grab a flavorful bite in the city than Mi Tierra Café & Bakery. The historic establishment started as a humble three-table café in 1941, evolving into the 500-seat landmark in downtown San Antonio it is today.

Those seats are filled by hungry diners looking for Tex-Mex classics like chalupas, nachos, enchiladas, and chili con carne. According to Fodor's Travel, the restaurant is particularly known for its breakfast menu, offered 24 hours a day. It includes lust-worthy dishes such as chilaquiles, which consist of corn tortilla strips scrambled with eggs, ranchero sauce, and melted cheese; and of course, a number of breakfast tacos options (via Mi Tierra Café & Bakery).

No visit to Mi Terra's is complete without stopping by its bakery. It sells both traditional Mexican pastries such as tres leches, pan de muerto, and churros, as well as classic south-of-the-border candies. Best known among the latter, according to the restaurant, are the pecan pralines, each containing more than half a cup of pecans.

Founded in 1922, El Charro Café in Tucson, Arizona is the country's oldest continuously operating Mexican restaurant. But it may be better known as the birthplace of the chimichanga. As the story goes, El Charro's original owner Monica Flin created the now-ubiquitous dish (which Food Network describes as a deep-fried burrito) by accident. She was cooking up a beef taco when she accidentally dropped it into a frying pan. Flin nearly yelled out a Spanish curse word that begins with "ch," but with children around, she blurted out chimichanga instead, which loosely translates to thingamajig.

El Charro Café is still serving up chimichangas a century later, as well as nearly every other Mexican dish you can think of including tacos, tamales, fajitas, and burritos. According to Fodor's Travel, the restaurant's carne seca — which is dried on the building's roof and grilled with green chile, tomato, and onions — is not to be missed. Bon Appétit seconds the suggestion while also recommending the cheese crisps (open-faced flour tortillas topped with queso), enchiladas, and carne asada.

El Charro Café, which has expanded to three locations, is now run by Flin's niece Carlotta Flores, according to Forbes. Its success hasn't slowed down and in 2019, the iconic eatery was a semi-finalist for the James Beard Outstanding Restaurant Award (via This is Tucson).

"The kings of authentic Mexican cuisine." That's the title famed chef Bobby Flay once gave Jaime Martin del Campo and Ramiro Arvizu, chefs and owners of La Casita Mexicana in Southern California. Flay knows firsthand just how talented the duo is: The Food Network star lost to del Campo and Arvizo in an episode of "Throwdown with Bobby Flay." The winning dish was a La Casita Mexicana specialty: chiles rellenos, or stuffed chiles. At the Los Angeles restaurant, guests can choose between a filling of meat, dried fruits, walnuts, candied cactus, pecan cream sauce, and pomegranate, or the vegetarian option of diced cactus and mushrooms with tomato, onions, and epazote leaves.

Chiles rellenos is just one of the south-of-the-border delicacies to be had at La Casita Mexicana. After all, the restaurant's two star chefs are Mexican natives, so they have an unlimited bank of authentic recipes to pull from. Time Out recommends trying the tres moles, a combo of traditional mole along with green and red varieties of a pumpkin-seed-based pepián sauce. Meanwhile, the Michelin Guide gives high praise to La Casita Mexicana's fish fillet in chipotle cream sauce and its chicken enchiladas, which are lathered in the aforementioned tres moles.

Coni'Seafood is the brainchild of Vicente "Chente" Cossio, a man Los Angeles Magazine once named the city's "godfather of Mexican seafood." In the 1980s, Cossio opened a restaurant in the backyard of his Inglewood home according to WeWork, where he served Mexican dishes inspired by the coastal town of Acaponeta. He moved the operation to a brick-and-mortar location where he trained his daughter Connie, and eventually, Coni'Seafood was born.

Today, the restaurant is widely considered one of the best of its kind in the country. It remains true to its authentic roots by continuing to import most of its ingredients from Mexico. In contrast to most other Mexican restaurants, as its name implies, it focuses exclusively on delicacies from the ocean. According to Condé Nast Traveler, Coni'Seafood's signature dish is the pescado zarandeado, a plate of butterflied grilled snook with salt and house sauce, served alongside caramelized onions and tortillas. You'll find the fish main included on many outlets' lists of best dishes such as LA Weekly, and on Eater LA's list of Los Angeles' most iconic restaurant meals. Other popular offerings at Coni'Seafood are the ceviche, marlin tacos, and aguachiles, a plate of raw shrimp served in lime sauce (via The Infatuation).

Nopalito's story can be traced back to the small coastal city of Catemaco, Mexico. It's here where chef Gonzalo Guzman learned to grow staple Mexican ingredients like corn, beans, chiles, and tomatoes, and where Guzman's mother taught her son how to cook. Fast forward to 2009 when Guzman opens Nopalito, unveiling his lifetime worth of culinary skills to the people of San Francisco. The restaurant has been a Bay Area hotspot ever since.

Among Nopalito's biggest fans is the one and only Guy Fieri, who visited the Mexican restaurant not once but twice on his hit show "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives." The Food Network star called Nopalito "everything but boring," and particularly enjoyed the torta de chilorio, a hot pork chorizo sandwich made with queso fresco and adobo sauce-soaked bread. Other recommended dishes include the mole poblano con pollo (a braised chicken doused in chocolatey mole sauce) as per Gayot and the cinnamon-infused carnitas (via Esquire).

To top it off, Nopalito's prices are affordable — nothing costs more than $30 and most dishes come in between $10 and $30. On the flip side, the popular restaurant doesn't take reservations, so you may be in for a bit of a wait if it's crowded. If you can't grab a table, you could always try your hand cooking up Nopalito dishes at home. The restaurant published "Nopalito: A Mexican Kitchen" in 2018, which won the James Beard Award for Best International Cookbook.

There is currently just one Mexican restaurant in the United States with two Michelin stars (via Michelin Guide). That impressive distinction belongs to Californios. Before we get started describing the wonders of this San Francisco establishment, we'll warn you that the price tag for dining here is not for the faint of heart — the 16-course tasting menu costs about $260 per person (via The Infatuation). But for that money, you'll enjoy one of the most unique Mexican meals of your life. 

The Michelin Guide describes how chef Val Cantu, a Texan native whose father owned a Mexican restaurant, takes classic dishes from Mexico and weaves in complex components to create food that might sound familiar but tastes completely new. Grilled banana served with dulce de leche and caviar, for example, or a masa tart stuffed with sturgeon mousse. The Infatuation also raves about Californios' squab taco and tlacoyo filled with cranberry beans and Oaxacan queso.

"At Californios, our style of cooking is market focused, seasonal cuisine through a Mexican lens," Cantu tells the Michelin Guide. "Beyond that, the core of our philosophy is designing dishes that maximize deliciousness and pleasure." His efforts have garnered Californios inclusion on many Best Restaurants lists including those compiled by the San Francisco Chronicle and Wine Enthusiast Magazine.

As we all know, a restaurant doesn't need white tablecloths and Michelin stars to be great. After all, sometimes you just want a giant margarita and a plate full of tacos. This is precisely what you'll get at El Sarape, a decidedly more laidback yet equally delicious Mexican restaurant located on the outskirts of Boston.

All of its sauces are made in-house from scratch every day and they even whip up their own homemade sangria. Speaking of drinks, you may want to start off your meal with one of the 15 signature margaritas on the restaurant's menu. Options include the Cadillac made with Gran Gala and triple sec, and the Pepperita made with pineapple juice and jalapeño tequila.

Now let's get to El Sarape's Mexican food, which Time Out says is the best in Boston. In addition to the traditional burritos, tostados, and enchiladas, the restaurant has several notable house specialties. Chief among them is the guisado con chile ancho, a chicken or beef casserole with potatoes and onions, all topped in a red chile sauce. Add in some nachitos and queso asado for the table, top it off with churros or platanos con cajeta (sliced banana and rum caramel sauce) for dessert, and you have a meal that rivals any fine-dining Mexican restaurant.

Phoenix's Barrio Café is the home base of James Beard Award-nominated chef Silvana Salcido Esparza. The daughter of bakers, Esparza found her way into the kitchen at a young age, learning the ropes from both her parents and grandmother (via Barrio Café). She later graduated from culinary school, then spent nearly two years traveling throughout Mexico to truly understand the cuisine. "I didn't imagine I could really be good, unless I accomplished my longstanding goal of learning to cook in Mexico," Esparza tells Thrillist. "When I returned to Phoenix, I believe I was finally prepared to be good. I had knowledge and most importantly, passion and love."

In 2002, Esparza opened Barrio Café, where she's been better than good. Her cooking is widely considered some of the best Mexican food in the entire Southwest. Among her specialties is chiles en nogada, which was one of Guy Fieri's favorites when he stopped by Barrio Café's kitchen on Food Network's "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives." The dish consists of a roasted poblano pepper filled with chicken, apple, pear, pecans, and dried apricots, topped with an almond cream sauce. Other Barrio Café menu favorites include cochinita pibil (smoked achioted-sour orange pork with pickled red onions), and the pomegranate seed-topped guacamole prepared tableside, which the Phoenix Sun Times calls the best guac in the city.

It's fair to say that the primary staple of Mexican cuisine, at least as far as Americans are concerned, is the taco. And according to the experts, nobody makes a better taco than the people at Guisados. The Southern California hotspot, which now includes seven locations throughout the greater Los Angeles area, has been named one of the best taco spots in the United States by the likes of Delish, Travel + Leisure, and Gayot. Bon Appétit even says they're the best in L.A., no small claim for a city teeming with Mexican restaurants.

So, what makes these handheld bites so good? Guisados is a term for meat braises and that's precisely what you'll get at the eponymous taco joint: homestyle braises on handmade tortillas. The main menu (there's also a breakfast version) consists of 14 different tacos, and you'd be wise to try as many as your stomach allows. Some popular options include the cochinita pibil (shredded pork braised in a sweet red achiote spice atop black beans) and the camarones (fajita-style shrimp, onions, and bell peppers served with a mild chipotle sour cream). Fans of spicy food will enjoy the chiles toreados, a combination of blistered habanero, serrano, jalapeño, and Thai chiles served atop black beans. Guisado's best item, according to Los Angeles Magazine, is the steak picado taco, consisting of flank steak simmered with green bell peppers and bacon, served atop black beans, and doused with green serrano chile.

Casa Enrique is where chef Cosme Aguilar, a native of Chiapas, Mexico, serves dishes inspired by his childhood and influenced by his French culinary training. "We are very proud to serve our family's recipes to our friends and customers and share a taste of home with them," says Aguilar, who opened the restaurant alongside his brother in 2012. Collectively, these recipes have been called some of the best Mexican food in New York City by New York Magazine and have earned Casa Enrique a Michelin star every year since 2014.

If you make your way to this Long Island City institution, we recommend starting your meal off with the rajas con crema, an appetizer of roasted poblano chiles with onion, corn cheese, and cream. For an entrée, you can't go wrong with the mole de piaxtla, which comes highly recommended by every outlet from the Michelin Guide to Sports Illustrated. An authentic dish from Pueblo, the mole consists of dry peppers, almonds, raisins, plantain, sesame seeds, and chocolate, served over chicken and rice. For dessert, the pastel tres leches, a sponge cake made with cow's milk, goat milk, and caramel, is the perfect ending to a delectable Mexican feast.

The first thing you'll notice upon entering Brooklyn's Oxomoco restaurant is a slight campfire-esque smell, a wonderful foreshadowing of the deliciousness you're about to experience: The Michelin-starred restaurant specializes in dishes cooked upon wood-burning grills (via Time Out). This shouldn't come as much surprise if you're familiar with the team running Oxomoco — they're the same people who own and operate Speedy Romeo, a famous Brooklyn pizza joint known for cooking over an open flame (via The Infatuation). 

It's these wood-fired grills that are responsible for that tantalizingly smoky scent, and upon which the team at Oxomoco prepares such Mexican delights as smoked mango, soya marinated tuna tostadas, and sweet potato tlayuda with spiced brown butter. But the best part of the menu may just be the tacos, according to New York Magazine. Oxomoco has delicious options for both vegetarians and meat-eaters, including lamb barbacoa, fish, beet "chorizo", and delicata squash tacos. Oxomoco also has a not-to-be-missed brunch menu featuring dishes like chilaquiles with a mole crumble and sunny side egg, and a chorizo and egg burrito with queso, crispy potato, and salsa.

Everything you need to know about Carnitas Uruapan is right there in the name. The Chicago institution specializes in carnitas, a dish of slowly cooked pork from Uruapan, the Mexican city where founder Inocencio Carbajal grew up (via Chicago Tribune). Carbajal first set up shop in 1975 and his carnitas have since become the stuff of legends. According to the Food Network, which ranks these delicacies among the top five tacos in all of America, Carnitas Uruapan sticks to an authentic family recipe. The pork is flash-fried in metal cauldrons and then slow cooked the following day, resulting in a golden crispy exterior and a tenderly moist interior. You can order individual tacos, but the more popular — and more fun — option is to order carnitas by the pound and build the tacos yourself.

Carnitas aren't the only item on the menu, though. Carnitas Uruapan also sells chicharrones (crispy pork skin), taco dorados (crispy tacos filled with potato or spicy pork brain), guacamole, and refried beans. You'll want to arrive early in order to enjoy these delicious offerings, as it's not uncommon for wait times to stretch for the better part of an hour. It became such a problem that the restaurant expanded to a second location in 2019, but even that wasn't enough to ease the crowds. Fortunately, Carnitas Uruapan is in the process of opening its newest and largest location (via Block Club Chicago).

Like many of the best Mexican restaurants in the United States, Xochi draws its influence from the culinary mecca that is Oaxaca, Mexico. But make no mistake, this eatery is entirely unique, gaining recognition as Houston's best restaurant by the Houston Chronicle in 2017. At Xochi, James Beard Award winner and Mexico City native chef Hugo Ortega puts his own creative touch on classic dishes to create menu items you simply won't find at other restaurants. There's the crispy wood-roasted octopus with pumpkin seeds, grilled rolled steak served with masa dumplings, and of course, the queso de rancho containing ants and grasshoppers (via Xochi).

Traditionalists shouldn't worry, however — Ortega doesn't let his creativity get the best of him. Xochi is arguably best known for its classic Oaxacan food like house-made masa and tlayudas, roasted tortillas covered in toppings. Most notable is the restaurant's extensive — and colorful — selection of moles, which have their own dedicated section on the menu. If you can't decide which one to order, you're in luck. Guests can enjoy a tasting of four classic moles.

Hugo isn't the only talented member of his family — his brother Reuben is Xochi's pastry chef and makes what Condé Nast Traveler says might be the most creative desserts in the entire city of Houston. The housemade chocolate is undoubtedly a great place to start. 

Taco María is where chef Carlos Salgado goes to work creating what he calls Alta California cuisine, a mix of Mexican and American cooking. At the heart of this cuisine is one ingredient: corn. The restaurant's motto is "Sin maíz, no hay país," or in English, "Without corn, there is no country." Needless to say, the restaurant takes its corn seriously, which explains why all of Taco María's masa products are made in-house from heirloom varieties of corn grown in Mexico.

With corn as its cornerstone (all entrées are served with handmade blue corn tortillas), Taco Maria's seasonal menu is filled with delectable Mexican-American dishes. During any given time of year, it might include spicy blue prawns with chile, citrus, and garlic; confit duck leg with date mole and almonds; and brioche cake complete with vanilla and caramel apple ganache.

Whatever Salgado is doing is working. The restaurant was awarded a Michelin star and included in prestigious Best Restaurants lists by the Los Angeles Times and Esquire. As for Salgado, he is a multi-time James Beard Award semifinalist and was named Food & Wine's Best New Chef in 2015.

Claro's executive chef T.J. Steele has spent years visiting and living in Oaxaca, the southern Mexican region known for its cuisine. The result is a comprehensive knowledge of authentic Oaxacan cooking that is on full display at his Michelin-starred Brooklyn restaurant.

Everything at Claro is handmade, from the cheeses to the sausages. In fact, if you sit in the restaurant's backyard you can witness firsthand the tortillas being pressed and dishes being cooked over an open flame. One of the menu highlights is the memela, which consists of a tortilla-like corn flatbread covered in toppings (via NYC Go). However, the restaurant's main attraction is its selection of chili-based mole sauces, including an almond and peanut mole negro that Grub Street lists among the best in New York. Be sure to save room for a dessert. Claro's menu includes delicious treats such as churros, rice pudding, Mexican ice cream, and a chocolate mole cake.