Things you judge a restaurant by - Mexican food edition

Suppose it would depend on what you were talking about....


Tex-Mex all tastes the same to me

Taquerias need to have properly cooked lengua, properly seasoned al pastor, and a good bowl of menudo.

High end...like Hugo's here in Houston...stuff my mom/grandmother made with perhaps a finer spin...a proper mole, fideo, barbacoa, cabrito, tamales...stuff that could be common foods at home that are done really well or have a unique take on them.


Above all, proper tortillas, whether they be corn or flour.

I like different items on the menu other than typical grease and cheese filled tacos/burritos/chimichangus, etc. It's nice to see some interesting seafood dishes.

Having a good bartender who makes a good margerita on the rocks with good tequila and fresh lime helps.

This is really pissing me off

There aren't really any places around here with good flour tortillas

There is a place with really good arroz y frijoles but their chips and salsa suck which kinda turns me off. That and they tend to stretch out their guac with tomatoes...fricking lame.

If I knew what the hell I was doing I'd open up my own Mexican places here and I'd put even the real Mexican people out of business.

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have protein options besides chicken breasts, steak, and shrimp.

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this is key for me. i want to see al pastor, carnitas, and barbacoa as options.

So following this discussion... what is the best place in BR to get quality Mexican food? Obviously debatable but the taquerias are the only ones that come to mind for me.

If the chips come out burnt or stale, they don't get a second visit from me. If they'll pay attention to something that common, then chances are they'll be fairly meticulous with other things.

Do you need to know what region of Mexico the owners are from?

Salsa
Queso (white only)
enchiladas

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what are some things that make one Mexican place stand out as superior to you

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but really I love for a place to have a good salsa. If it has good salsa, I'll remember the place. One of my favorite mexican places (albeit Tex Mex) is Cantina Laredo. Gourmet Tex Mex, they bring two types of salsa and they make guacamole fresh at your table.

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Queso (white only)
enchiladas

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the only good thing about the rathole im in now is the taqueria down the road has some of the best of this i've ever had