Mexican Cafe

Nice views with a little rustic feel. The stairs can be daunting in a long dress and place usually gets quite crowded. We were lucky to get a spot without reservation around closing time. It was more of a late night snack but there were other options if you needed more. Mocktails and prawns were yummy.

The OG Mexican Restaurant in Victoria St for decades. Visited recently after a long hiatus. Thought was closed down..but still operating. The food is decent and suggest stay on the authentic Mexican dishes. I had the fish which had a bit of a fishy smell. For desserts the churros was below bar..but the brownie was good.Otherwise a decent Mexican dishes and atmosphere. From my knowledge this place has been operating from the 80s.

I’ve dined at The Mexican Cafe so many times in the past 25+ years but admittedly today was the first time in about 2 years since I’d been. 20 years ago, this place was bustling on any given night. Service was quick and efficient. The food was plentiful and packed with flavour. The energy in the place was high. Tonight it was flat. From the moment we reached the top of the stairs the restaurant felt flat. It was 4 min until a server approached us to seat us. We were told the balcony was full so we had to take a table inside opposite the bar. I love that the decor had never changed. I hope it stays that way. I ordered the vegan quesadilla only to be told there is no vegan cheese despite the menu saying vegan cheese is included. The cost was $30 but no discount was offered. Eventually the server went to the kitchen to ask what is used in place of cheese and the chef offered extra guacamole. I ordered a low alcohol Heineken only to be told they are now not available despite it being listed on the drinks menu. The food came out quickly but I’ve not had a quesadilla like this before. It looks more like a soft taco. Not a lot of flavour and the taco itself was chewy and stale. Good size portion however. My partner had a lamb and a chicken quesadilla. He said the lamb was very good but the chicken was average in flavour. There was minimal staff on. 1 bar staff, 2 servers for the entire restaurant including FOH and 2-3 in the kitchen. We dined at around 7:30pm on a Thursday. There was no paper towels in the ladies bathroom. Overall, I’m sad this iconic Auckland restaurant seems to have lost its oomph.

If you want Mexican food, come here. From the colourful and vibrant decor and ambience, to the food, it does exactly what you want from a Mexican restaurant. They have an extensive Tequila menu, and all of classic menu items you want when you go out for a Mexican meal. Had the quesadilla. The chicken one was lovely, the pork one equally so. Good flavours, good size. This is what you want from a decades old establishment that is not sitting back on its heels. You’ll likely spot the owner wandering about keeping an eye on things, be sure to say hello and if you’re lucky you’ll get an anecdote to go with your meal

Delicious food, friendly helpful staff. My go to restaurant in Auckland. Highly recommend (and try a headless Mexican!).

I was really looking forward to dining at Mexican Cafe with a friend visiting from Wellington, but unfortunately, our experience wasn’t great. Food lacked flavours We requested for bottled habanero or tobasco, but were served a spicy salsa (made by a server) and charged $5 for it at the checkout. We found this misleading and poor. The table was so sticky that tissue won’t come off. Poor cleanliness!!!! While I understand that every restaurant has off days, this visit did not leave a positive impression. Hope management takes this feedback into consideration to improve the experience for future customers. At this stage, I cannot recommend this place! ☹️

Well decorated with acceptable service, but the food had almost no flavor. The sauce tasted mostly like straight tomatoes and lacked what I would consider to be mexican flavor. The margarita I had had no alcohol or tequila flavor and tasted more like lemonade than anything else.