Phoenix area: Best Mexican Restaurant
- Thread starter Pskhaat
- Start date
S
Scenic WonderRunner
Guest
Anything with a...... "berto's" at the end is great!.......hehe
Just love those Machaca Burritos!:eatchicke
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Just love those Machaca Burritos!:eatchicke
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azskyrider
Observer
my .02 cents
Here are my suggestions.
El Conquistador is owned by Mark and Maria. It is located one block south of Bell Rd on 32 st. street. It is hard to find so it is easier to find if you look for a Fascination sign
and pull into that strip mall. The place is really clean and Mark and Maria are friendly. They have received Phoenix Best and the look, cleanliness and feel is top quality for great Sonoran food at good prices. Since the owners are also the waiters then just keep in mind that you might have to remind them about the check or refills. They are GREAT people though and have made personal relationships with their regular customers. So don't be surprised if they start a conversation. My favorite dishes are the conquistador, Posole, Birria (goat) or Red pork ribs, carnitas tacos, hell, you can't go wrong with any dish. The Menu is what my wife and I would call your typical Home Sonoran style dishes. Good for a Sunday Brunch with family and kids. Please note that they are closed on Mondays.
La Parilla menu is different and more typical restaurant food. It is good but they are using chuck steak for their fajitas and their chorizo is not as good as it use to be.It is more fat than pork. The grilled onions are way too small and are a shame to the Mexican onions. The service is great and if they know that you know what you are suppose to be getting then they will make sure you are not dissatisfied. The menu is different than El Conquistador and the prices a bit higher. Again El Conquistador is more Home cooking dishes than Parilla so the prices are justified.
What use to be a great restaurant was " Asi es la vida", Such is life. A good friend of mine use to play soccer on the weekend with the owner but he sold it to the chef who now charges like it was a 5 star restaurant for what you get. Food is great, no doubt, but the place and service is not worth the price. Being a Chef has added a lot of beautiful presentation to their dishes but the 2x4 poking your rear under the vinyl padding seats and the waiters are not high caliber for what you are paying. I recommend you look at the place first and then the menu. You might just walk away after you see how much you will be paying. We saw some people get up and leave but if you want to eat good food and have $100 to spend for two then you might consider it. Just be advised on the sticker shock.
One other place that is more restaurant style food, a little costlier but well worth the extra $$ for a date or a night with your SO is Padres. I call this the sleeper place and only a few people know about it. I have passed it many times and never gave it another look until we went in. It is located west of the SR51 on Camelback on the North side. The father is never around, the mom is usually the hostess and the son works by walking around the place as the owner though neither of them are Latin. But even though they are not Latin then know their stuff and the seafood comes from Baja. The owners are nice though the son can be a little arrogant. I suppose a young age, young women at the bar and owning the place can do that to you. Especially when a lot of young girls are hitting on him but put that aside and the food is worth the price. This is what Asi es la vida tried to shoot for IMHO. The food is awesome and Friday nights they have a live band playing latin modern music. My wife and I like to go there every Friday for dinner and drinks though we do not dance to the more modern music.
Tradicionales opened up at the Ranch Market on Roosevelt and 16th street and the food is good for the price. They also make home made tortillas. They have a nice patio with a little Mexico shopping atmosphere blended in. I recommend the paquetes (package platers) that you order for a group. 2-4 people can eat well with the paquete.
My wife and I sometimes feel lazy on a weekend and will just throw on some casual clothes and eat at Ranch Market instead of Tadicionales. That place has seafood, mexican dishes, bakery, Fresh fruit drinks stand and mexican style desert stand all in the super market. It is a supermarket so my wife and I will usually take our desert, pastry or agua fresca and do some grocery shopping for those Mexican products that are hard to find. The seats are in the supermarket so you can sit down if you like. The prices are really great and the food not bad. Again for what you pay it is worth it.
I could go on but I think this is enough for now. I hope to run into some of the people here at Conquistador (lunch on weekends), Padres (Friday nights) or Ranch Market (Lunch on Sundays)
Cheers,
Here are my suggestions.
El Conquistador is owned by Mark and Maria. It is located one block south of Bell Rd on 32 st. street. It is hard to find so it is easier to find if you look for a Fascination sign
and pull into that strip mall. The place is really clean and Mark and Maria are friendly. They have received Phoenix Best and the look, cleanliness and feel is top quality for great Sonoran food at good prices. Since the owners are also the waiters then just keep in mind that you might have to remind them about the check or refills. They are GREAT people though and have made personal relationships with their regular customers. So don't be surprised if they start a conversation. My favorite dishes are the conquistador, Posole, Birria (goat) or Red pork ribs, carnitas tacos, hell, you can't go wrong with any dish. The Menu is what my wife and I would call your typical Home Sonoran style dishes. Good for a Sunday Brunch with family and kids. Please note that they are closed on Mondays.La Parilla menu is different and more typical restaurant food. It is good but they are using chuck steak for their fajitas and their chorizo is not as good as it use to be.It is more fat than pork. The grilled onions are way too small and are a shame to the Mexican onions. The service is great and if they know that you know what you are suppose to be getting then they will make sure you are not dissatisfied. The menu is different than El Conquistador and the prices a bit higher. Again El Conquistador is more Home cooking dishes than Parilla so the prices are justified.
What use to be a great restaurant was " Asi es la vida", Such is life. A good friend of mine use to play soccer on the weekend with the owner but he sold it to the chef who now charges like it was a 5 star restaurant for what you get. Food is great, no doubt, but the place and service is not worth the price. Being a Chef has added a lot of beautiful presentation to their dishes but the 2x4 poking your rear under the vinyl padding seats and the waiters are not high caliber for what you are paying. I recommend you look at the place first and then the menu. You might just walk away after you see how much you will be paying. We saw some people get up and leave but if you want to eat good food and have $100 to spend for two then you might consider it. Just be advised on the sticker shock.
One other place that is more restaurant style food, a little costlier but well worth the extra $$ for a date or a night with your SO is Padres. I call this the sleeper place and only a few people know about it. I have passed it many times and never gave it another look until we went in. It is located west of the SR51 on Camelback on the North side. The father is never around, the mom is usually the hostess and the son works by walking around the place as the owner though neither of them are Latin. But even though they are not Latin then know their stuff and the seafood comes from Baja. The owners are nice though the son can be a little arrogant. I suppose a young age, young women at the bar and owning the place can do that to you. Especially when a lot of young girls are hitting on him but put that aside and the food is worth the price. This is what Asi es la vida tried to shoot for IMHO. The food is awesome and Friday nights they have a live band playing latin modern music. My wife and I like to go there every Friday for dinner and drinks though we do not dance to the more modern music.
Tradicionales opened up at the Ranch Market on Roosevelt and 16th street and the food is good for the price. They also make home made tortillas. They have a nice patio with a little Mexico shopping atmosphere blended in. I recommend the paquetes (package platers) that you order for a group. 2-4 people can eat well with the paquete.
My wife and I sometimes feel lazy on a weekend and will just throw on some casual clothes and eat at Ranch Market instead of Tadicionales. That place has seafood, mexican dishes, bakery, Fresh fruit drinks stand and mexican style desert stand all in the super market. It is a supermarket so my wife and I will usually take our desert, pastry or agua fresca and do some grocery shopping for those Mexican products that are hard to find. The seats are in the supermarket so you can sit down if you like. The prices are really great and the food not bad. Again for what you pay it is worth it.
I could go on but I think this is enough for now. I hope to run into some of the people here at Conquistador (lunch on weekends), Padres (Friday nights) or Ranch Market (Lunch on Sundays)
Cheers,
Last edited:
articulate
Expedition Leader
Ohhhhhhhh....taboo. While they do serve tasty burritos, you need to come back so we can show you the real deal, hecho por mano comida mexicana.bovw said:
calamaridog
Expedition Leader
Chipotle - There are 500 of them and McDonalds used to own 92% of the stock.
SOAZ
Tim and Kelsey get lost..
I concur on the Ajo comment. The ones owned by the father are better all around.
Shovel said:Pancho's on Central, just a little ways north of Baseline.... that's where Bill Clinton always ate when he came to town. Above average mexican food, excellent service... the price and atmosphere of a cheap place with the food quality of a nicer place. Best rellenos i've had.
Ajo Al's... the scottsdale one on 90th st is better than the others. Skirt steak salad is my favorite there.
Los Dos is overrated. So their stuff is hot, big deal. It's crowded and a little pricey.. I mean, the food is good, just not magical. The one in south phoenix is in a house Tom Mix used to live in... yeah I'm under 30 and had to google the name
If you want some proper Mexican food, I'm not talkin Filibertos I mean drinks made of gourd juice and yellow paste moles and rellenos de cabra made inside fresno peppers... there's a place in Sunnyslop on the corner of Hatcher and Central? (i THINK) in a very modest strip mall building... hardly looks like a restaurant at all. They probably get one white customer per month and the server might ask some random customer to help interpret if your Spanish is as bad as mine... I don't even know the name of the place but I go there any time I'm in Sunnyslop without Joni - she won't eat there anymore 'cause it's "too weird". I found the place years ago while trying to find a muffler shop... walked into the wrong building & decided to eat since I was there.
La Parilla Suiza... the one by PV Mall on Tatum is the best branch, hands down.
Margarita Factory in Scottsdale... it's a "White" place but the food is surprisingly flavorful, definitely not too dumbed-down. Great sopapillas after a meal and they sure do have a variety of drinks they'll call a margarita. Put a G&T into a margarita glass with salted rim and BAM, call it a margarita!
Aunt Chilada's - specifically the Squaw Mtn location. The others suck. The one at Squaw Mtn is excellent... try the spinachy-pasta burrito thing, it's ************.
LandCruiserSteve
New member
Can't speak for their other valley locations, but the Mannuel's at 11th Ave & Bell has some of the best green corn tamales.
Bruce Behnfeldt
Observer
+1 for Oxaca and Bahia San Carlos
but you've got to try Rosita's Place on Mcdowel just West of 24th Street
it's been my favorite place to eat for 27 years....
but you've got to try Rosita's Place on Mcdowel just West of 24th Street
it's been my favorite place to eat for 27 years....
calamaridog
Expedition Leader
Take this for what it's worth, since I have not eaten at either of these, but thought I'd share them anyways. I just got the 2007 Zagat Survey and they list two mexican restaurants in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area.
Barrio Cafe - 2814 N. 16th St. Phoenix
Los Sombreros - 2534 N. Scottsdale Rd. Scottsdale
Barrio Cafe - 2814 N. 16th St. Phoenix
Los Sombreros - 2534 N. Scottsdale Rd. Scottsdale
FlyingWen
Explorer
Let do Mexican!!
I liked LOS DOS MOLINOS, but any place that serves Margaritas is good with me.
I say we get the Phoenix kids rounded up and go out for some Mexican food :chowtime: . Why just talk the talk???
Name the time and place (Ritas are a requirement :friday: ) and FlyinWil and I will be there!
I liked LOS DOS MOLINOS, but any place that serves Margaritas is good with me.
I say we get the Phoenix kids rounded up and go out for some Mexican food :chowtime: . Why just talk the talk???
Name the time and place (Ritas are a requirement :friday: ) and FlyinWil and I will be there!
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