The Mexican Kitchen

Went a while back. Hated it! They give you broken taco shells for chips and the salsa was generic and bland. The food itself tasted like they took a box taco dinner from Sams and called it authentic.

Not great Mexican food (sort of TexMex) but they have a fantastic Palm tree lined patio. My husband compared his meal to El Patio TV dinners.

I give the food an overall C– I bought chips and salsa and as you can see the chips were hard taco shells broke in half.

The ambiance was very dark, not very inviting at all. The salsa was ok but the chips were taco shells broke in half, lol. The food didn’t taste that great and the portions were very small. The service was fast that’s why I gave them two stars instead of one star.

Just left. Got the fajita salad. Very disappointed. I get a fajita salad at just about every Mexican restaurant I go to, and they usually are large and have that white cheese sauce on them. Not here. Small, cold salad, no cheese sauce. Salsa chips were taco shells, really… sauce had heat but no chunks of onion or peppers, etc. It’s like they puréed it. Kids ordered some kind of dessert, so we asked for some extra plates, they said they would charge us for extra plates. I have lived in the Hattiesburg area for 42 years, and have always heard good things about Mexican Kitchen, so I finally go and was let down. Any of the other Mexican restaurants in Hattiesburg are much better. Period.

Born and raised on this place, I just can’t get enough. I have to say though. This is one of those places you either love it hate. There is no in between. This is true authentic Mexican food. The owners are Mexican and this is a family owned business. This is not text mex or your traditional salsa. But the sauce is what you leave here talking about. It’s spicy and delicious! I will always be a regular! I love the Mexican Kitchen!

the best hot sauce ever!
I have no idea what they put in this stuff, but I know that it’s the only hot sauce that tastes like this and we buy it by the gallon to take home. IT’S THAT GOOD!
Love this restaurant. Always excited to take a trip to Hattiesburg to sit down and have the small plate with chips (ok, they’re taco shells cut in half) and that hot sauce. The small plate is 1 taco, 1 enchilada, 1 tamale, rice and beans for $ 9.50. The Hubs has the medium plate, which is 2 tacos, 3 (small) enchiladas, 1 tamale, rice and beans for $ 11.75. And its all well worth it! We have also been getting their nachos and cheese dip lately.
The place is not snazzy. come as you are. really. the food is good and the drinks are well made ;) if you get my drift!

My Staple restaurant, when passing through The Burg. Always consistently good. This is where the locals do Mexican!

Jess and I haven’t been to Mexican Kitchen in years. We have our routine of restaurants. We are not chain people so we thought we would deviate from our routine. We were extremely sorry for this choice. Upon walking in, we were greeted with the following question…“Do you want menus?” Well, of course. Then we were given wet menus that made you feel dirty. The «chips» (taco shells that were halved) obviously had been out for hours and were stale. I ordered cheese dip and after speaking with my wife we decided to leave. We politely informed the waitress, who you could tell was down on her luck, that we were leaving. She was nice enough to not charge us for the drinks but we had to pay for the «chips and salsa». I don’t know whose Mexican Kitchen would have food that tasted and looked like it was off the frozen food aisle of Wal-​Mart, but this one does. People rave about Mexican Kitchen in this area, I will never know why. The restaurant was dirty and poorly laid out. I can remember this place being the «go to» in Hattiesburg and the wait would be at least an hour sometimes. I do not see this restaurant staying open much longer if they do not get it together.
Pros: none
Cons: Dirty, poor quality ingredients, inadequate staffing, management who has lost touch with their business.

I’ve had lots of Mexican food, but these place is the best ever.
My family has been going here since I was about 4, maybe younger.
The food is always delicious. The dip is my favorite. The split plate is the perfect size.
The owners are so nice and always greet us and talk for a minute.
Tonight our server wasn’t so great, but that rarely happens.
Groups are welcome. It’s kid friendly also.
To address another reviewed complaints– they ask if you need a menu because the menu has been the same for years and most people are regulars and know what they want. The chips are sometimes broken tacos shells which are warm and perfect for spreading the sauce on. The sauce is one of a kind!

I saw the five star reviews and the one/​two star reviews and thought… how bad could it be? Some people thought it was great, right? Well… it was pretty bad.
Let’s start at the beginning. First, the host asked me if I wanted a menu. Um, what? Well, yes. I usually do want a menu when I go to a restaurant. (Goes down as one of the oddest questions ever.) Then the «salsa» and «chips». Both of those need quotation marks because neither are close to expectations. The «salsa» is hot sauce, the «chips» are taco shells, broken in half. And, another odd thing, they provide a fork but no knife. I know I don’t NEED a knife to cut a burrito but it would have made life easier.
My dinner was just… okay. Relatively small portions for the money, though. I got two smallish bean and cheese burritos with a tablespoon of lettuce, a little bit of onion and a thin slice of tomato, along with a small order of guacamole and an iced tea. With tax? $ 14.25.
Service is mediocre. I had to wait for my server on a couple of occasions but he was around enough to be acceptable.
Bottom line? I would never recommend this restaurant and I won’t come back. Taco Bell has similar food with way better prices.

As spoken before, you love it or hate it. It’s tex-​mex for starters. For all you out of towners that are Mexican food experts, go somewhere else. I’m from Columbus and the Mexican kitchen there is everyone’s favorite in town. Same food, same salsa, pretty sure same family. In all it’s my favorite here in the burg. One other thing, the parking lot is always full so that should tell you something.

This is my first review of a restaurant because I feel so strongly about my assessment. The chips and salsa were stale taco shells and hot sauced based salsa. Not tomato based like you’re average Mexican restaurant. I wasn’t expecting much so I went with a safe choice of chicken quesadillas with queso drizzled on top. When I was in high school I worked at a piggly wiggly, and actually recognized the queso from store shelves. It tasted like the cheap under microwaved cheese it was. I sucked it up. Finished my meal and asked for a check. My two quesadillas alone cost 21 dollars. Alas I ate both so did not qualify for a refund. Note, I ate both being the first meal I’d had all day, not out of pleasurable consumption. Not the worst restaurant, but certainly top ten worst.

Hot sauce (basically) for salsa?! That said, the hot sauce is good! The food (plain and no flavor) is pricey for what you get! Need I say more?! Keep looking.

Steve T’s review is spot on. Nowhere near real Mexican food. Taco Bell is closer to it and tastes better and costs way less. I wish I’d seen Steve’s review first. I don’t normally review restaurants, but this one was so bad I joined Unilocal to warn others.
The «salsa» isn’t salsa and they don’t have any. They have ‘sauce.’ What Mexican restaurant doesn’t have salsa? And what’s with the taco shells broken in half? I ordered a ½ split plate because the prices were too high for Mexican. You can eat Mexican cheap almost anywhere. I got a taco smaller than Taco Bell’s and a burrito that my husband called a taquito. My mom got an order of cheese dip. It was $ 3.50 and was a tiny bowl – MAYBE 3 tablespoons. My husband asked if he could have cheese sauce on his order instead of red sauce. The waitress said, «Yes, but she’ll charge you $ 3.50 if you do.» Oh, and my non-​Mexican-​eating child ordered a burger. Nasty. And fries weren’t done.
If any of it had tasted great, I’d cut them some slack, but it was pitiful, tiny, and pricey. And the selection was ridiculous. The girl at the hotel told us she didn’t like it because they didn’t serve chimichangas. I wish she’d said more about it. Like Santana, I don’t understand how anyone could love this place.
Bottom line: RUN to a different Mexican place in Hattiesburg. There are at least a couple other that we saw that we all wish we’d tried.

I’ve gone to the restaurant all of my life so I’m biased. But few spots in this area are as consistent with the flavor and quality than the Mexican Kitchen. There is a reason after Katrina everyone asked the family to reopen and that it is an institution in Hattiesburg.
I would recommend going with one of the combo plates (small/​medium/​large). You will taste all of the goodness at once. Sad to see some of the reviews have not been consistent for a smaller town Mexican spot. It is a family owned spot and surely better than any of the chains in the area.

You like it or you hate it. Whenever I come to Hattiesburg The Kitchen is the first place on my list. It’s something you learn to like. Since my mom started me on it while I was in the womb, I learned to love it in my toddler years. My husband started coming here with me 6 years ago when we first started dating and within a few months he learned to love it.
It’s different. Not like any other Mexican restaurant. The sauce is runny like pasta sauce. It’s extremely hot. If you don’t like spice, you will not have a pleasant chips (broken tacos) and salsa experience. I absolutely love this salsa and will drench my food with it.
If you like tamales, they make a good one. If you like grease, this might be the place for you.
You can order a plain bean burrito with a side of rice if you are looking for a vegetarian option.
They have a great happy hour. My mom loves their margarita’s.
Honestly, if you are an out of towner, I don’t think you would like it.

Fresh guacamole served in an avocado is the highlight at this americanized wanna be Mexican restaurant. Wait staff is friendly but not. enough to make up for a lckluster menu and bland foods. Chicken in chicken burrito tasted like it came out of a can. Salsa is a tomato paste spiced up. Unless you are just deperate for bad Mexican moveon to somewhere else.

REPOST FROM THE «CLOSED» REVIEW!
This place was a regretful experience… BIG TIME!
Clue #1: NEVER ask people in Hattiesburg that NEVER left the MS area for good Mexican food.
Clue #2: NEVER trust a menu (especially a Mexican menu) that does not describe the type of meat. It only had «meat».
Clue #3: NEVER think you’ll get good food when «burger and fries» is on the menu in a Mexican restaurant.
Clue #4: NEVER think the entrees will be better than the chips when the chips are merely fried taco shells broken in half length-​wise (same shell as Taco Bell or Del Taco).
Clue #5: NEVER eat at a Mexican restaurant when not a single Mexican person works there.
Clue #6: NEVER eat at a Mexican restaurant that looks like a log cabin in the middle of Hick-​town.
Clue #7: NEVER eat at a Mexican restaurant that states, «Meat, Bean, and Cheese burrito… order of 1 = $ 3.50…order of 2 = $ 6.75». (that’s a savings of 25 cents for the order of 2… what a joke!)
Had I listened to any of the clues mentioned above, I would not have tried this place to save my time and money. Now, here is my critique of the food… put away your dining utensils!
Enchiladas and burritos… how can anyone go wrong with these 2 dishes? People can jack ANYTHING up! The enchiladas was just soft taco shells with «meat», cheddar cheese, chili beans (like American chili stew beans). The burrito had «meat», cheddar cheese, and chili beans, and they were no taller than 0.5 inch. They were flat and barely had any «meat», but I saved a quarter by ordering 2 of them!
People here do not know good food from crappy food if they like this place for microwave Mexican food. If I can give it ZERO STARS, I really would! What a waste of time and money. GARBAGE!!!

Just ate here tonight. You know there were some highlights, but really not my cup of tea. I gave it 3 stars because of our awesome waiter and there’s amazing hot sauce/​salsa, if those things weren’t happening this place would’ve got 2 stars. They serve crips tasty taco with the salsa with a perfect amount of bite, I got the Small plate, one taco (very good), a beef enchilada (ok nothing special), and the world’s smallest tamale. The rice & beans really didn’t taste that good. The waiter was so attentive, friendly, and real friendly. This place is only good if you needed to eat in a pinch otherwise don’t waste your time.