El Norte Mexican Restaurant

Had taco salad. A very generous portion of beef in the salad. Nice service, lots of televisions and great place to watch the game.

Always great service and food. Been to a lot of Mexican restaurants all over the U.S. and this rates in my top five. Best part is the customer service, always nice, and with a smile.

Always great food at great prices!
We come here very often. The owners are very friendly and personable, not to mention hands-​on.
They are here every day.
The price are very reasonable and you get a lot of food for the price.
The mixed drinks are awesome and very reasonably priced as well.

Good fresh authentic food. Had chicken fajitas. Very good. Salsa needs more «kick» was very tame.

When you’re on the road from New Orleans to Birmingham and you hit Meridian, MS at lunchtime, options seem bleak. After 20minutes on Unilocal,our goal had lowered from «something interesting to eat» to «can we please find a drink». When we pulled up to El Norte’s strip mall storefront, the sign that said «cantina» convinced us to go inside. If a beer and «at least it’s not a buffet» was the best we could do, then so be it.
Well, turns out we made a good choice. El Norte’s interior features typical flair of a Mexican restaurant: banners with the Mexican flag and wooden tables and booths. We were greeted and sat, with our server immediately bringing complementary chips and salsa and taking our drink orders. The beers were cool and refreshing and served with frosted mugs, a nice touch. The frozen margarita (which comes in three sizes) was whipped by the drink machine to a frothy consistency (good) and was a bright radioactive green (bad). It proved to be more than a tad too sweet.
We ordered queso and guacamole with our chips, as we were famished from the long journey. The queso was the tasty white cheese variety, though a little runny. The guacamole was competent and fresh.
The restaurant was about half full at lunch and our entrees came out fairly quickly. Chicken fajitas, steak fajitas, quesadilla supreme, and a taco salad. Our server addressed several special side requests adroitly, and while one companion claimed his side of cheese didn’t arrive, we were all quite sure he didn’t order it. Regardless, it was quickly brought to the table. All of the entrees were competently prepared and fresh. The fajitas arrived on sizzling skillets that stayed hot through the meal. While I don’t think anyone is going annoint Meridian, MS as the new little Mexico, we really enjoyed everything we had. Cold beers, fresh food, and friendly service, and we weren’t at a buffet or fast food!
There was a brief delay to get our check and pay — almost as if they didn’t want our money, but that was quickly sorted out. All in all a good meal for a very reasonable price. You could do much worse than stopping at El Norte if you’re passing through Meridian.

This is typical SoCalMex. A lot of people in the south just don’t appreciate the greasiness of it. Being as Mississippi is the most obese state in the union the logic behind this is quite the mystery to me. However, it you are used to or craving Mexican in the style traditionally found west of the Colorado river, give this place a try. I personally recommend chorizo quesadilla (it’s not in the menu, but they will make it for you) or a steak burrito.

This is the worst excuse for Mexican food I’ve ever tasted. There is good Mexican food, authentic, available in this town but this isn’t it. It does fill a niche however for those who do not really like Mexican or spicy food and prefer that their food be bland.

Being from SOCAL it is hard to give a four star rating on Mexican restaurant when you are used to eating super delic hand made tortillas, salsa etc everyday, but El Norte Mexican Restaurant was a pleasant surprise. Despite the unfortunate lack of mahi mahi for my Fish Taco Tuesday tradition, they do have some really cheap margaritas served in little cactus glasses (and the bartender is not stingy on the tequila!). They have a pretty full bar and the place is clean. Not too expensive and I am at least grateful that there is Mexican food in Meridian!

Food here was greasy and not exceptionally tasty. The chile relleno was half a green bell pepper with ground meet placed inside. Not quite «Authentic,» as their tag line on their signage outside purports. I went with a friend on their Two for Tuesdays, so in the end for the price I was not disappointed with what I got. However, I wouldn’t have been that excited if I paid full price.