Nacho Mama’s Mexican Grill

I’ve only been here a few times, usually for drinks, once for some alcohol absorption grub, but the one special thing I really like about this place is the big ‘ol fishbowl margarita you can get for $ 12 on St. Pat’s Day. I’ve seen people transform before my very eyes drinking these tubs of green, from sober human being to staggering zombie meat puppet, all while getting pummeled by speeding cabbages and Irish man lips. It’s pretty much the best deal I know of for St Pat’s parade drinking, and fair warning they run out within hours too so you have to grab them while you can. I’m curious but don’t know if they offer them during any other times. I just know that if you want to drink something green other than beer or the blood of the nearest Vulcan on St. Patrick’s, then one of these will do the job just fine.
Other than that, I don’t have much to say about this place. It’s a solid 3 stars that isn’t amazing or abominable. It may even be 4 stars now, with the word on the street being it’s improved lately, but I’d need to eat more here first to make that call.

Service was pretty slow – I wasn’t greeted for almost 8 minutes and once I was given a menu – it took another 10 to get service.
I guess that was in my favor because I had enough time to check Unilocal reviews and read that the food wasn’t great – I ordered a strawberry Abita and chips and salsa.
Chips were fresh out of the fryer and served in a medium sized sand pail; the salsa was chunky with roasted tomatoes. Good deal for $ 2.
The Abita was pricey at $ 4.50 for bottled given that other spots in the area had them for $ 3.50 and under.
2 for 1 margarita deals at happy hour, credit card accepted here.

Nacho Mama’s did a good job despite massive Mardi Gras crowds.
During Bacchus/​Endymion weekend I needed a break from work, and a friend needed a break from parades. We decided to have lunch and Nacho mama’s was close to both of us. After reading the reviews, I am kind of surprised since I had a pretty good experience.
Because of the parades, the place was packed. We were still seated immediately, but shortly after we arrived a wait was in effect. Our server was great. Despite the crowds she was attentive, friendly and seemed happy to be working there. For entrees we both had the pulled pork burritos done Californian style. The pulled pork was perfectly cooked. I never envisioned pulled pork as Mexican food, but it works perfectly in a burrito. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
My friend got a large margarita which was reported to be very good. Tequila and I have an agreement so I did not partake, but the drink was large and somewhat reasonable at $ 11.
I will have to return on a normal day and see if anything changes.

Wow. This place has majorly improved in the year since my last review. I have been here a few more times since I last reviewed and I have pretty much enjoyed it every single time. I usually get a burrito, which comes with a side of chips. I like the queso, but if you want just salsa, they will charge you for it. Chips and salsa are not free here as they are at other places.
This is a pretty good place to eat on major holidays. I remember eating here on the 4^th of July when other places were packed and I had a really good time. While Nacho Mama’s will never rank as high as «Felipe’s» in my book, I would definitely not hesitate to eat here if I was in the area.

The setting: Saturday morning standing in line outside of Slim Goodies
The plot: two staggeringly hungover men can’t wait any longer in the hot sun without alcohol to stop the throbbing in our heads
The journey: My friend Ruben and i decided to walk until we found some place, any place that was open that served alcohol. It was like 9:45am and nothing else opened up until 10:00 or 11:00.
Finding the door of Nacho Mama’s slightly ajar we slipped inside, but didn’t get more than a step inside before an employee yelled «Hey, not open yet!»
«But the door’s open!»
«Yeah, we don’t open until 10:30 sorry.»
«Oh…it’s…it’s just that we are really hungover and can’t find any place to buy booze.»
Employee ponders this for a moment, smiles, looks around and says «You got cash?»
«Yes! Cash!»
We order two bloody Marys without realizing that they are 2 for 1.
The bartender hollers to all the other workers «Anybody want a bloody while I am making them?»
We try to stop him from dumping an ungodly amount of vodka into 4 separate cups, but he won’t have it and says they are two for one.
The man was a saint. He took our cash so it didn’t show up as a sale prior to opening the restaurant and who knows if he ever stuck it in the register.
I really don’t care. The bloodies were god awful, but three stars for breaking the rules to save us some pain.
The End.

Ok the owner contacted me as he was concerned about my negative review and informed me that he had recognized the drop in quality and that he had worked with a chef to revamp the menu and that I should return to try it out again. I will raise my prior 1 star (that I wanted to give a zero for) to two stars just for the fact that he has recognized there are some serious issues here and he says he is working on it. I’m nothing if not reasonable and I really do care that our NOLA restaurants meet a certain standard. So I’m perfectly willing to sample a revamped menu and try food again. I also LOVE food and I would be extremely happy if Nacho Mama’s served food I liked as it would give me more dining options.
My initial plan was to return three times to sample things to give a fair evaluation. I asked the owner what he recommended and he told me the tacos (with his favorites being the panko crusted catfish and the arbol steak), the taquitos appetizer, shrimp chimichurri, fajitas, or one of the signature tortas. So one day when I wasn’t feeling particularly hungry I finally got the courage up to sample some Nacho Mama’s food again.
I really had to force myself to go inside as I’ve got powerful memories of bad experiences in there and getting sick from eating the food so I had to really focus some willpower to just walk in. First impression was that there was a fantastic smell of food cooking so that is a big thing and eased my initial anxiety. The menu is definitely revamped and much improved looking from what was in there previously. I ordered the two taco plate and got a chicken and lime shrimp with a side of guacamole, and an iced tea. My initial visual impression when I got my food was that the rice in a scoop ball looked like I didn’t get very much rice (it was plenty but visually it initially looked small until I spread it out); I also thought the tacos were a bit lighter on the fillings compared to other places; I also hought the shrimp were smaller than all the other shrimp tacos I’ve had in the area which isn’t necessarily bad as sometimes they can soak up more flavor but my initial thought was ummm small baby shrimp. The food smelled good and I started with the chicken taco which had some good flavors but I found it very dry (compounded by the corn tortilla which I think might be the worst chokingly dry soft corn tortilla I’ve ever had and it crumbled apart it was so dry). The shrimp tasted good but again the tortilla was very dry but not as dry as the chicken. If I didn’t know better I would say they were stale but all they really needed was a bit of steaming to soften them up more so an easy fix to greatly improve that experience. I next ate my rice and black beans which had a very good flavor and I liked those. When I payed my bill it came to $ 13.44 so with tip that seemed a bit expensive for two tacos so that didn’t seem like a good value to me for what I got and I would probably head to Juan’s or Sarita’s if I just wanted some tacos and I would get more bang for my buck. So I was thinking that it was improved from what it used to be but it still isn’t that great… and then I had a slight bit of a tummy ache that night which I attributed to the tough tortillas.
Sticking to my initial game plan I decided to once again venture forth and sample the fajitas. I ordered the shrimp and steak combo and when it came out I was rather shocked at how small an order it was. There were only four shrimp and five pieces of meat on the platter! I had a huge plate of «fixings» with guacamole, sour cream, fresh salsa, cheese, and lettuce that was much larger than my fajita plate. There just seemed to be some great disconnect between the two things and I was left with lots of extra fixings. My fajita’s alone were $ 18.66 (before tip) and for like another $ 2 they would have thrown in rice and beans. The fajitas tasted «ok» but I felt that it was a horrible rip off for such a small portion of meat and I could have had a lot better food at many other places for that price. I was still considering returning one last time to fulfill my initial plan until my stomach started gurgling and then I got to spend all last night and a lot of this morning with a very sick stomach. I have figured out that this isn’t due to food poisoning as the effects on my stomach are much more akin to what happens when I eat something with evil fake fat, like Olean, in it. So something that they are using to cook with is having a serious adverse effect on my stomach but it isn’t to the same degree as food poisoning.
My END evaluation is that the food here is a terrible value that just isn’t up to par (cheap drink specials though). I seriously believe this place needs EXTREME changes to produce decent food and I gave the owner the contact info to apply to Gorden Ramsay’s show. I can’t see myself ever returning to eat here unless Gorden whips this place into shape as I don’t want my stomach feeling like this again!

Nacho Mama’s is a pretty standard sports bar, so if you are looking to catch a game, it’s a pretty solid choice — especially if you are up for Mexican food. While I can’t speak to the anything but the nachos and the guacamole, I can say that both were damn good — some of the best I have ever had! Seriously — my nacho practically looked up and scream «CHICK — you better take my picture! I look good today, damn it!» I kindly obliged before I freaking devoured them. Heap of jalapeños, melty ooey-​gooey cheese, sour cream, guac, tomatoes, black beans, yellow and blue nacho chips… HELLZ YEAH! If you are there with a friend like I was, when it comes out, it looks big, but you think to yourself «Well, there’s two of us… We’ll finish it.» Uhhh — chances are, you won’t. You will keep eating and eating and be amazed that there’s still more before you. Ever-​multiplying, I swear.
Wash it all down with a margarita — on the rocks or frozen (I tried both… for the sake of a fair an comprehensive review only, of course. teehee) and they were both FABULOUS, although I was more partial to the frozen if I had to compare.
All in all, I was really happy we stopped in here. I loved the festive game atmosphere and you already know what I feel about the nachos and drinks.

Mediocre at best

I literally downloaded the Unilocal app to say NO to nacho mamas. Miserable food. Burnt rice. Floppy uncooked store bought tortillas. Bad hot sauce from denver. I mean REALLY bad. I’ve been here a half dozen times before and its never been good. Tonight lowered the standard even more. Awful.. .
…good service though!

How on God’s green earth is this place open still? Margaritas are average at best, Food is funky and not a good funky.
Had a nice hair in my nachos on my ONLY visit.
Way too many good Mexican restaurants in this city to waste time at this
palace of poop.

Want a $ 25 plate of nachos? Order nachos with everything on them. You get to find out the peice tag when the bill shows up. Jack assed waiter thought $ 25 for a plate of nachos was reasonable.
Nachos weren’t even $ 10 good.
The one in Harahan produces equally terrible food. The waiter over there exclaimed,“our mexican pizza is the mother f****** bomb!” How do you not try something so eloquently recommended?
20 minutes later cardboard and cheese showed up… unfortunately you don’t know how horrible it is until it has passed your lips.
Don’t bother with any of these TexMex crap holes unless you think McDonald’s is the pinnacle of culinary pursuits.

I’m a regular here for more than one reason. The food is consistent and tasty with many baja style dishes to choose from. Fish & Shrimp tacos are good, & the chicken tortilla soup is true to its name (great for hangovers and the sniffles too). Nacho Mama’s location has great outdoor seating for people watching, the casually hip atmosphere and attitude add to my relaxing experience too… But, sometimes you’ll get bad service, realize its a little over-​priced or go on «bland salsa» day. That’s something to consider, I guess…

I actually frequented NM quite a bit when I first moved to NOLA. I was excited to find this location on Magazine, as I always went to Clearview. Well, everytime I come to this location I leave disappointed.
I always order the California burrito… somehow or another they cannot figure out how to ensure the inside is warm… I understand some ingredients are cold, but the chicken and black beans?! Being served cold food (regularly) is not acceptable…

I didn’t eat any food here, but the margaritas are great. Hey — if I’m willing to shell out $ 15 for a fishbowl of margarita for the Irish Channel St. Patricks parade, it better be good.
Also, thanks for setting up a separate table outside for selling the ‘ritas. Much appreciated by those of us pushing around a stroller!

Wonderful chips & salsa & margaritas too! Did not eat, just enjoyed the BOGO margaritas & mimosas. That’s EVERY Sunday! ¡Olé!

I will give Nacho Mama’s a hesitant three stars because of our complicated, on and off relationship. (And it’s slightly better than Felipe’s, so.)
The main draws for me are the two for one margaritas (supposedly every day between 4 and 6 PM) and the queso. The queso is always delicious, and if you drink enough of their margaritas, you may forget that you’re overpaying for pretty-​mediocre-​almost-​Mexican-​food.
The bad include: awful service; dry, icky rice; I have seen someone get spilled on!; insufficient seating for large groups; my friends and I have, more than once, had to describe the guacamole as «effervescent»; and finally, serious lack of consistency as far as food goes — sometimes it’s a lot better than others.
Tips: Pass on the pitcher if it’s the same price as an individual margarita — they get melty FAST and are rarely properly mixed.

Every time I go here, lured inside by the cheap two for one margarita deal, I sit, take a look around and think WHY am I here AGAIN?! The food here is honestly about as good as one of those half open, run down, Mexican buffet joints. We don’t even get that generic Mexican elevator music at Nacho Mama’s. No, they searched out the most obnoxious intrusive music they could find in my opinion, 90’s alternative.
So with R.E.M. or Matchbox 20 whining at a fairly high decibel into my ear-​holes, I still peruse the menu in an attempt to find something, anything that is remotely new or original. But no, it will always be some form of over-​processed, cheese covered, flour tortilla, re-​fried bean, random ground meat, lukewarm, mess.
The margaritas are the only reason for that second star. I kind of like them, albeit heavier on the syrup rather than the hooch. Limey stickiness in a frosty glass, after a few you probably need to go! Take a lovely tour past the kitchen and the offices, keep going, keep going, all the way around to the women’s restroom. Try not to get lost, or fall into the grease trap on your way back.
The first star, and the reason why I sadly return here still, after all of my distaste for the cheesiest of every TeX Mex, is the location. I love shopping on Magazine St. I love linking arms with a buddy or two and flipping through all the racks of vintage clothes, trying on crazy sunglasses etc. Just reading that makes me thirsty and a taco always sounds alluring… Damn, fooled again!

Ive been here only a handful of times, and am never impressed. Actually, generally disappointed.
I tend to stumble in there, when suffering high levels of inebriation, which for me should make the entire experience just fabulous (Im a very happy drunk…) Regardless, I’m pretty sure thats the only reason I return.
The wait is long, the service is tacky at best, and their food is boring. It’s all horribly bland, which they disguise in too much jalapeño. I love jalapenos, but thats not even fun anymore.

What came first the Nacho or the Mama??? Who knows but what I do know is they serve up a mean margarita and HH specials, good (not great) chips and salsa. Like any other Tex Mex place dont be prepared to be overwhelmed (I dont know many that do).
Don’t expect much in the food realm but it is a great place to sip on some margies and munch on chips.

New Orleans is a great town for food, but Mexican isn’t one of strongsuits.
Go for the margaritas — a good variety of tequila, large, cold and served as fast as you want them.
Leave when you’re ready for food.