Muchas Gracias

I have to admit, I really really wanted to like this place seeing as how it is some of the only late night Mexican food in Southeast Portland. However, I ordered a chicken quesadilla tonight and needless to say I was far from impressed. They served me a giant 12 inch slab of meat and cheese in a taco shape form thrown into a to go container. The cooks did not desire to slice the quesadilla in any way shape or form they just decided to toss it into a to go container and shove it in my direction in which I had to rip pieces away in order to eat. I happen to be on my way out of town and I was traveling, so the fact that the giant quesadilla was not sliced happen to be an extreme inconvenience on my part as far as getting to go food and wanting to eat it conveniently. It’s like ordering a pizza and getting it un-​sliced. Are you supposed to tear through a pizza piece by piece while you eat it? No. Seem to be expected from a quesadilla. The chef expects you to tear it apart as you eat it? I think not. A quesadilla should be sliced into pie like sections as to be easily eaten. The person behind the grill at this point must have been two sheets to the wind.

This is no longer Muchas Gracias! It’s now a different Mexican restaurant with terrible food. Sad day.

it’s neither the best you’ll ever have nor is it the best Muchas Gracias in the Portland area, but when you’re feening for the crack that is Mexican food, it does the job just fine. And depending on the level of intoxication, it might be on par with Taco Bell (#1) or be magically delicious like Lucky Charms.
Until recently, it seems I never visited this Muchas Gracias before midnight. Given the lack of late night eateries in this part of town, it was almost always a guarantee that we’d stop here (or at some other Muchas Gracias) to curb the inevitable hangover en la mañana.
I came here one afternoon after deciding the blurry late night encounters were not enough for a fair rating, to see the doom that many others have stated over and over. There were dirty tables, service was terribly slow, and even the menu wasn’t all that easy to read (a lightbulb needs to be changed behind that plastic panel). It was empty in here, with only one person to man the counter and one cook quickly handling orders as they came in. The drive through menu even had sections of it that were missing, presumably from vandalism that were bandaged with a few pieces of paper taped to replace whatever went missing. (#2)
The food is decent at best, though noticeably down a notch from it’s sister MGs. My carnitas burrito was smaller than the others and the watery guacamole with hardened chips was not a fun sight. My perennial favorite, the Oregon burrito was at best solid here. Ditto for the carne asada platter and tacos dorados.
This isn’t award winning food, it’s just fast food that doesn’t happen to be a big time corporate chain that is. It’s still an all Mexican staff throwing together (albeit hastily) a sloppy cheap meal for late night carnage. Take the food (and this review) with a grain of salt … and perhaps a pinch of some lime and salsa verde.
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(#1) Did I say Taco Bell? I meant Taco Time.
(#2) An inevitable victim of the Oregon rain.

Well… no.
Compared to the one off Cornell in Hillsboro, this one is a no-​go.
I got the #3 Special, which is what I always get. 3 rolled tacos with beans and rice.
The refried beans had SO much lard in them. The beans lost and the LARD won.
The rice was decent.
I usually get tons of guac, tons of shredded cheese, lettuce and sour cream on my rolled tacos, but I got a spoonful of avocado and a sprinkle of cheese.
And yes, I passed up Taco Hell for this. Whyyyyyyy?

A step or two below Taco Bell — some of the stuff this place serves is scary. Their guacamole is so bad it’s almost impressive. The «meat» is questionable and the staff is barely functional. Next!

Never again, thank YOU very much! Not only do I get food poisoning every time I eat there, but last time, they put french fries… YES, instead of potatoes (I understand a french fry is a potato) they put greasy nasty cold french fries in my burrito! When I brought it up, all of a sudden, the worker stopped understanding English. I wasn’t rude about it but she was pretending that that was how they always made the Oregon burrito. No, lady, sorry. That is not how they always make it.
The meat is always questionable as it has a weird not-​meat texture, the beans are like watered diarrhea, the cheese has no flavor whatsoever, and sometimes, the guacamole seems bad.
As far as ambiance, it feels like you are dining inside of a creepy bus station bathroom. It has no personality, warmth, or anything really pertaining to Mexican food about it.
Avoid avoid avoid… that is my three cents.

pretty much all of the muchas gracias i have eaten at have sucked. I have tried them about 5 or 6 times. I usually got the asada burrito and the meat was ³⁄₆ times very dry like it had been sitting around along time. I have not been back for awhile and will not be going back again. Its a shame because it is convenient while working. The price for a burrito should be about 2.50 here but they charge over 5 bucks… save yourself a trip and skip this dive

Why do I keep doing this to myself? Probably because it’s cheap, within walking distance of my apartment and open at the times I am most likely to be severely intoxicated.
The asada chips are decent… about half the time, and the shrimp tacos are okay if you cover them in green sauce.
All in all… it probably qualifies as food, and it’s maybe slightly better than a drunken Jack in the Box run at 2:30am.

Why do I keep going back here? Because it’s open after I’m done drinking beer for the night.
My standby is the Chile Relleno Burrito. The food is greasy, but I have a taste for grease so it doesn’t bother me. Every other time I eat here I get a stinging sensation the next morning, but there is usually complicating factors (see 2^nd sentence above).
Second to the last time I ate there I busted out my college Spanish in an attempt to order a chile relleno burrito. Instead, I received a quesadilla filled with about 3 freshly chopped jalapeño peppers. The cashier was actually speaking to me in English but for some reason I insisted on using my rusty Spanish. The cook in the kitchen was cracking up as he chopped my jalapenos.
On the upside the bright lighting will give you and your friends a much more accurate picture of what kind of shape you’re actually in at 2:30 AM!

My cat likes the green sauce. I’m not sure what that says about Muchas. Or my cat (see photo, anti-​diarrheal medicine added for comic effect).
I have a deep and abiding love for their no frills quesadilla. Tortilla and orange cheese, with heavy doses of green and red sauce. Cures hangovers as well as anything else that ails ya. Seriously — I requested this Mexican comfort food after knee surgeries.
Once in awhile I go nuts and get a combo plate but I would avoid anything with meat. This is bean and cheese land, guys. The exception to the rule is their breakfast burritos, particularly chorizo and bacon, which are both super filling and cheap.
Never, ever order anything that involves a chile relleno. They don’t take the time to scrape out the seeds and it’s just really awful.
By no means is Muchas authentic. Rolled tacos? Don’t most people call those taquitos? Whatever you want to call them they are revolting. You could probably beat someone to death with one, they are so dry and hard.*
But I find profound comfort in their baby food smooth refried beans and copious use of bright orange cheese so you’ll see me trying to get the hell out of the extremely poorly designed drive thru every couple months or so (more if there are elite events, thanks Don). In this cart heavy city, It’s my only fast food vice. Please let me have it.
*Please don’t do this. I’m too pretty to go to prison as an accomplice to murder.

It is what it is.
At 11pm after playing music for hours and not eating it is a blessed convenience: cheap, filling, the taste isn’t terrible. It soaks up the booze just fine. Don’t be looking for something spectacular.

Mediocre food for the drungry that isn’t usually a cause for regret the next day. It’s open 24 hours and it’s a whole lot better than Taco Bell.

Better Mexican fast food than some (T-​Bell, the universally mom-​approved Taco Time, etc.), but compared to the other La Conga, Rigoberto’s and Muchas restaurants, this one is kinda lacking.
The food is decent for this kind of place but portions aren’t what they used to be and burrito blowout is way too common. Sadly, their delicious fajita burrito is the worst at this, even when you get sour cream on the side instead of inside. Grease and chicken everywhere.
Still, the staff is really nice and service is fairly quick, plus the restaurant itself is exceptionally clean (albeit pretty plain). If you’re looking for quick, greasy, grab-​and-​go Mexican, this isn’t a bad spot at all. Just make sure you ASK for the spicy carrots since they don’t put them out.
(P.S. — Muchas Fries = tater tots, not french fries.)

Muchas Gracias is open 24 hours and definitely tastes best seasoned with a healthy dose of alcohol and a side dish of hunger. Under these circumstances, MG gets a 3 star rating. Otherwise, it’s a 2.
What just about everyone else has said before is true: it’s not the swankiest of places (which doesn’t bother me – back in Cali the BEST Mexican food joints were always a hole in the wall!)
The pictures of what you get up on the menu are less than appealing. But… so is the food. Nothing horrible. Nothing fantastic.
The prices (for what you get) are on the high side ($ 2.75 for a carne asada taco… really? I used to pay $ 1.25-$ 2.00 max for tacos far superior in California).
The employees frequently mess up you order (forget something you asked for or add something you didn’t.) I actually find the graveyard employees nicer and more reliable than day-​time. And just forget about the drive-​thru. They will ALWAYS forget something.
They are definitely consistently inconsistent. One day your Supreme Quesadilla may be the best you’ve ever tasted! The nest time you order it, it’s greasy and bland. Weird?!
They are definitely NOT your California Mexican joint (but where in Portland is? I’ve only found one spot so far that comes close. No offense Portland. I love you more than Cali for almost every other reason.)
My advice?
Don’t go and expect to be wowed.
Do go if you’re on your way to a sizable hangover.

One Step up from Taco Bell. Smart Business people. They buy old KFC’s and Taco Bell buildings and slap up ugly yellow menus. They dont change shit. They keep it cheap. The Menu is really confusing too but I cant really explain it. They have amateur pictures of the food so everything looks terrible because they use the flash. Using the flash tells the truth about the food. Orange cheese grease, deep fried everything. One kind of bean and its lardy refried almost grey looking. Just buy the Chicken Crispy tacos. But buy it late so you can diarrhea in the morning rather than during day. This place is the devil. 666.

Terrible Mexican food. I ordered a carne asada burrito here and my lady ordered a ham breakfast burrito. My burrito was cold from the guacamole I added. It made the overall burrito temperature, what had to be 100 degrees. Other than that the burrito was beyond bland even with 3 hot sauces poured into it.
My lady’s burrito was riddled with either rosemary or thyme. It had so little cheese it might as well had none. The ham they used had to be lunch meat rather than acutal pieces of diced ham. We’d rather eat taco bell than this place. You gotta be desperate to eat here or born without a tongue.

They poisoned me!
So, I’ve been three times. I had carnitas the first couple, and the last time it was 11 pm, I was riding by, and they were open so I stopped. I should have eaten the pizza at the party before, even though I’m lactose intolerant.
A handmade sign advertised «Lengua burrito $ 4.50» and I love lengua, so I ordered one and some «buñelitos.» Took it home, ate half the burrito… started feeling bad through the night, woke up at 5AM and got rid of the burrito in a very bad way I won’t describe. All morning my guts expressed themselves in the other direction equally horribly.
Thanks a lot Muchas Gracias.

After watching a re-​run of Bobby Flay’s throwdown on fish tacos the other night, I had a hankering for some myself. After deciding Por Que No was a little out of the way, my brother suggested trying Muchas Gracias. I’ve seen these joints pop up everywhere so was curious to see if it was run of the mill Taco Bell stuff.
We noticed that there weren’t any customers seated in the dining area as we were driving up, so we decided to order to-​go. I was hesitant to order much because I wasn’t sure a chain restaurant could offer the authentic tacos I was looking for so I just got the 2-​fish taco combo that came with beans and rice. My brother ordered the seasoned pork, carne asada, and fish tacos individually. Right off the bat, I noticed that they had switched out the traditional cabbage slaw for regular iceberg lettuce that was soggy. The fish was fried but the oil must have not been changed in awhile so it had a burnt look to it, but it wasn’t actually over-​fried. Beans and rice is beans and rice but it didn’t do much to improve my disappointment in the fish tacos which I’m still craving. However, Muchas Gracias’ redemption came in the form of the carne asada taco that had lots of flavor and matched perfectly to the [2] corn tortillas they were served on. Not sure if I’ll be back anytime soon, but will definitely choose this over Taco Bell because it does taste more authentic and they do have so many locations that it’s easy to just stop in.

Dear Portlanders,
You need to understand a couple things before you try this place. Portland has very few authentic Mexican restaurants. Covered in cheddar and iceberg lettuce is not authentic. Taco bell is not authentic. Many ethnic places that are good, including this one, lack both atmosphere and enthusiastic staff (you are paying $ 2.60 for a taco; I’m not sure why one would expect cartwheels with that).
This is good, not great, authentic «cart/​vendor style» Mexican food. RobbW is absolutely right — no fillers, I hate getting a burrito that is a giant rice roll.
The menu makes it very difficult to order, but I suggest start simple. This is a great place if you’re in a hurry, or like me — grew up with more Mexican than white restaurants and miss the real thing, or just want a quick bite with friends playing b-​ball at the park around the corner and don’t take yourself too seriously.
Fresh salsas and ingredients, veg, lime, cilantro and onions.
Again, if you think pf changs, olive garden and taco bell are truly authentic — you should not eat here. Go get yourself a nice mc’pad-thai and fries somewhere else or something off the 99 cent menu. I’m sure there’s a bell around there somewhere for ya.

I was born and raised in southern California, surrounded by serious Mexican food. But due to a genetic mutation of my taste buds, my palette is unapologetically unsophisticated (with the exception being phở– I can critique that shiz). This means that most foods, as long as its not drowning in grease, smothered in oily curry, smells like the foul insoles of a teenage boy’s shoes– I’ll probably try it and nod appreciatively.
With that said, Muchas Gracias is neither the best, nor worse, Mexican fast food I’ve tried. It’s the run-​of-​the-​mill fare, with a run-​of-​the-​mill menu. However, what MG has going for it is that it’s opened 24 hours. I’ve never set foot into this establishment on a clear day with my sobriety (and ability to discern taste) intact. I’ve only ever found myself stumbling into MG after the bars have closed and my stomach, still swishing with alcohol, tells my brain that I absolutely need cheap Mexican food in order to survive the night. (Beer goggles for food?)
There’s nowhere else to go at 3AM, and that’s why I say muchas gracias to Muchas Gracias. (Like I was gonna write this review and not use this line!)
Also, the cashier that does the graveyard shift has always been really nice to us!

This place used to be an Arby’s so, unless it’s been turned into a sewage treatment plant, it is, by definition, already improved.
It’s not pretentious (What’s the opposite of pretentious? Dumpy? that works)…in fact, it looks like they’ve taken the old and beat up trappings of a closed Muchas Gracias from somewhere in Fresno or Stockton and dropped it into SE Portland. The sign behind the counter is sun-​faded and stained already. Seriously? This place has been open for what… two months or so???
That said, Muchas Gracias does what few mexican joints (carts, fast food or sit-​downs) do in Portland… when you order a beef burrito (carne asada) you get… wait for it…
Meat
Pico
Guac
Tortilla
that’s it… no rice… no beans… no bullshit filler at all
Score one for MG!
This is no-​frills fast food mexican food and not even of the greatest quality, but it’s fast… it’s relatively cheap and I didn’t regret it 2 hours later (or even sooner).
As always… ymmv…